It would be a close contest but they would edge out the Italian soccer team to bring home the gold!
- HawkintheD

I sware to god american humor is pretty crap, I could just hear you Nyuk nyuking as you wrote that. Man, that's some heavy stuff genius.

The 'classy' argument is amusing to me. One side (Carcillo's season ending hit from behind last season, Keith on Sedin, Burish calling Pronger an idiot and saying he'd punch him... After already winning the cup) vs the other side (sedin's comments after they won the series, bieksa's hair pulling, city wide riots, and that dude that fueled the kieth hit). Neither is classy.... At least in Philly we are under no delusion of being class acts
- moylander

+1

It is silly that that argument even appears on these boards. I always like the charity work argument too. While important it seems to negate various misdeeds perpetrated on the ice.

I sware to god american humor is pretty crap, I could just hear you Nyuk nyuking as you wrote that. Man, that's some heavy stuff genius.
- rune_74

Apparently, Canadian (yours anyway) spelling and context are pretty crap??? too.

JJ - gotta disagree with you on the rivalry being dead. Don't get a sense that is the case. I think there are a ton of people looking forward to tonight and I think the emotions will run high for fans and players.

Otherwise - fair questions on the hawks. Although as many questions as there are about physical play, a 2C, goaltending...I do like that they can roll out 6 D and spread the minutes out a bit. Seemed like last year the Hawks had about 3.5 NHL Dmen every night. So that in itself has helped improve the club.

Will be interesting to see how Bobby Lu does tonight.

For what it's worth my lineup would be:

Frolik-Toews-Hossa > Frolik has worked really hard and is winning board battles consistently, and looks offensively dangerous…he's earned a chance.

Sharp-Bolland-Kane > This line has performed reasonably well and showed good chemistry…let them try to keep it going,

Shaw-Kruger-Stalberg > I much prefer Shaw on the wing and I think he looks more comfortable there. Kruger looks ready for the next step.

Bollig-Mayers-Saad > This will give Saad an opportunity to be the offensive player on a line and play on a high energy line.

Just my 2C

1. Our, as in the team from Our city that We cheer for. It shouldn't be too difficult to understand so i'll just give you a bit more time to process it.

2. Classy, as in donate time and plenty of money to various charities. I don't think he's ever had a major penalty in his career.

3. Of course it's diving, nobody would ever be guilty of an infraction of a top scorer in the league.

4. He has more goals than Kane or Toews, but maybe you didn't know that. It's gonna be hard to give all the credit to the Sedins seeing as how he has more points than Henrik. Yup, 1st line player.

5. Coming from the team that dressed John Scott in the playoffs?
- golfingsince



From most accounts they are relatively classy though a lot of NHL players do charity work and the Hawk organIzation is big on this as well.

I do think you could define Hank's comments after ousting the Hawks in game 7 as less than charitable. Yes you beat them but I'm not sure it's classy to discount your opponent so by saying the Hawks were never really in it (don't remember exactly but it was something to that effect) when it took OT in the 7th game to get the job done.

Btw, I'm sure your aware diving is still only a minor penalty; so until they change the rule I'd say their record of no majors is pretty safe.


- HawkintheD

You do realize Toews made similar comments, right?

One can't be "unclassy" without the other.

IMO, the comments of both were blown out of proportion. Both are classy guys and players.

I sware to god american humor is pretty crap, I could just hear you Nyuk nyuking as you wrote that. Man, that's some heavy stuff genius.
- rune_74


Apparently, Canadian (yours anyway) spelling and context are pretty crap??? too.

I may have meant diction or syntax but something tells me rube_74 won't know the difference.

Pulling hair by itself is a bit weak I'll give you that much no problem, but if the guys is fish hooking you at the time i'd let go, after all it is a fight.

Speaking of fighting, how many has Bolland been in. He sure likes the cheap shyte, likes to pic on the Sedins and run his mouth about how soft they are...who oddly, last time i checked had the same amount of fighting majors.

Bolland must be soft...or scared, probobaly both.
- PopCanBong

Bolland Cup Rings 1, Sedin Bro's Rings 0

Bolland does his job, Burrows can play, he is a good player, but he is a very stupid hockey player. Countless videos of Hawks Canucks highlights where Burrows does something distatasteful.

Go on youtube, look at highlights from these games. Bolland and Sedin are jawing at the benches and burrows flies to the other side of the ice. Hits Bolland into the bench and unloads haymakers to the back of his head. He is trash.

Bolland takes on the other teams best players in the Playoffs and does what he is asked to do, which is get them off their game. He did it in every series with Vancouver. But he has never done near as bad as the antics Burrows has pulled. So relax. Take a lap and come back when your done polishing your teams cup rings. Oh wait...

For what it's worth my lineup would be:

Frolik-Toews-Hossa > Frolik has worked really hard and is winning board battles consistently, and looks offensively dangerous…he's earned a chance.

