Exemples de ce qui vous attend dans la section "Catalogue Saison..."

 I sure will miss hockey for the next few months but I DAMN sure don't miss my playoff beard .

 I want to thank everyone out there for loving Our Dallas Stars as much as I do and for following them all season . Thank you fans , and thank you Dallas Stars for a great season of hockey . It was truly wonderful .
 
 Let's all wish the Red Wings good luck when they play the Penguins .

P.S.: I will still be blogging in the off-season as things develop for Our Stars . I cannot be gottten rid of that easily .

So I probably should have cheered last night when Kelly Sutherland waved off this goal because Tomas Holmstrom was, er, interfering by standing outside the blue paint and not touching the goaltender.

Should have been the silver stake through the Stars' heart ('cept for Ribeiro, who doesn't have a heart). Anyhoo, as ever in NHL hockey, there was a back story. The nullification was clearly punishment for Holmstrom's collision with Marty Turco earlier in the sequence, which might have merited a penalty. It's been treated today as a "blown call," plain and simple. To me, it speaks of an ongoing underlying problem with NHL reffing—namely the "ledger" concept of officiating. Non-calls and even-ups are a hard habit to break in hockey, which is subject to quick momentum shifts and serious emotion in the crowd. During the last two regular seasons, Stephen Walkom, the director of officiating, has fought that tendency in his jihad against interference, and he deserves credit. The whole campaign requires refs to punish offending teams repeatedly until they get the message. If that means they have to kill 14 penalties a game while the other team gets off scot-free, too bad.

But judging from this incident—and the amount of uncalled interference by Philly in their series against Pittsburgh—the urge to keep things "equitable" persists in the playoffs. No big deal—for now: Philly's losing; the Motown Automatons likely won't drop another game to the Stars. But it's a good example of why officiating remains a big problem for the NHL. They're still mistaking balance for fairness.

Maybe they should name the Jays after a fish ...

As for the topsy-turvy baseball standings, Maich is right (which, for those of us who know him, is a pleasant surprise). But you had to know the D-Rays and the Marlins would get better eventually. Lots of high draft picks, lots of opportunity for their young players to get prime-time experience. I remember some talk last year about how esprit de corps on the Marlins was surprisingly high. They knew they were improving—they could feel it. Anyway, it's nice to know you can field a competitive team for $22 million.

"So Long, Cabrera." Could make a nice Spanish song ...

La grosse machine rouge du hockey mène sa série 3-0 face aux Stars du frustré à Ribeiro.

Qui arrêtera les Red Wings?

Quelle bêtise!

Un geste comme Ribeiro méritait au moins 10 matchs de suspension.

Encore une fois la LNH applique son règlement deux poids deux mesures.

Maudite ligue de broche à foin.

Let's first start in the here and now, and work our way backwards.

In game two against Detroit, Ribeiro, the Dallas Stars offensive threat, while skating past the Wings' net, received a butt-end from Detroit goalie Chris Osgood. Ribeiro then turned around and gave Osgood a two-hander across the chest of Osgood. It was, for lack of better words, selfish and stupid on Ribeiro's part.

Now let's back up a little. Ribeiro was an underacheiving forward for the Montreal Canadiens, and was sent packing to the Dallas Stars for defenceman Janne Niiniman and 5th round draft pick, and he blossomed into a big point-getter and an important piece of the puzzle in Dallas.

Habs critics had a field day with this. Gainey was an idiot, they cried. How could he make such a bad decision to practically give Ribeiro away and now the guy's a star in Dallas? What a mistake Gainey had made, they decided.

But Gainey traded him for a reason. There was talk that he was a person who helped separate the dressing room into cliques. He was a yapper on the ice who never backed up his tough talk.

And the instance that showed me he was no Montreal Canadien came when they did a close up of him one night in a game against Pittsburgh, and the the Habs were losing by a goal late in the game. And was Ribeiro all business and focused on the task of tying the game up? No. Instead, he skated over to Sidney Crosby and asked him if he could have one of his sticks.

To me, this is no Montreal Canadien. The Rocket and Doug Harvey would be rolling over in their graves about this Crosby stick thing.  Jean Beliveau, I'm sure, never asked Gordie Howe for his stick in a closely-fought battle. Toe Blake would've benched him for a month if he did.

I was glad when Ribeiro was traded. And I could care less how many goals he went on to score with Dallas. He was never going to be a Montreal Canadien, plain and simple.

