[2011] Lightning Strikes!

GregT · Apr 23, 2011

TUGgers,

I know everybody in Marriott-land wants to know if Puck is going to make it to Kauai Lagoons and send us all a review, or whether he's going to stay home and root for his beloved Lightning if they make a strong run in hockey playoffs (durring his 25th anniversary).

The Lightning are making it exciting, with a decisive 8-2 victory today over Pittsburgh, but still have a ways to go -- and are down 3-2 in the series count. Game Six returns to St. Pete's, but thus far home ice has meant nothing.

Good luck Puck -- and am curious how Mrs. Puck feels about all this.

Best,

Greg

puckmanfl · Apr 23, 2011

good afternnon...

Greg

I messed up today... I make the doctors sked in my emergency dept. I put myself on in the daytime thinking there would be a playoff game tonight,but alas it was at 12 noon, thus I will be watching the happy replay on TiVO. reagrdless how this turns out I just love my Bolts. I am thrilled to have one more game. If it doesn't end as planned at least I will get to stand and show my appreciation for an awesome season...

Mrs. Puck loves the lightning as much as I do!!!

Let's go lIghtning....

puckmanfl · Apr 23, 2011

good evening

It looked great on the HD DVR as well...

The Bruins Canadiens are now in OT...

Playoff Hockey is the best sports going!!!!

On monday, the middle cash drain gets to go with dad to a playoff game!!!

Go Bolts!!!

davidn247 · Apr 23, 2011

puckmanfl said:
good evening

It looked great on the HD DVR as well...

The Bruins Canadiens are now in OT...

Playoff Hockey is the best sports going!!!!

On monday, the middle cash drain gets to go with dad to a playoff game!!!

Go Bolts!!!

Good for you. My Devils are not part of the party (for once). Best of the week-end was Rangers being kicked out!

dioxide45 · Apr 23, 2011

I am not a huge hockey fan. Being a Canadian citizen it is rather shocking

. However I do tend to follow the playoffs (especially if a Canadian team is in the playoffs). There is no hope for my former hometown Leafs.

I always watch what could be the last game of the Stanley Cup final. There is nothing greater than watching the wining team hoist Lord Stanley's Cup. It moves me to tears every year, even if the Red Wings win.

eal · Apr 23, 2011

Since moving to BC last August I am surprised to find myself a rabid Canucks fan, biting my nails and pacing in front of the TV - the last two games were agony! Tomorrow better be different...

puckmanfl · Apr 24, 2011

good morning...

Come on all you hockey nuts...

chime in with your stories about your favorite team...

This is what makes it fun!!!

David..I know you are disappointed regarding Devils this season, but with 3 Cups and just about yearly visits to the dance, not much to complain about over the past 15 seasons...

94 Eastern Conference Finals Devils v. Rangers probably in the top 10 playoff rounds ever!!! Greg you will need to search you tube for "Messiers guarantee" and "Matteau... Matteau" to get the gist of this one!!!

GregT · Apr 24, 2011

puckmanfl said:
94 Eastern Conference Finals Devils v. Rangers probably in the top 10 playoff rounds ever!!! Greg you will need to search you tube for "Messiers guarantee" and "Matteau... Matteau" to get the gist of this one!!!

Puck,

Good reading and good references -- thanks for pointing me in the right direction!!

Giuliani was calling Messier "Mr. June" after this series!?! Hoping for a repeat -- any guarantees going on right now?

Go Bolts! (the hockey ones, this time).

Best,

Greg

Here's a memory for you...a great one....one of the greatest.....????

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gfD134ED54

puckmanfl · Apr 24, 2011

good evening...
Greg

only one guarantee from good ol puck! I will be there with my son taking it all in!!!

Thanks for the miracle on ice clip...

A couple of Myths regarding this game

#1 everyone says they remember watching it live. The was played at 5pm on Fri Feb 22, 1980. It was seen nationwide at 8pm EST on TAPE Delay. Only the Rochester market received a live feed. Jim mcKay (wide world of sports) stated on the HBO special documenting his career that the two most difficult tasks in his career were covering the tragedy at the Munich Olympics and coming on the air that February evening and not letting on that the game had already been completed. He hedged by stating "folks, you are in for a quite a night this evening"

#2 50,000 people will tell you they were at the game. The rink seats about 8,000. I went on a pilgrimage in 2004 with my sons Bantam team to a tournament at Lake Placid. He played on the 1980 rink.

