DaveZdyrko.com

Apparently, Edmonton Oilers’ NHLer Mike Comrie recently proposed to former Disney teen sensation Hilary Duff and she was so happy about the $3M 10-12 carat radiant cut engagement ring that she said “thank you” in the best way she knew how…

It may have only been in the preliminary round, but tonight’s Winter Olympics ice hockey match-up between Team USA and Canada was one of the best hockey games I’ve ever watched. It was action-packed and intense from the first drop of the puck and I was on the edge of my seat and shaking for much of the final period, particularly during Canada’s final two power plays, and didn’t exhale until one of the most amazing empty net goals I’ve ever seen by Ryan Kesler with 45 seconds to go.

Ryan Miller was playing out of his mind and the young Americans played lights out for the full 60 minutes — as did the Canadians. And not only was it easily one of the best hockey games I’ve ever watched, but it’s honestly up there with the likes of the Miami/OSU game, Texas/USC, and “Bird Steals The Ball”, as one of the best sporting events I’ve watched. Hopefully, Team USA will be able to build on this and come home with a medal. But even if they don’t, it won’t take away from just how enjoyable this game was — easily the most enjoyable program ever aired on MSNBC (who gets props for the lack of commercials that helped immensely with the intensity of the game).

People like to talk smack about the BCS and say how the NCAA Final Four Tournament is SOOOOO much better, but the past few years have SUCKED in college basketball’s tourney. I hope it’s just a dry spell but I’ve been bored out of my mind watching this year’s tourney games and it was the same last year, as well. The only time it’s really any fun at all is during the first two days when there are multiple games on throughout the day, which makes it easy to find exciting games to watch admidst the many stinkers. But when you get deeper into the tourney and there are less options, you get stuck having to watch boring ass blowouts between completely unmatched teams (i.e. – UNC vs Nova and now UNC vs MSU). Here’s hoping for better luck with the Frozen Four this Thursday and Saturday…

Even though the outcome wasn’t what I wanted, tonight’s Game 6 where the Detroit Red Wings won the Cup against the Pittsburgh Penguins was a joy to watch. I just really wish that puck would’ve found a way into the net with about a second and a half on the clock because that would’ve been an instant classic for the Wings to be seconds away from hoisting the Cup only to be denied for the 2nd straight game. It didn’t go in and Hockeytown is once again home of Lord Stanley’s Cup. I just wish we could’ve had a Game 7. Now that would’ve been bomb.

Tonight’s Game 5 between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings is without a doubt one of the best games of hockey I’ve ever witnessed. Hell, it’s probably the best playoff or finals game I’ve seen in any sport that didn’t feature one of my favorite teams. Not only did it go into triple overtime but it was non-stop action for the entire game. The guys on both teams played their hearts out for nearly the equivalent of two full games and the Pens’ Marc-Andre Fleury played out of his mind and made jaw-dropping saves all night. I’m hoping Pitt is able to pull out Game 6 at home so we can have a Game 7. Now that would be fucking amazing, especially if it proved to be as close and hard fought at tonight’s contest.

I thought it was going to be one of those glorious sports days where I could flip back and forth between two of my teams participating in playoff games at the same time — with Philly in the NHL playoffs and the Celtics in the NBA playoffs. But after some quick goals and obviously home brewed officiating, the Flyers’ game quickly became and afterthought. While it definitely sucked to see them go out getting their collective asses handed to them 6-0 in game 5, I’m still proud of the team’s turnaround this season and had a lot of fun watching them. And with the young blossoming talent that they have on the team, I’m hopeful for the team’s future. Congratulations, Philly, on making it to the Eastern Conference Finals. I can’t wait till next year!

