Watching the Washington Capitals get bounced from the playoffs was a bit like getting dumped, hard. The team and its fans may have recovered from the initial stomach-punched feeling, but it’s still hard to watch all those other teams flirting with the Stanley Cup.
Nonetheless, we can all look back fondly on the good times the Capitals had during the season and in the 2008 Playoffs, and then move on. After all, the Capitals are young, confident, and fun–I’m sure they’ll meet someone even better next year . . . er, will have an even better playoff run next year.
That said, is another team in this year’s playoffs catching your eye? As we mentioned a few weeks back, Toronto Maple Leafs fans seemed to be rooting for the Capitals (for who can resist watching Ovechkin play?), and after the sweep some Senators fans jumped on board as well.
So have you been able to watch the Playoffs dance with other teams? If so, for whom are you rooting to “go all the way” this year?
{democracy:23}
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On Frozen Blog 
Haha, I like that you left the Flyers out of that poll. Please, the Flyers?
My vote is for Detroit. I think they are fun to watch, Osgood is playing good in goal, and right now they look like a good bet to beat the Penguins should they make it through to the finals. After all does it really look like anyone in the East is going to actually be allowed to beat the Pens? As much as it pains me to say it, right now the only East team I see with a chance is the Flyers. And something tells me that all of the rough stuff will be whistled to death if they play the Penguins.
Also, I like the prospect of seeing Sid diving and landing smack on an octopus.
No flyers?
I can’t stand Sydney Crosby but my wife is a Pens fan so I don’t mind the rest of the team. Plus I hate the Flyers, Rangers, and Wings so there aren’t many options left.
As Sebastian noted, the omission of Philly was no accident. After all, what true Capitals fan would root for the Flyers this year? I mean, nobody likes Briere, and Hartnell’s antics in Game 7 — wherein he perpetrated the worst soccer-esque dive I’ve ever seen in hockey, then *after* the traditional handshake line skated over and waved bye-bye to the crowd — puts him in the Avery category for me.
Anyway, I’m supporting Montreal since they’re the only remaining team in the East I can stomach as a whole. Though it was tempting to ride the underdog out West.
I had to go with the Sharks. While over the last 4 years living in DC I’ve come to fully embrace the Caps 78 games a regular season, I was still born and raised a Bruins fan, so I can’t in good faith pull for the habs. That was another heartbreaking series. I’m with everyone else on the rest of the east, so I guess Joe Thornton should finally get a shot. Interestingly enough, I also got a chance to go to a game in San Jose last year, and the fan base there is great.
Hey, the Teal Uni’s are sharp!
Anybody but Pittsburgh, Philly or Jagr. If Jagr was to get injured for the rest of the playoffs, I would not root against the Rangers, but also wouldn’t root for them since he’d still be on the roster.
Gotta wave the Canadian flag and root for Montreal. That’s just how it is. They’ll revoke my passport if I do anything else.
And if you thought it was tough being a Caps fan in the playoffs, try being a Sens fan. If you thought that losing in 7 was like getting dumped hard, getting swept in the first round was like being the nerd in high school who never got a date!
Oh wait a second–I was. š
Um, yeah….did you GET the memo? The Sharks are the new Senators.
The Dallas Stars are going to beat Detroit and Pittsburgh. Book it!
How can the story for San Jose NOT be “Can Jeremy Roenick, one of the greatest American hockey players ever, FINALLY win the cup?”
Sharks for Roenick!
Sharks are the new Senators. Ouch!!!!!!
That’s all the more ouchy for being true. The Sens and Sharks share the same habit of being awesome during the regular season and then pratfalling in April/May.
Of course, that rule didn’t apply this year, as Ottawa performed an extended pratfall that began in January and finally ended in April. Details, details…
What’s frustrating to me is seeing relatively new teams winning Cups, when the Caps have come close only once in 30+ years. Carolina. Tampa Bay. Dallas. Anaheim. Even the Devils, who used to be the putrid Rockies. Maybe our turn is coming.
