Pittsburgh at Detroit

  • Game info: 8:00 pm EDT Fri Jun 12, 2009
  • TV: NBC, CBC

By IRA PODELL, AP Hockey Writer Jun 11, 7:31 pm EDT

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DETROIT (AP)—Nicklas Lidstrom(notes), Chris Osgood(notes) and Kirk Maltby(notes) spread out like a perfectly shaped triangle in the Detroit Red Wings dressing room and tried to explain how Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals is really like any other game.

When that seemingly unbelievable message comes from guys who have championship rings that nearly cover a whole hand it begins to sound plausible.

“It’s hard to really mentally sell it to yourself that it’s just another game, but it is,” Maltby said Thursday.

Lidstrom, Maltby, Tomas Holmstrom(notes) and Kris Draper(notes) are going for their fifth title in 12 seasons Friday night in Game 7 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Osgood is on the verge of a fourth ring, third as the Red Wings starting goalie.

Detroit had a shot for its second straight Cup on Tuesday night in Game 6, but fell 2-1 in Pittsburgh. The Red Wings have one more chance to secure it, and they will try at home where they are 11-1 in the playoffs—3-0 in this series.

“It’s no different,” said Osgood, 15-7 with a 2.00 goals-against average in the playoffs. “Game 7 is just another game to win the Cup. That was our Game 7 in Pittsburgh.

“It makes no difference if it’s Game 4, 5, 6, or 7. If you can win the Cup, you’ve got the exact same type of game. The only difference is they have a chance now, too.”

That depends on whom you ask.

The home team won each of the first six games. The Penguins went 1-2 at Joe Louis Arena in last year’s finals and have been outscored 11-2 in three losses in this series.

Given the chance to practice in Detroit on Thursday, Penguins coach Dan Bylsma decided the upside wasn’t enough to sacrifice another day at home. The Penguins skated one last time in Pittsburgh before flying to Detroit.

“I didn’t think a seventh time or an eighth time … was going to show us one thing about the boards that we didn’t already know,” Bylsma said. “I thought staying home would give us a better chance to be more focused and more prepared in our routine.”

Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby(notes) has been bottled up by forward Henrik Zetterberg(notes), who hits the ice pretty much every time Crosby does, and hasn’t scored a goal in six finals games in Detroit.

Crosby and teammate Evgeni Malkin(notes), who led the NHL with 113 points in the regular season, went pointless in the Game 6 win. That was Pittsburgh’s first postseason victory since the dynamic duo joined the team in which neither star got on the score sheet.

The Penguins can’t expect to dethrone the Red Wings in Detroit if Crosby and Malkin are blanked again.

“I’d always like to score more,” said Crosby, who has a goal and two assists in the series. “I look back, and on some of the chances I’ve had just didn’t really get a whole lot of luck. Now is not the time to think about what could have been. The only way I’m looking at here is it’s a great opportunity, and I’ve got to try to go out there and play my best game in the playoffs.

“No matter what’s happened before, whether I had one goal or 10, doesn’t really matter.”

History strongly favors the Red Wings heading into the final game of the season. Home teams are 12-2 in championship Game 7s and have won 80 of the 128 playoff series that have gone the distance (62.5 percent).

While the Red Wings have a wealth of overall experience and lots of practice in hoisting the Cup, compared to the Penguins—whose championships came well before this group was in Pittsburgh—they haven’t played a finals Game 7 with Detroit.

Defenseman Brian Rafalski(notes), a Michigan native, went through it twice with New Jersey. He was on the short end in 2001 against Colorado, and came out on top two years later against Anaheim, which was coached by current Red Wings bench boss Mike Babcock.

The Red Wings are 12-7 overall in Game 7s, but haven’t played one in the finals since 1964 and haven’t hosted a decisive game with the Cup on the line since 1955—a 3-1 victory over Montreal.

“I am sure there will be some butterflies early on, especially here in the room before you hit the ice,” captain Lidstrom said. “Once you start playing, you are so focused on what you have to do and your assignments out there. I think that will go away.”

Ruslan Fedotenko(notes) is hardly a star for the Penguins, but his voice carries a little farther these days. In 2004, Fedotenko scored both goals for Tampa Bay in Game 7 and helped the Lightning complete a comeback from a 3-2 series deficit against Calgary and win the Stanley Cup.

Pittsburgh is trying to repeat the feat.

“I will have my moment, and I will talk to the team before the game,” Fedotenko said. “We won at home. We forced Game 7, and it gave us the opportunity to play for the Cup, gave us a chance to win. Right now we’ll take that.

