2016-2017 NHL Season

[Jack Lambert]

Good post Don. I found myself thinking about that last night; the Penguins crowd was awesome! They were loud and into the game. Even at 6-0, there was hardly an empty seat in the arena at the end of the game! I think it was one of the guys on either the intermission report, or on the postgame NHL Network show who said something like: "I know the crowd in Nashville was good, but these Penguins fans are absolutely rocking it here tonight!"

I've tried watching bits and pieces of the NBA playoffs, and it doesn't come anywhere near the excitement of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Every game has so much excitement to it for the most part. No team is a "sure thing" to advance, anything can happen, and the players play at a whole new level, and it's awesome. I've managed to get a couple of my friends watching Penguins games from time to time these playoffs as well! I've also gotten into them a lot more this year. Most of the years, I'd watch as many Penguins games as I could, but not many others. It was fun getting to watch a few more this spring. At the start of the playoffs, I saw a lot of hockey jerseys and shirts around - more so than the last few years it seemed like. I do think the popularity of hockey is growing, and I hope it continues. I agree on your media point as well.

 

[celticdb15]

Outstanding Game 6 so far! Scoreless with 9 minutes left. Both defenses and goalies Have been flawless.

 

[Don Wassall]

Back to back!!!!!!

 

[Jack Lambert]

I'm usually not one for "fanboy" posts, but..... the Penguins win the Stanley Cup!!!!!!!!!! Wooooooooo!!!! Back to back Stanley Cup Champs!!!!!!!

Murray played an A+ game tonight, coming up with some amazing saves on Nashville. The Predators did have a goal that shouldn't have been waved off, but other than that, Murray absolutely stone-walled Nashville. Rinne did the same for Nashville, and played spectacularly as well.

Hornqvist made a great play in scoring off of Rinne's back with just 1:35 left in the game. Nashville gave everything they had, but so did Pittsburgh. What a game and a hell of a season for the Penguins!!

 

[Ambrose]

Very even game and series but the difference was the Penguins just had more finesse on the attack. Very tough to win it all on hustle alone. In the second and third periods, Penguins could hold the puck in the Nashville end and sustain pressure. Both goalies were great. The arena was sold out in Nashville with about 50,000 standing outside; in Pittsburgh the arena was sold out and there wasn't even a game being played there.

Big white crowds, big white event, no problems, and great atmosphere. Canadian media covered it all too!

 

[Don Wassall]

I'm so glad I follow this 99% White "niche" sport! The Penguins are the only team I root for year in and year out and to win it two years in a row is just fantastic. I'm not even sure how they did it this time. Last year they caught fire and were the best team in the league down the stretch and kept it going in the playoffs. This year it took a helluva lot of guile, heart and guts to go along with their talent. To have to knock off Columbus and Washington just to get to the conference finals was tough enough; and then they had to keep it going against a tough Ottawa team and "cinderella" Nashville.

Man it's great to be a hockey DWF today!!!!

 

[McCaffrey Dude]

BOOOOOOO ! Lets go Rangers!

 

[Jack Lambert]

I'm so glad I follow this 99% White "niche" sport! The Penguins are the only team I root for year in and year out and to win it two years in a row is just fantastic. I'm not even sure how they did it this time. Last year they caught fire and were the best team in the league down the stretch and kept it going in the playoffs. This year it took a helluva lot of guile, heart and guts to go along with their talent. To have to knock off Columbus and Washington just to get to the conference finals was tough enough; and then they had to keep it going against a tough Ottawa team and "cinderella" Nashville.

Man it's great to be a hockey DWF today!!!!

You got that right! The Pens are the only major sports team I'm able to root for wholeheartedly anymore as well. Even though last year's run was fun, this year's win was a whole lot more satisfying for me for the reasons you mention. They had to grind it out and dig deep in the last three series this time, which was awesome to watch; every time it looked like they'd lose, they surprised and played great and grinded out results when they needed them. Washington Game 4 without Crosby, Washington Game 7, Ottawa Game 5 and 7, and Nashville Game 5 and 6 are the examples that come to mind for me. A truly amazing playoff run for the Pens this year!

