Just a site note – main page had it’s most visitors ever in our short existence as people react to the Lightning sweeping Montreal and moving on to the conference final.

To the visitors, welcome. I hope you can find what you need here and please feel free to email me with any quesitons or suggestions.

I look at TBO.com and their sports section and what is the top stories for the day?

The Buccaneers securing a new radio hosting network with Mega-Corporate Clear Channel Communications, The Bucs top draft pick, the Devil Rays getting swept by the Red Sox….

Oh yeah, and then there was this little incident up in Montreal where the local team, I think they are called the Lightning, clinched an Eastern Conference Final berth in 4 games. Nothing important there. I’m sure they were debating whether to give the High School beat writer the space they provided the Lightning.

Of course, bitching out local media is easy. Bitching out National media and International media – now there’s a challenge! Lets start with JP Dellacamera from last nights telecast. First off, what was a soccer color man doing on a Hockey telecast? Had to do something with Ol? chants perhaps? And where was the coverage during the game of the fact 3 Lightning players fell on the ice during the first period and one of those falls resulted in Montreal’s score? There was none. Nada. Zip. I know at the time I brought up the fact that there may be bad ice at Bell Centre if this is going on…. John C. Cotey in his media breakdown seemed to share the sentiments. Excellent article on the telecast and the flubs / disrespect for Tampa Bay by ESPN…

Of course I can’t forget the hypocritical bullshit coming by way of Montreal and Gazette writer Jack Todd. It would seem Mr. Todd had nothing but props to give for Saku Koivu who let it be known he’s been playing hurt the entire series – broken ribs, torn cartilage, etc. Now, I can’t dis Koivu for playing with pain and persevering – he’s already demonstrated that with coming back from Stomach Cancer. Getting on the Montreal Media Machine playing up Koivu for “standing tall” by playing with pain while laying into Joe Thornton for playing injured in the Bruins loss to the Habs in the first round… Now that is just one large pile of hypocritical bullshit. (links would be included to the Montreal Gazette hypocrisy but Le Gazette and Canada.com deletes certain stories from their web site after a few days. A Google News search proved that, click on certain older links and you will see the stories have been removed).

I won’t go into more of ESPN’s bullshit. Between my post yesterday about Saunders flubbing certain stats in Pre-game to Cotey’s article in today’s Times, you can see plenty of weakness in the Former Sports Leader.

In a humorous turn – the Flames fans are rigging voting results on NHL.com again! Through a certain technical fault on NHL.com, one can vote in a poll numerous times with one push of the button… Well, Calgary has perfected exploiting this flaw and sent Miikka Kiprusoff to the top of the latest NHL.com poll. 172 thousand votes just MIGHT draw some attention that there was a problem with the system… Unfortunately the NHL doesn’t pay that close attention to their site. Hats off to the Flames and their fans for supporting Kippy…

And finally in the Media Bullshit column, TSN.ca gives props to Jay Feaster for building the Lightning. Now, Feaster put the Lightning over the top with certain acquisitions since he came into power with the Lightning – Corey Stillman, Daryl Sydor, Andre Roy and Chris Dingman just to name a few…. That’s no small order… But then again, I am one of those Lightning fans that still respect Rick Dudley for what he did for this team (which earns the bane of plenty of Lightning fans). Bringing in Khabibulin, St. Louis, Modin, Andreychuk, Taylor, signing Richards (which previous GM Phil Esposito might have passed on), Afansenkov, Cibak (see my previous post on the draft class of 1998). It’s almost impossible not to give props to Rick Dudley for rebuilding the Lightning and making them contenders in the first place. He’s the man who built the team, Jay Feaster has put them over the top the last 2 years (and without ruining the team like Jon Gruden and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers).

Anyone come across any other media bullshit online? Any comments?

Just in case there are a few night owls searching for information on the Lightning’s return home from Montreal….

The team is set to arrive at 2:30 Friday Morning (or 2:30 tonight) at Raytheon Aircraft Services at Tampa International Airport.

Remember the Bolts need to clear customs before they get out of there. They may not be out until 3 or 3:30 in the morning.