“We’ve been successful in probably the first 10 minutes in each game. I feel like we’ve come out pretty strong … but I feel like we need to find a way to put in 60 minutes of that. I’m sure if we do that, we’ll have a chance to win.”

That opportunity was lost in Game 5 when the series was tied 2-2. The Penguins started well, but failed to score on an early power play. That was the jump that propelled the Red Wings to the 5-0 victory that put them one win away from their 12th Stanley Cup title.

That is the only game in the series decided by more than two goals.

“We wanted to finish them off early, but the two teams have been so even and playing so well at home that there haven’t been big differences between the two teams,” Lidstrom said. “In a way it might be fitting that the top two teams are playing a Game 7.”

Updated Jun 11, 7:31 pm EDT
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Team Comparison

Team G W L OTL Pts Standings GF GA Road/Home
Pittsburgh 82 45 28 9 99 2nd, Atlantic 264 239 20-15-6 Road
Detroit 82 51 21 10 112 1st, Central 295 244 27-9-5 Home

Notes

The Penguins outshot the Flyers, 15-5, in the first period but managed just 13 over the final 40 minutes. ... C Evgeni Malkin registered a team-high four shots on goal. ... C Sidney Crosby was impressive in the faceoff circles, winning 15 of his 22 draws. ... D Philippe Boucher was in the lineup in place of D Kris Letang, who has an undisclosed injury. RW Miroslav Satan made his first appearance for Pittsburgh since being sent to the minors on March 4. Satan replaced RW Petr Sykora, who failed to record a point in the first four games of the series.

Apr 23, 10:55 pm EDT

By sweeping the Blue Jackets, the Red Wings became the first team since the 2002 Colorado Avalanche to advance past the conference quarterfinals the season after winning the Stanley Cup. Colorado made it to the conference finals in 2002 before losing to Detroit, which went on to win the championship. But the Red Wings fell to the Vancouver Canucks in the quarterfinals in 2003. Others to fail to advance were the 2004 New Jersey Devils, the 2006 Tampa Bay Lightning, the 2007 Carolina Hurricanes - who did not even qualify for the playoffs - and the 2008 Anaheim Ducks. ... Detroit enjoyed success on the power play, scoring three times on six opportunities. But it was unable to stop Columbus, which went 2-for-2 with the man advantage. ... RW Marian Hossa, who scored a pair of goals, registered a game-high seven shots.

Apr 23, 11:05 pm EDT
NHL

1655 Comments

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  1. Joe Z
    1655. Posted by Joe Z Sat Jun 20 8:46pm EDT

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    Enjoying the replay of game 7 on the NHL Network, which made me want to check in on the comments... I am still amazed at the level of stupidity that has been reached on a lot of these comments, but I suppose that's all we have until October and the start of another season.
    I think we could all agree that hockey has some of the most passionate, hard-core people in all the sports world, players and fans alike. Football is a very close second, IMO, but it blows away every other sport. Baseball has lost it's grip as "America's National Pastime", the games are too slow and you pretty much know who's on 'the juice' and there are really only like 6 or 7 teams that have a chance to compete each year. Basketball (at the pro level) is mostly about me, me, me and making the highlights on ESPN. Soccer, well, let's just say, they are some great actors.. a trip or sliding tackle is made to look like the guy just took a .44 magnum slug to the chest. Can you imagine a hockey game where the players reacted like that to hits?
    This wasn't meant to bash any of the other sports, but to point out just how great the game of hockey is and that we as fans should focus on that and not all of the other juvenille issues being "discussed" on here.

    That's my 2 cents.. damn I can't wait til October!
  2. da fat man
    1654. Posted by da fat man Thu Jun 18 1:48pm EDT

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    @DonnaDokken...Yet ANOTHER blog you've been chased from. By the way, the posts you called weak, weren't putdowns. That was my honest evaluation of how you come across in your posts. Weak and pathetic. Why is it you initiate conflicts on blogs if you're going to run when they respond? You clearly don't have the brains to hang with even a mediocre blogger. You should just post hockey opinions and observations and avoid starting wars on the blogosphere because you simply can't hang. I think I'd lose that ridiculous name you're posting under as well. Perhaps try "Liberace's lover" or "I blow guys". Both are less obviously gay than your current name. Just trying to help a sister out.
  3. da fat man
    1653. Posted by da fat man Tue Jun 16 5:43pm EDT

