FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Crosby: -3 stars <sigh>

The best team won. The right guy won the Conn Smythe. Experience beat youth. The Pens took us on a nice ride and the Wings showed us what the Pens hope to become in the next several years. I can't say it was a great series when Detroit so thoroughly dominated it, but it was a good display of true hockey. Goodbye Hossa. You did what you were brought in to do, but it just wasn't enough. It sucks you have to leave, but the money awaits. I just can't help but wonder, who will be on this team and what will it look like next year?

Wow those last three games were intense! This is the best hockey I've seen in a long time, and these two teams will continue to be among the elite in the NHL for years to come. Congrats to the Pens, you got here earlier than you were supposed to, but in the end, the Wings proved more skilled and experienced.

2008 STANLEY CUP CHAMPS!

Check my comment at 4:38 today----wings love game 6 on the road! But a "hooking" call with 1:47 left and Datsyuk? hammered with 30 seconds left on his way to an empty net. Am I the ONLY one who thinks the refs tried to "throw" the series to the Pens. They were clearly outplayed over and over again and all I heard was Crosby//Pens//yata yata yata---NBC was terrible( I actually had the sound off for the last 2 games)--my 14 year old knows more about hockey than those announcers!!!! GO RED WINGS -catch Toronto (13 cups)!!!!!

Roy-- the Leafs aren't gonna be winning one any time soon, we'll be ahead of them within 10 years!

Great game by the Wings... good call on Drapes for third star. Yeah, the Datsyuk no-call was bull, but it doesn't matter now... Wings are Stanley Cup Champions!

P.S. Did anyone see Darren McCarty interviewing Ozzie on Local 4? Priceless.

i was in buffalo for this game and got to watch it in a bar on cbc... good times. tense times.

i think pittsburg has a cup in their future with a solid core of crosby fluery and yes malkin, along with some of these other young glue guys like orpik et al.

a great series. certainly the best one since buffalo dallas and perhaps since ny vancouver. hats off all around.

Yes, it was sad to see the work the Red Wings put into dominating the series taken away time and again by the refs. The hooking penalty late was horrible, the non-call of Pittsburgh slashing the stick out of the Red Wings' hands and sending it away on the ensuing power play should have been interference (and would have been if it were a Red Wing that did it) and I truly would have been sick if Pittsburgh tied it up after Datsyuk was clearly tripped and no call came. Way to persevere and win the Stanley Cup Wings!

Yes, the commentating by NBC was terrible. Ed Olczyk's bias towards his old team clearly showed, and Zetterberg and company didn't get near the credit they deserved until after the series was over with everyone constantly talking about Pittsburgh and Crosby. Glad to see ratings were up though! Two great teams showed what hockey is all about.

Roy55....shut up. The series is over. Congrats to the Wings for a great team. But it's crap when a new person comes in and starts this OLD CRAP all over again. Really....can you be THAT stupid?!

I was at game one and harrassed many pens fans that were in attendance, I found after having a few "pops" with these folks at the local Detroit watering holes, that Pen's fans have more class than I had at first anticipated. With us playing so few out of conference teams over the last few years, this was understandable. I will make a commitment now to never harrass another though as after seeing the postings, many sent immediately after game 6, I can only say that humility poise and dignity are also traits that some of these fans possess as well. It blew me away when most of the crowd stuck around to see stanley, also, many cheered when it was handed to Ozzy, If they could only learn to teach this to Ohio State or say Flyers fans, this world would be a better place. Congrats to the pens for turning things around so quickly. their time will come, now if only people like Hossa could get it through their thick skulls that by demanding top dollar, they narrow the chance of ever playing for a cup contender as it's the supporting cast that gets you there. At 8 Million that leaves slim pickins for the rest. Bye Bye Hossa-have fun playing for a non-contender. Hope you have fun in Pheonix, Florida, Columbus, St Louy, Atlanta, or New York or wherever your overpaid, underperforming butt ends up.
If the pens are lucky that is...

As I suspected, the Pens couldn't match their intensity from Game 5. Congrats to the Wings, clearly the best team won. What I hope the Pens learn is that raw talent isn't enough by itself.

I figured this game over when the Wings easily killed the early 5 on 3. My God, it looked like even strength out there. And I'll tell you, as someone who has watched the Pens all season, making them look ineffective on the pp is no easy task. It's not that the Pens played poorly, it's that the Wings played that well.

Congrats as well to the loyal Wings fans who have posted throughout the series on these boards. Vast majority have displayed good hockey knowledge and a lot of class.

Roy55 and other knuckledraggers...please stop the nonsense. Your team won. Convincingly. There is no vast star chamber conspiracy. Take a cue from the Pittsburgh fans who stayed and paid props to the winners even with broken hearts. Have a little respect for the game and get a life already.

Some members of the Pittsburgh media are reporting that Malkin has been playing with a "significant shoulder injury" since the big hit in Philly series. Might help explain his disappearance in the finals.