Postscript: Ben from paininthebutt.com, who also happens to be keeper of the Ice Girls (well, not really but he’s the lucky IMHO :biggrin ) has pictures of those who stayed up to greet the Bolts back in Tampa

Fredrick Modin Scores on the Empty net to seal Tampa Bay’s sweep of Les Habitants! The Lightning have secured their first ever Eastern Conference Final berth!

A game that seemingly lacked fire and desperation from Les Habs and the crowd in the Bell Center, the Lightning persevered through an early score from Montreal.

I’m a little too elated right now to give a play by play but Dan Boyle (with help from Vincent Lecavalier – the Bane of Les Habs) and Modin each scored to seal the sweep

Operation Andreychuk’s Cup and the Pass The Friggin’ Torch tour 2004 rolls on!!!

:woot

John Saunders lays another goose egg in pre-game…..

“…Plus the Montreal Canadiens have already come back from 3-0 against the Boston Bruins.”

WRONG. Les Habs came back from 2-0 and 3-1 versus the B’s. Only two teams have ever come back from down 3-0…

Lightning: A rare win

How unlikely was the Lightning’s comeback victory in Game 3?

Try less than 1 percent.

Make sure to read on and see the details to just how rare the victory was.

The simplicity and stupidity of this quiz insults the intelligence of most if not all hockey fans.

Hats off to the St. Petersburg Times for the redundant questions in their poll. :rolleyes

I’m only posting this story because of a personal twist on it.

While conversing on the Lightning usenet newsgroup, a Canadien fan / troll poster predicted the Habs would slaughter the Lightning and part of the reason was becasue the Lightning would experience the Montreal media and it would be like nothing they had experienced before.

Yeah… Even though we have a roster full of veterans, 3 frano-phones from Quebec, etc, etc… The Lightning would have never experienced the media or a media rush.

Well, with this next story (and I could have added the previous story which talked aobut a near fight breaking out over camera position on Vinny), I can see why someone would say the Media would play a part in taking apart the Lightning. The bad news is – it hasn’t happened.

Lightning: Slapshots

The starting time for Game 5 has been changed to 7 p.m. … The best fight of the postseason took place Tuesday, but not on the ice. Two reporters, one from TV and another from radio, fought in the Montreal dressing room after the game while trying to gain position for interviews. According to eyewitness accounts, the scuffle lasted nearly a minute and was broken up by other reporters. … The Lightning is 6-0 in these playoffs when it scores first.

What the hell was this supposed to be? A hockey game or a assassination attempt? If this is supposed to symbolize “la mystique de Les Habs” – it shows that Habs history is rather pathetic and current teams in Montreal are desperate to live up to the past glory of the Canadiens.

This comments after a brutal first period where no team had a clear upper hand — unless you count the crowd that was solidly behind the Canadiens through their thuggery. It’s a shame that the citizens of Quebec accept this as the current incarnation of the storied Canadiens…

Vincent Lecavalier — the MVP of the series — scored with seconds left in the 3rd period to send the game into overtime and then Brad Richards gets help from Jose Theodore in overtime to win in Montreal’s Bell Center and silence the hostilities of the local fans. The Lightning win 4-3 and take a commanding 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals with Game Four scheduled for Thursday in Montreal.

Fisticuffs and thuggery reigned in the first period as shoving matches and scuffles dominated play. It was “Fun” (sarcasm oozing) to watch Eric Perrin standing in front of Jose Theodore before being ganged up on by the Canadiens… Andre Roy skated to his defense and was met with 3 of Les Habs, while Perrin was put into a headlock and then thrown to the ice and pinned against the boards for an unknown duration of time (thanks to commercial interruption in the local telecast).

Richards can be anointed the hero of this game — scoring twice — but Lecavalier is the savior of the game

There’s a poll on TSN.ca that I find interesting and the results I find quite amusing.

Would you be in favor of the East not meeting the West during the regular season?

The staggering vote is for NO, that East should meet up with West. I’m part of the minority vote that decided that the East should stay East. Now why would I side like that?

Looking past the Ultra-traditionalist insistence that all Canadian Teams play each other, there isn’t much reason why the East should play the West during the season. Oh sure, Eastern Conference cities would absolutely love to see some of the talent from out west — I look forward to when the Colorado Avalanche visit the Lightning every single year because the games are so damned exciting. The problem is the big games inter-conference are so few and far between that it just isn’t justified for schedule making.