It's small consolation, sure, but the Stars did much better in this game. And I thought they improved as the game went on. They got the penalty kill back into some order, and the power play got them a goal. That one was from Stéphane Robidas, who is still amazing me.

They had A TON of chances that they just didn't finish. They had a 4-on-1 and passed it one to many times, and unfortunately didn't have the best breakaway line out there at the time. Nik Hagman has had several breakaways during these two games, yet hasn't been able to do anything with them. I think if they just keep pushing like they did in Game 2, they'll start to get rewarded.

Mike Ribeiro shouldn't have swung his stick like that, but it was not a baseball-swing/two-handed chop to the head or anything as dramatic as that. He smacked Chris Osgood in the chest protector, where he takes twenty slapshot pucks a day, and there's no way he even felt it, let alone would it have dropped him to the ice to writhe in agony like that. Osgood should be ashamed of that display.

Osgood reached out, blatantly, to clip Ribs as he went by, then tried to claim it was an accident. Then when he was smacked in the padding, he went down like he was hit by a sniper. It was as if he forgot there's replay or something. Did he really think anybody would believe him?

And Kris Draper was really slathering on the righteous indignation against Ribeiro, apparently forgetting the rib-work he did on Ott about 30 seconds before that.

I watch a ton of hockey games every year, and Detroit is the only team that makes me feel like the rules don't apply to them. They are constantly setting picks, yet never get called for interference. They tackle people at the faceoff, when that kind of interference is normally closely watched, yet they don't get called. Brenden Morrow got called for a ticky-tacky play with 17 seconds left, yet Draper wasn't called for tackling Ott to the ice and crosschecking him in the ribs a few times while he had him down. Then they called Ott for getting mad about that. What the HELL?!

I will give the refs a tiny bit of credit for calling Holmstrom on a dive, but it's such a small victory compared to all the other stuff they miss.

One hilarious scene was when Chris Chelios was called for a high-stick penalty, but argued all the way to the penalty box that he didn't high-stick him, he butt-ended him. Dumb ol' refs!

Things are looking a little bleak, but it's not over yet. We haven't had a home game yet. The Stars have improved with every period. Adjustments are being made. Bob Sturm makes a good point in his entry on DallasStars.com -- we haven't seen how they handle trouble.

Mike Tyson once said that everyone has a plan until you hit them in the face.
...Often, they win by merely being themselves and overwhelming the opponent. But, if you can put them in jams, they sometimes are not quite sure how to get out, and that is how they have been bounced in several playoffs in a row.

I'm probably guilty of being too easy on them, but I still think they can do it. I'm not positive, but I think they can. I think they are just having a little more trouble adjusting than they did with San Jose and Anaheim. We only played Detroit four times this season instead of eight.

I hope the crowd is loud and positive. If they have a bad power play, or get stuck in their own zone or something, don't boo them. They've given us plenty this season so far. I think they deserve cheers from here on out.

Sidenote: Congratulations to Brenden Morrow and his family. They welcomed their twins today, Brady and Mallory. Good job!

Si la LNH lui donne en bas de cela, le message sera on ne peut plus clair.  Vous pouvez tenter de blesser un adversaire, vous écoperez moins de 10 matchs.

La LNH a fait du bon boulot cette année côté suspensions, ça devrait continuer et confirmer la sentence de Ribeiro ce lundi.

De plus en lisant certains commentaires sur RDS.ca je ne peux pas croire que des amateurs de hockey puissent être en accord avec le geste de Ribeiro.

 On a side note ;
  It is hard medicine to take looking at my Dallas Stars calendar that hangs next to my computer . Jeff Halpern (in the '06 -'07 uniform) is the player for the month of May . Not only is he "owned" by the Bolts , he will not be playing until February of next year because of the recent injury to his knee . I hated my calendar last month as well , because Jussi Jokinen (in the '06 -'07 uniform) was that month's player . Talk about taking a bitter pill ..............

Last night I was painting that creepy clown I was talking about and then POOF.  The screen went black.  I usually save my work every couple of minutes, but for some reason unkown to mankind, this rule somehow did not apply last night.  I forgot to save and lost pretty much everything.  I nearly went *KEYSMASH* but instead I went upstairs and watched Detroit beat Dallas and Ribeiro stab Osgood.  LOL it was indredibly wrong and I don't like Ribeiro (ouuhh ex-Hab a superstar somewhere else.. big surprise) but MAN did Ozzy ever give one hellovah performance.  I haven't seen such an exaggerated fall-down since Kovalev hurt his thumb a few months ago.  Hahahaha Ribeiro's a bitch though.