I’m going with Detroit. How can you not like Kronwall and Franzen? š
Mark,
True enough re Tampa Bay and Anaheim, but Carolina and Dallas are not actually new teams. Carlolina used to be the Hartford Whalers (joined the NHL in 1979 from the WHA) and Dallas used to be the Minnesota North Stars (founded in 1967). In all that time, each franchise has exactly one Cup each.
And, in general, championship droughts last a long time in this sport. Buffalo and Vancouver have both existed longer than the Capitals, and they both remain Cupless. Boston, meanwhile, has gone 35 years without a Cup, Toronto has now gone 41 years, and poor old Chicago has been dry for 47!!!!
So I hear ya, but Washington doesn’t exactly stand out in that crowd. No need to feel like losers–plenty of other clubs have fared worse…and hey, you’ve got a club where there is serious hope of being a contender soon!!!!
Didn’t mean to pour salt on the wound Thunder. Actually I rooted for the Sens during these years the Caps were on hiatus. Looks like it’s time for a mini-rebuild up in OT-wa.
Sharks are maddening. So much talent, although at some point you have to get some realistic expectations for Patrick Marleau. What team gags and gives up four goals in the 3rd period when ahead 2-1 in a near must win game?
On more symmetry – Sharks: R. Wilson, Sens: B. Murray
LOL
Only reason I’m cheering for the Habs is because I want to see Philly kicked out at this round, otherwise I wouldn’t be giving them a second look. All of my usual fall back teams fell back this year, with the exception of the Avs, but I just can’t bring myself to cheer for Forsberg. Looks like I’m just gonna have to bandwagon onto Dallas this year.
I don’t care if you love hockey!! And it is your favorite sport. Now that the caps are out you have to move on. Rooting for another team is against the man rules! Plus how could anyone root for the flyers. I understand that we all feel a little sad, glum, and even a bit teary eyed, but we should all get over it and look forward to FOOTBALL. Then the cold weather will come again…and soon the stinking flyers will be in our building again …so we can toss empty pizza boxes at them again…So buck up Cap fans…
Go for what’s good for hockey. A Detroit/NY Stanley Cup 2 of the original six in large markets. That’d shut the idiots on ESPN up. Or a Detroit/Pitt series. Superstars galore.
Either way, it’ll be a good final four with large market and well known teams involved. Nothing against Carolina, Ottawa and such, but noone really cares about them. The Rangers, Wings, Pens, Canadiens, even Flyers and Sharks will generate a lot more viewership.
Josh,
I’ve gotta weigh in here, and not just as an Ottawa fan. (Actually, some of what I’m about to say contradicts my position as an Ottawa fan, but what the hell…)
This bit about large markets and viewership goes to a very fundamental issue about the NHL. Every year, whenever a team that is not the New York Rangers dares to make it to the finals, we hear the U.S. broadcasters bitch and moan about how “small market teams” do nothing for TV ratings. You hear similar complaints every year during the baseball playoffs, too.
Here’s a novel idea: STOP EXPANDING, THEN!!!!!!
Seriously–if there are only about half a dozen markets that truly cut it in the minds of the media folks, then why do we have 30 NHL teams and not, say, six? Why is the League even in those small markets if they are so useless? I’ve long thought that the League was far, far too big. The broadcasters (and Josh) seem to agree.
BTW, you can’t blame everything on the small markets like Ottawa. I note that the Cup final ratings last year were abysmal in spite of the fact that one of the teams involved came from the second-largest metro area in the United States. “Large market” clearly does not always mean “large hockey market”.
So…it couldn’t be that Bettman’s strategy of “growing the footprint of the game” and putting hockey teams into a whole bunch of places where no one cares has been a dismal failure, now…could it? Nahhhh…..
End of off-topic rant!! š
LET’S GO PENS!!
