Those last fifteen minutes of regulation and overtime will become iconic if the Carolina Hurricanes go on to win these Stanley Cup Finals.
Holy…f–king…Batman-shit….that’s why we as hockey fans eat and breathe so as to live for the next Stanley Cup Finals hockey game.
Seth Jarvis will become to Carolina fans what Joe Carter Jr. became to Toronto Blue Jay fans after the Walk-off home run in 1993 to beat Mitch ‘Wild Thing’ Williams.
That’s it. That’s my recap. The video speaks for itself. Greatness should not be marred by unneeded words.
Even though it was stupid to challenge the goal. But the foolish challenge will only add to the lore of the finish.
I’ve got quite a bit working with the blog right now in that I still haven’t written enough about the Vegas Golden Knights’ electric 5-4 road win over the Carolina Hurricanes on the road in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
This was a fabulous 5-4 hockey game in which the Golden Knights came out slow, relinquished a 2-0 early lead, then just basically beat the Hurricanes to death with what I think is the most daunting, sustained, physical forecheck in the NHL.
So…I would say the Carolina Hurrincanes all the sudden find themselves in a hole which could become a canyon later tonight in Game 2 if they can’t handle this forecheck pressure and start connecting on their breakout passes on both their end and in the neutral zone.
Just like in football and basketball…if you turn the puck over and create a 3 on 1 or a 2 on 1 with speed ….your basically more than somewhat…f–ked and the puck ends up in the back of the net.
Just for the feel of a hockey game….that was a much needed F-bomb to acentuate the sheer physicality of what the Vegas Knights do shift in and shift out. I love the way they play hockey…and they do it without going to the penalty box all that much.
You not only have to be a great athlete to play ice hockey…you have to be very tough and smart as well.
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Now…to last night’s Game 1 in San Antonio. Here’s what I think…it was a good game until the 2:16 mark of the fourth period as the Spurs led 95-94.
But then something really bad happened for the Spurs…that being, the Spurs’ two All-Stars–Wemby and De’Aaron Fox were HORRIBLE, as in the exact opposite of being a KIA Clutch Player of the Game in those final two minutes.
The Knicks closed the game on a 11-0 run and that in a nutshell pretty much is what happened. I don’t want to hear excuses about the Spurs being fatgigued from their seven game series with the Thunder. The Spurs are the youngest team in the league…it’s just that the vetrean Fox let them down and the other players showed their youth in a clucth situation.
Remember…before this season began…Vegas had the Spurs’ winning 43 games in the regular season. There’s still growing pains to be felt for Mitch Johnson’s group.
Every single player on the Knicks were solid and to my train of thought I didn’t observe ONE NY Knick player who in this game shied away from Wembyanama. Not one Knick looked scared taking on Wemby in this game. In fact…I additionally write both Karl-Anthony Townes and backup center Mitchell Robinson went right at Wemby…and somewhat mocked him with disdainful stares on several exchanges during the game.
Mitchell Robinson is playing with a fractured pinky on his shooting hand, in his 14:00 minutes of playing time showed more hubris than Chet did in all seven games combined versus Wemby.
Jalen Brunson was my No. 1 Star. No. 2 was clearly Karl Anthony-Townes. No. 3 was Josh Hart for his massive, gritty, grimey, lunchpail, Die Hard…. 16 rebound game. And then No. 4 for me was probably Landry Shamet coming off the bench and competitng as if his hair was on fire.
Bridges and OG were solid as they always are…but those on my Top Four Stars of Game 1 were the four who I thought set the tone for the Knicks winning this game.
So basically…Game 2 is an absolute must for the youngish Spurs and both Wemby and De’Aaron Fox need to play much better. This won’t be 5 on 4 hoops for the Spurs in this round. Nobody on that Knicks’ team looks scared. In fact…I would think every Knick player is tired of hearing how great the Spurs and Thunder are even though the Knicks easily won the Emirates NBA Cup in December.
I would think coach Mike Brown and his very tight, veteran team are tired of all that noise about them not having a chance in this series.