Sharp-Bolland-Kane > This line has performed reasonably well and showed good chemistry…let them try to keep it going,

Shaw-Kruger-Stalberg > I much prefer Shaw on the wing and I think he looks more comfortable there. Kruger looks ready for the next step.

Bollig-Mayers-Saad > This will give Saad an opportunity to be the offensive player on a line and play on a high energy line.

Just my 2C
- andru2797

Frolik deserves a bump, but so does Stalberg. Its a tough decision because the 29-65-25 line continues to improve and develop more chemistry. Moving Frolik to the top line would have the smallest impact on the roster, but if Saad is going to play I don't know if the 4th line is the best place for him.

You do realize Toews made similar comments, right?

One can't be "unclassy" without the other.

IMO, the comments of both were blown out of proportion. Both are classy guys and players.
- Fosco

Fair enough. I know when I heard Hank's comments I was still in a shyte mood after losing.

Just curious, don't recall what JT said.

Chris Kuc ‏@ChrisKuc
#Blackhawks' Duncan Keith on Canucks' Daniel Sedin: "I was glad to see him come back and play in the playoffs. I mean that."

Fair enough. I know when I heard Hank's comments I was still in a shyte mood after losing.

Just curious, don't recall what JT said.
- HawkintheD

Something about exposing those guys for what they really are...

Pretty similar to Henrik's comments. Both were comments that if you heard them in a bad mood, or really wanted to make something more out of competitive spirit, they sound a lot worse than they really are.

Chris Kuc ‏@ChrisKuc
#Blackhawks' Duncan Keith on Canucks' Daniel Sedin: "I was glad to see him come back and play in the playoffs. I mean that."
- philco28

Good to hear. I believe him.

Yeah, but you are from PEI. Who gives a (frank) what you think.
- bloatedmosquito

And you wonder why Canadians won't embrace the Nuxks
The board is about fun and exchanging ideas

Personal attacks like this are unwarranted and not worthy of a response

Your a fool and a child

Grow up

Bolland Cup Rings 1, Sedin Bro's Rings 0

Bolland does his job, Burrows can play, he is a good player, but he is a very stupid hockey player. Countless videos of Hawks Canucks highlights where Burrows does something distatasteful.

Go on youtube, look at highlights from these games. Bolland and Sedin are jawing at the benches and burrows flies to the other side of the ice. Hits Bolland into the bench and unloads haymakers to the back of his head. He is trash.

Bolland takes on the other teams best players in the Playoffs and does what he is asked to do, which is get them off their game. He did it in every series with Vancouver. But he has never done near as bad as the antics Burrows has pulled. So relax. Take a lap and come back when your done polishing your teams cup rings. Oh wait...
- nickmo2699

I took an extra lap in leiu of not having a cup ring, thanks good tip.

Agree, Bolland has a cup, but agree to disagee on who is dirtier him or Alex. Alex has pulled some beauty moves over his carreer no question, but he generally starts the game playing hockey and only goes all dirty when the game dictates it. Bolland is only on the ice for 1 reason, stir poop up...and then when he does he never, ever backs it up, frick the guy doesn't even turtle cause you'd have to show up to turtle.

He may go out and check the opposing teams best player, and when it's a player who he knows won't fight him he pulls out is book of crap. But we both know he won't do that poop to Jamie Benn, Iginla, Thorton etc...only the Sedins of the league...big frigging baby.

So to sum up...1 cup for Bolland, but still a douche and for the love of the game, someone get him a better fitting helmet - perhaps Rebook can make a rat sized one for him

I took an extra lap in leiu of not having a cup ring, thanks good tip.

Agree, Bolland has a cup, but agree to disagee on who is dirtier him or Alex. Alex has pulled some beauty moves over his carreer no question, but he generally starts the game playing hockey and only goes all dirty when the game dictates it. Bolland is only on the ice for 1 reason, stir poop up...and then when he does he never, ever backs it up, frick the guy doesn't even turtle cause you'd have to show up to turtle.

He may go out and check the opposing teams best player, and when it's a player who he knows won't fight him he pulls out is book of crap. But we both know he won't do that poop to Jamie Benn, Iginla, Thorton etc...only the Sedins of the league...big frigging baby.

So to sum up...1 cup for Bolland, but still a douche and for the love of the game, someone get him a better fitting helmet - perhaps Rebook can make a rat sized one for him
- PopCanBong

Can we all agree that what he has pulled is a big handful of Dunc's hair?

I took an extra lap in leiu of not having a cup ring, thanks good tip.

Agree, Bolland has a cup, but agree to disagee on who is dirtier him or Alex. Alex has pulled some beauty moves over his carreer no question, but he generally starts the game playing hockey and only goes all dirty when the game dictates it. Bolland is only on the ice for 1 reason, stir poop up...and then when he does he never, ever backs it up, frick the guy doesn't even turtle cause you'd have to show up to turtle.

He may go out and check the opposing teams best player, and when it's a player who he knows won't fight him he pulls out is book of crap. But we both know he won't do that poop to Jamie Benn, Iginla, Thorton etc...only the Sedins of the league...big frigging baby.