Well, my parents are in Cochrane right now...which means that they'll be here soon (WITH A&W MYUUMM~).  Yayyyyy I haven't seen them since Thursday 'cause they were in Toronto. 

So, yeah.  I guess I'll go continue the drawing I was working on until the computer did it's thing.  I started a new one.  And, thankfully, I saved it just before it reset.  High five for grrreat timing!

[edit like 2 minutes later]

Hahahahahahahahahahaah wow I hate my computer.  It reset itself AGAIN.  RIGHT AFTER it was done loading from its last reset.  Its like a rebellious teen with anger-issues going like, "YOU AIN'T THE BOSS OF ME, I'M OUTTA CONTROL! *hissy-fit*"

Placé derrière le filet, à deux mains sur son hockey il a frappé Chris Osgood à la hauteur de la poitrine.

Geste de frustration qui n'a pas sa place et Ribeiro sera assurément suspendu.

Moi qui pensait que Ribeiro gagnait en maturité à Dallas, on vient de voir qu'il a encore des kilomètres à faire.

En finale de l'Ouest les Stars affronteront les Red Wings.

Ma prédiction: Dallas en 6.

 What Happened To The "Underdog" Dallas Stars ? ;
 
After taking it to the Ducks in the first round and now sitting on a three game lead over the Sharks , I hope people are starting to pay attention . Too many people wrote off Our Dallas Stars far earlier in the season . Now that Our Stars are winning , even the stupid Vs. network is forced to mention them and they hate talking about Western Conference teams . I am not saying that they know jack about them , because they do not even know any of our players' names , but it is nice to have recognition ripped from someone who does not want to give it away .
 Whiner Roenick was quoted after the game as saying, "It's amazing how we can't get a bounce in this series ." Nabokov was quoted as saying ," There's no quitting in this room . All the games have been pretty close . It's been little bounces here and there . ...We have to regroup and forget these games ." Yeah Nabby , you regroup and forget these games and when you lose again , it will be fo the final time and since you had forgotten these games you will wonder forever how you made it out to the golf course .
 Our Stars have played very well . They all did their jobs .  Cap'n Morrow has done a fabulous job of making this team his . Razor said that he has really made this team his . I did not agree with when it became his , but I do agree that it is . He has been a top notch player all season and led by example .
 I truly believe that Our Stars have the ability to sweep the Sharks with a win in game four . I do not think it would be a good thing , though . Too much time off makes you soft and you lose your focus . Of course if the stupid Detroit Dead Things sweep the Avs (and that looks VERY likely) that time off would be nonexistent .
 In other news , Jeff Halpern was named as the US National Team's Captain on the 28th . Check out the rest of the team and even live games at wcsn.com .
 My favorite thing about Our Dallas Stars winning this game was when , last night as I was putting my nine year old daughter to bed early because of TAKS testing today , I told her I would be happy to tell her that the Sharks lost in the morning (she is sadly a Sharks fan in a house full of Stars fans) . When Our Stars did , win I was ecstatic to be able to tell her that the Sharks did indeed lose . I told her she should have chosen a good team to like instead of the Sharks , but she never listens to me .  

I really just don't know what to think. I really don't.

Even when the Sharks got the first goal, I still thought, okay, now the Stars can relax and play. And then they did! They tied it, then the Sharks got ahead, then in the third they tied it again and scored three more.

And they weren't garbage goals. Mike Ribeiro's goal in the first period that tied the game was amazing. He was behind the goal and banked it off the goalie and in.

Then just as the third period starts, Brad Richards was handed the puck by a Shark who fell down and he made a sneaky-quick shot to tie the game the second time. Brad Richards got four points in the third period!

Nik Hagman followed Richards to the goal in the third period and was right there for Richards' fancy reverse pass to poke it into the net for an insurance goal. Nik also got an empty netter later. I'm so happy to see Nik get some offense, because he's working so hard all the time.

But the best goal of all came with the game tied, from our long-lost Sergei Zubov. Fresh off the IR, in his first game back since January, after showing a little rust in the first period, he made a move that will be on highlight reels for months to come. Modano tried to pass the puck toward the net, but it went off two Sharks and right to Zubie, who spun gracefully, and whipped it, backhand, to Modano, who snapped it over a confused Nabokov and into the net. Unbelieveable. UNBELIEVABLE!