Perhaps adopting an NFL like system of rotating-divisions from each conference should be taken up? It helps in the final schedule design but also limits trips out west. It doesn’t kill off any National rivalries – it just delays them for a season or two during the division rotation.

The NHL needs to move past the Ultra-traditionalist stance on things if the masses are going to pick up the game… You don’t market to a select few with a pro sports league. You want to appeal to the masses and maximize marketing and coverage. Unfortunately the Ultra-Traditionalist runs the NHL and it makes the league more backwards than Major League Baseball.

If game one serves as a template for game two, what the Quebec media will publish tomorrow will say that the Habs outplayed the LIghtning and the LIghtning still won. Another distortion of just how the game was played

The Bolts came out in the 1st period and it was amateur hour. The Habs looked like they didn’t even belong on the same ice as the Lightning as the Bolts went up 2-0 rather quickly. Was it a case of nerves? Maybe Was it the gameplan to be aggressive like the Islanders in their game two victory? Perchance. Whatever the reason, the Lightning still dominated play for all of 5 minutes in the first period. Saku Koivu scored on a power play (outworking for the goal) to make the score 2-1.

The 2nd period is where the Quebe media willesee the entire game. The Habs defense was spectacular, keeping the Lightning from making many opportunities, while both teams went back and forth over and over again. The only problem with the 2nd periodd was that, it seemed, eveyone on Les Habs knew there wasn’t much time left and stopped playing all out. Vincent Lecavalier capitalized on that mistake and the score went to 3-1

The third period returned to the Lightning’s favor but the solid defense held up… Solid two way play on both sides and a running brooding from both teams.

The Lightning head to Quebec to play in one of Hockey’s most hollowed cities for games 3 and 4… Unlike all their previous visits, this will be in the playoffs.

…Which will lead to reports from the Quebec media that the Lightning haven’t played in Montreal before. Just you wait… :rolleyes

Usually I don’t hand out much respect for Phil Esposito. I do thank him for bringing Hockey to Tampa Bay but I really believe part of what went wrong with the Lightning was his insistence on having veterans on the roster and not young guys with upside…

I mean, Ives Racine? Paul Ysebart? Trading away five draft picks for Renberg? Bill Ranford? Etc, etc, etc…

But Phil left us one thing that I truly, greatly and deeply appreciate, and that is the draft class of 1998…

Oh, the Lecavalier pick was a gimmie so I don’t give him too many props for that, and the Brad Richards pick was at Lecavalier’s urging which is also a bit of a cop out… but there were two more picks that have cracked the Lightning lineup this year and at least one of them seems like a future mainstay on the roster. Those picks are Dmitry Afansenkov and Martin Cibak.

Of the previous 3 drafts before 1998 — only 3 players remain with the Lightning (and one of them did not break into the NHL with the Lightning — Shane Willis). Look over the draft classes and out of all of them, a few names stand out but for the most part – the draft and Phil’s overseeing of it had been dismal.

Of course, someone will jump up and say he liked what Phil did better than anything Rick Dudley did but I ask — who put most of the current players on the roster on the team? Richards was signed by Dudley, Modin and St. Louis were both Dudley acquisitions as was Tim Taylor and Dave Andreychuk. I don’t know when Cibak or Afansenkov signed but compared to how many of the past players (under Espo’s tenure) remained with the Lightning, I’m willing to be Dudley was More likely to have signed these players than Espo.

At any rate, i give thanks to Phil for having one good draft year out of the 7 he oversaw…. I don’t question your passion for this team and how it is indeed your baby and your creation… I just think you were a lousy Gm. No offense.

The Canadian media, not having Vincent Lecavalier trade rumors to work with during the Lightning vs. Habs playoff series, have decided to lay into Tampa Bay for not selling out their playoff game versus Les Habs on Friday.

Yes, it’s an attendance epidemic of course,… Tampa Bay doesn’t deserve a hockey team and blah-blah-blah, yada-yada-yada, so sayeth the Ultra-traditionalists in Hockey who can’t stand teams that are in non-traditional markets. The same garbage I have been hearing since the Lightning started playing poorly in 1996-97 till last season.

