ROYALS COACH CONCEEDS-- NO MEMORIAL CUP !!!!

[50sWHLer]

Quote: Coach Habschied:

“We want to lift the Memorial Cup this year but that’s not likely going to happen. " -----" we’re building for the future."

The Royals are barely hanging on to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

*****************************

What a terrific message to send to NOT ONLY the Players, BUT also the FANS!!

Geez, he's throwing in the Towel already, EVEN before the Royals find themselves out of the Playoffs ------------ Lots of time to show what kind of Coaching skills you have, and put a POSITIVE MESSAGE out to both players & Fans -

WHAT KIND OF A MOTIVATOR, MENTOR or COACH is this Guy????

Why should Fans support a Team, and spend my hard earned $$$$ when the Coach himself is NEGATIVE ??

I'm staying Home!!!!!

[IR_Hockey]

Interesting.
I heard his interview with Chek TV and I took it differently.
From what I remember, he said something along the lines of "our goals is to always win the memorial cup, and that continues to be our goal. Will it happen this season, probably not."

I think he is just being realistic, he has had the same message since day one when the team was introduced to the season ticket holders. He told us then that this was going to be a young team with some growing pains, but that their goals was still to win hockey games.

If you are going to stay away because you had unrealistic expectation going into this season or after October when this team played our of their minds, then that's fine, but this was always how it was going to be.

The Victoria Royals are still entertaining, and their are still reasons to show up for every home game, if for nothing else, show up to show that Victoria can be hockey town, and not just a town that wants an instant winner.
The Salmon Kings deserved better from the city and fans, and the Victoria Royals most certainly deserve better, than for you to stay away because your upset over something our head coach and GM said.

[50sWHLer]

Well IR_Hockey ---- Here's the ACTUAL interview quotes:


“This was a deal that best fit our needs for the future,” said Victoria GM and head coach Marc Habscheid.

“But it was a bittersweet day. Ever since Day 1 in Chilliwack, Kevin has been there. He is a great player and a great person. This is a business but you do become attached to these guys and that makes it tougher.”

Asked if the Royals have lost their best player, Habscheid replied: “No doubt about it.”

“We want to lift the Memorial Cup this year but that’s not likely going to happen. [Victoria] fans lose entertainment value without Kevin but we’re building for the future. It’s a good deal for both teams. Brandon is currently the eighth seed [in the Eastern Conference] but they no doubt will be heard from.”


All I'm saying is, WHY would you not say " We will continue our fight for a Playoff Position, in OUR ATTEMPT TO PLAY IN THE MEMORIAL CUP!!!!!"

And regarding the Salmon Kings ---- It was NOT the Fans that let them down, it was their own ownership, RG Properties, who refuse to market and promote the Team in any knid of a manner to insure longevity. ---- Oh, yes, and talking about the City, where else, I ask you, WHERE ELSE, would a City give FULL CONTROL to an ownership group for 35 Years -----NONE!!

[IR_Hockey]

All I'm saying is, WHY would you not say " We will continue our fight for a Playoff Position, in OUR ATTEMPT TO PLAY IN THE MEMORIAL CUP!!!!!"

It just seems obvious that they are going to keep playing for a playoff spot. It's not like Prince George and Everett are world beaters or anything. This team is still good enough to make the playoffs. Did it suck losing our best player, yes, but I would have been even more pissed if they didn't trade him.

I don't think he or the team is giving up, and hopefully the fans don't either.

[rednex50]

I've watched and cheered for Bruins teams where they SHOULD have moved their big one or two for the future.

Santorelli (as he chased down the scoring title) should have brought a decent return as a 19 year old.

Holden as an O/A had offers for him.

This was the very first time in the franchises history it moved its biggest player. It was needed, but for this franchise, very gutsy. New ownership wanting an "instant return" to help show that letting go of the Salmon Kings wasn't a mistake to the fans, and line their coffers with playoff revenue (higher tickets and more chances to move memorabilia without a summer liquidation).

It is gutsy, but, Habby was 100% bang on in making this deal. And he never once said they were giving up on the season. Yes, Memorial Cup is out of reach. You should know it, the kids know it. He doesn't candy coat crap. He speaks his mind, shows his emotions and busts a nut for these kids. Sitting 8th, having to face the feared Ams...no one sitting 8th has a prayer in hell against them in a 7 games series. It'll be a tough challange for the Blazers, or Giants to defeat them. You trade your best player, you know your not going to win the Memorial Cup. It doesn't mean you give up on not making the playoffs.