So to sum up...1 cup for Bolland, but still a douche and for the love of the game, someone get him a better fitting helmet - perhaps Rebook can make a rat sized one for him
- PopCanBong

This post just got me harder then chinese algerba.

Bolland Cup Rings 1, Sedin Bro's Rings 0

Bolland does his job, Burrows can play, he is a good player, but he is a very stupid hockey player. Countless videos of Hawks Canucks highlights where Burrows does something distatasteful.

Go on youtube, look at highlights from these games. Bolland and Sedin are jawing at the benches and burrows flies to the other side of the ice. Hits Bolland into the bench and unloads haymakers to the back of his head. He is trash.

Bolland takes on the other teams best players in the Playoffs and does what he is asked to do, which is get them off their game. He did it in every series with Vancouver. But he has never done near as bad as the antics Burrows has pulled. So relax. Take a lap and come back when your done polishing your teams cup rings. Oh wait...
- nickmo2699

Stanley cup jokes!

You must have stayed up all night writing those ones.

Can we all agree that what he has pulled is a big handful of Dunc's hair?
- HawkintheD

Can we agree that when push comes to shove, Bolland is a coward that has yet to answer for his antics?

Hahaha I pretty much said that. Not showing up on the score sheet has little to do with it. Hossa does not typically respect rookies or players who are less than elite. He will not give the puck willingly to Carcillo and did the same thing to Kruger last year at times. He (and Toews) seem to ignore the kid on the bench which strikes me as odd.

Hate to get repetitive with this but swapping Sharp and Saad or Kane and Hossa is really the only viable option to fix this unless you want him skating junk minutes which kind of defeats the purpose of having him there, especially with the team winning. The level of play really doesn't warrant a benching either. Give the second line someone who will go hard to the net and give Hossa someone he is comfortable playing with.

All the lines could be retooled but 5-0-1 is pretty self explanatory and unless that middle number changes from 0 to 3 or 4 in short order there isn't much justification for the staff to shuffle the deck.
- fattybeef

They ignore him because they probably don't respect him based on his lack of production. Hype is all well and fine, but backing it up with actual production is what gains you respect in the locker-room.

We'll agree to disagree, but if they hit a speed bump he better be off that line if he's still not producing.

I do agree with you that having him with the big club sitting in the press box or playing low minutes doesn't do much for his confidence or progression. If it comes to that, he goes back to Rockford.

I took an extra lap in leiu of not having a cup ring, thanks good tip.

Agree, Bolland has a cup, but agree to disagee on who is dirtier him or Alex. Alex has pulled some beauty moves over his carreer no question, but he generally starts the game playing hockey and only goes all dirty when the game dictates it. Bolland is only on the ice for 1 reason, stir poop up...and then when he does he never, ever backs it up, frick the guy doesn't even turtle cause you'd have to show up to turtle.

He may go out and check the opposing teams best player, and when it's a player who he knows won't fight him he pulls out is book of crap. But we both know he won't do that poop to Jamie Benn, Iginla, Thorton etc...only the Sedins of the league...big frigging baby.

So to sum up...1 cup for Bolland, but still a douche and for the love of the game, someone get him a better fitting helmet - perhaps Rebook can make a rat sized one for him
- PopCanBong

Valid Points, but didnt Bolland shut down Thornton in the 2010 Cup run? I believe he did. Like I said Burrows has a good shot and pretty good hands, but carries himself poorly.

That's an excellent blueprint for success. Now just who should they give up to get those players - a bunch of excess garbage in Toledo and Rockford? I'm very surprised Stan couldn't turn Peter Leblanc into Andrew Ladd or Max Pacioretty. Instead, all he could do was open a space on his 50 man total roster.
- RickJ

I am not talking about a top six forward, though an Andrew Ladd would be amazing. These types are unaffordable. I am talking about youngish guys who have 2 or 3 years experience, who are being used as bottom 6 role players and paid accordingly and while I am hesitant to throw names out, a guy like Marcus Foligno in Buffalo, Ryan Carter in New Jersey or maybe a Matt Martin or Zack Smith on the Island and in Ottawa respectively. Before you pick apart each name keep in mind I don't have the knowledge or resources to research each player fully that is what SB has a scouting staff for. What the Hawks need are 2 players who play a more physical style to compliment the existing roster. And in answer to who they give up it is obvious they have to give up equal or better talent in exchange.

This post just got me harder then chinese algerba.
- fiveandagame

It's all fun and games until someone gets a hard-on!

St. Louis was a big win and IMO this would be just as big.

I never really know what to expect when playing Vancouver..

Valid Points, but didnt Bolland shut down Thornton in the 2010 Cup run? I believe he did. Like I said Burrows has a good shot and pretty good hands, but carries himself poorly.
- nickmo2699

So does Bolland. You guys love having him on your team, and we love having Burrows on ours.