From The War Room

Welcome to the “War Room” where you will get your dose of hits, saves, and goals a la video with some written commentary.  To start with, we all know about the “War Room” in Toronto, many a fan has either loved the guy in this little room, and many have a great disdain for the end all be all when it comes to goal or no goal.  Below is a nice shot of the War Room in Toronto, where they monitor every NHL game in real time, and can communicate with the in game officials regarding the status of play.

While my set up is no where near elaborate – I am getting close.  I just need bigger monitors on my computers.  All of the work you see me do here on the FanSided Network and for Rink Side Rants is done from my own little temporary “War Room” as seen below:

So the picture is a little fuzzy because I took it with my Droid Eris, but you get the point.  Right now I am worked in a cramped little workspace while my home office is being remodeled, but thanks to a nifty little program I am able to use one mouse and keyboard across all three computers.

Its a good thing this segment runs on Sundays – because your gonna get a lot of video here!  So sit back, relax and enjoy some of the finer points of the game brought to here all in one place for enjoyment!

Since the regular season is over – I wanted to start with a little Stanley Cup Finals video.  Since I have picked the Flyers to win this in 7; I thought this was an appropriate start.

While these playoffs have given us enough video to drool over for quite some time, I actual found a clip on YouTube posted by user penguinsmalkin – which listed the top ten goals scored this season, the clip originally aired on NHL VideoCenter.

While fans of the teams involved in these goals will remember them, (good or bad) – heres a breakdown of the top ten:

10) Chris Drury vs. Pittsburgh Penguins “No Matter What”- This goal definitely deserves to be on this list, if not higher.  Most of the goals on this list are an extremely hardcore individual effort.  Drury’s goal was a skill players desperate move to put the puck in the net.  The average player would have shot this wide, but guys like Drury just have an innate sense of where the net is.  I probably would have ranked this higher than number 10.

9)  Mark Giordano vs. Pheonix Coyotes –  “I Got This One Guys” An example of why you never quit on the play.  A great individual effort for Giordano ends up with the puck in the net.  I don’t think it mattered that there were four other Flames on the ice at the time.

8 ) Brendan Morrison vs Buffalo –  “What No Skills Competition This Year?” Ok, so this one stings a little because it happened against my own Buffalo Sabres, but what a display of hockey skill and awareness.  I’ve seen some pretty sick goals in the NHL, but you usually don’t see the likes of moves like this in an NHL game.

7) Sidney Crosby vs Toronto Maple Leafs – “Look Monster, One Hand”.  Splitting the “D” on this one wasn’t enough on this one, Sid the Kid beat the poke check from Gustavsson.

6)  Pavel Datsyuk vs Nashville Predators – “Whats That Behind Your Ear?”  Datsyuk proves on this one right here that the best offense is a strong forecheck.  I don’t know why more people don’t press the guy when he takes the puck behind the net; it didn’t help that Datsyuk toyed with Dan Ellis before picking his spot.

5) Sidney Crosby vs. Calgary Flames – “Hips Don’t Lie”  I have no shame, I love starting hockey rumors – Is Sid the Kid dating Latin female songstress Shakira?  The hips don’t like on this play; Crosby makes room on the ice even when there isn’t any.

4) Alexander Ovechkin vs New York Rangers “Ovechkin, what is your profession, score…score…score.”  Sparta had their 300, Ovechkin had his 500.  Points that is.  This nifty one hander against the Rangers was OVs 500th point, and it just begs you to want to ask him to do something more spectacular for his 1,000th point.

3) Marian Hossa vs Tampa Bay Lightning – “Air Hossa”  And no, my punchline here isn’t the fact the goal was scored against Tampa. Michael Jordan had his basketball shoes, maybe Hossa can market a hockey stick.  Not only did he grab a puck out of the air with his hand at head height, but he smacked it out of the air at ankle height, the puck never hit the ice, until after it went in the net.  McDonalds might want to start a whole new line of commercials, off Grimaces head, off the arch, nothing but the back of the net!

2) Jonathan  Toews vs Nashville Predators- “Modern Bobby”  Different circumstances, different era, but hell doesn’t it take you back?  A great individual effort on this one to show why Toews deserves all the MVP talk for Chicago that he gets.

1) Steven Stamkos vs Anaheim Ducks – “Stretch Stamkos”  Has anyone seen an x-ray to see what Stamkos is made off?  After watching this clip it made me think he had the same gel stuff in his arms that the cheesy action figure first released by Kenner in 1976, Stretch Armstrong.  Normally when a guy is falling on his ass after taking a shot, he doesn’t have the time or ability to tap in a rebound on the opposite side of the net where he is falling.

And I know Jeff from Blackhawk Up and Frank from The Rat Trick are reading this cursing me out because I am siding with the Flyers and gave them all the love to start, but I did that on purpose, so ‘Hawks fans, I didn’t forget you, I just wanted to raise blood pressures a little bit.

The next time I see you on here, the Finals will have been decided, so one of these really will be the story of the Stanley Cup; but for now enjoy the rest of the Finals, and tune in next week for some more Video From the War Room.