Wow, what a game. I keep telling anyone that will listen to me that Ottawa and Toronto will be the best playoff series of the entire Stanley Cup Playoffs this year, and game 6 did nothing to disappoint. GAME 7: In Toronto Tuesday night. For ANYONE who follows hockey even if you aren't a fan of either of these two teams, THIS is old-time hockey and be sure to catch it if you can.

Go Sens Go!!!

Go Sens Go!!!

 

That game was almost the end of me...

 

Go SENS!!!!

That was a great game and I'm glad the right team won. I just love game 7's...nothing better.

you see that pass by Vermette? I thought at the beginning of the year he should have been left in Bingo to play with us cuz he wasnt ready. He didnt have a great year but what a play! He replaces Spezza and comes through huge!

Will game 7 be on ESPN tomorrow? I know I will have to record it if it is, but I don't think I can handle watching too much after the first period...where is that damn nail biting smiley anyway?

This by Dan Wetzel on Yahoo! Sports:

 

Women scream.

 

And I don't just mean for their team – "Let's Go Bruins" for instance – although they do that too.

 

I mean the horrifying, bloodcurdling screams of fans who cannot bear to see what terrible thing may happen next. Like if they were watching a guy attempt to tightrope across Niagara Falls.

 

The cause of all this angst is just a bouncing puck in your team's end of the ice, just an opposing winger getting the lightest bit of space, just the wonderful unpredictability of Game 7 playoff hockey.

 

Two such games – Montreal-Boston and Calgary-Vancouver – take place on Monday night.

 

Hockey has proven difficult for the American masses to latch on to. No matter how many screwball towns Gary Bettman expands the league to, the sport has struggled to add fans outside its core base.

 

Bettman's expansion plan has been the near-ruin of the league, watering down the quality of play, ignoring tradition and diluting rivalries. But his thought process was sound.

 

Get America to watch a Game 7, hear the women scream from the upper sections, sit on the edge of its collective seat for hours (if at all) and how could the nation not get hooked on hockey?

 

(Interestingly, and maybe not coincidentally, Canada's CBC Television does a much better job incorporating crowd noise into its broadcasts than the vain U.S. networks, where it is all about the announcer blather.)

 

Hockey perfectly lends itself to do-or-die games, which may be why the relatively meaningless regular season can be so boring. But in a one-and-done deal, hockey's back-and-forth nature, its anything-can-happen-at-any-point style of play makes it the most thrilling contest in sport we know.

 

Seriously, where else do women scream?

 

In baseball the defensive team can never immediately become the offensive team and score the winning run. Once you get that struggling pitcher off the mound you can breathe easy for half an inning.

 

Basketball is basically a possession-by-possession sport, full of time-outs, huddles and designed plays. Football games are filled with "drives" and games often are decided by field goal kickers whom opposing coaches try to "ice" with time-outs.

 

Each sport produces stirring endings, but not the sudden victory/sudden death that hockey can, especially if a Game 7 goes to overtime.

 

Then you can hit the crossbar at one end of the ice and lose the game four seconds later at the other. It is that quick. It is that wild. It is that impossible to foresee. One second you just about win, and the next the opposing team is jumping the boards and mobbing some Canadian with a beard.

 

Which is why any time the puck gets anywhere near a net, especially by the third period of a tight game, someone starts screaming over the possibility it is going to go all wrong. Hockey is, in essence, a game of turnovers. Teams rarely control the puck for more than 15 seconds, except on the power play.

 

The game hangs in the uncontrollable balance the rest of the time.

 

"You just can't control bounces and weird goals," New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur said last spring.

 

Which puts everything on the line. Which is why legends and goats are made in Game 7's. The stakes are so high, the margin between advancing and golfing so small, this is when players become stars.

 

Monday's delectable doubleheader of Game 7's will be no different.

 

This is as wildly wonderful as sport can get, anything goes meets winner-take-all. You don't have to be a hockey fan to appreciate it. Just try to have a strong heart.

 

And listen for the late-game screams.

I was sitting on the floor in my living room in front of the TV screaming...more like gasping, but close enough.

Will game 7 be on ESPN tomorrow?  I know I will have to record it if it is, but I don't think I can handle watching too much after the first period...where is that damn nail biting smiley anyway? 

I'm not sure if it's on American TV or not, and if it's not that is a travesty. And they wonder why the fan base won't grow? HELLO!?!?!?!???!!!

 

This is pure sports entertainment - everything in the balance, no preset plays, etc. This is why hockey IMO is better then any other sport.

 

I like my baseball, but hockey's not called the coolest game on earth for nothing!

That's why Brian was shocked that they put on the Sens-Leafs game 6 (it wasn't scheduled to be on ESPN at all).

I'm not sure if it's on American TV or not, and if it's not that is a travesty.  And they wonder why the fan base won't grow?  HELLO!?!?!?!???!!!

It is on TV, but not nearly as much as basketball, football, or baseball and for good reason. Fan bases are built on the younger generations and kids today can pick up a ball or a bat and a mitt and go out and play three of the four major professional sports in this country.

 

Hockey on the other hand requires every kid to have his own skates and stick along with some ice to play on. I grew up in Illinois and I think there was one pond near my house that froze over for maybe one day a year. So for a good nine months of the year, I could play baseball, football, basketball, or even soccer whenever and almost wherever I wanted. If I ever wanted to play hockey, I would have to get someone to drive me to the ice rink 10 miles away. This tells me hockey does not really have a promising future in terms of its fanbase in this country and many others.

FYI - ESPN is listing it as they are showing game 7.

It is on TV, but not nearly as much as basketball, football, or baseball and for good reason.  Fan bases are built on the younger generations and kids today can pick up a ball or a bat and a mitt and go out and play three of the four major professional sports in this country.

 

Hockey on the other hand requires every kid to have his own skates and stick along with some ice to play on.  I grew up in Illinois and I think there was one pond near my house that froze over for maybe one day a year.  So for a good nine months of the year, I could play baseball, football, basketball, or even soccer whenever and almost wherever I wanted.  If I ever wanted to play hockey, I would have to get someone to drive me to the ice rink 10 miles away.  This tells me hockey does not really have a promising future in terms of its fanbase in this country and many others.

You can play roller hockey in preperation then.

You can play roller hockey in preperation then.

That's what I do, I play like 3-4 times a week with my friends. Roller hockey is so badass but good skates are somewhat expensive, especially when you gotta buy new wheels.

That's what I do, I play like 3-4 times a week with my friends.  Roller hockey is so badass but good skates are somewhat expensive, especially when you gotta buy new wheels.

You should see how much my good pair of hockey skates cost me. I've never played roller hockey, ice was never a concern here. Hockey players come from rural western canada, the smaller cities out east and small places in Minnesota, but it is growing.