Puck Daddy - NHL

Puck Daddy

Thu Dec 04, 2008 9:25 am EST

Crosby ridiculously closes all-star vote gap with Canadiens

By Greg Wyshynski

Yesterday, we focused on the big NHL All-Star Game voting news that Jarome Ignla of the Calgary Flames had rallied and broken the Detroit Red Wings' stranglehold on the Western Conference forwards Top 3.

This morning brings something even more dramatic: The fact that Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins has cut Alex Tanguay's lead for the final starting forward slot in the East by nearly 50,000 votes in the last 24 hours.

On the left is an image of the NHL's real-time fan voting from 9 a.m. EST yesterday morning. On the right is the screen-cap from 9 a.m. this morning. Tanguay's lead has gone from 52,826 votes to a practically razor-thin 2,974 in front of Crosby, who continues to close fast.

Looking at the vote total jump for Evgeni Malkin as well, it's clear that Penguins fans have been motivated to stuff the ballot box. Or, perhaps, some enterprising Crosby sympathizer (or Montreal Canadiens-basher) has figured out a new way to juice the totals artificially. Either way, Crosby has received close to 65,500 votes in the last 24 hours. At this rate, is there a chance he might pass all the Habs by the end of the week?

We're guessing none of those votes came from Marc Staal, who threw something much different than support at Crosby last night in the New York Rangers' win over the Pens.

UPDATE: And as of 10:50 a.m. EST, Crosby passes Tanguay. We're not accusing anyone of anything, but congrats to C-3PO, Optimus Prime and WALL-E for their efforts.