I'm telling you, I don't believe it!

 Round two , game one ;

 The Sharks may have just mauled Our Stars , but Our Stars looked like they brushed aside most of the damage . Our Dallas Stars were certainly outshot , but the shots that counted were the ones on the scoreboard .
 I was less than pleased with Our Stars' gameplay despite the win . They looked slow and like they were not ready to play . Tippett agreed with my thought because he said that the team needed to do better . He said that he would take the win , but that his team needed to work harder . Our Stars looked like they had taken more than a few days off . Only Turco , Robidas and Morrow looked as sharp as they always do .
 This game reminded me of how much I hate the Vs. Network . First , the commentators do not know how to pronounce our players' names . Then , they called the line of Petersen , Miettinen and Hagman "the Forgien Line" . WHATEVER ! Petersen is from Mineapolis Minnesota ! Idiots ! They also called Turco lucky on several occasions implying that he was not really a great goaltender , merely one whom the hockey gods had granted him their luck for the game . They also said that Turco handled the puck in the trapezoid that it is illegal for goalies to handle the puck in . I wished (hard) at that point there was not a ten second delay from radio to television , so I could listen to WBAP 820 am's braodcast of the game , instead of hearing the idiots on the Vs. network . Every time I am forced to watch a game in the Vs. network , I am reminded (painfully) of how stupid and foolish the men that they hire are . I hope a network with some brains picks up the playoffs next season . I hate Vs.

But now, having three star players as the top three centers has been working really well so far. As Mark, over at Andrew's Stars Page, points out, the scoring is almost even.

Mike Ribeiro's line has a combined 7 goals, Brad Richards' line has 5 goals, and Mike Modano's line has 6 goals.

What that means is, the opposing team can't just shut down one line. If we only had one line scoring, all the other team would have to do is make sure their best defensive players jump on the ice whenever they see Morrow, Ribeiro, and Lehtinen climb over the boards.

But if they shut down Ribs' line, they're too busy to shut down Brad Richards' line. And if they split up their defensive forwards to cover two lines, who will cover Modano's line? And if that team only has one really good defensive line, then splitting them up doesn't make two lines, it makes two half-lines.

The other side of the coin is the beauty part. All three of our scoring lines can defend.

"Richards is a real creative guy, but he can play against every other team's tops players as well. He's a strong two-way player. We got strong contributions from a lot of our forwards. What it does is it makes hard matchups," said Tippett. "You've got people who are contributing on the offensive side on a regular basis, but you also have lines that can compete in all parts of the game, defensive zone faceoffs and little things that allow you to win games.

"We like where we are at in the forward lines right now."

Modano's line is considered the "checking line," whose responsibility is to try to shut down the other team's top scoring line. When Modano and Stu Barnes and Steve Ott are out on the ice to keep the other team's best players from scoring, they're also a scoring line out on the ice against what is typically a team's worst defending line.

Modano is a veteran, and he might not be the top-line center any more, but he is still a high-end offensive player. Having a player like Modano as your checking-line center is huge. He was a big factor in the Anaheim series, judging by not only his own line's scoring but also all the scoring from the other lines.

 Niedermayer and Selanne Should Have Stayed Retired - Chumps ;