What I’d like to know is, where are these Ultra-Traditionalists when the New Jersey Devils — The reigning Stanley Cup Champions — failed to sell out playoff games? Where were the Ultra-traditionalists when Boston failed to sell out playoff hockey games versus New Jersey last season? Where were these Ultra-traditionalists when the Ottawa Senators failed to sell out playoff hockey games last season?

Frankly, you guys are full of shit.

If you want to focus on the ticket sale “problem” in Tampa Bay, you need to include every market in the league that fails to sell out nightly (the Ultra-traditionalist standard, by way of Montreal, Quebec and Toronto, Ontario ). Never could there be a problem with ticket prices because EVERYONE should be willing to pay high ticket prices to attend hockey games. This is a great sport after all and it’s not like pricing out people happens:rolleyes

Yes, that’s right folks — pricing out people is the real attendance epidemic in the National Hockey League. Between ownership greed in the past and player greed in the present, people are being priced out of attending hockey games — especially playoff hockey games where currently prices at St. Pete Times Forum are at a 75 percent increase over the regular season average. All but the elite / die hard crowd are able to afford tickets and people much like myself find themselves priced out, or forced to wait at 1 AM on gameday to buy a small number of nosebleeder, 8 dollar tickets that go on sale at 9 AM.

Why would fans do that? Because they refuse to pay 60 bucks for upper deck tickets in the corner. Any other sport charges less for playoff tickets that are at a distance from the game and Hockey prices out the people who would buy these tickets on the norm.

I honestly want to argue about the NFL system compared to the NHL system but the contrast between the two is huge — 65+ thousand seats are within the average NFL stadium while the average NHL arena has 20 thousand seats. You could get tickets to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2003, good tickets in the lower bowl to see the Super Bowl Champions, for about 60 dollars…

In the playoffs you are asking people in the NHL to pony up twice that to sit in the lower bowl of a hockey arena – and those are the cheapest seats in the lower bowl. You have priced out how many regular season game attendees by doing this?

Yes, there’s a serious attendance problem in Tampa Bay and it’s not the fact we’re a non-traditional market. The team and the league is bad at pricing out fans, terrible at pricing out minorities and extremely bad at marketing our games because of it. And lo and behold – it’s an epidemic in the United States in general if not all of North America and not just here. Even if Ultra-traditionalists can’t see past the geography of the problem.

So enough of my rant, lets go back to the Vincent Lecavalier trade rumors, because the flock-of-seagulls crowd from the great white north are exceedingly good at making that shit up too.

Jaques Martin’s Firing

Tampa Bay Lightning head coach John Tortorella, in an interview with CBC last night, called the Martin firing “bullshit.”

Mr. Tortorella said he believed the Senators played a very good series, and had the Ottawa goalie made a couple of saves it would have been a different series. He said the Martin firing shows that management is once again letting players off the hook.

I had no idea about Tortorella’s comments. I learned about them from all of you web-surferes who started searching for “Tortorella CBC” or “Tortorella is an ass” with regards to his comments here.

I’m going to make an odd coaching comparison but John Tortorella has seen this before where the coach gets the blame isntead of the players. Who, what and where did he see it? Here in Tampa Bay with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers firing Tony Dungy because of repeated playoff losses.

If players played with more heart, Dungy keeps his job and the Buccaneers advance on their own without needing an adrenalin shot that would amount to Jon Gruden. It’s very easy for us – the fans – to make the coach out to be the scapecoat. Tortorella himself was on thin ice earlier this season when the Lightning, after a white-hot start in October – tanked most of November and December. Jacques Demers, former Lightning head coach and TV analyst, was predicting Torts firing if the Lightning were to lose tot he Canadiens during a game in January.

Torts calling Martin’s firing “bullshit” seems about right to me but then again – I know how it is to be a bitter fan who is disappointed his / her team never gets beyond a certain point in the playoffs or gets past a certain playoff opponent. Martin may very well go on to success elsewhere but his dismissal in Ottawa may have been necessary for both the team and for the coach.

Note to Jose Theodore…

Next time you pick up your stick, do it after you have made a save…

Everything went south after the floodgates were opened by Theodore’s mishandling of being short sticked. The Lightning – who ran rings around the Canadiens tonight thanks to ample time off, take a 1-0 series lead in this best of seven series after defeating Les Habs, 4-0.

