I agree and I'm not a fan of either (Islanders Fan).. I was at games 5 and 7 in Tampa.. gms 4- 7 were decided by a goal, and gms 5,6 were single and double OT wins..great series..

Honorable mention goes to Buffalo Dallas in my opinion

Dan, you are spot-on with your observation. There was NO need for the kind of manipulation that went on this year. These two teams were evenly matched and ready for a great repeat of last year's Finals. I was so disgusted with the coverage by NBC that I watched the whole series on CBC with knowledgable and unbiased commentators. And from a Wings fan to the Pittsburgh fans, it was totally refreshing to see so many fans stay last year to witness the celebration and presentation of the cup. It shows your appreciation for the game.

I honestly think you two are out of your minds, thinking that the powers to be would try to influence the series. everybody loves a good conspirecy theory though.

I agree with your point on the detroit fans. very classy to stick around and watch the ceromony afterwards (even if there were a few boo birds in there).

thought it was a great series, but not the best ever. New York and Vancouver comes to mind. Buffalo and Dallas also. but theres been over 100 of these i believe so lets calm down on the greatest series talk please.

couldn't believe that i could go to an NBC Sports web site and see basketball on the headlines and hockey buried. I would think they would try and shove hockey down peoples throats as it would only benefit them and the ratings. LOL instead they advertise there competition.

Dan charges that the refs and linesmen blew some quick/delayed/silent whistles against both teams throughout the Finals. Would concur there were a number of off-sides calls that broke up potentially dangerous RW incursions below the Pens blueline in Gm. 7, yet Pens breakout that scored (and a silent icing call that lead to a goal) went unwhistled. NBC commentator even noticed that one that "got away."

Don't think it is "sour grapes" when we fans 'notice' these on HDTV and there may be someone in Bettman's officiating corps. that will rerun a TIVO of the game and belatedly take notes for any next times. After all, the NBAs Tim Donaghy was beyond David Stern's radar screen when his actions were uncovered. Amazing how few people found this crooked official "rare", when Dallas Cowboy Pat Toomey had already wrote a book with a similar (football) scenario back in the early 70s.

Need fans believe ALL sports are tinged with corruption?

Totally obvious to me and anyone who sat through this sereies too, and I'm absolutely disgusted that hockey has this taint on it.

Dave,

I was actually able to get Mike Lange on the radio and listened to the game while watching the nbc broadcast on mute. I thought that the announcers on VERSUS did a much better job at being unbiased.

Wow, I must have been watching a different game with different referees because I saw many goalie-interference non-calls against Detroit. Detroit got away with one penalty early in game 7 when a Pens player dropped his stick and went to get it only to have a Detroit player push it away from him. That is a penalty. And how about the non-call on the dirty hit that knocked Crosby out of the game? Clearly we watched two different games, I even asked friends who are not Pittsburgh fans if I had my Pens Vision on and they told me I did not that the referees were clearly for Detroit.

Funny how noone seems to remember the blatant 30 second too many men on the ice that the pens had that led to a goal, not to mention the 2 offsides that weren't called on the pens that directly led to goals in the 3rd and 4th games. Don't get me wrong, i like the pens style as well as the Wings but to have a great series like this overshadowed by Bettman's Cup-for-Crosby agenda is just garbage. True, the Pens did win the last 2 games, mostly fair and square, barring the icing that was not called but you can't say the Ref's were calling the game for the Wings. simply not true. Both sides got away with things however, nothing the Wings did was beyond what they normally do which is the same as any other team. As for Franzen's "hit" on Crosby, notice that he is looking at the puck the whole time and Crosby tries to squeeze between him the and boards...if anything, Crisby should have been called for holding since he had his hands around Franzen as if he's hugging an old friend. In any case, the pens win was well deserved, if not a bit tarnished and was a nice climax to an amazing playoff year.

Oh and to all those who say that the Wings are done...recall that that is exactly what everyone said after the lockout. The Pens will not be a dynasty until they win a few more cups and the Wings will not be done until they miss the playoffs a few successive years. :)

Excellet points made here - there were bad calls going BOTH ways. There were six men on the ice, two times the puck was covered in the crease, one missed icing, uncountable boarderline (and not so boarder line) holds, interferences, etc. Unless you wear foil hats and fear the black helicopters, you will see that it was very evenly called.

And if you really think that the refs/league/Bettman had it planned that Crosby and the Penguins were going to win, who is responsible for them screwing up and allowing the Red Wings to get 6 (or was it 5?) power plays to the Penguins 1 in the 5th game. They shouldn't have let that happen, because that could have had a dramatic effect on their grand schemes!