 Thank the hockey gods (and obviously Our Dallas Stars) for "The Defending Stanley Cup Champions" being eliminated in the first round . I would have been so mad if Pronger's weak (and biased) suspension had helped them move forward . I also like them being eliminated because I think it sends a clear message to Selanne and Niedermayer , not to mention that MY team gets to move forward and the Ducks have to retire to golfing .
 Now that the Ducks are out , both of last season's conference champions have been eliminated . I did not think the Senators would go out in four , but I am glad they are both out . Kind of ironic that both of those teams did not even make it to a game seven , much less the second round .
 The Ducks lost this series almost from the start . They came out in games one and two and expected Our Stars to lie down and die . When they did not , the Ducks panicked because they were in a two game hole . They tried to changed the way they played , but zebras can change their spots no easier than ducks can forget how quack . Their failure to change and adapt to Our Stars gameplay style cost them . In the third period of this game , it showed . They started dumping pucks in right to Turco and were caught in over pursuit - JUST LIKE IN GAMES ONE AND TWO ! It is no wonder they lost . I laughed at Randy Carlyle in the post-game press conference . He sounded as if he was going to cry . I hope he did . That is what his team earned when they expected to steamroll Our Dallas Stars like they obviously expected to do in game one . Winning a game does not require arrogance , it requires hard work - and you can quote me on that .
 Marty Turco played huge . He earned my (and Razor's) first star of the series . He made saves that sometimes defied physics and all logic . 
 Between Fistric and Norstrom , they had seven blocked shots . Two of Fistric's blocked shots came seconds apart . Both of these guys stepped up and deserved to be mentioned here . Norstrom played better than the pylon that he usually behaves like and Fistric played far better than you would think a rookie would .
 The ever humble Robidas said after the game that his goal was "a lucky bounce off the boards" . Classic . He is beginning to sound like Zubov with all that modesty . He also said ,"We have one goal in mind and that's The Stanley Cup" . Well said , Robi , well said .
Tippett was quoted as saying ,"It's funny , shaking hands out on the ice there , I was last in line and Robi was right infront of me . And it's interesting to hear the comments he was getting from Anaheim players about what kind of a player he is . We all recognize it in our own room , but to hear Anaheim players say that to him , that's very gratifying" . With more on the subject of Robidas , Tippett said ,"He epitomizes our game . He’s one of the best teammates you’re ever going to find, he will go right through a wall to help the team win, he’ll take pucks in the face to help the team win, he’ll stuff cotton up his nose to make sure he’s back to help on the power play five minutes after that. He’s the epitome of what’s great about our game.” He also called this win "gratifying" , and a "first step" while still managing to look as stoic as ever . I hope there are a few more steps , personally . And smile more often Tippett . Damn .
 Cap'n Morrow mirrored my thoughts when he said the win felt good , but they were "not settling for this" . That is a very good thing .
 Our Stars have defeated a very challenging team . That is just the begining . Now they get a few days off to rest and then comes the next and more difficult round , no matter who their opponent may be .
 It looks as though I have to wait to shave off my playoff scruff . With another month , it just might grow into a real beard . I hope we can find out if I can grow a playoff beard instead of just scruff . Bring on round two !

 *All quotes taken from DallasStars.com or from the broadcast of the game on FSN .

New York trailed for a grand total of 18 seconds last night. After that Michal Rozsival, Jaromir Jagr, Scott Gomez and Chris Drury scored for the Rangers. Bryce Salvador and Patrik Elias scored to make it 4-3, but the Devils couldn't get it tied, even after John Madden was awarded a penalty shot a little more than halfway through the third. Brandon Dubinsky added an empty-netter with a minute to go to seal the Devils fate.

The Red Wings beat Nashville 2-1 in OT to take a 3-2 series lead. Valtteri Filppula gave Detroit a 1-0 lead with a shot that just snuck into the corner of the net before bouncing out. Officials ruled it a goal and the video review upheld the call. That goal (4:20 into the first) looked like it would hold up as Chris Osgood kept the Preds scoreless. But Radek Bonk managed to score with 43+ seconds left. However, it only took 1:48 of extra time for Johan Franzen to backhand the puck past Dan Ellis for the win. Niklas Kronvall assisted on both tallies (Franzen also picked up an assist on Filpulla's goal).

The home team has now won every game in the series. Nashville is 0-10 all-time on the road in the Playoffs.
The Anaheim Ducks stayed alive with a 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars. Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Teemu Selanne and Sean O'Donnell beat Marty Turco; Todd Marchant added an empty-netter. Mattias Norstrom and Mike Rebeiro scored for the Stars.

 Three To One Win , Three To One In The Series ;

This game may have gone down as a win , but Our Stars did not play as well as they should have . The powerplay was terrible and they suffered from miscues and bad passes . They gave away far too many chances on Turco when they were on the powerplay and too many odd man rushes . They had difficult exits from their own zone and the Ducks forecheck was working yet again in this game . If they do not return to the same type of the game that they played in the first two games , they mill most certainly struggle in their next game .
 Marty Turco played steller . If he had not done so , the game would have certainly gone the other way . Many times he mopped up disasters in front of his crease . His defensemen needed to block a few more shots and been a little more secure with the puck like they were in their first two games . Take the hit and pass the puck along to make the play . It may be hard (and certainly unpleasant) , but that is their jobs .
 Hagman , Lundqvist , Richards , Daley , Stu , Eriksson and Modano , all played a very good game . It is too bad there are not enough stars of the games for all of them and Turco . Everyone of those guys played their hearts out . I will draw some criticizm for saying it , but I think the third star of the game should have been Lundqvist and not Mo .
 The Open Net with Razor and Jennifer Floyd Engel was great . I really enjoyed her and I think I will look into what she has to say elsewhere . Odd that it seems that some of the better sports writers (or media) are women and that they seem to be ignored by their male counter-parts . Razor did not seem to like any of what she said and disagreed with her even though I was on her side . I will have to look her up on the internet and see what I can find about her .