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    @DonnaDokken aka president of the Wayne,Michigan hairclub for women.......Gee, now I see why you run from a skirmish. Fish faced???lol Sap suckin'???? Bobby Brady called and he wants his insults back. FYI, I did not post throughout the finals to cut pink wing fans some slack. Unlike you, I admitted to being wrong on my predictions in the Anaheim series and the Blackhawks series AND actually wished the pink wings good luck for the series. I own a small business and have 3 kids so I didn't think I'd have time to post and planned not to watch the series because I dislike both teams. I ended up posting one non combative post after game 4. However, since the series has ended, I couldn't resist pointing out the softness of Datsuck and lampooning all the pink wing crybabies and conspiracy theorists like yourself. There is no more pathetic being on earth than a pink wing fan and I feel guilty from time to time beating them up as there is no challenge in it. I noticed I shut you up for quite a while when I challenged you to produce what you considered to be brilliant commentary and original thought. I suppose this is it? If it took you 5 weeks to come up with fish face and sap suckin'; then you are even more pathetic than I thought(which is realing saying something). You should go back to your closet/bedroom and put your Milli Vanilli t-shirt back on for comfort and spend the day listening to all of your 80's hair band 8 tracks. It will make you feel better about your pathetic existence and your longing for one friend in life. Schmindle!
  4. DON_DOC_IN
    1652. Posted by DON_DOC_IN Tue Jun 16 8:26am EDT

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    da fat man............A another couple epic fails. Even for you that was weak(and that says alot). Pink Wings..............as I stated waaaaay back when. That is the dumbest thing ever, yet you hang your hat on it. I love how you disappear like the coward you are during the series. With the "Pink Wings" ha ha ha ha, up 2-0 your sad lil self was no where to be found. Now all of a sudden you are all tough again. "Men" like you are sad. For that I feel sorry for you! Enjoy your life as an internet tough guy. It is your escape from your dark, lonely world........................See ya sissy boy

    Now go ahead and think of "clever" ways to change up my screen name or make "fun" of an 80's band. In terms even you can understand. Have a good day ya sawed off, sap suckin, corn fed, Wrangler wearin, Oprah lovin, pole smokin, tree climbin, fish faced, apple polishin.................turd : } (Wow, talking like you(idiot) was actually kind of fun.............for a minute)

    (yawn) zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    Next!!
  5. Eldubb
    1651. Posted by Eldubb Tue Jun 16 12:56am EDT

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    I posted earlier a few comments to Detroit fans and Marian Hosed-Ya! In all honesty, Detroit was a worthy opponent. Even though I thought the Pens could pull it off in 7, I knew in my heart it would be a miracle. Some refer to the redwings as the BIG RED MACHINE, as in the SOVIETS, when they were dominant. They definetly are a team to be reckoned with. Even though my beloved PENS won, I honestly do believe the Redwings were the best in the NHL! But the key to be remaining Champions is hunger. The Pens were hungrier, I truly believe you take away Hossa, and you take away the trophy. The Redwings probably could of beaten us without Hossa, but he was the X-factor that people were reluctant to mention. The Pens will say it did'nt ,matter. but anyone who plays sports know when you have a teammate who leaves, and goes to the other team that you lost to in the Championship game, it definetly matters, the Pens are just being politically correct. But come on Detroit, any athlete who competes know that the ante gets alot higher when you have a defector coming back to rub it in your face, maybe, just maybe, that's why he never scored a goal! Figure it out. The Pens were intent on shutting him down!!!!! Winning was just a bonus. Lesson to be learned: Be careful what you wish for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  6. da fat man
    1650. Posted by da fat man Mon Jun 15 11:29pm EDT

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    @DonnaDokken......I wanted to correct my last post. The "uncledaddy" comment was a mistake, as you don't strike me as being inbred. I had to hurry my post to attend to other things and the uncledaddy line is kind of a fit all smack for pink wingers because most come across that way. However, I've read many of your posts, even when I wasn't posting through the finals; and you are really an irritating, wormy excuse for a man. Even on a blog you are uncommonly cowardly. You tend to initiate a scuffle, as you've done with me twice now; then when the heat turns up just a notch you either cry foul OR you call out for help from the pink wing nation. You seem to me to be a guy(using the term loosely) who was probably raised without a father or had an elderly one that couldn't show you how to be a man. I think it's kind of pathetic the way you continually reach out to other pink wing bloggers for support/friendship, and always to no avail. You strike me as a pathetic, lonely,and bitter little man with little to live for; longing for the days when hair bands were popular(though Dokken never was) and trying hard to fit in wherever you can. Even on a pink wings blog. Good luck loser, I actually pity you.
  7. da fat man
    1649. Posted by da fat man Mon Jun 15 5:41pm EDT