I keep reading comments and posts on ESPN.com saying that Boston sucks and that Celtics fans should be embarrassed that the lowly 8th seeded Hawks took them to a game 7. What the fuck ever. The team was 24-58 last year and had the 2nd worst record in the league. They added Allen, KG and a slew of other players, dominated the regular season and are in the process of humiliating the Hawks in Boston (currently up 36 points with 2:24 to go in the 4th). I’m proud of the  team and will be even if they don’t add another banner to the rafters in the Garden this year. I’m looking forward to an extremely difficult challenge going up against King James and Cleveland, as it should be an amazing series reminiscent of the times the Celtics took on Jordan’s Bulls in his early years. It should be FANtastic.

Speaking of fantastic, I’m even more thrilled by the fact that the Flyers finished off the Canadians last night putting them into the Eastern Conference Finals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They finished 22-48-12 last season, which was dead last in the NHL with only 56 points, so making it this far has been a fun, albeit stressful, ride. I can’t wait to see them take on Crosby, Malkin and the Pens (assuming they don’t collapse against the Rangers).

Still riding on the high of having 8 vials of blood siphoned from my body (and the subsequent replacement of it with new and completely fresh blood not yet tainted by my devilish habits), I was given more to be joyful about in the form of a Flyers 4-2 win over the Canadians and a Celtics 110-85 throbbing of the Hawks.

The Flyers, as per form, got a 2-0 lead only to blow it and make things interesting before finally coming out on top. The finish is all that matters in the end, but if I start getting gray hairs or have a stroke the blame is going to be put on them. I’m really hoping they can close it out this weekend. My fingers are crossed and a blade isn’t coming anywhere near my playoff “beard” (if you can call the long scraggly hairs hanging under my chin a beard).

The C’s did exactly what they did in the first two home games — blow out the Hawks — so now it’s time to see if they can pull things together in Atlanta’s raucous arena to finally close out this series on Friday. I don’t want to see it go to a game 7 in either series, because I’m not sure if my heart could take it.

ESPN.com recently had a poll that asked which sport had the best Game 7 and the NHL finished 3rd with the NBA netting 2nd and the MLB coming in 1st. The results were obviously swayed by the overall popularity of each sport because if you’re an avid follower of all three, such as myself, then you’d agree that hockey deserved the top spot. And today’s contest between the Washington Capitals and my victorious Philadelphia Flyers was an excellent example of a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs at its finest.

I feel completely exhausted after watching that intense 3rd period and overtime. It was tied 2-2 going into the 3rd, so I was on the edge of my seat for every single one of the shots taken in the period and in OT. Not to mention the stomach-wrenching, heart-pounding, and nerve-wracking feeling I’d get every time Alexander Ovechkin handled the puck or took a shot. The man’s a beast and was clearly superior to everyone else on the ice. I’m just amazed we were able to keep him contained at all for a good chunk of this series. My hat goes off to Coburn and Timonen for their work in shutting him down because he’s everything I had expected Eric Lindros to be.

Anyway, the game was a blast and I’m triply excited about it because we were able to come out on top, especially after they played a game that made me HATE them as blogged about last night. For now, it’s time to celebrate this victory and then prepare for the potential for more heartbreak, hate and, quite possibly, more extreme joy in the next round match up with the Montreal Canadians.

Being a Flyers fan, I kind of get why sports fans in Philadelphia are angry all the time. The Flyers, much like Philly’s other teams, seem to always perform below what the team’s talent would dictate. After watching six games of this first round series with the Capitals, it’s clearly evident that the black and orange is the more talented team from top to bottom. We have legit scorers on practically every line and our defense and goaltending is solid.

Yet, because of mental lapses and lackluster effort once things seemed “in the bag”, the series with the Caps is going to game 7 in Washington tomorrow night. We might still be able to pull this out because home ice seems to matter very little in the NHL, but it shouldn’t have had to come down to this. We’ve let this series slip away, plain and simple. Then again, this inconsistency has plagued this team all year so it shouldn’t surprise me. I was just hoping it was a case of them just needing the motivation of something like being in the playoffs to get them playing at the top of their game. But, I guess I was wrong.