Hockey?

[pure_mercury]

The difference is that the fans in Philadephia (generalizing, I know) show general disrespect for everyone. My guess is that Caps fans were more pissed at the refs than the Flyers team. Usually Caps fans sit on their asses and barely make any noise.

It was a good series, and both teams played well. However, I still can't get over the non-call. It decided the game, and that should never happen.

Your generalization is wrong. The Caps fans were THROWING GARBAGE AT THE FLYERS. Come on. Even if they were noobs to hockey, they know that is wrong. If it happened in Philadelphia, we'd never hear the end of it. It's not our fault that we have the most passionate fans in American sports (Eagles and Flyers fans in particular). Professional sports really are more important here than almost anywhere else.

[pure_mercury]

JR with the goal to take the lead for the Sharks! Way to go, man!

[swordpath]

Sorry notaprettygirl, that's rough.

Congrats FM and Merc on the Philly advancement.

And a smiley onslaught in honor of the Sharks' advancement -

[EffEmDoubleyou]

And congrats to you, too, Beat! I was glad to see Roenick do so well, he's always been one of my favorite players.

As for the officiating in the Flyers/Caps game, no call could have been missed as egregiously as Sami Kapanen being blatantly tripped in overtime about two minutes before the call that led to the winning goal. If you're referring to the sequence when Huet got knocked over leading to a goal, that was not a penalty. The Caps player that crashed into Huet was playing the puck, which makes the Flyer check legal. Even if it was determined that the Caps player was pushed into Huet, it's not a penalty as long as the players involved are fighting for the puck. Frankly, I'll take it either way after the way Huet was babied the whole series by the refs.

It was a tremendous series that was played well enough to win by both teams. I do agree that it was marred at times by some poor officiating, but on the whole I think it balanced out.

[EffEmDoubleyou]

If it happened in Philadelphia, we'd never hear the end of it.

Yeah, I'm kind of sick of that crap, too. The "thuggish Philly fan" is just one of those things that is an easy angle for a lazy writer and soon becomes an accepted truism. Kind of like "Republicans like to cut spending" and "Carbs are bad".

A perfect example is the Mike Wise column in the Washington Post after I think Game 3 where he basically said the Flyers and their fans are an embarrassment to the NHL because the fans chant not-nice things and because the Caps' skilled skaters aren't allowed to skate freely. Um, has he ever been to a hockey game?

When you always have to go back to the 1960s for an example (the infamous Santa Claus episode), that's a pretty telling sign.

P.S. Santa was booed because he was drunk and scaring children.

[nottaprettygal]

Your generalization is wrong. The Caps fans were THROWING GARBAGE AT THE FLYERS.

I hope I didn't give the impression that I was condoning the throwing of garbage. Of course not. That's childish.

As for the officiating in the Flyers/Caps game, no call could have been missed as egregiously as Sami Kapanen being blatantly tripped in overtime about two minutes before the call that led to the winning goal.

I think in overtime they just let them play, which is fine. So the refs let the first trip go, but felt like they had to call the second. I didn't really have a problem with the call.

If you're referring to the sequence when Huet got knocked over leading to a goal, that was not a penalty.

I'm too depressed to actually look at the play again, but it looked like he was purposely shoved into the goalie to me. I still think it's goalie interference even if a Philadephia player did not make contact with Huet (that was the explanation given by the NHL).

The Caps had a goal disallowed for the same thing (although less obvious) a few weeks ago.

I'll never change my mind about the goal. It was bullshit.

Frankly, I'll take it either way after the way Huet was babied the whole series by the refs.

Geez. Talk about a difference in perspective. If they were babying him then the refs wouldn't have given him penalties for retaliating when the Flyers were constantly knocking him over.

It was a tremendous series that was played well enough to win by both teams. I do agree that it was marred at times by some poor officiating, but on the whole I think it balanced out.

I agree for the most part, and usually I think NHL officiating is pretty good. I still want the Flyers to lose really bad.

[swordpath]

I still want the Flyers to lose really bad.

They will if they get to the Sharks.

[swordpath]

I'm still wondering how a game can go into 4 periods of OT without one goal scored... 80 minutes of no goals????

[pure_mercury]

Well, there it goes. The Flyers get the Montreal Screwjob. YouTube footage proves that Richards led with the shoulder, and, therefore, it wasn't a trip on Kovalev. That sucks.

[EffEmDoubleyou]

I didn't get to see the game because it wasn't on Versus, but the replay of the disputed Montreal goal I saw on ESPN shows that the player's stick slammed down onto the crossbar after tipping the puck in. Why isn't that evidence that the stick was above the crossbar when it hit the puck? The Richards clip does seem to show that he led with his shoulder, but that's a bang-bang kind of thing that the officials just miss sometimes. The disputed goal is something they had a chance to review on video and still did not correct.

I'm not going to complain too loudly because I did listen to the game on the radio and it sounded as if the Canadiens pretty much carried the play throughout the game. Still, it hurts to lose one that the Flyers could have stolen. I hope that losing a game that they led with 30 seconds left doesn't get in their heads too much.