#3 The common myth is that this was the Gold medal game. This is not true. In fact, the way the Olympics worked at the time was that USA had to play Finland the following Sunday morning. Had they lost, not only would they not get the gold medal they would not get ANY medal!!!! This has been changed to the current format where the final game is for the gold and loser takes silver...

Please watch the Disney Production "miracle". Disney hired actors that could skate with hockey experience!!! They recreated many of the exact on ice moments. Kurt Russell "nailed" Herb Brooks. Coach Brooks unfortunately passed away, the summer before the release of this classic. The Herb Brooks speech duplicated by Russell is a classic moment. You tube also has a 5 year old imitating Kurt Russell.

#4 There is no officially liscensed DVD of the event. 31 years after ABC, the USOC and the players are still arguing over the royalties. There are bootlegs out there and ESPN did air the game once in its entirety!!!!

#5 The biggest Myth of all was that the USA team was a bunch of mediocre College players, that got lucky on the grandest stage! This is complete malarkey. About 13-14 went on to NHL and a good many played for more than 10 years!!!!

#6 Al Michaels was an unknown up and comer with ABC at the time. The big boys at ABC Cosell,Jackson etc et al...turned down the hockey assignment. This made Mr. Michaels career.

On my Lightning wall of fame at home is a pictured of the celebration after the Russi an game signed by the players of team USA...

SueDonJ · Apr 24, 2011

Our Bruins are up now in their series after being down 2-0, VERY exciting to watch them and the Habs go after each other!

The problem I have is, we're watching some sports thing or another every night with the Bruins and Celtics in the playoffs and the RedSox beginning their season. I'm a HUGE Sox fan, have been since I was 13, and I don't often miss a game on the radio or TV. But we watch pretty much all four pro teams up here, and with the Sox on the west coast lately I'm not getting any sleep! Don manages to stay awake for the early Bruins/Celtics games but then when they're over I switch to the Sox, and they've kept me wide awake until 2 in the morning lately. They need to come back home so I can wind down at a proper hour. :rofl:

Today we had a lovely Easter dinner bookmarked by a sports smorgasbord - Celtics, Sox, the Heritage golf tournament, whatever 4-4 tied NHL game was making Stephen jump up and down and yell, and some college softball thing that our niece Katie found somewhere on her computer. Whew!

Go Bruins! :cheer:

Puck, if you do find yourself in Hawaii for important games, check out the pool bar at your resort. We had a BLAST! watching a Celtics/Lakers series there one year with a whole east/west crowd around the pool bar at Waiohai. Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? But those hours rank right up there as some of the best memories we have from that trip.

puckmanfl · Apr 24, 2011

good evening!!!

Sue

in 2003 we were in Boston for a hockey tournament. While my oldest was playing, I snagged 2 tix for yanks/sox playoff game 3 at Fenway! This was the game where Pedro and Zimmer threw down!!! This was my sons first ballgame. The son of a Bronx boy is now a Red Sox fan for life. He just loved Fenway! Thought you would like that one!!!

watched Tiger win 2008 US open on one leg from maui ocean club lahaina towers!!!

larryallen · Apr 25, 2011

Growing up a in So Cal, though a huge sports fan, hockey was never too big in my life; a distant #5 of the "main 4 sports" behind soccer. However, as I get older I do enjoy hockey a lot. I watched a lot more the last few years when I can. Live in Nor Cal now so root for the Sharks. Go to a Shark's game now and then and always love it. Atmosphere much better than an NBA game. Also hit the minor league games in Stockton sometimes which are surprisingly fun. Go Sharks!

AceValenta · Apr 25, 2011

May 1996: was most memorable hockey game ever! I had a chance to pickup playoff tickets for the Pens vs. Rangers game. Lemieux scored a hat trick not to be out done Jamomir Jagr decided to join in the fun and score a hat trick too. My brother and I were sitting 7 rows center ice! What a great memory in Pittsburgh Sports History!

June 2009

enguins win their 3rd Stanley cup! We were in downtown Pittsburgh for the big event. We were celebrating my parent's 50th Anniversary. Everyone else left the restaurant at the start of game time. We had the place to ourselves. The dinner party moved to the bar area carrying dinner plates to the the restaurant's bar area to watch the Pens hoist number 3! It was a great celebration on many fronts.

Let's go Pens!

