Being a big Colorado fan, I hope that they can get it together as a team and play like they did mid season. They developed a sort of loose defense during the Roy years, so if Aebischer can do OK, I'm happy to give them the cup now, the way I tentatively did at the beginning of the season.
From time to time goalies get unpredictably playoff hot. Now, if my prayers are answered and this happens to Aebischer, Colorado will be, as I like to say, a Mack truck going through a brick wall.
Anyway, they won tonight. 37 saves. (crosses fingers)
Other than that I have to support Tampa Bay because I'm moving to that area soon. Hockey in Florida. . . yeah, it's gonna be weird.
NJ is a personal bias. To be honest, I don't know if they can win it all without Stevens. I put my confidence in Brodeur, and hopefully Langenbrunner, Gionta and some forwards heat up a bit. The Devils have great defensemen even with their rookies, but rookies aren't enough to bear the burden to win a cup. The good news is that the next few years look bright even after Stevens retires. I have confidence that the Flyers', Senators', Bruins' and the lower bracket teams' goaltending will proclude them from making the finals. The Leafs go the way of Belfour's back, and they don't have the grinding, punishing defense they used to. In my mind, except for some goon forwards, they're a mirror image of Ottawa.
I think Tampa Bay has all the right stuff, and San Jose is a better team than the regular cast of conference finalists: Detroit, Colorado, etc.
The first of the four nails in the dirty Maple Leafs coffin was hammered in tonight. A very telling game, we have moved past that bad game and are proceeding to retire a few over the hill players a bit early.
Go Sens Go!!!
Predictions- Sens in four (wahoo), Philly in six, Bruins in five, Tampa in five, Detroit in six, San Jose in six, Colorado in seven, Vancouver in six. You heard it hear first.
Just for the record- I really think that hockey fans are the best fans in the world, in my experience with serious hockey folks. Not much NHL loyalty with us Texxuns- most of what I see around here are Spurs jerseys. I see ice about twice a year, and only then until noon.
But hey, you gotta love a game which sends each player onto the battlefield with two razor blades and a club. 8)
Toughest athletes as well. Players playin with a broken foot, wrist, ribs (think Thornton still has a couple bad ribs, didn't play so hot in that romp over the Habs).
All right. Got a good list here. I'll drop them into an excel sheet for the score-keeping. I hereby declare the submissions closed, even though a couple of you criminal elements got your picks in after some of the series had started.
So far so good: the Canucks are looking to be on top of their game, as is Ottawa. I was just thinking last night what a great year it's been for Canadian hockey. All but one team in the playoffs and the one that missed only missed by a point or two. Pains me to see Nashville and not Edmonton in there but what can you do?
Just thought of a nice scoring addition:
If you pick the Cup Winner correctly (i.e. your #16 team wins), you get an extra 25 points. Might help avoid any ties in points...
I'm not so sure about that. If it weren't for two VERY questionable penalties 16 seconds apart against Toronto that allowed Ottawa to take the the lead on 2 powerplay goals, I don't think the outcome would have been the same.
That game and the Tampa Bay/New York game were terribly officiated.
They're calling them all really tight, that's for sure. There were a bunch of obstruction calls and a lot of calls in general during the Canucks-Flames game too, if I recall. The announcers mentioned it a couple of times.
rageous- u are joking right? only a leafs fan would complain about those calls and say they would have won the game. sens had twice as many shots and those werent bad calls. maybe mccabe shouldnt be hacking sticks or giving can openers. if u hack a stick dont complain if it breaks and u get a penalty. dont give the best powerplay in the league a reason to score. nuff said. here comes the broom!!!
rageous- u are joking right? only a leafs fan would complain about those calls and say they would have won the game. sens had twice as many shots and those werent bad calls. maybe mccabe shouldnt be hacking sticks or giving can openers. if u hack a stick dont complain if it breaks and u get a penalty. dont give the best powerplay in the league a reason to score. nuff said. here comes the broom!!!
