About 20 years ago the nephew was at center ice with Stevie Y for some ceremony at a Sens game. Became a fan of Stevie then, besides being an Ottawa 'boy'. Some good players came out of this area.

Canadiens enforcer > John Ferguson > 42 major fights
http://www.hockeyfights.com/players/1065/fought_breakdown

Oh yes, Dougie Gilmour. How did I forget. Yeah, amazing player. Back then guys like him and Oates were such good centermen. They played at a different pace, they saw everything before it happened. If only he never became a Devil. That's not good, not good at all. Gilmour was another one of the players that had an amazing 92-93 season and was therefore amazing in NHL 94 lol.

At the risk of shedding any good will here, I am actually a Flyers fan, not a Wings fan, in case you were thinking that Wango Tango. Fun fact, Gilmour was actually traded for Flyers goon Craig Berube in the trade that took Gilmour from the Flames to the Leafs (there were a few other involved as well). How bout that

And Wendel Clark, another great Leaf, yes. Hard nosed winger with a rifle for a shot.

I love the Leafs uniforms, and also the city of Toronto which I have visited a number of times. But I am no fan of the Maple Leafs

(although that Matthews kid makes it hard to really hate em anymore)

Cool website KraziKanuck. Thanks for sharing.

Everybody has players/teams they love to "hate". It's all part of the fun. I have been to games in Toronto, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Jose, and Montreal, and I can tell you there wasn't much love for my Red Wing apparel. It was all in good fun though. Well, except Chicago. That was the only time I was actually ever in any fear for my safety at a sporting event. So, yes, I hate the Blackhawks.

It does seem like the days of the big name fights is slowing down. When a fights starts now, the guys seem either to just get each other in a head/arm lock, others players join in (third man is never called anymore), or the refs come in right away and try to break it up.

Exactly, it's all in good fun, I enjoy the 'tribal' nature of it all, and the NHL has always been better because of my villains. McSorley, Derian Hatcher, Dale Hunter, Scott Stevens, Claude Lemieux. Kasparitis. It's almost as fun to root against these villains as it is to root for your own team. Hell, if I weren't a Flyers fan I would probably have Hextall as one of the all-timers. Man, if he had been a Ranger, heaven forbid, I'd have a Hextall dartboard.

Sidney Crosby became like an insta-villain because he scored early and often against the Flyers and hasn't let up since. Crosby sucks.

Penguins 2, Capitals 6.
2-3

This isnt going as planned...

I don't know Master. How many times have the Caps had a 3 to 2 game lead in a playoff series with Pittsburgh, and then lost the last 2 games ? You can say the Pens have the Caps right were they want them. I can just see the Pens winning game 6, and and then a tension filled low scoring game 7 back in Washington. It's like an annual event now.

Full disclosure, I am not a Pitt. fan at all.

Face it. The Caps could mess up a wet dream.

Jets up 3-2 over the Preds. Be nice if they could finish them of next game and get some R&R before the next round.

Oh yeah, I remember Berube as a Leaf. Tough guy. My favorite Flyers memory is when I saw Hextall and Potvin skating to center ice to fight. I thought, ' oh God Potvin is gonna get killed !" who new the quiet frenchman could box ? His Dad was a boxer apparently.

Fights are so rare now, it's sad really. I don't miss the staged our tough guy fights yours. I miss the passion sparked by a dirty hit or slew foot, etc. ( Marchand?)

Who would you say was the dirtiest/cheap shot player that ever played?

Darius Kasparaitis, Corey Perry and Matt Cooke come to mind. Marchand is starting to look like he wants to be on that list. I remember Kenny "the rat" Linesman was trouble maker.I am sure there were some real nasty players in the first 50 years of the NHL. Maybe a Ted Lindsey type guy.

Then there is always Olge Ogilthorpe.

Cool list here:

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...tory-and-their-most-heinous-acts#slide25

Claude Lemieux hit on Kris Draper comes to mind right away.
Also Dale Hunters hit on Pierrre Turgeon.

So many dirty ones.

Pronger was the master of it. He could be cheap shotting someone, while blocking the ref's view of it and complaining to the ref about it all at the same time.

Bertuzzi on Moore
Claude Lemieux on Draper
Matt Cooke on many

One that really stands out for me is McSorely cracking Brashear over the head with his stick

Nice to see Brad Marchand going home for the summer.

Well VGK can't possibly have anymore puck luck left after that game. That puck just would not go in for the Sharks. Fluery has been lights out. I still think the Jets will make short work of them.

Brad Marchand is really hurting his career with the weird antics. You could see Chara was not too happy with him. I think it really hurt the team.

Ulf Samuelson back when he was with the Whalers. Him and Neely were always going at it.

Winnipeg vs Las Vegas and Washington vs Tampa. Anybody still watching the playoffs? I still watch, no matter who is playing. I can't think that NBC is too thrilled about the smaller media markets that are left, or the fact that Crosby isn't playing anymore this year.

I can tell you I'm sure glad the Pens are out, I can't stand Crosby and didn't watch last years cup because of him. Hoping for Vegas vs Tampa

I watched the Preds-Jets game last night. Not the game I was hoping for, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

I like having different teams make it to the conference finals. If my team doesn't make (and they rarely do), I'm more interested in seeing teams other than the Pens and whoever comes out of the west.

The Knights really shook things up this year, and have been great. But it shouldn't be forgotten that they had a far easier path than any expansion team ever, due to the new protection rules for the expansion draft. Still, it's great to see a team like this still kicking. My only concern is that the success is too early. It may make for unrealistic expectations for the Knights going forward. If you win a cup in your first season, what happens to the attendance when they are under .500 and failing to make the playoffs?

I don't think you have to worry about the Knights winning the cup DBond, because Winnipeg is going to win that series

'Is anybody still watching the playoffs'?, oh ya, that screaming for joy that you heard last night was me lol