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GDT: Canes vs Bruins, Game 4, 5/16, 8:00 pm Eastern

I am officially lodging a complaint with the NHL because there is no way in hell that Tukka Rask is regulation. I looked it up in the rule book. There was nothing in there about that Finnish freak being allowed to play in this league. Therefore, Boston's series win has been nullified and the Jerks are headed to the Stanley Cup Finals! Whooo!!!

/sigh

It was a fantastic season and I hope that our offseason moves serve to improve this team.

Now, onto the Cricket World Cup, where you get to watch a guy named Faf du Plessis play. If I owned race horses, I would name one of them Faf du Plessis and he would win all the time. Another one would be named Quinton de Kock. Eventually, I would have each horse named after my favorite South African cricketers.
 
Not with a bang but a whimper.

At least there are no illusions about what needs to be done in the offseason after this. As I've said before, this run has just been gravy for me, but I sure hope no one in the org feels that way.
 
Heck of a run. I enjoyed the heck out of this team. Buncha kids.

Excited to see how they build on the success with the fans and the team.

Got season tix for next season. Sat in 308 for the playoffs. “Chara” sat in front of us last night with his mom/girlfriend. Looks way smaller up close. Didn’t think they made a Chara sweater in extra scrawny.


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cmon3 said:
Heck of a run. I enjoyed the heck out of this team. Buncha kids.

Excited to see how they build on the success with the fans and the team.
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Me too!!! The year was a reminder of how lucky we all are to have this team in our backyard and how much fun winning is again. They competed hard, they were a tight knit group that were basically one of the top 3/4 teams in the entire league from January 1st on, they gave us all some great hockey to watch and get excited about moving forward.

On a personal level, I had so many fond memories of the past with previous playoff runs with this team, but it was nice to take my son to a couple of his first ever playoff games this year and be able to soak up all the great reasons to pull into that parking lot and crack open the cooler and take in the wonderful atmosphere in and around the arena, nothing better for me from a sporting perspective when you are enjoying playoff hockey under those Carolina blue skies with this fan base when everyone is out in full force.

Lots of reasons to be excited with this team moving forward, I just hope the right buttons are pushed and the money is spent to continue on this current path, the future of this team looks bright and no reason why the next few years cannot be playoff years chasing that big shiny Cup.
 
Didn't feel like reading anything or writing anything last night after returning from the PNC. I think most of us (and probably the team, too) knew this series was over, but sitting outside on a gorgeous day in mid-May, eating BBQ and drinking beer with my hockey buddies was something I didn't expect to happen a few months ago. We gave the team a great round of applause at the end, despite being totally whipped by a superior team. I think they just ran out of emotional gas to get them through this one. This series did reveal some gaping holes that need fixing if we are serious about making playoff hockey a regular thing here in Raleigh (and not just every decade or so), but that's a separate discussion for another time. Thanks Canes, for an incredible run and a fun season!
 
Yeah ... I still don't feel like reading anything this morning. I barely got through watching the video from Brindy's press conference after the game.

They hit the wall and hit it HARD, with the similarities to 2009 being all too many for my tastes. Because it's EASY to feel like this is a team on the rise. Young core, decent level of skill, solid D group, a TON of hard working grinders that combine with Aho, Svech and Turbo to make a really nice mix ... and a decent development pipeline. There's SO much there to build on. A couple of solid hockey moves this summer and they should be on the right track for years to come. And then ... I remember 2009, when most of that was also true and what happened after. Yeah.

Here's where I've landed. I'll always remember this season for one thing ... enjoyment. I actually enjoyed going to the rink this year. The team was engaged and fun to watch. Fans who are happy to be there are a LOT more fun to be around and for once I didn't begrudge a single dime I spent on tickets. The whole experience, when viewed from a distance, was positive. I'm absolutely refusing to allow this last series to color that impression, mostly because in 2 or 3 years' time ... it won't. It never does.