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    @DonnaDokken....Chrimony, that was abrutal comeback!HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You're as brilliant as the pink wings coach and just as tough as "lady bing " herself, Datsuck. Though I did hear she's claiming now to have played through a charley horse? What a "Dream Warrior". So, are you going to follow your beloved pink wing ladies when they move to Frisco or do you prefer the free rent of uncledaddy's basement? As for confrontations, I seem to remember you running last time I b*tchsmacked you; are you telling me you've now grown a pair(of balls not tits queerbo)? Perhaps running or "skating away" is a tad inaccurate; you ladies do more of a sache', right?
  8. DON_DOC_IN
    1648. Posted by DON_DOC_IN Mon Jun 15 4:41pm EDT

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    "Now, do what pink wings always do with confrontation"... ha..............Yeah like I considered this a confrontation. Tool. Real tough guy on here. If we had a confrontation lil man, it wouldn't be me "skating away"..... Moron!
  9. DON_DOC_IN
    1647. Posted by DON_DOC_IN Mon Jun 15 4:37pm EDT

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    fat man.............a Gay bar in Wayne? I had no idea, but if you say so. I guess you would know! Dream Warriors would be good right now but I am too busy playing a song for the Pens......................"You Just Got Lucky......" TOOL
  10. DON_DOC_IN
    1646. Posted by DON_DOC_IN Mon Jun 15 4:33pm EDT

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    Gary B.............I am over it man! Friday nite sucked and then Saturday came..... The loss saved me the $30 I would have spent on a Chanpions hat!!!!!!
  11. <i>falynn_baker</i>
    1645. Posted by falynn_baker Mon Jun 15 4:04pm EDT

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    i am so sick of hearing how our crowd boo'ed at you stupid penguin F*****S! I guess you arrogant low class sons of B*****S forgot about last year when our team took it in your building. @#$%Sburg has the worst fans I've ever seen and after seeing Crosby be the B***H that he is and not even shake the Wings hands I can see why the wings, the fans and detroit outclasses all of pitts on any given day. I'll give it to you that you took the cup this year but start winning them back to back and then see you the cups champs are. You all are a**-holes and as far as i'm concerned you better celebrate like theres no tomorrow because i doubt this will EVER happen again. GO WINGS!
  12. corey y
    1644. Posted by corey y Mon Jun 15 3:38pm EDT

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    Wow - lots of bickering over one of the best Stanley Cup Finals ever. Game 7 was a gem - started out a little slow - but after the first 5 minutes was filled with action. Fluery was the difference maker in the third period as the Wings were coming on strong and the last save with less then a second to go will be one of hockey's greatest highligts for years. Good job to both clubs for giving hockey fans a memorable series. Can't wait for next season.
  13. Nick
    1643. Posted by Nick Mon Jun 15 3:12pm EDT

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    congrats to pitt. real hard to win a rigged game but still, it's a cup. not the best series. it was all obvious who would be the winner from game 6 on but oh well. pitt will be losing a lot of players anyways and crosby will never be any good. that's what he gets for cheating and holding onto a player just because he sucks now. enjoy your championship pitt fans because it's the last one you will see in a long time. not because they suck but because no sport likes teams to win back to back championships. that's the main reason why detroit lost. oh and by the way, when detroit won last year in pitt, no one there was nice to detroit players so why should detroit be nice to pitt when they won this year. think about that jerks. also, crosby needs to grow up with many other guys on that team. detroit had no problem shaking all pitt players last year. it's respect jerks, just like the players and the fans, learn some.
  14. Nick
    1642. Posted by Nick Mon Jun 15 3:04pm EDT

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    you can't blame detroit for being "poor sports" even though they weren't. they were screwed. had to throw the towel and that's what this crappy country has been reduced to. can't even let sports just play. just because all ratings for everything sucks, we need to rig everything so we make it a little better. the real bad people of this world is the US government. need to grow up and get a REAL president
  15. Nick
    1641. Posted by Nick Mon Jun 15 2:57pm EDT

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    it's easy to tell the penguins were going to win no matter what. all pro sports are rigged. clearly detroit didn't try to win. gotta let pitt win because all the immature players on pitt. no worry, they won't win again for a long time
  16. Brendan
    1640. Posted by Brendan Mon Jun 15 2:27pm EDT

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    adding on to my comment.... jeff (comment 1644) is the model fan! that wouldve made the ceremony so much better for the pens if the fans were like him and accepted their defeat. maybe clap and cheer. thanks for being a good sport jeff!
  17. Brendan
    1639. Posted by Brendan Mon Jun 15 2:22pm EDT

