You Know What I Hate?! – April 23rd

Claude Giroux is angry. And so am I. We’re both angry that he doesn’t get to light up
Marc-Andre Fleury and the Penguins anymore. Poolies probably aren’t too thrilled either.
(Photo via Yahoo! Sports Canada)

You know what I hate?! The Flyers/Penguins series is over. Man, that was all kinds of fun, and mostly because I didn’t have any skin in the game. I truly didn’t care who won that series. I literally cheered and laughed heartily every single time there was a goal. Every time. While Canucks and Kings fans (mostly Canucks fans) suffered through the monotony of this five-game series, the Pens/Flyers six-game series was ripe with goals, physicality, and goalie breakdowns – everything that the Canucks/Kings series was NOT.

You know what I hate?! The NHL awards show. GOOD LORD. Remember when they thought that NHL fans wanted to see Chaka Khan? Now they think people want to hear Nickelback. And why is there an awards show at all? Does any league have an end-of-season awards ceremony? I can’t think of one. I have never watched the NHL awards, because I find the whole thing embarrassing and unnecessary. They’re trying to make this look like the Oscars. And come to think of it… when was the last awards show that was even slightly entertaining? Maybe Ricky Gervais hosting the Golden Globes (the first time, when it felt like he really was crossing lines and stepping on toes). I wish they would just name the winners of the NHL trophies in a league-wide press release. Save themselves the time and money of hosting a dumb awards ceremony. And save everyone from listening to Nickelback.

You know what I hate?! Owners who don’t shut the hell up. I get that some owners in the NHL really fancy themselves as NHL know-it-all’s, but they didn’t make their money owning NHL teams. They made their money in the business world.

Nobody exemplifies this more than Capitals owner Ted Leonsis. Leonsis decided that it was time for him to whine about the officiating in the Caps/Bruins series. He even took to his personal blog to bitch about the referreeing, specifically that the reigning Stanley Cup champions were getting the benefit of the doubt. No, Ted. No they weren’t and no they aren’t. Not even close. Why don’t you stick to running the organization from a financial and business standpoint, and let the team’s managers and coaches deal with this. I’m pretty sure, at the end of the Capitals run, when he’s getting the final numbers from the gate receipts and concessions and jerseys sold, Ted Leonsis’s wallet isn’t going to give a shit about a missed call on Brad Marchand. Nor should it. So zip it, Ted. Also, call Marchand (and Kesler for that matter) for diving refs, for chrissakes!

You know what I hate?! I hate that I don’t care that the Canucks season is over. Maybe it’s because, by the time the Kings were up 3-0, I had already come to terms with the fact that the Canucks were cooked. Maybe it’s because the Canucks play since mid-January was about as devoid of inspiration as the Gigli screenplay. Maybe it’s because I was already anticipating big changes in the off-season, no matter what the outcome of the playoffs were. In any event, when Stoll sniped the OT winner last night, I felt the same as I would have if it was game #65. Meh. They’ll get ’em next year.

And don’t forget, Canucks fans… It’s ALWAYS next year. ALWAYS.