I'll start a couple of post season threads now, and pin them to the top of the board. I'm bugging out for Canada and then Alaska on Sunday so I'm largely going to just leave you guys to it fo a little while. Turns out this vacation was better timed than I thought it was a couple of weeks ago.
 
Oh ... lest I forget, Boston deserves a tip of the cap. As much as I loathe some of their key guys, they're a big boy, experienced, professional hockey club who know how to close you down when they get the chance. I've rarely seen a team as cold-bloodedly opportunistic, and they clearly are playing with a ton of hunger. For once they got the delicate deadline trade mix right and added even more layers to an already very good lineup and Rask makes up for the few mistakes they make. That team is the real deal. The better team generally wins, and this result was tough to swallow, but they WERE the better team.

Also worth noting ... class move from Chara to get dressed for the handshake line last night. Thanks for the respect big guy.
 
jeffbear said:
Oh ... lest I forget, Boston deserves a tip of the cap. As much as I loathe some of their key guys, they're a big boy, experienced, professional hockey club who know how to close you down when they get the chance. I've rarely seen a team as cold-bloodedly opportunistic, and they clearly are playing with a ton of hunger. For once they got the delicate deadline trade mix right and added even more layers to an already very good lineup and Rask makes up for the few mistakes they make. That team is the real deal. The better team generally wins, and this result was tough to swallow, but they WERE the better team.

Also worth noting ... class move from Chara to get dressed for the handshake line last night. Thanks for the respect big guy.
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I keep hearing that, maybe I am wrong but I see it as he didn't want to miss out on the celebration with his teammates.
 
JamesNorthern said:
I keep hearing that, maybe I am wrong but I see it as he didn't want to miss out on the celebration with his teammates.
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He took a VERY long time talking to Canes players in line and spent forever talking to Brind'Amour. He wasn't gloating or rubbing anybody's nose in anything. I'm giving it to him.
 
I agree on Chara. He jumped right on the ice and led the handshake line and I too noticed him spending some extra time with Brindy.

Let's not make this an every 10 year thing anymore!
 
My most vivid memory of Chara will be the time the Sens got chased out of south Florida by a hurricane and came to Raleigh early. They displaced my daughter’s team at RCI so they could practice. All the kids stuck around and grabbed every available piece of paper to get autographs as the players walked through the lobby to get to the bus. Chara (and Hasek) stopped and signed everything, posed for endless pictures and even came back into the building because they missed a couple of kids.


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jeffbear said:
He took a VERY long time talking to Canes players in line and spent forever talking to Brind'Amour. He wasn't gloating or rubbing anybody's nose in anything. I'm giving it to him.
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NBC had the camera on that. All I made out clearly was Brindy wishing him best of luck. RBA's neck must have been sore after that chat.

JW and Marchump shook hands pretty damned quickly.
 
andyt said:
My most vivid memory of Chara will be the time the Sens got chased out of south Florida by a hurricane and came to Raleigh early. They displaced my daughter’s team at RCI so they could practice. All the kids stuck around and grabbed every available piece of paper to get autographs as the players walked through the lobby to get to the bus. Chara (and Hasek) stopped and signed everything, posed for endless pictures and even came back into the building because they missed a couple of kids.


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Despite the fact that the guy nearly commits homicide by stick every time he takes the ice, by all accounts I've ever seen Chara is a truly decent human being. Marchand ... yeah. Nobody who isn't actually playing on his team ever seems to say anything good about him.
 
Sorry guys. From this perspective and history, I respectfully disagree. Sure the act may have been genuine. But as for him being a great guy et all.. sorry. Remember Richard Zednik? And Chara has clothes hanged opposition many times before.
 
JamesNorthern said:
Sorry guys. From this perspective and history, I respectfully disagree. Sure the act may have been genuine. But as for him being a great guy et all.. sorry. Remember Richard Zednik? And Chara has clothes hanged opposition many times before.
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Jeez man ... nobody's trying to nominate for the Nobel Peace Prize. He did a nice thing. Doesn't make him a saint, but when your local rep is about on par with Frankenstein's monster it's worth pointing out that a guy can be classy.
 
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