Ils pourraient en finir dès ce soir à Anaheim face aux champions défendants de la Coupe Stanley.

Y'a-t-il des gens à Montréal qui rêvent de voir Mike Ribeiro soulevé la Coupe Stanley?

Chose certaine les Stars mènent la série 3-1 et ils jouent comme une grande équipe.  Pendant que Marty Turco joue du grand hockey son vis à vis, Jean-Sébastien Giguère à des performances disons, ordinaires.

You know, I can't believe they did it. I was resigning myself to the split when the Ducks tied it.  Just because the idea of winning the first two on the road was just too good to be true!

I really can't believe what's happening. I thought they could win the series, unlike a lot of people who make predictions for the hockey media, but I didn't dream it would start out this way.

There is still a long way to go, and the Ducks aren't just going to lie down and let the Stars steamroll them. Surely. (Although I said the same thing before Game 2 and they kind of did.)

I can't really organize all my thoughts on this game so I'll just list them.

--Loui Eriksson is really looking good. He's got two goals and an assist in these two games. He is all over the place. In the first period there were a couple of times when he was on the verge of having the puck stolen from him, but he protected it and made a play. He's apparently a student at the Stéphane Robidas School of Hockey, too, because he takes huge hits and then just pops back up. He does a lot of puck hunting and stealing and that's one of my favorite skills.

--In a pre-game interview, a reporter asked Nick Grossman about nerves in the first game and he mentioned that he liked getting hit, especially early in the game, because it breaks the spell of the importance of the game and lets him get down to playing.

--SIX power play goals in two games! Some of that might be Anaheim's penalty kill, but it's also the quantity of chances that helps. They just can't help themselves. In this game, though, a lot of the headshots and late hits went uncalled in favor of more mundane hooking stuff. Still, the Stars are trying to tell them it's not a good idea, but they just won't listen.

--For all the penalties the Ducks take, they get away with that many more. What was the deal with Scott Niedermayer blatantly tackling Brad Richards by the net, right in front of the ref? Did the ref think he tripped and fell on him? And as Razor says, you can count 15 "steamboats" between the time a guy gets rid of the puck and the time a Duck wanders over to elbow him in the head.

--Each of our top three centers got a goal. Modano got a BEE-yooty from the blue line on the power play. As Razor pointed out in the replay, he made a high-skill move when he caught the pass and moved just slightly before he shot it past everybody and it fooled J.S. Giguere. The other Mike, Ribeiro, got an unassisted goal on a breakaway that was amazing, too. And not to be outdone, Brad Richards scored one on a wrist-shot that totally baffled Giguere. Richards came in on the right side as a left-hander and just suddenly snapped it on his off foot and it went right by the goalie. (Lehtinen does this a lot. I think it's hard for the goalie to find, because it's outside the normal rhythm of skating in, setting, and shooting.)

--If Brad Richards keeps this up (and I don't see why he wouldn't), I'll eat crow, and my hat. It will certainly serve me right. But we'll do all that at the end, how 'bout?

--Also? I love Brad Richards right now. I'm just sayin'. Dave Tippett, in one of his press conferences, talked about how Brad is starting a new season with the Stars now. He came in at the end of last season and had a little trouble getting up to speed with the system and his teammates, but now is the new season and he's not the new guy any more. Everything starts at zero again.

--Dave Tippett's talks are getting to be one of my favorite things. Even in the regular season, after losses, when he was livid, he was interesting to listen to. In Tippett's post-game press conference, a reporter said that teams would generally say they hope to get a split on the road and asked if that was his thinking. Tippett said,

That phrase came from visiting teams that lost the first game on the road.  ...We were fortunate enough to win the first game, so why would we want to split?

--There is a ton of video of post-game interviews and game highlights on Stars Vision on the DallasStars.com. I love the post-game interviews where you can see guys walking around in the background. And in Morrow's post-game, somebody off-camera burped theatrically and it made Brenden giggle.  I think poor Ribs had a swollen lip.

