Gotta love hockey fans!

Posted by a friend on facebook:

(in case you cn't read it, it says, "Are you pregnant, ref? Because you missed 2 periods!")

Anyhow, I'm finally at a night I have nothing else to bitch about, so its hockey night at TAW.First off, the world cup's first round wrapped up today. Russia not suprisingly beat Belarus 3-1, while Slovakia topped Kazakhstan 5-1 to send them into the relegationround, where they'll get a chance to further humiliate the good ol' USA. Russia finishes the first round 3-0 for 9 pts. Slovakia took second in their group (2-1, 6) and Belarus third(1-2, 3) . The Kazakhs, like the other relegation babies, finish 0-3. Sweden falls to the Czech Republic 2-1 to force a 3-way tie at the top of their group with the Czechs and Norway at 2-1. Norway makes it with a 5-1 piledriving of France, who goes 0-3 and faces Italy in their relegation round openner. The other groups finished last night, with Switzerland going 3-0 to take their group over Canada (2-1), Latvia (1-2) and the aforementioned Italian squad. Finland, with 2 non- OT wins, edges Germany (2-1) and Denmark (likewise) in the group that USA dusted the bottom of. So now, the groups will be Russia, Slovakia, Belarus, Finland , Germany, and Denmark in one and Sweden, Czech Rep., Norway, Canada, Switzerland, and Latvia in the other.

Did a little digging about how the Austrians and Slovenians earned their chance at next season's cup. Austria rolled through their group in division 1 (not sure why they call the second level teams div. 1, but whatever), beating Serbia 13-0, Lithuania 6-2, Japan 3-1, Netherlands 4-1, and the Ukraine 2-1. Serbia got booted to division 2 as a result of going 0-for-also rans. It scares me to think who all is in that group. Slovenia Knocked off Poland 3-2, Croatia 10-1, Great Britain 4-3, Korea 8-3, and Hungary 4-1. Guess who goes down to div. 2 out of this bunch? If you said Croatia...congratulations, you are right.

A word now, and finally, about the NHL playoffs. # 8 Montreal's stunning second upset of Pittsburgh puts the Habs into the eastern conference finals against either #6 Boston or #7 Philly, whom the Bruins are in the similar process of choking a big lead to. The east's top 4 seeds went a combined 13-18 in the playoffs; if you take out the Penguin's first round win, 9-16. In the meantime, the west has a final of #1 Chicago and #2 San Jose. The west's top 4 seeds have gone 23-13, the finalists 16-7. Assuming that the Habs will likely beat either the choke-er or the choke-ee of the other series, One has to wonder if they could pull off the magic one more time against the vastly better teams of the west. Let's hope not; the Canadiens are the Yankees of hockey, with 23 Stanley Cup wins, ten more than anyone else.

Oops, one more little note: Sidney Crosby, who suddenly has time on his hands, has turned down an invite to the Canadian team over in Germany. I can understand that. Why would he want to top off a miserable Quarterfinal loss by having to face Ovechkin again? Yeah, golf'd look pretty good to me, too.