 

[Jack Lambert]

650,000 Penguins fans lined the streets today for the Stanley Cup victory parade!! It's awesome seeing Pittsburgh coming out to support the Pens. An article I read said this is the largest crowd of it's type in Pittsburgh history, which would mean the Penguins got more attendees than even the Steelers' victory parades! It's a great time to be a Penguins fan!

http://www.wtae.com/article/some-fa...ad-of-todays-penguins-victory-parade/10020873

 

[Don Wassall]

It was a big crowd, but 650,000? No way. It cracked me up the way the local TV stations kept repeating that number today with a straight face. A little "fake news" hype for the city. That would be over 1/4 of the entire Pittsburgh metro area population. Take away very young children, the old, those who have no interest in hockey, those who had to work, those who had to go to school, and the very large group who had no interest in maneuvering their cars through closed and jammed streets and looking for parking and then driving home through the same madness (like me for example), and it would have taken a George Soros-type busing in of Penguins fans from around the country to get anywhere close to that number. It may have been 10 or 15 percent of the claimed number, but it's common for cities to exaggerate numbers for positive events. Whatever the actual turnout it was a very happy crowd. I never thought it would be possible for the Penguins (or Pirates) to become as popular as the Steelers, but the Pens are right up there with them now.

 

[Shadowlight]

I get home last night open my mailbox and Sid the Kid is on the cover of Sports Illustrated hoisting the Stanley Cup!! First person I thought of was Don. (JL too). And the NBA winners were relegated to a reference running across the top. ACE job and correct decision given the circumstances of the two league finals. Until I opened the magazine. Granted I was fortunate enough to get the hockey cover but SI had decided to do a "split cover" which means many other subscribers received the Durant cover. Not exactly sure how they split it up regionally but this cover thing is something SI started I can't remember how many years ago but to me it SUCKS. First of all it reeks of that everybody gets an "A" in class mentality or in little league everybody gets a trophy type of hog wash. Screw that crap. There should only be ONE SI cover and I wish they never started this "regional" garbage of tailor fitting the cover to "target" audiences. It CHEAPENS the whole concept of the SI cover. It used to mean a great deal to end up on the cover of SI but like so many other things today everything gets watered down. Additionally SI neglected to cover the French Open. There was a two page photo spread of Nadal with a blurb and no mention of the women's championship. I guess without big Serena SI figured why bother?
So it is great that Sidney Crosby was on the cover and I lucked out and got it but SI didn't have the balls to go full on so they copped out with split covers.

 

[Don Wassall]

Watch Carl Hagelin blow past lumbering supa-afflete P. K. Subban to score the empty net goal that clinched the Stanley Cup for the Penguins in Game 6:

 

[Jack Lambert]

I thought an athlete like Subban would've easily been able to beat Hagelin to the puck, with his quick twitch muscles and all. They must not be so quick-twitched when he's on skates .

 

[SneakyFast]

I thought an athlete like Subban would've easily been able to beat Hagelin to the puck, with his quick twitch muscles and all. They must not be so quick-twitched when he's on skates .

Whats funny is Subban looks like he can barely balance himself to skate, and his slowness is like that of molasses coming out of a canadian maple...remember if you are black you don't have to have talent to play pro sports just show up and the system will make up lies for you.

 

[sprintstar]

He has always been slow as he relies on positional play to make up for his slow feet. He is also a quitter.....he made no attempt to catch Hagelin (who can fly by the way), he just plain quit trying....he is a slow footed, slow-minded...wimp and I for one cannot stand the fact he is in the NHL and is from my country!!

 

[SneakyFast]

He has always been slow as he relies on positional play to make up for his slow feet. He is also a quitter.....he made no attempt to catch Hagelin (who can fly by the way), he just plain quit trying....he is a slow footed, slow-minded...wimp and I for one cannot stand the fact he is in the NHL and is from my country!!

And to add he was given a position a career despite NOT HAVING TO EARN OR HAVE THE TALENT TO DESERVE IT. I'm sure there are schmos from all around Canada that can play better than him. They just have the wrong skin color.

 

[sprintstar]

to be honest his style of play and slow feet remind me of Mike Greir who used to play for Edmonton, slow and dumb.....

 

[Shadowlight]

I was disappointed Edmonton faltered because I wanted to see lightening bolt Connor McDavid on a bigger national stage but he did win the MVP last night and appears to be following in the footsteps of other once in a generation players like Gretzky and Crosby.
And there could be yet another one in the 2019 NHL Draft. His name is Jack Hughes and he is nearly as fast as a speeding bullet. A name to remember. Some other awards went to Auston Matthews for top rookie, Brent Burns top defenseman, Johnny Gaudreau Lady Bing and best goalie went to Sergei Bobrovsky.

 

[SneakyFast]

to be honest his style of play and slow feet remind me of Mike Greir who used to play for Edmonton, slow and dumb.....

Oh God yes I remember back in the 90's when hockey was on ESPN...it was a pain to watch.