--The TV picture was atrocious. I spent the whole game trying to think of a way to describe it but I think Caitlin, in her typically hilarious game diary put it best:

19:49: WOW, does this feed ever blow. It looks like they’re sending it through a colander, then sending that through a cheese grater. Oh well, at least it saves me from having to see Todd Bertuzzi’s face in sharp, nice clarity.

Let's get some more HD, boys.

I'm going to watch the game over and over again on TiVo until Tuesday. If I notice anything new, I'll make a note. When I re-watched Game 1, there were some highly underrated plays that I found, that I didn't notice the first time.

 Featherless Ducks Fly To Dallas For Game Three Next ;

 The Ducks claimed that they had taken their "smart" pills , but it was obvious that they did not . They still over-pursued for hits . They also committed a terrible amount of penalties that went uncalled by the obvioulsy blind zebras . I was truly appalled at the lack of good officiating . I would not complain , except for the fact that any time Our Stars attempted to return the late hits or unsportsmanlike conduct , they were called for it . Cap'n Morrow's "hit" was the prime example of this when he was awarded a charging penalty for his perceived crime . The officiating was poor , but at least McGeough was not the man calling the game or it would have been much worse .
 Razor said that if the Ducks wanted to get back in this series , they needed to figure a way to score . Personally , I think they need to just lay down and give up . They do not deserve to be bullies and win Lord Stanley's Cup . Not again .
 For a team who was thought to have scoring issues at the beginning of the season , Our Dallas Stars do not seem to be having any trouble at all . They seem to be able to beat Giguere whenever they try hard enough . It does help that the Ducks do not seem to give Our Stars any kind of respect when they have the puck and they turn it over to them often . Their lack of respect for Our Stars has cost them in the last two games and it will continue to do so until they start taking Our Stars seriously .
 Marty Turco was quoted on DallasStars.com as saying ,"We've collected two big wins here , but we know we still have alot of work left to do ." His thoughts mirrored Tippett's quote (from DallasStars.com) when he said ,"......we still have a lot of work to do . This series is just getting going ." I like the fact that everyone seems to be keeping their focus that this is only game two and not the defining end of the series . It bodes well for the rest of the series . Often , in the regular season , Our Stars seemed to lose focus and just stop playing . With this kind of focus , they have the potential to put this playoff drive in the history books as the club's second Stanley Cup win .
 Marty Turco was not as dominant in this game as he was in the first game (because of the way the Ducks played the puck away from him) , but he still performed fabulous . He made saves that I thought had beaten him . I am very proud of him .
 Aagain , the three stars of the game were awarded by the inept Anaheim media . The second star was again awarded as a concillation prize to he Ducks . The stars should have been awarded like this ;
 1st star : Mike Ribeiro
 2nd star : Brad Richards
 3rd star : Your Choice - Mike Modano or Stephane Robidas - they both played fabulous
The media that voted for the stars of the game should be forced into a closet until the series is over and fed only bread and water . That or fed to Russian's alligator .

 BRING ON GAME THREE !!

Jere Lehtinen also scored his second of the series and Mike Ribeiro had a goal and two assists as Dallas showed that the Ducks' "home-ice advantage" was not all that advantageous .

Anaheim's two semi-retirees recorded points as Teemu Selanne scored on an assist from Scott Niedermayer and Ryan Getzlaf. Travis Moen had the other Ducks goal.

At this point you have to wonder if Anaheim wishes it had Ilja Bryzgalov back just to try and switch things up. Jean-Sebastien Giguere has now allowed 9 goals in two games.

 Beating A Team With Their Own Style Of Game-Play Rocks ! ;