1: No I'm not joking
2: I'm not a Leafs fan.
If you think it takes any amount of force to break a composite stick you haven't been watching hockey long enough. It's not like the old days when you really had to lay it on someone to break their wood stick with a slash. 3-5 stick break just from guys shooting the puck per game.
i know exactely how bad those sticks are, but i havent seen someone hack at it with no effort and have it break. he clearly was using too much strength, so the penalty is warranted. i wish everyone would just go back to wood stick, mcinnis still has one of the hardest shots with his wood stick, same goes for aucoin. composites are junk.
I think the deal with a lot of those sticks is, they are flimsy / weak in the center part of the shaft, in order to generate all that torque / whip.
Seems to me like they always break when heavy pressure or a direct impact catches them mid-shaft. It's either a hard slash or a slapshot / one-timer (player pressing down with all his weight, mid-shaft) that causes it. It's rare they break on a wrister or even getting jammed into the kick plate for instance.
That said, they do break way too easily in the pro game. I doubt it will change though, because it's already been shown they're not much of an advantage at generating velocity on slappers vs. wood. If they make them more durable (thicker, less whippy designs IOW), whatever advantage they have for wristers will be greatly diminshed. Then from [any] player's standpoint, what's the point of buying one?
Pro game aside, I can think of two instances in a recreational league / adult rat hockey, where someone broke a composite stick. Both times they were blade breaks. Never seen one snap in half other than in a professional match / junior match. That means another big part of it is player strength probably. These guys are snapping them like twigs because they're so ripped / put so much force behind their shots / slashes.
Think it's fair to say the Vancouver-Calgary matchup has shaped up to be the best one so far. Regardless of how much or little scoring, there are lots of scoring chances, lots of fast skating, big hits. Even though there are players taking long runs at one another in some cases, it's all been relatively clean so far. I love it!
Colorado - Dallas has a been a real disappointment. Very little hitting / hard checking, very little emotion. Basically no different than a regular season game IMO. Dallas better get mean, or they're screwed.
That's the one thing I don't like about Tippet. He's so calm even when things are bad... I don't think he instills much of a mean streak in his players, and that's exactly what they need right now. Dallas has never been a finesse-only team; they need to get back to their game and stop trying to match skill-on-skill with Colorado. Big hits, crash the net, start some scuffles.
Boston-Montreal was OK last night...
Hoping tonight's Ottawa-Toronto game is a barn-burner.
The Toronto/Ottawa game should be a completely different affair tonight if Klee and Tucker are in the line up. Not taking anything away from Ottawa, they played a very good game, but the Leafs were horrendous in that first game. After the first period they just packed it in and went home. My biggest complaint is that Quinn refuses to match lines against any team...ever. The Leafs had last change, there was no reason for Sundin's line to be on the ice every time Chara was. Obviously you can't avoid it entirely but he should've been throwing Reichel. Domi and Fitzgerald every chance he got against Chara.
Whatever. Leafs in six.
The Vancouver/Calgary series is awesome. It reminds me of the Dallas/Edmonton match ups from a few years ago.
So far so good. Tons of hitting in the first period, good chances on both sides, and grapes is dressed in a violet velvet pimp suit. What could be better?
Well, the Devils are going to lose again, and not for a lack of effort. They do everything except score, and Brodeur is not standing on his head right now, which is what they needed. At this point, I say Philly in 5. If Philly wins the next game in NJ though, make it 4.
The Ottawa/Toronto game was fantastic (and not just because the Leafs won). Hate him all you want, but I love having someone like Domi on the team this time of year. Hossa was about to spend another 60 minutes skating circles arounf the Leafs until Domi decided to take his head off. Though that hit was dangerously close to hitting from behind. And Varada is lucky he missed Sundin with that check. I doubt that Mats would have been the one on the ice after that collision.
I guess Jersey is nigh on useless in the post season without Stevens on the ice. Maybe they'll turn it around back in the swamp but I doubt it. Which is good. Leafs can't beat the Devils in the playoffs.
