I don't know what the hell happened to the Blackhawks... they found another gear in game 1, and as the Wings have gotten better with more time between games, the Blackhawks have gone back to what they looked like vs the Wild. And at least there was some desperation in game 3... last night was pathetic, especially with Toews' meltdown in the 2nd and the "effort" in the 3rd.

As a side note, I really dislike Abdelkader... I hope Dustin Brown does to him what the Wings are doing to Toews and that douche goes full Canuck. I know he has it in him.

Pens are sharp tonight. Look pretty good. Nice to see. Letang still making boneheaded moves.

He does have a cool hockey name :evil:

Watching Rask when he's out of position and can't rely on his fundamentals always reminds me of why Thomas was the better goalie. Rask is fundamentally excellent, but he just doesn't seem to be able to improvise very well when something goes wrong or he's out of position.

Why isn't Thomas playing? Taking a year off?

James Neal just torched Erik Karlsson out of his jock strap for a hat trick.

Neal has his confidence back. Gona be dangerous, very dangerous against BOS/NYR

Goodbye, Canada.

They were all pretenders anyway, even though I like the makeup and toughness of OTT. VAN continues to show they can't dig deep. I just would like to see BOS put the Rangers to bed for good.

Except for all the players on the remaining teams.

That's changing a bit. The skilled Russian players are adapting to the NHL style and the Americans are coming out with more skill every few years to go along with the grit and toughness that they already add to teams. Out of the 8 teams in this round, only 3 had Canadian captains, and both Finals teams last year were American, and only 1 of the final 4 teams last year was Canadian. Now that is obviously a small sample in a very specific category, but I still think it's showing a shift in the league.

There is no doubt Canada produces some sick players and in large quantity, but whether it be international tournaments or the NHL, non-Canadians aren't taking a backseat the way they used to. A #1 overall African-American will be the next step this coming season.

And the true intent of the comment still holds, the Canadian hockey fans are gone for a 20th straight season.

That's good because developing hockey into a more global game will be far better for it in the long run. But it is still, to this point, controlled to a major extent by Canadians both on and off the ice.

As for Canadian hockey fans being gone, the TV ratings in Canada don't quite seem to suggest that. They'll watch no matter who is playing. Heck, they'll watch any hockey at all (the junior club national championship is on right now and that's also getting a ton of viewers).

Dude, the Canadian teams are gone. Why is this something to argue about in your mind?

True. Now Canada goes from rooting for teams to players.

Because it's odd to say goodbye Canada when the entire top level of the sport (and all the remaining teams in the NHL playoffs) are comprised mostly of Canadians. We're still talking about hockey here. It's not like the country's presence has suddenly left the sport for the season now that the mediocre Senators are eliminated.

Or perhaps the team with the most Canadians? Hell if I know, though. I root for the Leafs and basically say **** all the rest. Unfortunate choice of teams, I know.