Are you Detroit fans serious when you talk about bad calls and non-calls? How many times did Detroit get away with a penalty that wasn't called? Plenty. It happens. And honestly, when your team is famous for impeding and interference and not getting called for it, you should just take your win and celebrate it rather than trying to concoct conspiracy theories. Detroit played great, but they also got away with a LOT of rule-breaking, but we all know that it's not a penalty unless it's called...

Ohh puhhhleasee Duke. If you even remotely watched that game you'd see the bs that happened at the end of the game. If Detroit had lost us fans would have a definite beef about the refereeing at the end. Detroit gets a reputation especially in the eastern conference because no one plays good D over there anymore and wouldn't know good D if it bit them in the butt. You hardly ever hear western conference people whine about the Red Wings. It's become painfully obvious there are a lot of people who have no idea what interference is. I definitely don't think there was a conspiracy going on though, just some terrible refereeing. With that said I don't see what the point was of bringing up the refereeing after Detroit won it all. If the Cup weren't clinched I could see it, but it's over... doesn't seem like the time to open up a can of worms.

T-fo.. that doesn't surprise me in the least about Malkin. He just didn't look like himself out there. Granted, Detroit has a way of doing that to good players, but it still seemed odd how poorly he played. Hopefully he'll get himself healed up over the off-season and be back to 100%.

I watched the whole game and saw PLENTY of missed calls for both sides. I don't call "good defense" holding guys without the puck. Want to know why so many Red Wing players were losing sticks? Because they were using them to hook and impede the entire night. I'm not saying Detroit didn't play well, or that they're not a great team or that they didn't play great defense... they checked very well. My beef is with all the holding they got away with throughout the series. I'm not a fan of either team, just one of good, fluid hockey, and it's hard to see good, fluid hockey when one teams is allowed to bear hug opposing players without the puck.

Been a Pens and Wings fan since I was a kid. The best team won the Cup. Pens fought hard, never gave up, and made it an exciting series after the first two games. But Detroit at its best was far superior than the Pens. Each team had calls go against them, missed calls. Forget it. Wings have been the best in the regular season past 5 years or so. Hope Pens mimic them and become dominant team for next decade with core superstars.

I don't disagree with some of what you said Duke, but apparently your idea of fluid hockey is hockey with no contact. Think you need to watch a different sport if you ever expect hockey to be fluid.

I'll try my post again since my internet keeps giving me fits and no uploading it. Hopefully I won't end up as one of those dorks with repeat posting.

Using sticks and contact have been a part of hockey forever. If you want it a league with no defense and little contact, fine, that's your perogative. Personally I like the physicality of hockey and the work that needs to go into it. A lot of the lost sticks last night were from Penguins holding onto the Red Wings sticks to but I have noticed that's been conveniently ignored. The Penguins were most certainly no saints, especially in Games 5 and 6. To set up the Red Wings as this constantly cheating illegal team is ridiculous in my opinion. Perhaps this is just an east/west mentality thing though. You and many people in the EC have seen and want one thing while those of us out in the WC want a completely different style of hockey. I think the differences will become less with the unbalanced schedule going away so teams see the other conference a lot more.

Even as a Pens Fan I have to give props to the Red Wings - any time a Pen tried to carry the puck into the Detroit zone there was a box of four Red Wings waiting at the blue line - it's called defense and they played it well. Crosby could do nothing with that many defenders there and never got help so it seemed he was always one on four trying to move in.

For all the Red Wing fans bitching about officiating I saw several non-calls favoring the Red Wings (esp. holding the stick calls) - you have the Cup so stow the complaining and enjoy.

If you didn't think this series was fluid, up-and-down hockey then you missed out on a great series. We didn't see more goals because we saw outstanding goaltending. Hockey's physical, and your defense should be. Philly fans said it about the Pens, and now the Pens have decried the Red Wings as the cheaters of the league (and I know, it's not all fans, but enough on here that have).

Yeah, the stick was slashed out of the Red Wing's hand (Lilja?) and then the stick was slapped out of the way by a Pen--that should be a couple penalties, but you know what, it wasn't called. These things happen. Late Dats had the puck, and then he mysteriously went down (the boards were in the way, I couldn't really see it)--can't blame the refs for not calling that late in the game. The refs finally called a Red Wing for leaving his feet on a hit--I was expecting it eventually to be called more, on Kronwall. There's always missed calls. Franzen probably should have been in the sin bin during that power play early.

But if you don't concentrate on the refs you saw a great series, especially the last three games. Man those were intense! My fiance doesn't watch or know a thing about hockey, but she was nervous as hell the last two games. She asked me last night in the last two minutes if I was nervous. I told her no, since I have faith in my WIngs, but the adrenaline was pumping. Not nervous, but on the edge of my seat watching these scrappy Pens come back, yet again. I thought I was safe when 5 seconds were left on the clock, but dang if there wasn't .8 seconds worth of drama left. Fun times boys!