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    Mike (comment 1645)...... i second that! seeing the red wings look so good but then get smacked in the face in game seven! it was awesome! im not a big pens fan but they are a team you can respect. i dont give much respect to the wings, but i definitely dont give any to their fans! ur team lost but thats no reason too boo the pens during the ceremony. show some respect to the hockey community.
    still i rather would of had my blues in there beatin the wings! that wouldnt been a show... GO BLUES!
  18. Eldubb
    1638. Posted by Eldubb Mon Jun 15 1:35pm EDT

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    I always knew Detroit was a bad loser in games. But you can hardly blame them, after witnessing what their Lions went thru and the economic disaster of General Motors. So let them vent, and shift blame to Bettman and the officials, whom I did'nt see suit up! They just don't seem to understand the Pittsburgh Mystic, "Just get me there, and we'll win." These Burgh teams just seem to play at a different level in that 1 final game. While the Detroit fans look at the league being against them. Think of this, they could have cheated you out the finals earlier by bad calls, but yet they waited all the way up to Finals. Then you say, "because they wanted a Pens and Redwings match for a bigger draw. So let me figure this out. Bettman and officials conspired to cheat the downtrodden city of Detroit, whom played the last game of the series at home, in front of their own, also while it was being televised in million of homes, in front of millions of people, in what would have ended up a fairytale ending for the city of Detroit, the Redwings, and oh yes, the NHL! I believe it would of been a better ending with the Wings clinching in Detroit with all of America watching and remembering the plight with GM, which would have been a better scenario for the NHL. So you see Redwings fans, this conspiracy sh*t does'nt hold up. You guys are just tired of watching the Burgh raising winning trophies on your turf. And by the way, a shout out to Marian-Hosed-Ya! I guess the grass was'nt greener traitor. Now you feel like an idiot, passed up more millions and a trophy. So you see Detroiters, it was'nt Bettman and the officials that lost the game for you, it was the payback the Pens waited to hand out to Hossa for going to Detroit for a supposedly gauranteed Trophy. That's all the Pens needed, there were no such distractions last year. It reminded me of that no-name tightend for Seattle, whom talked sh*t to Porter before the SuperBowl and ended up shutdown and disgraced. You do not want to give any Pittsburgh team extra ammo before a big game. Sensitive? I guess we are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  19. Kevin
    1637. Posted by Kevin Mon Jun 15 12:58pm EDT

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    Congrats to the Pens!!!! F%$ Detroit. Yeah there were some calls that should of been called and some that shouldn't but what about the rest of the time when it was 5 on 5? Your team couldn't step up and score and your just looking for excuses. Accept the lose and look forward to next year. O yeah, and that was pretty pathetic booing during the ceremony. If you didn't like them winning then leave the stadium. Boo your team for letting the Pens win in your home town.
  20. Nathan A
    1636. Posted by Nathan A Mon Jun 15 12:41pm EDT

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    stop complaining the series is over and the answer is simple the red wings choked. the red wings had more goals in series but would still lose. I you would combine wins and loses from 08 and 09 stanley cup you get an 7-6 red wing lead but would still give one championship to the pens.
    HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
  21. Nathan A
    1635. Posted by Nathan A Mon Jun 15 12:37pm EDT

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    The winner and better team = Pens
    The loser and better chocker= roasted red wings
  22. douglas s
    1634. Posted by douglas s Mon Jun 15 12:07pm EDT

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    Eh no the wings fans don't need help, but if you'd like I can certainly help you read the NHL rule book if you'd like, The only one pretending here is the people who think this one cup is more important than the history of teams like Montreal, Chicago and Detroit, etc.
  23. Jeremy D
    1633. Posted by Jeremy D Mon Jun 15 11:53am EDT

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    of course you redwing fans wont give the pens any credit just like when the steelers win they never get the credit either so the powers that be just want to see pittsburgh teams win championships right you people need professional help
  24. douglas s
    1632. Posted by douglas s Mon Jun 15 11:45am EDT

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    LOL, oh stop it A the better team did not win, and the "conspiracy" has nothing to do with powerplays, it has to do with what didn't get called, and a suspension that lasted all of 30 minutes.

    Next, class? Class is littering the Mellon with trash because the better team did win? Hardly.

    C. No team has bragging right now as each has a cup, however D has 11 and Pitt has 3..... that's 1 less than Detroit has in the past 12 years....
  25. Jeremy D
    1631. Posted by Jeremy D Mon Jun 15 11:43am EDT

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    if you want to make a u tube on the refs miscalls then you have to do for every game and every bad call for both teams not just the pens because the refs were horriable every game every call for both teams not just the pens tie breaker next year
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