If the Knicks win Game 2 on Friday night…they clearly have more than a chance of winning the NBA championship.
Enjoy the NBA and Stanley Cup Finals to the fullest.
This was good for me from an emotional standpoint. It greatly helps me through the competitive grief of Chet’s non-engagement in Game 7 on Saturday night at PayCom.
I wasn’t at all expecting OU to pull this off in Atlanta versus the No. 2 nationally ranked Geogia Tech Yellow Jackets. But I’ll tell you this… OU skipper Skip Johnson always puts a team out there which will compete to the end.
In 2022… Skip’s team led by pitcher Cade Horton made it to the national championship final game vs. Ole Miss before losing in a ninth inning heartbreaker. This was unexpected though as OU’s pitching has struggled mightly the back third of the rugged SEC schedule.
But this just reaffirms what happens when you never surrender and play every single out.
On Sauturay in OU’s first elimination game…. working its way back through the loser’s bracket these gritty-grimey, lunchpail Sooners rallied from an 8-2 deficit to force yesterday’s iconic ending.
Same deal yesterday as OU trailed 7-3 entering the 7th inning…but again, these Sooners never surrendered. Just a courageous, valorous performance by the Sooners up and down the roster.
Dayton Tochey finished the job with a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 10th to send the Sooners to the Super Regional opposite old Big 12 foe Kansas in Lawrence for the opportunity to advance to the College World Series in Omaha.
Kansas was the overall No. 15 seed in the overall bracket. So, yeah, if OU brings their game and their pitching staff can get outs…this might me doable for Skip Johnson and his gritty Sooners.
The sun always shines after the intial grief of losing a game when your $50 million max player won’t shoot the ball. Don’t hang your heads too long, Thunder Nation.
After listening to the first hour of Jim Traber’s show yesterday I probably should add more to my intial postgame comments on Chet moving forward.
Never give up though is the mantra in Norman this week.
Stanley Cup Final with Carolina vs. Vegas starts tonight. My cup still runneth over.
No…not a chance even though his max deal right now looks awful based on how he performed in this San Antonio series opposite Wemby and the Spurs.
Besides you never trade something when its value has dipped and isn’t going to garner you much in return. This is where one takes a deep breath and calms oneself and then makes the other tough decisions which need to be made to facilitate keeping Chet and Isaiah and staying under the second apron of the tax.
First thing I would do is make the call to Isaiah Hartenstein’s agent and make it clear the Thunder want him back for the third year of his existing deal.
Then it gets hard for Sam Presti because some brutally tough emotional decisions are in my mind going to have to be made in regards to four very popular veterans on the Thunder roster.
Lu Dort…you know I love you and Kenrich, but this is where Sam Presti has to bid you farewell and make it known how much you have meant to this Thunder organization and fanbase. And if both of you end up in Denver even better for Mike J. Win, win for everyone involved is the way I would see that scenario.
Isaiah Joe…we love you, but we can’t afford you as insurance policy any longer, and besides we need to find you a home where you can be an every night starter. You’ll be loved in OKC forever, kid.
Aaron Wiggins…same deal with you as with Isaiah. Our drafting you out of Maryland was one of the smartest things we did in the rebuild after the tear-down and you deserve to be where you can start and maximize your NBA career.
Now…as a far as Chet goes I’d come to a more pragmatic realization of what Chet can and can’t do with that body of his. What he can’t do is be asked to take on the biggest, most physical centers in the NBA because in essence Chet’s value comes from his skill set which in is line in playing either the three or the four out on the perimeter and giving offside help defensively.
Now…I’m certain that’s not what some of the fanbase will want to do, but if I were Sam Presti that’s how I would tackle this very slight nuanced reconstruct of the Oklahoma City Thunder roster.
But most of all…the No. 1 priority is to get JDub and Ajay Mitchell healthy so as 40 Miuntes of Hell becomes a thing again with Thunder and live ball turnovers are turrned into flurries of points which makes all this much easier on Shai’s body.
Anotherwords, get back to what won you an NBA championship and a 24-1 start this season.
Be who you are as a team, and don’t overreact to what just happened in Game 7.