Offtopic/fun » similarly loaded three years ago

Two teams fighting for the final playoff berth in the Western Conference collide Saturday, when the Vancouver Whitecaps visit the Seattle Sounders in a rivalry showdown at CenturyLink Field.With six games remaining, the Whitecaps (10-11-8) sit in seventh place on the Western Conference table, four points behind the sixth-place Portland Timbers.Vancouver has bounced back from a shutout loss to the New York Red Bulls on Sept. 3 with consecutive wins. The Whitecaps knocked off Columbus 3-1 one week ago and then followed it up with a 2-1 win over Sporting KC in CONCACAF Champions League play. The win over Sporting KC clinched the Whitecaps first berth in the CONCACAF quarterfinals.Were underdogs and weve got a massive game on Saturday, Whitecaps FC coach Carl Robinson told the teams website. Our season is on Saturday against our rivals.The Sounders have a much more difficult path to the postseason. Seattle (9-13-5) sits in ninth place with 32 points. Without a win Saturday, the Sounders will be in danger of missing the postseason and not being able to take a shot at defending their MLS Cup.Seattle enters Saturdays match not in top form, having a loss and two drams in that last three outings. But the Sounders did get a boost this week, at least in morale, with the return of forward Clint Dempsey to training. Dempsey missed several weeks after being diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat last month. He has not been cleared to play and is not expected to see the pitch during Saturdays match.This week also included the retirement announcement of veteran Seattle defender Zach Scott. Affectionately known as Mr. Sounder, Scott, 37, spent 15 seasons with the Seattle franchise, but will hang up his cleats after the season. Hell have two more cracks at the rival Whitecaps, beginning with Saturdays game and concluding with an Oct. 2 match in Vancouver.Vancouver beat Seattle 2-1 in mid-March, behind a pair of goals from Pedro Morales. It was the Whitecaps fourth straight MLS win at CenturyLink Field, one of the toughest venues for a road team in all of MLS. To make it five, theyll have slow down Seattle forward Jordan Morris, who leads the Sounders with nine goals. Nick Bonino Jersey . Ibaka equaled a career high with 20 rebounds, adding four blocked shots and 15 points as the Thunder smothered the Milwaukee Bucks offence in a 92-79 victory Saturday night. Juuse Saros Jersey . But Bourque, who has missed three games with a lower-body injury, wont be in the lineup when the Habs travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres on Wednesday. http://www.authenticpredatorspro.com/Miikka-salomaki-predators-jersey/ .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Ryan Ellis Predators Jersey . It says Pocklingtons lawyer filed the appeal Friday in a California court. CTV Edmonton also says Pocklington gave a $100,000 cash deposit as part of the conditions of his bail, and that he will be out on bail until his appeal is heard. Juuse Saros Predators Jersey . The Dutchmans tenure got off to a poor start when referee Guido Winkmann awarded a penalty within two minutes for Niklas Starks clumsy challenge on Alexandru Maxim.PITTSBURGH -- The NHLs most unlikely post-season success story is nearly bald, his hairline an unwitting casualty to three decades spent hidden under a goaltenders mask. All those long winters -- including 16 in the best league in the world -- never led to long springs, however, for Tomas Vokoun. Until now. Halfway through the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs the two-time All-Star turned journeyman backup holds the key to the Pittsburgh Penguins playoff hopes. He is, for the first time in his life, the "hot goalie" during the most important time of year. Heading into Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Bruins Saturday night, Vokouns numbers appear to be a misprint. Seven starts. Six wins. One very stoic and largely anonymous presence at the back of Pittsburghs star-laden attack. Given a week to ponder his remarkable run after taking over for struggling Marc-Andre Fleury in Game 5 of the first-round series against the New York Islanders, Vokoun insists hes trying not to think about what it all means, with varying levels of success. "You just know that youre playing well, youre trying to do the right things," Vokoun said. "You try not to treat it any differently, even if you know the stakes are just getting bigger." Its a phenomenon unique to goaltenders this time of year. For all the talk about the importance of playoff experience, the guys in the back of the net can sometimes seem immune to the pressure. Vokoun never played on a team that made it past the opening round of the post-season until Pittsburgh ousted the Islanders in six games three weeks ago. He was hardly overcome by the stage in the second round against Ottawa, allowing all of 11 goals in five games, including a pair of of meaningless scores after the Penguins already had things well in hand during Game 4 and 5 routs. NHL history is littered with callow goalies who have ended up lifting the Cup. Martin Brodeur was 22. Patrick Roy was 20. Ken Dryden was 23. Jonathan Quick was 4-8 in the playoffs before going 16-4 and leading the Los Angeles Kings to the championship at 26. Vokoun is at the opposite end of his career but enjoying the same kind of coming-out party. Its uncharted territory for a player acquired for a mere seventh-round pick last summer as an insurance plan should Fleury falter. "He has been one of the better goalies in NHL," Pittsburgh general manager Ray Shero said. "He just happened to be playing in Nashville and Florida, not in the media spotlight." One thats certainly going to ratchet up over the next two weeks. It can get unnerving. For proof, he need only look 180 feet down the ice on Saturday night at Bostons Tuukka Rask. The Bruins were on the cusp of a berth in the conference finals inn 2010 with a 22-year-old Rask leading the way.ddddddddddddBoston took a 3-0 lead over Philadelphia in the second round when the season suddenly imploded. A 5-4 overtime loss in Game 4 morphed into three more defeats, including a 4-3 collapse in Game 7 when Rask squandered a three-goal, first-period lead. Though he played 29 games the following season, he didnt see a second of ice time in the playoffs as Tim Thomas carried the Bruins to their first title in nearly four decades. "Its different if youre playing or if youre not," he said. "You had something to do with it on the ice." Rasks role (and his view) will be much more involved this time around. And Boston coach Claude Julien thinks Rask may have turned a corner of sorts in the second round against the New York Rangers. Boston bolted to a 3-0 lead once again and went up 2-0 early in Game 4. The Rangers recovered -- thanks in part to a curious goal in which Rask appeared to screw himself into the ice -- to win in overtime. Rask bounced back in Game 5, turning aside 28 of 29 shots as the Bruins moved on and perhaps obliterated any lingering doubts about their goaltenders resilience. "That Game 4 couldve been a lot more devastating than it was," coach Claude Julien said. "How he rebounded in Game 5 shows me that theres no issues there." Of course, the high-flying Penguins have a way of creating issues. Pittsburgh peppering Evgeni Nabokhov and Craig Anderson into early exits a combined four times during the first two rounds while averaging 4.27 goals per game, the highest scoring average at this point in the playoffs in 20 years. A highly efficient power play and a remarkably skilled roster led by former MVPs Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin helps. Still, for all its considerable firepower, Pittsburgh is not invulnerable. The Penguins were similarly loaded three years ago when they ran into Montreals unheralded Jaroslav Halak in the second round. The then-24-year-old became impenetrable as the series wore on and the Canadiens won in seven games. The memory of that stunning failure remains fresh and the Penguins are well aware Rask and Bostons smothering defence could provide an even more impenetrable shell. "We have to make (Rask) uncomfortable," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. In the end, whichever goaltender finds his comfort zone is the one that will extend his teams season into the first days of summer. Its a ride Vokoun is intent on enjoying, one the oldest player on the Stanley Cup favourite thought may never come. "This is what you play for," he said. "Its taken a long time to get here. Yeah theres pressure but really its just about doing your job. "Thats all I can do." So far, so good. ' ' '