That’s four….

Four shutouts for Nikolai Khabibulin this post season. Games 1, 3 and 4 were 3-0 shutouts versus the Islanders in round one (who I found a lot more intimidating than the Canadiens in game 1 of this series). Odds are you don’t see another shut out this series but if you do – it will be quite a sight.

“Mr. Bradley? Mr. Bradley? Look over here Mr. Bradley…. Brian? Mr. Bradley? Over here….”

I don’t know if it’s the post concussion syndrome or extremely poor direction. My guess is both… But Watching Bradley’s eyes… it’s just HILARIOUS

FIGHT!!

First Intermission for the Calgary Flames / Detroit Red Wings game is on. John Saunders and Barry Melrose are part of a barrage of buffoonery during the telecast….

“It was supposed to be the Tampa Bay Lightning vs. the Boston Bruins” says Saunders… Quite a respectable sportscaster.

Uh, hold it right there John… If the Boston Bruins made it out of the first round, they would have been facing the Philadelphia Flyers. Tampa Bay would have been playing the lowest seed remaining – which is the Toronto Maple Leafs.

So the short intermission report on the TB / Montreal game for tomorrow night is talked about and then they go to a graphic advertising the game and they show a picture of Vincent Lecavalier and label him as Martin St. Louis…

:rolleyes

Nice job, ESPN, for your research. Next time, do us all a favor and just pick up the CBC telecast and forgo the idiocy. Disney’s management has shown that ESPN no longer cares for the NHL and personally – I no longer care for ESPN. Next station, please….

From The Tampa Bay Business Journal

United States Postal Service employees in the great Tampa Bay area have been given approval to wear Tampa Bay Lightning gear in support of the team’s ongoing National Hockey League playoff run. Carriers and post office window clerks were given approval Tuesday to wear Lightning jerseys, shirts and hats as part of their work uniforms on game days starting Friday.

“The relaxation of the uniform regulations will continue as long as the Tampa Bay Lightning remain in the Stanley Cup playoffs,” Tampa Postmaster Rich Rome stated in a release.

There you go, kids, tentative second round schedule for the Lightning… This will be appended for TV schedules and such in the hours to come.

Go Dave, Go Bolts! Pass the Friggin’ Torch tour 2004 rolls on

With their victory over the Boston Bruins tonight (in spectacular fashion – going from 2 games down to winning the series) Les Habitants, the Montreal Canadiens, will be the next opponent for the Lightning.

I’m still waiting on the schedulign fo rht enext series so i will post the 2nd round of Operation Andreychuk’s Cup as soon as I get that.

You were wondering what exactly Jassen Cullimore and Cory Stillamn’s injuries were, now, thanks to the Instigator, you have it

Yahoo’s NHL Home Page is currently conducting a poll on how the Lightning are going to fair in the remainder of the Playoffs…

Right now, the opinions of those voting aren’t very encouraging.… but then again? Most opinions from Neo-traditionalists would have placed us in last in our division just because….

Taken from VKMHVM2 on an Islanders vs Lightning thread

Well, at least they are being creative in their suffering.

Before the 3rd Largest hockey crowd in Times Palace history, the Lightning go to overtime and then send the Islanders to the off season in splendid fashion… Defeating them 3-2.

Frederik Modin — Damnit, if this guy doesn’t wear the C when Andreychuk steps down or retires, it’s a crime I tell you. Both fo Tampa Bay’s 2nd period goals resulted in crucial Modin assists. Tim Taylor and Ruslan Fedotenko notched the goals themselves but without Modin’s balls-to-the-wall plays, there wouldn’t have been a chance.

And in Overtime? Who else do you look to besides Martin St. Louis? Team MVP, possible Hart Trophy winner, Lester B. Pearson candidate, Selke trophy winner and of coruse the guy who sent the Isles back to Nassau County with a slap shot that went over DiPietro’s right shoulder.

Hats off to the Islanders for playing one hell of a series, no matter what the outcome this was great hockey….

:woot :woot :woot :woot :woot

Round Two of the Stanley Cup playoffs is coming your way in a matter of days as Operation Andreychuk’s Cup gears up for the conference Semi Finals