GregT · Apr 25, 2011

puckmanfl said:
good evening...
Greg

only one guarantee from good ol puck! I will be there with my son taking it all in!!!

Thanks for the miracle on ice clip...

A couple of Myths regarding this game

#1 everyone says they remember watching it live. The was played at 5pm on Fri Feb 22, 1980. It was seen nationwide at 8pm EST on TAPE Delay. Only the Rochester market received a live feed. Jim mcKay (wide world of sports) stated on the HBO special documenting his career that the two most difficult tasks in his career were covering the tragedy at the Munich Olympics and coming on the air that February evening and not letting on that the game had already been completed. He hedged by stating "folks, you are in for a quite a night this evening"

#2 50,000 people will tell you they were at the game. The rink seats about 8,000. I went on a pilgrimage in 2004 with my sons Bantam team to a tournament at Lake Placid. He played on the 1980 rink.

#3 The common myth is that this was the Gold medal game. This is not true. In fact, the way the Olympics worked at the time was that USA had to play Finland the following Sunday morning. Had they lost, not only would they not get the gold medal they would not get ANY medal!!!! This has been changed to the current format where the final game is for the gold and loser takes silver...

Please watch the Disney Production "miracle". Disney hired actors that could skate with hockey experience!!! They recreated many of the exact on ice moments. Kurt Russell "nailed" Herb Brooks. Coach Brooks unfortunately passed away, the summer before the release of this classic. The Herb Brooks speech duplicated by Russell is a classic moment. You tube also has a 5 year old imitating Kurt Russell.

#4 There is no officially liscensed DVD of the event. 31 years after ABC, the USOC and the players are still arguing over the royalties. There are bootlegs out there and ESPN did air the game once in its entirety!!!!

#5 The biggest Myth of all was that the USA team was a bunch of mediocre College players, that got lucky on the grandest stage! This is complete malarkey. About 13-14 went on to NHL and a good many played for more than 10 years!!!!

#6 Al Michaels was an unknown up and comer with ABC at the time. The big boys at ABC Cosell,Jackson etc et al...turned down the hockey assignment. This made Mr. Michaels career.

On my Lightning wall of fame at home is a pictured of the celebration after the Russi an game signed by the players of team USA...

Puck,

I'm very happy that you'll be there to see Game Six with one of the Drains. We'll be thinking about you and I'll be rooting for the Bolts!

Very interesting facts about the Miracle on Ice -- I'll definitely look for the movie "Miracle" and something for the kids to see too... I loved the comments on Jim McKay and also Al Michaels -- thanks again for the info!

Best,

Greg

puckmanfl · Apr 25, 2011

good afternoon...

another Miracle Tidbit....

with the game in the closing minutes and USA perilously holding on to a 4-3 advantage. The Soviets aggressively stormed the USA zone and goalie Jim Craig. As the clock wound down to the final minutes, Soviet coach Viktor Tikhanov failed to pull his goalie (mishkin) to get on an extra attacker in an attempt to even the game. This is a universal strategy applied in just about every one goal game. It turns out that the Soviets hadn't lost in about 3 years. Coach Brooks noticed this on the bench he stated "he doesn't know what to do!!! "It was a classic gaffe, often overlooked!!!

puckmanfl · Apr 25, 2011

good evening....

This is also a precious moment from the world of sports...
A 1986 J-E-T-S moment...

one of the all time classics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNoy1yKmcRw

enjoy...

sports really are a microcosm of life!!!!

BobG7734 · Apr 25, 2011

SueDonJ...totally agree with you ! The best sports venue is Boston and this past weekend could not have been better.

Go Bruins tonight for the series!

Can't wait to get to Fenway next week (have sold most of my seasons tickets for the early (April) season games)

puckmanfl · Apr 25, 2011

good evening...

I agree even though I am from NYC, Boston is an awesome sports town. Don't forget all of the D1 D3 and NE prep high school hockey!!!!

puckmanfl · Apr 25, 2011

good evening!!!

Off to the game!!!!

Go Bolts, Go Bruins and Go sharks !!!!

My son (oldest cash drain) played varsity hockey at Lawrence Academy (groton, ma). Some of the best weekends were spend watching LA take on Belmont Hill, Nobles and the rest of the ISL, then sliding over to Conte Forum or Agganis arena for some Hockey East action!!!!

will report after the game!!!!

dioxide45 · Apr 25, 2011

SueDonJ said:
I'm a HUGE Sox fan, have been since I was 13.

