Phil Kessel

[Ground Fighter]

I am a diehard Penguins fan, but my favorite all time player was Tie Domi (mainly because bad-ass Albanian, and I am half Albanian on my dads side)

Domi was a bad mamma-jamma. lol. Its a shame he retired recently. I remember back in the day when I was in grade school and he was still on the Rangers. During all the Devils/Rangers games, he and Daneyko would go at it constantly. Two players that I miss already.

 

[Lance Alworth]

oh, and i am also and avid NJ Devils hater. Watching them bore their way to the cup 3 times within 8 years made me sick. It also bothers me knowing that they have 1 more cup than my beloved Pens, and i agree that Daneyko and Stevens were straight up GOONS and hopefully that clutch and grab garbage wont fly in the new NHL

 

[C Darwin]

Lanny in his Rockie Gear

Edited by: C Darwin

 

[Ground Fighter]

oh, and i am also and avid NJ Devils hater. Watching them bore their way to the cup 3 times within 8 years made me sick. It also bothers me knowing that they have 1 more cup than my beloved Pens, and i agree that Daneyko and Stevens were straight up GOONS and hopefully that clutch and grab garbage wont fly in the new NHL

lol. Oh man, you and Realgeorge are killing me here. Whats with all the hostility towards my team? lol. The Devils have more cups than the Pens, and they've been in existence as a team for a shorter period of time. Also, Stevens and Daneyko were NOT goons. Darcy Tucker is a textbook example of a "goon", but Stevens and Daneyko were not. Stevens would just wait for people to make a mistake and then capitalize on it. A perfect example was the time he plastered Eric Lindros' brains all over center ice in the playoffs a few years ago. Lindros, the scumlord that he is, was carrying the puck across center ice with his head DOWN, and... BOOM! ...lights out. It was a 100% clean hit that just happened to give him a concussion. Stevens did the same thing to Paul Kariya a few years ago as well. Stevens isn't a "bad guy" because some players don't know how to skate with their head up.

I did the same thing to opponents in high school and in college. I played defense, and as soon as I saw a forward carrying the puck with his head down, I'd pivot, and line him up for a K.O. It's just smart hockey. Edited by: Ground Fighter

 

[Realgeorge]

oh, and i am also and avid NJ Devils hater. Watching them bore their way to the cup 3 times within 8 years made me sick. It also bothers me knowing that they have 1 more cup than my beloved Pens, and i agree that Daneyko and Stevens were straight up GOONS and hopefully that clutch and grab garbage wont fly in the new NHL

Amen! The Scott Stevens stuff ... the guy was talented but a goon, and like the other Devils used Clutch-and-Grab to make up for questionable skating speed. Contrast to Vladimir Konstantinov, Red Wings. Every bit as mean and nasty as Stevens, even as much as a Cheap-shot. But NEVER did you see Vlad or any Red Wing do the Clutch-and-Grab as the primary form of defense

 

[C Darwin]

Ground Fighter,

Claued Lemieux makes Tucker look like the Pope. Can you defend
this guy?

 

[Lance Alworth]

oh, and i am also and avid NJ Devils hater. Watching them bore their way to the cup 3 times within 8 years made me sick. It also bothers me knowing that they have 1 more cup than my beloved Pens, and i agree that Daneyko and Stevens were straight up GOONS and hopefully that clutch and grab garbage wont fly in the new NHL

lol. Oh man, you and Realgeorge are killing me here. Whats with all the hostility towards my team? lol. The Devils have more cups than the Pens, and they've been in existence as a team for a shorter period of time. Also, Stevens and Daneyko were NOT goons. Darcy Tucker is a textbook example of a "goon", but Stevens and Daneyko were not. Stevens would just wait for people to make a mistake and then capitalize on it. A perfect example was the time he plastered Eric Lindros' brains all over center ice in the playoffs a few years ago. Lindros, the scumlord that he is, was carrying the puck across center ice with is head DOWN, and... BOOM! ...lights out. It was a 100% clean hit that just happened to give him a concussion. Stevens did the same thing to Paul Kariya a few years ago as well. Stevens isn't a "bad guy" because some players don't know how to skate with their head up.

I did the same thing to opponents in high school and in college. I played defense, and as soon as I saw a forward carrying the puck with his head down, I'd pivot, and line him up for a K.O. Just smart hockey.

well, in fairness, my girlfriend is a devils fan (she's from jersey) and i tease her all the time about them boring their way to the cup. She kind of just laughs it off. Plus the Devils are in our division, and the Devils and Pens have always been huge rivals

 

[Lance Alworth]

Lanny in his Rockie Gear

That picture rules! The pants i have worn by him look just like that, only they're blue. The Rockies wore blue pants (although sometimes they wore the red ones too) with their home white jerseys

 

[Ground Fighter]

Ground Fighter,

Claued Lemieux makes Tucker look like the Pope. Can you defend
this guy?

lol...Ok, now Lemiuex falls under his OWN category of goon, so no, I can't defend him.

I actually met him when I was 12. My friend and I were at a public skating session at South Mountain Arena in West Orange, which is the Devils practice rink. He was there skating with his kid, who was like 3 at the time. He's a actually a real nice guy...just not if you're playing against him.

 

[Realgeorge]

Howdy Ground Fighter! A spirited defense of the NJDs!

Hey the NJ Devils are a GREAT franchise and no slight to Lamoriello's guys. And the GOON discussion: Lemieux absolutely, Stevens YES and Daneyko only when hungover. NJD fans had good reason to celebrate, the franchise found a way to win cups.

My objection [Will NOT back down!] is that the NJD were the prime team pushing the envelope of Clutch-grab-slowdownthegame and the NHL stood by and let them do it. [They especially employed Clutch-and-Grab to thwart Lemieux-Jagr-Stevens-Francis and the Penguins] Other teams followed suit and before you knew it, the splendid flying NHL game of the 1970s and 80s turned into the plodding slugefest of the late 1990s. Really the fault belongs at the feet of the greedy NHL owners and the ghouls of the NHL front office

The current NJDs are easier to root for. Parise, Elias and Madden and Pandolfo and Gomez ... a great NHL team. And this year they have to skate instead of tackle. They've adjusted, and NJD hockey is tolerable

 

[Lance Alworth]

I agree with RealGeorge. The Devils are at least tolerable now. The years they dominated however, that was 10 years of absolute horror

 

[Ground Fighter]

and Daneyko only when hungover.

Wow. I thought I was the only person who knew that Danyeko liked the booze. lol. You defintely know your stuff George, and I tip my hat to you.

 

[Realgeorge]

Back to Philip Kessel: I hope he does great things at the "Young" All-Star game. Really sad to hear of his cancer, what a rotten place to get it.

Recalling pre-NHL-draft discussions by some "Talking Heads" of ESPN and elsewhere, Kessel was supposed to be a risky draft pick for being "a head case." Well, garbage. He's been one of the Bruins' most solid players this year. The moribund Boston teams of the past four years could have well used the feisty Kessel. I wish he were on my favorite team.

And speaking of hangovers, there's no Hockey on the boob tube tonite! Withdrawal! But we'll tune into the AllStar game, hopefully it will be reasonable. The no-hit no-check format is goofy but I'd be the most irritated if MY favorite players got nicked and missed fifteen real games.

 

[Lance Alworth]

Kessel is good, but not as good as my boy Jordan Staal