 Our Stars won for many reasons . They beat the forecheck by Turco playing the way he did . They handled the puck far better and did not have nearly as many turnovers as the Ducks did . Most of those turnovers were all unforced ones . They were just miscues and bad passes . Over pursuit by the Ducks got the Ducks into trouble often . Our Stars pretty well dictated the game play and did what ever they so chose to do with the puck on their powerplays . Our Stars had their defense together and (with lots of help from Turco) they rarely had trouble exiting their own zone . The Duck constant march to the penalty box cost them . BIG .
 Before the game , Craig Ludwig said that Our Stars had to have their defensemen step up . They did . He also said that Marty Turco had to shine . He did . Ludwig is right on with most all of what he says . I just wish he would talk loud enough for people to hear him .
 Robidas and Razor both said that Our Stars had to have a "pack mentality" and they did . It served them very well . They played as a team and they each did their own jobs and did not ever get too far from their own jobs for it to cause them to make mistakes . That is the key . Everybody doing their own respective jobs .
 When they announced the three stars of the game , I thought it was laughable that Brad May had "earned" the second star of the game . Anahiem media must be nuts . I think May was added as an insult because he had the least amount of time on the ice of all of the Ducks , AND he did not have a single shot on goal , just three hits . The three stars of the game in my humble opinion should have read off like this ;
 1st star : Marty Turco
 2nd star : Mike Ribeiro
 3rd stars : Jean-Sebastien Giguere
 Giguere faced an enormous amount of shots and he played well . He did not let his team down , his team let him down and allowed the Stars to get open in front of him three times . The first goal was a fluke shot that barely manged to sneak by him , but it counted .
 On the odd note , I am  SOOOOOOO glad that there is no pipe organ in the AAC . I would hate to hear the Dr. Who song played on the organ here . I think that is absolutely attrocious . It should be illegal it sounds so bad . Organ music is for churches and baseball games , NOT hockey .
 I completely forgot to mention that I had omitted my usual complaining (or whining , your choice) about the lack of good officiating in this game . I normally complain when so many hits are late ones or blatant penalties are commited . This game was different . BOTH teams got away with lots of stuff that should never have been allowed . To complain that the Ducks were not penalized enough would have been stupid since Our Stars got away with many things that were illegal as well . Maybe the next game will be called tighter . I really did not care for the very late hits by either team and some of those were jumps into players . I understood that to be an automatic penalty . I guess you ignore the rules sometimes . Since the refs ignored it for one team , at least they ignored it for both teams .

So give me something to believe
Cause I am living just to breathe
And I need something more
To keep on breathing for
So give me something to believe
- "Believe" The Bravery

Tomorrow night the Dallas Stars start their - hopefully - epic journey towards the 2008 Stanley Cup in Anaheim as they will play game one against the defending champion Ducks.

No one really is picking the Stars to win. Media outlets all over North America not only have the Ducks as favorites in this series but favorites to win the Stanley Cup again. You'll get the odd scribe picking Dallas just to pick an upset special, but overall it's Anaheim that are the huge favorites.

And really no one can fault those media types for completely overlooking the Stars.. Even if it wasn't the defending champs who look really no different from the team that won it last season, there is still the Stars recent shoddy history in the playoffs that would pretty much convince anyone that nothing this season will change for Dallas this year.

The Stars marketing playoff slogan as you are no doubt aware is simply "Believe" (The players themselves have a much cooler "Lock It Down" theme for themselves.. maybe next year we should allow the players to pick the theme for the people?)

It's funny how the last playoff and now this one have been like pleas given to the fans.. Last year was "Be There" as if to ask the fans "Show up.. please?" and now this year's theme as if to say "No really, someone outside our locker room has to!"

Well Stars? Time to give us something to believe!

Back at the end of February you would have found lots of people willing to believe and why not? The team was chasing down the Red Wings for top spot in the NHL... The line of Ribs, Morrow and Antti was as dynamic a line playing in the league.

Even the first game after the Richards trade - any doubters you initially had with that deal had to think they might have been worrying over nothing - after the beat down they gave the Blackhawks in B-Rich's first game with the Stars.

Since then though? Ugly!

And now doubts completely surround the Stars. Is the team chemistry ruined? Turco has been shaky, so is he ready for the playoffs? (If you had told me after that Vancouver series that a year later we'd doubt Turco would be good for a playoff run I would have said you're insane.. yet here we are...)

Riberio's scoring has disappeared... Hagman's scoring has disappeared as well... The young defensemen have looked more like very young not-ready-for-prime defensemen and not the steady rocks that they looked like earlier in the season... Zubov is out for what looks like a really long time after we had all been thinking he'd be good to go for the first round.

You can excuse Stars fans if they don't watch this series - or the first game at the very least - with their hands over their eyes only taking the odd peek through their fingers to see what is going on.

Stars fans want to believe. We want to hope that it was the team in February that will suddenly show back up and that the team in March can quickly be a distant memory. Winning game one - even if it is on the road - would go a long way to giving the fans some hope.

Tomorrow night breaks down to a simple equasion:

Stars lose game one = "Believe?!"
Stars win game one = "BELIEVE!"