Corry Perry did not intentionally hit Travaris 

All those former London Knights are very close.

Leafs put themselves off their game thinking it was a cheap hit.

HNIC, please don't play that replay again.

John would have gotten up but safety first ! 

ABC123 wrote:

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To loose by a goal like that is no shame !

How many players can score from their belly ?

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In my opinion to lose by a goal like that is shameful. That goal sums up everything that was wrong with the Leafs. Montreal was willing to do whatever it took to win that game.  

Does anyone remember a key turning point in the 1972 Canada Russia series? Remember Bobby Clarke deliberately broke Kharlamov's ankle, got away with it, and that as much as any hockey skill won the series. 

I am glad that my sarcasm and irony was understood. I often get criticized for making my points in this way. 

I find it ironic that intentional violence is still part of a game that requires such skill, finesse, and speed to play well.  You can have a superstar who has worked his whole life to gain the skills necessary to be able to pull off the plays in the blink of an eye that other sports could only dream of, and yet he can be taken out by some big dumb lug who wouldn't have made it to the league if he couldn't throw a punch.  And yet... it's an acceptable part of the game... and some people want to see it and probably wouldn't watch the sport without it.  Pound the heck out of a guy, perhaps put him out for a week, a month, or end his career, and you get a 2 or 5 min penalty... or at worst a game or two suspension and a $5000 fine (pocket change to those guys).

I've been into hockey my whole life, played the game into my teens but decided to quit after getting boarded by a few guys who outweighed me by 50 pounds.  I wasn't a great hockey player, but I loved the sport.  Finally came to the conclusion that the trips to the doctor after hockey games were becoming too frequent, and despite my love of the sport, it wasn't worth risking an injury that could last the rest of my life, so I quit (and got into fast cars and racing... ).

Anyhow, sorry for the rant, but I don't get it.  I got to the point that I just don't care to watch the game anymore because I can't stand seeing good players being intentionally taken out by guys who would probably be in jail if this was happening anywhere but a hockey rink...

Just want to add a footnote to my post above.

I'm not trying to piss off fans of the game, and I respect that we will not all have the same opinion... I was just offering mine.

Secondly, I wasn't intending to make it a "good old days were better than today" type of rant.  Really, the change is more in me and how I look at sports vs how I used to look at sports.  I used to accept that violence was part of the game, and enjoyed a good old bench clearing brawl as well as the next guy every now and then.  As the years went on, I started to wonder how good the game could be if intentional violence was just taken out of the game entirely (if that was even possible), either by penalizing heavier, or introducing some kind of foul system similar to basketball (although that has its own shortcomings).  I suppose seeing the Caps' Tom Wilson incident recently splashed across the news brought it to a head for me - I could not see that as any more than one guy intentionally trying to injure another guy, possibly end his career if he had hit him in just the 'right' way.  But it's so much more than that - cheap shots and hits done in a way to take out a guy's knee or jamb his head into the boards are still not uncommon.

So it got me to thinking... why is this still happening, and why is this the best that we should accept about the game?  Or maybe that's what people want to see?  But how much better could the game be if the truly skilled players didn't have to use up so much energy to avoid getting physically taken out?  Or would it be better?

It doesn't seem like it would be that hard to remove it from the game if they really wanted to, except that perhaps fan support, and money, would flow in at a lower rate.  Is that what it's all about?

And, so I wrote my post above.

Again, sorry for the rant... probably not what this thread was started for... 

I haven't watched hockey since the third expansion, which is a looooooong time ago. Once the 12 teams became more.

I also lost interest when star players became whiney primadonnas. Money ruins sports.

I think jmont64 is right. But if it goes to game 7 I take the Upset- and think Habs in game 7.

But still going for the Bruins 

87 player bird wrote:

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Enjoy the sunshine, unless youre in port hope, then break out the snowshoes

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 It is especially sunny in Cobourg!

I think Winnipeg will do much better playing against the Leafs ( rather than Montreal ) in the next round , so for the first time in my life i will be cheering for the Leafs (tomorrow only).