Ice Hockey

[demolidor]

Jorma Valtonen will now carry with him the most haunting of thoughts. When he heard the horrific news of a plane down and most of a team dead, [Valtonen] said his first reaction was disbelief. The players feared gone, the coaches presumed perished -- Valtonen had been enjoying lunch with all of them only a few hours earlier at the training base of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. ... [Valtonen], the team's Finnish goalie coach, had expected to be on the doomed flight to the season-opening game in Minsk, in the neighbouring country of Belarus. The club had even obtained for him the necessary visa for the journey. When management made a last-minute choice to leave Valtonen behind, Valtonen acknowledged that he had been "kind of disappointed." It was impossible for him to know at the time that the decision that rankled him had also saved his life.
The Star

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[staples]

Canucks Goalie Roberto Luongo Regrets Comments He Made About Tim Thomas During Stanley Cup Final by Ricky Doyle on Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 9:16AM

After Roberto Luongo posted a shutout in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, moving the Canucks to within one win of Cup glory, he opened his mouth and questioned Tim Thomas' goaltending style. Shortly thereafter, he inserted his foot.

So not only did Thomas get the last laugh after guiding the Bruins to a Stanley Cup victory, earning Conn Smythe honors and being awarded the Vezina Trophy, but now he has Luongo taking back his comments.

Well played, Timmy.

Agreed. Luongo just never knows when to shut his trap. Too bad that cost his team the Stanley Cup. In my opinion that was the turning point of the series. If anyone would have saw the interview, you'd think Luongo had won the cup already.

If a cocky guy has to take back his own comments then you know how bad the situation was.

[staples]

Jorma Valtonen will now carry with him the most haunting of thoughts. When he heard the horrific news of a plane down and most of a team dead, [Valtonen] said his first reaction was disbelief. When management made a last-minute choice to leave Valtonen behind, Valtonen acknowledged that he had been "kind of disappointed." It was impossible for him to know at the time that the decision that rankled him had also saved his life.

Valtonen was really lucky. Sometimes disappointments may not be a bad thing if you look at it in the long run.

Condolences to the Locomotiv team members who perished and to their families.

[demolidor]

...



Well that was a first (and hopefully not last): hockey sweaters in .NL
(well the first I've seen anyway, I know there have been shops selling local ones down south but with one exception never international ones)

[demolidor]

Let me bump this as well as we have reached the SF stage already with the US and Canada going home empty handed again

Watch the matches here (excluding the obvious countries BWF style): http://www.youtube.com/icehockey

Random related "music" videos I just bumped into ... not sure which is worse

[demolidor]

Couple of nice vids

[demolidor]

[King's]

No Lakers, no Clippers, no Dodgers? No problem, L.A. Kings finally won one! Guess, L.A. just won't go away quietly.

[demolidor]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mul...content.1.html

[Fidget]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mul...content.1.html

I'm confused, demolidor. You commited the crime of posting a link with no context.

Sure, anyone who is not a deep thinker might assume that you intended us to see the big picture of the LA Kings' victory parade. But I know that you are mysterious and playful; you wanted us to dig deeper for the truth.
With a couple clicks I found the picture that you really wanted us to see: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mul...ontent.12.html

(I didn't even know that General George Patton invaded Holland. By the looks of it, he at least invaded a Dutch greenhouse or a gay bar's Carmen Miranda tribute party.)

[demolidor]

[demolidor]