Gotta go with the Habs – nothing against them as a team, and the whole Kovalev rejuvination thing is a nice story line. Hoping Price can hold up – not optimistic so far. Habs-Wings in the final would be nice. Other than the Sharks, I don’t really like any of the Western teams, and given that the other Eastern teams are all Patrick division, none of them are getting my vote.
Who the heck is voting for the Pens??? Can you take that off the list, too?
I’ve been living in NYC for the past few years, and as a result have developed some liking for the Rangers. I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a “fan” (mostly because of Jagr…maybe that will change when he leaves town), but I follow them more than any of the other teams, and it would be cool to have my local team win it all.
Also, Dallas is not allowed to be this year’s “Cinderella story”. I heard some announcer call the Flyers’ season a “Cinderella story” the other night, and that pissed me off too. There can only be one Cinderella, and that was the Caps this year!!!!! š
@ sonia:
Ha! Fair point about the Caps being the true Cinderella this year. I’d considered Dallas as a secondary Cindy A) because they’re a 7 seed, and B) for the chance that Marty Turco could finally carry his stellar regular season play into playoff success.
No, guys, the REAL cinderella was Edmonton two years ago. Finishing 8th in the west and, in the end, coming within one game of winning the Cup?
THAT is Cinderella.
Look, I’m a Penguin fan that was happy to see Bobby Gold make Mario look like a raccoon, but “The Diver” stuff is weak…
Go Pens.
I meant Bobby Gould…..
I voted for the Habs. Mainly cause I HATE the patrick division teams. And I can never root for Dallas in anything — I’m a ‘skins fan.
What is this (football?) thing everyone is talking about? Also, what are these ‘skins you speak of?
Kovalev. Markov.
I picked Dallas. I like how well they play, even when underdogs. And I have to support the SE division alumnus Brad Richards.
Sorry Curtis, can’t buy into the American style football. Having been raised on the CFL, the slower more plodding and predictable NFL game never appealed to me. Call me an elitist snob, but give me the Canadian game any day.
Voted for Colorado, spent a few years out there and I like Stastny and my wife is an Avs fan and when shes happy everyones happy š
LET’S GO FLYERS
OrderedChaos:
Dallas is not a 7 seed. They are the 5 seed in the west.
Seriously?!?! Any one who even considers rooting for the Pens is not a true Caps fan!!! I think the only team I can stand left in the eastern conference is the Habs.
@ Greg: Correct… with Anaheim’s 102-point regular season I’d forgotten that they didn’t win the division (they had the same exact record as Pittsburgh).
Ns2nova….I appreciate your honesty, But come on!! Soccer is a sport for upcoming actors who practice how to take a dive whenever someone kicks at there ankle. Tell me the last time a Pro Football player to a dive? (on purpose)…Oh and Go whoever is playing the Flyboys!
Curtis: Canadian Football is football as you know it, not soccer. Best way to describe the difference is that it is a faster game, only 3 downs instead of 4, on a 110 yard long and wider field, with unlimited motion in the backfield, no stupid fair catch rule and all in all a much better game than the NFL. In actual fact, the American game was developed from the Canadian game, which itself is derived from Rugby.
Root for the Flyers. If they make it to or win the Finals you can console yourselves by saying at least the Caps lost to the Eastern/Stanley Cup champs!
Go Flyers. š
@radbytrade
Actually, I believe it’s in our best interest to root against the Flyers, for logical reasons outside the rivalry factor. If I am not mistaken we own your 2nd round draft pick. The earlier you lose..the higher our pick. š
bitter… its not just for pennsylvania anymore.
LET’S GO FLYERS!!!
any second thoughts on flyers??
Nope, no second thoughts on the Flyers — they’re playing impressively well, but this poll is about whom Caps fans *want* to win and I for one won’t root for Pittsburgh or for Philly. A “Battle of Pennsylvania” in the conference finals should make for good theater though.