Related: Hockey Fans

digg delicious
more

112 Comments

Post a Comment
  1. sleza
    1. Posted by sleza Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:55 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    not happy about rangers' win but i think marc is my favorite staal...
  2. J.S.
    2. Posted by J.S. Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:29 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    52,000 votes in one night? No problem.
    Or as the Habs fans say "All in a night's work..... without being near the computer."
    WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
  3. J.S.
    3. Posted by J.S. Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:29 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    Crosby within 600 of the starting lineup.
  4. cent100q
    4. Posted by cent100q Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:21 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    It's unfortunate that Crosby and Iginla broke through, because this will just give the NHL an excuse to say that their process here was flawless.
    No thanks.
  5. Maraldo
    5. Posted by Maraldo Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:34 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    Hopefully the NHL learns from this and uses the fans vote as like 1/3 or 1/4 the deciding factor for the starters next year, leaving it up us was a good idea, if you know we weren't completely biased. There's always a few people who have to ruin it for everyone else. I can remember back in Highschool we weren't allowed to carry around water bottles anymore because one kid filled his with vodka one day and got caught. Lesson to learn here, be discrete, if you're gona juice the votes, do it slowly and spread it out, if you're going to drink vodka in class, do it slowly, and don't puke all over your desk
  6. den m
    6. Posted by den m Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:41 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    Habs have already made a joke of the voting....already documented taht they 'cheated'....
  7. banginpanger.com
    7. Posted by banginpanger.com Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:04 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    1. You can tell Pens fans have been stuffing the box all along based on Gonchar's & Whitney's totals, but we already knew that. But I'm all for unseating Habs from the game, I love Canadian Sour Grapes, they taste best cold.
    2. Fantastic hit.
  8. Maraldo
    8. Posted by Maraldo Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:34 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    @7:
    FSN Pittsburgh has been promoting the team vote via the text, explaining why Whitney and Gonchar's totals are so high, but that won't matter because you have to play 20 games to be eligible for the game, and neither will be, I don't agree with Fleury being up there either, but I doubt he'll catch Price
  9. The Bog
    9. Posted by The Bog Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:11 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    Its the NHL's own fault for putting Komisarek on the ballot. It's almost as if they wanted an all Canadiens starting lineup.....
  10. J.S.
    10. Posted by J.S. Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:29 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    banginpanger, that's not totally true.
    The Pens have it set up with the NHL so if you text 818..something with five digits, it'll automatically cast a vote for Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Gonchar, Whitney, and Fleury. So what you're seeing is a large amount of text votes being reflected.
    If they were smart, they would have removed Gonchar and Whitney from the voting and replaced them with....I don't know, pick any 2 Pens d-man. Orpik, Letang, throw Eaton in there for all I care. Anyways, at least one would have made it to the game, maybe even both.
  11. The Confluence
    11. Posted by The Confluence Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:59 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    Stuffing manually one at a time is a helluva lot different than stuffing via script....
  12. Someguy!
    12. Posted by Someguy! Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:45 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    There are like 10 people on the ballot too... the voting is terrible, the write-ins have no shot and the people we get to choose from aren't even the best players. Its worse then the MLB all star voting.
  13. knucklehead
    13. Posted by knucklehead Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:37 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    What? Crosby is better than Tanguay? There must be a chad hanging somewhere.
    Since Minnesota claims to be THE hockey state, let them recount the votes.
  14. J.S.
    14. Posted by J.S. Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:29 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    scratch my last comment. Misunderstood how the text voting was set up (thought it was set up per team vs. by the league)
    text number = 81812, open to all NHL teams.
  15. Tacks
    15. Posted by Tacks Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:51 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    "Gary, it's 4am, what are you doing on that computer come to bed" "Hang on hun, just a couple more votes"
  16. Tacks
    16. Posted by Tacks Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:51 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    In other news, the unemployment rate in Quebec skyrockets to 90% in December as people stay home to double their Hab-bot 3.0 efforts.
  17. p
    17. Posted by p Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:42 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    i guess orr is not voting for crosby either. and it seems crosby won't be sending orr a christmas card. but can someone please explain why this comment needed to be made?
    "I don't know if that's what [Orr] needed to do to prove his toughness - to come after me," Crosby said.
    umm....come after you? you have the puck!!! it is a contact sport and no one is above being hit, you're a good player you're going to be targeted. get over it. and then to complain/comment about the physical side of the game, grow a pair... o and i liked how therrien was also yelling at the ranger bench for hitting crosby...leave it to the players, you're making it look like sid can't handle a hit.
  18. Geoffrey S
    18. Posted by Geoffrey S Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:37 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    Orpik as a write-in? Nah, his 6 points make him overqualified this year. I say Eaton should get voted in, he's got the same lofty offensive stats at Komisarek.
    What I want to know is whether any Candadiens forwards at all will be named to the team if Crosby, Malkin, and Ovechkin catch up and beat them in the voting. Which of the 12 guys average over a point a game do you leave off the team to make room for Koivu and Tanguay with their goal totals that real all-stars can put up in a good week?
  19. A Yahoo! User
    19. Posted by A Yahoo! User Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:50 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    How can you not put Komey on the ballot...he is by far the best D-man in the league
  20. Curt S
    20. Posted by Curt S Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:32 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    Fans of hockey unite to defeat this injustice! The only thing worse than the Montreal Canadians is the fact that their fans are winning the battle of good vs evil (Habs fans being the 'evil' of course). Personally I've written off voting for the defense category in the Eastern Conference. Markov probably legitimately deserves to be there and Komisarek's lead is insurmountable. However, if Saku Koivu gets Ovechkin's starting roster spot then I think we can definitively say there is no God, or if there is he is a malicious and spiteful God. Although, by not making Ovechkin or Malkin starters, it increases the probability of the two of them playing on the same line and I look forward to the hilarity that would yield. Have teammates ever fought each other in-game at an All-Star Game?
  21. b b
    21. Posted by b b Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:03 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    Why bother voting for the All Star game...it has to be rigged. I can appreciate the fact that an all star game in ones hometown might generate some more votes for local players, but this all star voting is crooked.
    As far as the Puck Daddy readers being named as a group. The Hot Dog Smokers or maybe the Sausage Smokers come to mind (although both of those names leave me with a quite disturbing feeling). That might not be "Classy" enough for some readers (that word seems to get used every three posts or so).... I GOT IT ....THE CLASSY SAUSAGE SMOKERS! YES
  22. Death by Leafs
    22. Posted by Death by Leafs Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:16 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    why am i awake this early...
  23. j0ehoe
    23. Posted by j0ehoe Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:26 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    Ok, who are the merry little pranksters that put Redden on there??
  24. Curt S
    24. Posted by Curt S Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:32 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    Pack Daddy Reader's names : The Pucklings
  25. Justin A
    25. Posted by Justin A Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:21 pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    @passerby - Crosby did not have the puck when Orr came after him, he had just lost a face off and Orr was shadowing him and jobbing him.... comment on it if you actually watched the game, otherwise keep it to yourself

Puck Daddy

Add to My Yahoo! RSS

Teams

Customize to follow news and rumors on your favorite teams. [ Sign in ]

Related Photo Gallery

More NHL Photos »

Y! Sports Blogs

Puck Daddy Recent Readers

(provided by MyBlogLog)