What happened to CBC's 7-second delay?

I thought CBC instituted a 7-second delay after Don Cherry went off on French-Canadian visor-wearers. Thanks to 'Nucks and Pucks reader pete for reminding me in the comments of a previous post that the 7-second rule was not in effect during the Penguins post-game celebrations after capturing the Cup (Warning: some PG-13 language):



Aside from the obvious "Marc-Andre Fleury said WHAT?!?" moment, there are a few things that strike me as amusing from this clip:

• Scott Oake's response to Fleury's slip-up was "Fair enough." What, no "Marc-Andre, we're on live..." à la Shaquille O'Neal?

• Is it me, or is someone cackling madly in the background at Fleury's cussing?

• And finally, what the hell was the deal with Scott Oake's cheesy "Who do you share this Cup with?" question? He asked it to every freakin' Penguin on the ice or in the locker room. Yeesh, how cornball. Wonder if he went up to Lidstrom or Osgood afterward and asked them with whom they share this devastating, heartbreaking loss.

Thanks to pete for inspiring this post!

Game 7 Excitement

Tomorrow night Gary Bettman will hand the Stanley Cup to either Nicklas Lidstrom or Sidney Crosby, and the curtain will fall on an exciting 2008-09 NHL season. It has been a great Final (with the exception of the 5-0 rut by Detroit in Game 5) featuring some of the best and brightest stars of the hockey world: Crosby, Malkin, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Datsyuk et al.

Some random questions heading into Game 7:

• Will home ice advantage continue to define this series? The home team has won each of the first six games. At home, the Wings have outscored the Pens 11-2. At the Igloo, meanwhile, the Penguins hold a 10-5 edge. My feeling is that the adrenaline, passion and win-or-go-home desperation of a Game 7 trumps home ice advantage, which is a big plus for the Penguins.

• Will Sidney Crosby emerge as a force? Thus far he has been limited to 3 points (1G, 2A) in the series, while being shadowed by the Wings' Henrik Zetterberg. Without a doubt this is the biggest game of his career, and it represents a chance to carve out a legacy at this early stage of his young career.
  

• Speaking of Zetterberg, how amazing is the Wings' depth and team game that they can use him in a checking role? This is a guy who had 92 points two seasons ago, 73 this year and won the Conn Smythe Trophy last season. And Mike Babcock has enough faith in his team to stick Zetterberg on Crosby, and rely on the rest of the team to pick up the offensive slack.

• How will the goaltenders play? As mentioned, both have given up a lot of goals on the road and not many at home, which would suggest an advantage for Chris Osgood. Osgood also the advantage of experience, having already played in 128 playoff games and won three Stanley Cups (two as a starter). Fleury, on the other hand, has played just 48 playoff games (almost half of which have been this post-season) and has only last year's Final loss to draw upon.

• Will the role players decide the outcome? Hitherto unknown Justin Abelkader stepped in and scored two huge goals for the Wings in Games 1 and 2. Tyler Kennedy busted out a two point game, including scoring the game winner, in the Penguins 2-1 Game 6 win. Lesser lights such as Jordan Staal, Dan Cleary, Max Talbot and Darren Helm have all made significant contributions to their teams' success throughout the series. This game may be decided by Crosby, Malkin, Zetterberg, Lidstrom or Datsyuk. But don't be surprised if it's Kris Draper or Matt Cooke who emerges as the hero of the game.

All these questions will be answered in less than 36 hours. I can't wait, it should be an amazing conclusion to the season.

Some belated predictions for the 08-09 season

I realize that I never made some of the preseason predictions that I had intended to make. Therefore, please find my somewhat belated predictions for the 2008/09 season:

Stanley Cup Winner: Vancouver Canucks
President's Trophy: Vancouver Canucks
Art Ross Trophy: Daniel Sedin
Hart Trophy: Roberto Luongo
Vezina Trophy: Roberto Luongo
Norris Trophy: Mattias Ohlund
Lady Byng Trophy: Henrik Sedin
Selke Trophy: Ryan Kesler
Calder Trophy: Jannik Hansen

What's that? This list is horribly biased and unrealistic? Next you're going to tell me that the Blue Jays aren't going to win the World Series this year and that my stocks in Lehman Brothers aren't going to allow me to retire by 26 years old. But if you insist, I will aim for a Fox News-esque "fair and balanced" approach for this series of predictions for the current season:

Stanley Cup Finals: Dallas Stars defeat Montreal Canadiens in 6 games

Western Conference Finals: Dallas defeats Detroit Red Wings in 7 games
Eastern Conference Finals: Montreal beats Philadelphia Flyers in 6 games

President's Trophy: Detroit Red Wings

Art Ross Trophy: Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Hart Trophy: Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Vezina Trophy: Marty Turco, Dallas Stars
Norris Trophy: Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings
Lady Byng Trophy: Kyle Wellwood, Vancouver Canucks (just joking, despite his ridiculous dearth of PIM - but how do you predict this trophy anyway?)
Selke Trophy: Ryan Kesler, Vancouver Canucks (I'm sticking with this one!)
Calder Trophy: Fabian Brunnstrom, Dallas Stars
Jack Adams Trophy: I was going to say Denis Savard... so, um, how about Wayne Gretzky of the Phoenix Coyotes? It's not like he's won enough major hardware already.

First All-Star Team:
C - Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
LW - Alex Ovechkin. Washington Capitals
RW - Marian Hossa, Detroit Red Wings
D - Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings
D - Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins
G - Marty Turco, Dallas Stars