Rooting hard for the Sharks. They are my 2nd favorite team after the Flames and are full of likable players. There's something nice about seeing grey bearded veteran players have a chance to win it all.
I have nothing against the Pens, but they have already won with Sid and Malkin. I hope if the Sharks win the 'Thornton chokes' crowd has crow crap shoved down their fat ugly throats for the rest of time. So tired of hearing that when 82% of players who play in the NHL don't ever get a chance to play for the cup.
The Following User Says Thank You to Huntingwhale For This Useful Post:
True but the Pens made a pretty fast team in the Lightning look slow at times. I actually think the Sharks are the better team top to bottom and should be favoured to win.
I didn't realize Thornton was this generation's Ray Bourque.
I don't hate the Sharks, but I simply don't care to see them win. I guess it's cool to see the Pacific division have success though, just to say that we have the best division in hockey. I've never found Thornton to be in the same caliber of quality/likeable leader type as Iginla though. He is the best playmaker in the league for a decade though, I'll give him that. I just have no personal stake in seeing him reach success. Seems like kind of a "meh" character though. Alfredsson, Datsyuk, even the Sedins if they weren't on that awful team are more the sort of guys I could get behind because of their character.
But I guess that's good for fans that see him as the hockey hero type. By all means, I guess... It would be entertaining to see Burns and his cotton candy beard lift the cup.
But a win for Crosby would be good PR for the game. So I dunno. I'll settle for an entertaining series, whichever way it goes.
Last edited by djsFlames; 05-27-2016 at 05:53 PM.
The Following User Says Thank You to djsFlames For This Useful Post:
I don't really have any strong feelings about Thornton, but he has always been a remarkably skilled player and he's always just seemed to focus on playing the game. He's never been dirty, never really been into gamesmanship, turned on his team, had a big ego or anything like that and yet he's also been dumped on an awful lot during his career with the Sharks. He's a bit of a redemption story in some ways and for that I would be happy to see him lift the cup.
__________________
"If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?"
Yeah it's really odd. He's been nothing but a great Canadian and a great hockey player and person off the ice.
I still don't want him to win but definitely don't hate him. I'm surprised at the lack of Pavelski love. Everyone keeps mentioning Thornton but I want to see Pavelski win it all. He's what a hockey player should thrive to be.
Yeah it's really odd. He's been nothing but a great Canadian and a great hockey player and person off the ice.
I still don't want him to win but definitely don't hate him. I'm surprised at the lack of Pavelski love. Everyone keeps mentioning Thornton but I want to see Pavelski win it all. He's what a hockey player should thrive to be.
I have a theory that some people hate the popular choice and it's instinctual. Goes for many popular trends too
Let me put it this way: if someone told you, "I'm not a Flames fan or an Avalanche fan, but I really love Iginla. He's been a great player for so long, and I hope he wins a cup because he deserves to."
Would you be surprised, or have a hard time understanding why he'd say that?
To go one step further I don't even love Thornton and/or Marleau but I do like a good story. Before the playoffs, like many I was probably making jokes about the Sharks choking. Now I'm interested in the narrative of these players with long droughts having a chance to win.
With the Pens, well besides my decades long soft spot for them, I want to see the Crosby/Malkin legacy play out. I want to see if Murray can succeed. I want to see if Kessel and Schultz can prove their former teams wrong etc.
I like drama and I like a good story. Call me, and others, bandwagon jumpers or traitors or whatever but I'm not ashamed to admit I've been sucked in by these two teams. Will any alliegence, if we even call it that, last longer than this series? Not likely but it'll be fun while it lasts.
The Following User Says Thank You to Cecil Terwilliger For This Useful Post:
It is a little strange to see so many rally behind Joe Thornton.
I didn't know he had just a such strong fan base here.
To be honest, I'm actually cheering for Martin Jones out of anybody in the series. Love that he was Hitmen that went undrafted, and now has a chance to take his team to the Stanley cup. Hope he can carve out a similar career like Crawford. Good but not elite goalie that can get the job done behind a good team.
Sharks are a great team that I'm happy to cheer for when their wins aren't harming our Stanley Cup chances.
It just seems like they've earned it more. Not just from all the years they didn't come close enough but even this year. Having watched games from both sides, it seems like the Sharks are playing a really solid all-around game. They are going out and creating chances, beating teams by outplaying them every night.
The Penguins just seem... they seem like they're only here because of the teams they faced. It feels like the Sharks went out and beat every team on the way, and there wasn't much more any of those teams could've done to stop it. The Penguins seem like they caught every team dropping the ball in a major way or facing serious adversity.
Everyone gets to the final in different ways but I'm taking the world-beater.