[Giantsfan]

Quote: Coach Habschied:

“We want to lift the Memorial Cup this year but that’s not likely going to happen. " -----" we’re building for the future."

They've been building for the future for 6 years, & it's going to take another 6 as long as Habschied is the GM. He's done a brutal job.

[rednex50]

The first 3 years was Darryl May, who other than Moller, Howse and Sundher, wasn't really able to draft talent and bring that talent in. Jonathon Parker was drafted, and outright released before going to the Giants, Seattle and blooming in PA. He was good at listing good talent though (Holden, Gore, Friesen, Potter and Santorelli for starters).

When Habby came after season 3, he more than doubled the scouting staff, made gutsy trades like MacKenzie for instance, in an attempt to better the young talent and add with the experience of Howse, Horak, Maning, Einhorn, Gore. He basically had to start from scratch at the beginning of season 4, which is why you saw soooo many guys from season 3 released or moved in season 4. Season 4 surpassed many people's expectations, including almost knocking off the power-packed Ams team in the first round.

Season 5 was our best shot at doing damage, but we didn't have the depth needed. Manning was suspended for 7 games on a call that I still think was BS. Pauls broke his leg that he was forced to retire over, Traber broke his ankle late in the season on a nastey head shock that the guy only got a couple of games on, Howse played injured, Manning played injured etc. Habby should have been a buyer last season...but now that I look back on it, was probably told not to be a buyer as Porter would have wanted the transaction completed as soon as the team was off the ice...and a 2nd or a 3rd playoff round (without the guys busting a nut) would have complicated Porter and Burke's ideas that Chilliwack couldn't work. By the trading deadline, Porter knew they were selling and likely hand cuffed Habby into not selling the future to make a run for a "lame duck" city.

This is only year 3 for Habby. It is by far a better club than the Bruins were in season 1, 2 or 3. 3 was the worst season, due to many factors (Moller going pro unexpectedly, Santorelli pushed into Pro, Holden turned Pro, Pighen turncoated, Potter breaks his neck and thats just the beginning of the list).

Am I 100% happy with what Habby did? No. Season 4 was a rebuild and he surpised. Season 5 WAS supposed to be our push, and I think it was more Porter limiting him than Habby not willing to better the team. So season 6, in reality is his first real test season you can judge him on. It wasn't expected to be a big season, so he has delivered what was expected. Next season, we will begin to see if he has a handle on this team, or if he is over his head.

But I still expect them to miss the playoffs this season, and PG overtaking them late in the season for that final position.

[50sWHLer]

"ITS NOT OVER UNTIL THE FAT LADY SINGS !!!!"

Never ! Never ! Never Say Die!!!

There have been MANY Teams that have just squeaked into the playoffs, only to upset the favorites

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE !!!!

Habschied shows very poor judgement & POOR leadership with his noted statements about NOT winning the Memorial Cup !!!

Check out these 10 Biggest Hockey Upsets !! ---- Maybe Habschied should LOOK at them as well


The 10 biggest hockey upsets of the last decade
By Greg Wyshynski

(No, the first decade of the 21st century doesn't technically end until 2011. Save your bellyaching. But we've had nine NHL seasons and one stolen from us since 1999-2000, and Yahoo! Sports has decided it's time to rank the best and worst of the last "decade." Enjoy, and snark freely in the comments.)

These "end of decade" rankings aren't all necessarily going to be confined to the National Hockey League. In some cases, other levels of competitive hockey are going to creep into the countdowns; and there's simply no way to recall the most significant upsets of the last 10 years without discussing at least three that occurred outside of NHL rinks.

That isn't to say that some miraculous (or heartbreaking, depending on which side of history your team was on) upsets didn't also occur in the Stanley Cup playoffs, because they certainly did. In fact, Detroit Red Wings fans might want to skip this list, unless the championships have balanced out the embarrassing defeats at the hands of underdogs.

Here are the Top 10 biggest upsets in the last decade ...



10. Calgary Flames (No. 6 seed) upset Detroit Red Wings (1), 2004 Western Conference semifinals

The Red Wings were a Presidents' Trophy-winning 109-point team that had overcome the pesky Nashville Predators in the first round. The Flames had outlasted the Vancouver Canucks in an exhausting seven-game upset. Detroit was, to put it mildly, a heavy favorite here.

That was before Miikka Kiprusoff outplayed Curtis Joseph, the Flames won back-to-back 1-0 games and bookended their 4-2 Western Conference semifinal win with overtime victories -- the second clinching the upset via a Martin Gelinas goal. From blogger Jamie Fitzpatrick:

An upset? To be sure. But the Flames had the NHL's 3rd-best defensive team this season, and are now reaping the rewards. In terms of sticking to your game plan, Calgary is this year's most consistent playoff team. Iginla and Kiprusoff get the headlines, but you could argue that this series was won by Calgary's young defense, painstakingly assembled through years of drafting and trading.

