The Round Stable

I can't play hockey or watch hockey, so I'm bringing hockey to Animal Crossing

Now this makes me wish I could customize a sabertooth tiger fossil to be painted mustard yellow.

Rumors are flying around that Dustin Byfuglien is retiring. I'll always remember him for his amazing performance in the 2010 SCF, especially this hit on Pronger in the finals.

10 years ago today!

The Preds and the NHL overall are really getting desperate for content.

Who's ready for some summer hockey?

Short version: The regular season's over. 24 teams are going to the playoffs, with the top two teams in each division automatically getting in, playing a round robin set to determine seeding order. The next eight teams in each conference will play a best-of-5 series against each other in a qualifying round, with the winners advancing to face the divisional top two from earlier. The playoffs proceed from there, and while the length of each series in the first and second round isn't yet set, the ECF and WCF as well as the finals will be the usual best-of-7.

The Sabres, Devils, Senators, Red Wings, Ducks, Kings, and Sharks are out. Teams miraculously squeaking in under this scheme (whereas they would've been out had the NHL taken the usual division top three and conference wild cards) are the Isles, Rangers, Panthers, Habs, Canucks, Wild, Coyotes, and Hawks.

All these games will be played in one "host city" each for the East and West, which have yet to be chosen. Also as yet to be decided are the dates of these games, though Bettman says they'll be in "the summer into the early fall."

I'm really not sure this is the best idea, overall. Does the league really need to play game after game to what'll almost certainly be an empty arena? If the playoffs were canceled entirely, this wouldn't be the first time the Cup went unawarded due to a pandemic. It'd save the players and team staff from having to be sequestered for what might be a couple of months as well, but who knows; maybe the NHLPA is genuinely okay with this.

Now would be the perfect time for the Leafs to finally win it all, just so every non-Leafs fan would brush it off, saying "yeah but that championship doesn't REALLY count."

If the players are OK with it, I say go for it. They were so close to the end of the season, it doesn't seem right not to award the cup.

And go Avs!

JUSTICE!

In case you missed it:


I still think it would've been nice if they had revived the Metropolitans name, but at least they seem to be working throwbacks to the old team into their material.

I love the space needle anchor so much

I like the name and logo. "Release the Kraken" will be a dynamite slogan for marketing.

And "the Krakhouse" will be a much better name than Climate Pledge Arena.

I like the Anchor logo with the Space Needle more than the S logo.

Their fans have already been dubbed Krak-heads. And there are already lots of "karen" jokes.

Octavia wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 23, 2020 5:02 pm

I like the Anchor logo with the Space Needle more than the S logo.

Agreed. The Space Needle anchor looks nice.

Just 3 more days until new hockey games!

9 penalties and a win for our exhibition game.

Hawks looking really strong in game 1. It turns out a team of veterans getting a ton of rest is a good thing.

Them winning the Cup would be the best purely because of the salt from the rest of the league. They probably wouldn't have even made the postseason if not for the covid schedule.

Octavia wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 01, 2020 5:07 pm

Them winning the Cup would be the best purely because of the salt from the rest of the league. They probably wouldn't have even made the postseason if not for the covid schedule.

I feel like the Bruins winning would generate more salt, if only because they would've won by default had the season been canceled entirely, so for the play-ins and playoffs to be run just for them to win it anyway would be a letdown.

So, y'know, if hockey becomes as hellish as the rest of our hellworld then we'll get a Hawks-Bruins SCF.

Hawks/Habs would be an even saltier SCF, since they're both huge fanbases that weren't gonna make the playoffs without the new scheduling.

what an ending.

Avs scored with .1 seconds left in the third period, breaking a tie and beating the blues.

Fuck the Blues

Hawks win thanks to two late-third-period goals!

Kissing my Rinne bobblehead, in hopes that I can lend him my spirit energy and he can share it from the bench with the Preds in their time of need.

Welp. Sounds like it could have been a spectacular reversal, but the radio feed suggests the Yotes got one hell of a lucky bounce. It wouldn't have come to that if we had closed the game out in regulation, but... well, a hot goalie works wonders in the playoffs as always.

Somewhere around here is where I would customarily ask if it's October yet, but who knows what the 2020-21 season will look like. Hell, the last games of the SCF might be on in October.

I am just going to assume after the cup finals, were probably not getting more NHL hockey until next fall.

They worked their ass off to get a bubble going for half the teams, just to play a modified playoff schedule. I can't imagine they would do this for the whole league, even if they tried a shortened season.

Fizzbuzz wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 07, 2020 5:37 pm

Welp. Sounds like it could have been a spectacular reversal, but the radio feed suggests the Yotes got one hell of a lucky bounce. It wouldn't have come to that if we had closed the game out in regulation, but... well, a hot goalie works wonders in the playoffs as always.

It was a lucky deflection. Went right back to him.

Hawks advance!

Lightning/Blue Jackets currently in 4OT

e: make that 5OT

That's officially the fourth-longest NHL game ever, with two of the three longer than it dating back to the '30s.

Lightning FINALLY win halfway through the 5th OT.

Very on-brand for the Blue Jackets.

Dang.

I hate Vegas.

I can't be too disappointed about winning a playoff series when they probably wouldn't have even made the playoffs in a normal season.

Avalanche advance, beating the Coyotes 7-1 for the 2nd game in a row.

The Doctor wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:04 pm

Avalanche advance, beating the Coyotes 7-1 for the 2nd game in a row.

It might be up to you to keep the Blues out of the SCF. We're all counting on you.

Octavia wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 20, 2020 4:11 pm

It might be up to you to keep the Blues out of the SCF. We're all counting on you.