Being a huge fan, that must have been a tough 10 years since you were 13 waiting for the Sox to finally win the World Series in 2004 after all those years without the title?

puckmanfl · Apr 25, 2011

good evening...

another exciting game...

game had many twists and turns and could have gone either way!! Tonight the Bolts had the key moments go in their favor. Back to the burgh for game 7!!!

Go Bolts!!!!

SueDonJ · Apr 25, 2011

dioxide45 said:
Being a huge fan, that must have been a tough 10 years since you were 13 waiting for the Sox to finally win the World Series in 2004 after all those years without the title?

Oh gosh, I really hate Surprise Math Quiz Day on TUG! But let's see, if I waited 10 years from age 13 for the Sox to win in 2004, then I must have been 23 in 2004? HA! It was a lot more than 10 years that I waited!

I have vague memories of '67, '75 is way more defined, wish I could forget certain moments from '86 and '03, have loved the multi-championships since but '04 holds a special place in my heart. All through the years I've been mesmerized regardless of the standings. There is just something about the 3's, 4's and 9's symmetry of baseball that's fascinating, and it's pretty difficult to not love the Sox if you grow up in Boston loving the game. (But maybe not so difficult as I imagine, considering Puck's son grew up in the Evil Empire's backyard and loves the Sox instead of the Dreaded Yankees.)

And, I've gotta admit, the nice-looking men who play the game might have something to do with my fanatical devotion. :rofl:

{eta} You know how some mothers wish for their 20-something daughters to end up in a nice, secure marriage with a good man? When Eileen was in high school and Theo Epstein was named GM to the Sox, I cut his picture out of the newspaper and wrote on it, "Eileen, will you marry this man? I want tickets." That picture stayed on the fridge for months with a running commentary from both of us:
"I'm too young for him."
"Men love younger wives."
"I don't know him."
"That reason hasn't stopped thousands of arranged marriages."
"He doesn't know me."
"Go stalk him at Fenway."
"He could have any woman his age."
"Trust me, he could have any woman MY age!"
"Dad, make Mom stop."
(from Dad) "Nothing I can do, she still thinks Jason Varitek is coming for her someday."

HAHAHA ... we had such fun with that, pages and pages. And every one of her aunties agreed with me!

GregT · Apr 26, 2011

puckmanfl said:
good evening...

another exciting game...

game had many twists and turns and could have gone either way!! Tonight the Bolts had the key moments go in their favor. Back to the burgh for game 7!!!

Go Bolts!!!!

Puck,

Congrats on the big win!!! Exciting game for the Lightning -- I arrived early for the Padres game at 6:00 (or so) -- checked the internet -- It was 2-1 at that point, after 2 periods -- went into the stadium and went to the sports bar -- they couldn't find the game on TV -- it was now 3-2.

I left and went over to where my seats are and checked the other (smaller) sports bar. Shockingly, they had it televised there, and it was now 4-2. I watched the last 5 minutes of the game rooting for my newly adopted hockey team -- exciting stuff!! Now back to Pittsburgh on Wednesday for Game 7! Congrats again and good luck!

Sue, if Eileen does end up marrying Theo Epstein, can you please ask her to have the Sox trade back Adrian Gonzalez? We have no offense without him.

Best,

Greg

Edited: Sue -- no disrespect intended to the Sox' finest moment, but this was the best I could find on Youtube (in keeping with the video tradition of this thread).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDfNeajJ7WE

puckmanfl · Apr 26, 2011

good morning...

Thanks for the interest...

go to www.nhl.com or www.tampabaylightning.com

both should have the highlight package on video!!!

Next year you will need to invest about $150 in the NHL Center Ice package... Then you can watch all of your new teams games!!!!

The Bolts welcome all fans!!! new, old, even TUGGER's...

ilene13 · Apr 26, 2011

I'm just going to add GO SABRES!!!

[2011] Lightning Strikes!

GregT

TUG Member

puckmanfl

puckmanfl

davidn247

dioxide45

TUG Review Crew: Expert

eal

TUG Review Crew: ELITE

puckmanfl

GregT

TUG Member

puckmanfl

SueDonJ

puckmanfl

larryallen

AceValenta

GregT

TUG Member

puckmanfl

puckmanfl

BobG7734

puckmanfl

puckmanfl

dioxide45

TUG Review Crew: Expert

puckmanfl

SueDonJ

GregT

TUG Member

puckmanfl

ilene13