Break It Down

Just a few random thoughts and observations from last night…

Final notes on the breakaway challenge: I’m all for fan participation, but this was just another example of the turribleness of fan voting. Also, to rebut Nash Brown’s earlier post: Getzlaf was not the worst (cough, Stamkos, cough). His behind the net move was nifty.

• LOVED that they had players mic’ed: Zach Parise, Tim Thomas and of course, Marc Savard. Fabulous.
  

• Almost felt bad for Mark Streit when he fell over that sign. As if the Isles need more embarrassment...

• I swear I heard them announce Ilya Kovalchuk as KovalCHUNK.
  

• Guess last night did achieve one of its goals -- I really enjoyed seeing guys like Andrew Cogliano, Sheldon Souray and Shane Doan. They’ve got some talent out west…who knew?
  

Speaking of Shane Doan, did you see him during the elimination shout? He was grinning after every shot and when he would skate over to the bench his daughter would wrap her arms around his neck. Adorable! Actually, despite the fact that I was most excited for the breakaway challenge, I ended up enjoying the elimination shootout much, much more. I liked that there was a rhythm and a buildup (that's what she said), lots of participants, and some sick moves. (See, Vanek, Thomas).

I loved Marc Savard’s running commentary and was laughing my ass off when Tim Thomas let him score. I’m glad Doan won, but it was nice of Timmy to give us one more round.

From PuckDaddy: Thomas grinned. "He had me completely fooled," he said. "That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. That's the one I'm taking to court. That he had me fooled." Savard played the role of co-conspirator afterward. "I think he was giving me a little bit, but he says he wasn't, so I'm sticking to his story too."

At one point, Bruin’s coach Claude Julien (also the ASG coach) leaned over to Savard and said “you think you can do this when there’s pressure?” Savard’s reaction was too cute…. “like there’s no pressure here?!” The Bruins did get some pretty loud boos….glad to see the Montreal-Boston rivalry is still strong.

PuckDaddy’s got a great (more organized) wrap up, but their line of the night was: An aside: Why didn't Sidney Crosby ride out in the passenger's seat on one of the Zambonis? Isn't that what they usually do with sick kids?