This was also the series where Steve Yzerman took a puck to the eye in Game 5, which you may recall as No. 9 on our Most Brutal Injuries of the Last Decade list. The Flames went on to lose to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Finals, in a series vaguely remembered for Ruslan Fedotenko's heroics and the Vinny/Iggy fight.



9. Bemidji State upsets Notre Dame, 2009 NCAA men's hockey tournament

In 2009, we finally were given the answer to an annual scholastic hockey mystery: The hell's a Bemidji State anyway?

Turns out it's a small liberal arts college in Minnesota that was ready to shock the NCAA.

The Beavers were technically a No. 4 seed in the Div. I tournament, but were actually the lowest seed in the 16-team field. Which made their emphatic 5-1 stunner against No. 2 Notre Dame all the more unbelievable -- along with the facts that it was Bemidji State's first D-I tournament win in school history and just the second tourney victory in CHA conference history.

Because of the university's size and budget, the Wall Street Journal ranked the upset as the third most-shocking in recent NCAA sports history.

The Beavers would qualify for the Frozen Four, losing to Miami (Ohio) in the semifinals. But the win over the Irish sparked a Cinderella run that, for a moment, captivated the hockey world.



8. Montreal Canadiens (8) upset Boston Bruins (1), 2002 Eastern Conference quarterfinals

The emotions in this series were off the charts. Saku Koivu had returned from Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with a few games left in the regular season, helping the Habs to the eighth seed. Anthems where disrespected, to the point where Bill Guerin and Doug Gilmour had to cut promos urging fans not to boo. It was as vicious a rivalry series as you'd expect from these old adversaries, crystallized by this Kyle McLaren hit on Richard Zednik that earned him a two-game suspension:


In the end, the Canadiens (87 points) stunned the first-place Bruins (101 points) in six games, backstopped by superb goaltending by Jose Theodore. They lost to eventual conference champ Carolina in Round 2.



7. Minnesota Wild (6) upsets Colorado Avalanche (3), 2003 Western Conference quarterfinals

Sometimes, pictures are worth 1,000 words. The one above is worth five: Wild stun Avalanche in seven.

It was Minnesota's first playoff berth, and they were a defense-first team with Cliff Ronning as their third-leading scorer. Colorado? Uh, yeah, it had a little talent on the roster.

Things started out well for the Wild, with a 4-2 road win. Then came three straight Avalanche victories, and Coach Jacques Lemaire actually said his team had no shot to win the series after going down 3-1. But the Avs took their foot off of Minnesota's neck in Game 5, and the Wild rallied with back-to-back overtime wins to take the series in seven -- becoming, at the time, only the eighth team in NHL history to rally from a 3-1 hole with two road wins.

The Wild would eventually lose to the Ducks in the conference finals. Marian Gaborik would finish with 17 points in 18 playoff games.



6. Los Angeles Kings (7) upset Detroit Red Wings (2), 2001 Western Conference quarterfinals

The Wings were a 111-point team taking on a 92-point Kings squad, and the difference in the standings was evident in the first two Detroit victories in the series. But Los Angeles won Game 3 before the series was turned on its head in Game 4: The Kings rallied for three goals in the final 6:07 to send the game to overtime, where rookie Eric Belanger scored to knot it at two games apiece. L.A. would win four consecutive games to eliminate the Wings, including Adam Deadmarsh's series-clinching tally in overtime of Game 6.

Here's a look back at Game 6, and what playoff hockey sounds like in Hollywood (it's been a while).


The Kings would push the eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche to seven games in the following round.



5. Denmark upsets U.S., 2003 Ice Hockey World Championships

Trust us: If you lived in Denmark, you'd know this game like gospel.

The IIHF world championship tournament was held in Tampere, Finland in 2003. The U.S. had a roster of 12 NHL players, including Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller. Denmark, meanwhile, was making its first appearance in the tournament's elite pool since 1949; yes, its time between tournament appearances was the same duration as the Rangers' Stanley Cups between 1940 and Mark Messier.

In the opening game for both nations, Denmark chased Miller and shocked the U.S. with a 5-2 victory, considered one of the biggest upsets in the tourney's history. The loss sent the Americans to an 0-3 death spiral that had them last in their pool, and propelled Demark to another classic hockey moment: a 2-2 tie against eventual champ Canada.



