And away we go NHL thread!!!!

[Hellbat]

Grats Hawks fans. That is a beast of a team right now. We'll see how long it holds together and if they can stay at the top moving forward. I'm glad to see the cup stay in the tougher conference.

[Tekky]

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!

[Rupe]

Congrats to all the Blackhawks fans...great season for you guys! Congrats to Philly as well...nobody predicted you would be there.

[goodwood]

Was that the quietest winning goal in history or what?

Hossa broke his curse...an awful lot of guys holding up the Stanley Cup and giving a 'woooo".

I just LOVE the reception that Bettman gets everywhere he goes. I wish Pronger would have taken a run at him.

[Shawn Lutz]

goaltending killed the Flyers. You can't give up 2 soft goals in any elimination game and expect to live on....that OT winner was a killer weakie. The Flyers were really out talented against Chicago but they put up a great fight and should be proud of what the were able to accomplish in winning the East and 2 wins away fom the Stanley Cup.

I didn't like the way that game was called last night, too many soft calls in the first 2 periods making it special teams game. I didn't think Pronger should have called for either of is two in the first..oh well.

Congratulations to the Blackhawks, being from Detroit I didnt' want them to win but I'm cool with an original 6 brother hoisting the cup (sans Hossa). I'm happy to see the city of Chicago and the fans finally get the 1961 curse off their backs....you'll have another one in 49 more years lol. We'll see what happens to their roster in the off season with contracts and cap hits to see if they a similar roster. If they can come out fairly well they'll still be the team to beat next season and a good shot at repeating...

[Spivonious]

Agreed on the soft calls. At least it went both ways, with that horrible goaltender interference call on Hossa.

And then in the third they were letting everything go - slashes, crosschecks, interference; I just want some consistency.

At least Bettman got booed.

Flyers need to get a starting goalie, and at least one more defenseman at the level of Timonen or Pronger. Sign Leighton as the backup. I love Boucher but he's not a playoff-caliber starting goalie, and he's not a good backup goalie since it takes him a few games to get the rust off.

[clifffclaven]

Well, im obviously glad the hawks won. That was the most anti-climactic goal prob in the history of cup winners.... "Where is it... wait, oh yeah, they won" lol.

Again with the refs, jesus... All we (fans) want is consitent calls. I HATE makeup calls, and the one on coburn after philly scored? Good god, could you zebra clowns be any more obvious? Im dead serious when i say i think the fix is at least partially in in the nhl. Bettman ran the nba... And we know how "great" the reffing is there. This "game management" shit is bs. (rant off lol).

[atomic charvel guy]

chicago was clearly the better team, but the flyers showed guts.
I'm off the refs, all of the major 4 sports have agendas, i hate all refs.
Cliff and tekky are both spooging, i know I was after waiting my whole life for the rangers to win.
Kane scores more clutch goals than anyone in hockey.
That last goal was great, it threw emrick for a looper right on his head, it was beautiful.

[Tekky]

That last goal threw everyone for a looper. WGN Radio play-by-play guy John Wideman celebrated, stopped, and then celebrated again.

Now if I can get tomorrow off to watch the Stanley Cup roll down Michigan Avenue with the team.

[clifffclaven]

That last goal threw everyone for a looper. WGN Radio play-by-play guy John Wideman celebrated, stopped, and then celebrated again.

Now if I can get tomorrow off to watch the Stanley Cup roll down Michigan Avenue with the team.

That would be cool.

[goodwood]

Yeah, I would like to see that Stanley Cup parade...I bet there will be more people there than there was for the Tampa Bay Lightning!!!

They were talking about the viewer numbers and it was the most watched NHL game in the USA since 1974 and up quite a bit from last year's Final game between Pittsburgh and Detroit but the numbers vary from 15% up to 70% up-what's up with the inconsistent statistics? Maybe the NHL refs are handling that too.

Funny...about 2 years ago I said that Chicago would win the Cup in the next 3 years but I thought that Vancouver would beat them this year. Many of my series picks this year just did not come to be but I think most people got a lot wrong this year.

[Rupe]

No doubt...crazy season, especially the playoffs.

[Razor]

Congrats to the Hawks. No doubt I'm glad to see them win it!

[Shawn Lutz]

Looks liek they had a cool parade today for the Blackhawks fans in Chicago.

Also looks like they'll have some cap issues and decisions to make in the off season

http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/blackhawks-facing-immediate-salary-cap-problem-0610

[clifffclaven]

versteeg, huet and sopel are gone. So are eager, boynton, burish and madden. That will leave 11m to sign niemi, hjalmarsson and ladd... Looks like they better hope some guys in the AHL are ready