4. San Jose Sharks (8) upset St. Louis Blues (1), 2000 Western Conference quarterfinals

Then-Blues Coach Joel Quenneville said it best: "I've never seen as many crazy goals as I have in this series ... That's not an excuse, it's a fact."

We'll, it's sort of an excuse, too. The Blues were a 113-point juggernaut in the regular season, finishing first overall in the NHL; all it got them was the ignominious honor of being just the second Presidents' Trophy winner (at the time) to get bounced in the opening round.

They looked flat and played underwhelming hockey against a dangerous Sharks team, losing three games in a row for the first time all season in the middle of the series. The Blues attempted a comeback, pushed it to a Game 7, but were eliminated in a 3-1 San Jose victory. It was a game that featured this Owen Nolan goal/Roman Turek whiff that personified Coach Q's weird-crap-o-meter reading on this series:


The difference between the teams was 27 points; yet doesn't the Sharks' upset in 1994 against the Red Wings (a difference of 18 points) still loom larger?



3. Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (7) over Detroit Red Wings (2), 2003 Western Conference quarterfinals

Had this been an 8-vs.-1 series, it may have hopped into the No. 2 slot on the countdown. Instead, it was a 110-point division champion getting absolutely stunned in a sweep by the No. 7-seeded Mighty Ducks and their untested goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who quickly became "tested" in stopping 165 of 171 shots he faced in the four games.

Giggy faced 64 of those shots in a classic triple-OT Game 1 that was ended with a Paul Kariya goal. The Ducks would win each game by a one-goal margin, including Game 4's overtime victory to eliminate the defending Stanley Cup champions and a squad that still had many of the names from its "team of the decade" run in 2002. Well, outside of Scotty Bowman and Dominik Hasek, that is.

The Ducks would lose to the Devils in a seven-game Stanley Cup final that saw Giguere win Marty Brodeur's Conn Smythe.



2. Edmonton Oilers (8) upset Detroit Red Wings (1), 2006 Western Conference quarterfinals

The Oilers snuck into the playoffs, for the first time since 2003, in the final week of the season, with 95 points. The Red Wings were the Red Wings: 124 points and the Presidents' Trophy in a dominating season.

It looked like business as usual for the Winged Wheel when they won Game 1 in double OT. But the Oilers and goalie Dwayne Roloson won Game 2, and Edmonton would win three one-goal games to stun the Wings and Manny Legace in six. Here's how the clinching game went down in what was an unbelievable atmosphere in Alberta:


The Oil would advance all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals before losing to the Carolina Hurricanes. These would be Steve Yzerman's last games in the NHL. As Mike Babcock said: "I am shocked we're in this situation."

It's something this next juggernaut can relate to ...



1. Belarus upsets Sweden, 2002 Winter Olympic quarterfinals in Salt Lake City

"For sure, it is a miracle for us ... But sometimes a gun without bullets can shoot, and that was us. We've made our place in history."

That was Belarus goalie Andrei Mezin, and we're still not entirely sure what that metaphor meant, although it's vaguely sexual. Here's what we did know: Belarus had been outscored 16-2 in its earlier two games. It was a 10 million-to-1 shot to win the gold. A guy named Andrei Mezin was their goalie. Ruslan Salei was their only NHL player.

Despite all of this, Belarus found a way to slow down the Swedes' attack and play even with the international powerhouse until one of the single most stunning moments in recent Olympic history, courtesy of Vladimir Kopat and soon-to-be-hockey-punchline Tommy Salo:

Habschied ----- TAKE NOTE

[pontcanna]

THE BLOOD PRESSURE MEDS NEED TO BE RE-EVALUATED

[rednex50]

They don't have Gore in net this season to steal them a game or a series.

They don't have anyone on D to seriously count on BUT Rintoul.

It may also be a bit of a ploy from Habby to gentle kick the boys in the arse and get them into "we'll show you" attitude as well.

I was there right after we lost in game 6 to T.C. 2 years ago. He was pissed. He honestly felt that the Bruins had a chance against Tri-Cities (and they did...almost knocking them off in 6 - 2 games via OT).

They don't have the experience on the roster to do an actual ass kicking, so maybe that's a shot out for all the leaders on the club to take the young players under their wings and say "this is what we gotta do". These young guys are all vying for positions next season...so I don't think they will just pack it in. If Habby thought there was no chance in hell, I believe Soudek and Rintoul would both had been dealt as well and just went with a youth movement for the rest of the season. Obviously it appears he doesn't believe all is lost. He just needs to find a switch...somewhere.