Comments
From time to time goalies get unpredictably playoff hot. Now, if my prayers are answered and this happens to Aebischer, Colorado will be, as I like to say, a Mack truck going through a brick wall.
Anyway, they won tonight. 37 saves. (crosses fingers)
Other than that I have to support Tampa Bay because I'm moving to that area soon.
Murbot, I thought you would have exhausted your supply of beer on the eve of Edmonton's elimination.
Originally posted by InactionMan
[...]
Hope you Ottawa fans enjoy losing for the fourth straight time to the mighty Blue and White.
[...]
We definitely will not enjoy it, but I agree that we will probably have to watch it.
On the other hand, if it happens, it will help me in the pool - so I win either way.
15. Tampa Bay
14. San Jose
13. Vancouver
12. Detroit
11. Colorado
10. Toronto
9. Dallas
8. Ottawa
7. Philadelphia
6. Boston
5. Calgary
4. Montreal
3. St. Louis
2. Nashville
1. NY Islanders
NJ is a personal bias. To be honest, I don't know if they can win it all without Stevens. I put my confidence in Brodeur, and hopefully Langenbrunner, Gionta and some forwards heat up a bit. The Devils have great defensemen even with their rookies, but rookies aren't enough to bear the burden to win a cup. The good news is that the next few years look bright even after Stevens retires. I have confidence that the Flyers', Senators', Bruins' and the lower bracket teams' goaltending will proclude them from making the finals. The Leafs go the way of Belfour's back, and they don't have the grinding, punishing defense they used to. In my mind, except for some goon forwards, they're a mirror image of Ottawa.
I think Tampa Bay has all the right stuff, and San Jose is a better team than the regular cast of conference finalists: Detroit, Colorado, etc.
Go Sens Go!!!
Predictions- Sens in four (wahoo), Philly in six, Bruins in five, Tampa in five, Detroit in six, San Jose in six, Colorado in seven, Vancouver in six. You heard it hear first.
PS. Go Sens Go!!!
But hey, you gotta love a game which sends each player onto the battlefield with two razor blades and a club. 8)
So far so good: the Canucks are looking to be on top of their game, as is Ottawa. I was just thinking last night what a great year it's been for Canadian hockey. All but one team in the playoffs and the one that missed only missed by a point or two. Pains me to see Nashville and not Edmonton in there but what can you do?
Just thought of a nice scoring addition:
If you pick the Cup Winner correctly (i.e. your #16 team wins), you get an extra 25 points. Might help avoid any ties in points...
Originally posted by Moogs
....as is Ottawa....
I'm not so sure about that. If it weren't for two VERY questionable penalties 16 seconds apart against Toronto that allowed Ottawa to take the the lead on 2 powerplay goals, I don't think the outcome would have been the same.
That game and the Tampa Bay/New York game were terribly officiated.
Originally posted by Cam'ron
rageous- u are joking right? only a leafs fan would complain about those calls and say they would have won the game. sens had twice as many shots and those werent bad calls. maybe mccabe shouldnt be hacking sticks or giving can openers. if u hack a stick dont complain if it breaks and u get a penalty. dont give the best powerplay in the league a reason to score. nuff said. here comes the broom!!!
1: No I'm not joking
2: I'm not a Leafs fan.
If you think it takes any amount of force to break a composite stick you haven't been watching hockey long enough. It's not like the old days when you really had to lay it on someone to break their wood stick with a slash. 3-5 stick break just from guys shooting the puck per game.
go sens go!!!
Seems to me like they always break when heavy pressure or a direct impact catches them mid-shaft. It's either a hard slash or a slapshot / one-timer (player pressing down with all his weight, mid-shaft) that causes it. It's rare they break on a wrister or even getting jammed into the kick plate for instance.
That said, they do break way too easily in the pro game. I doubt it will change though, because it's already been shown they're not much of an advantage at generating velocity on slappers vs. wood. If they make them more durable (thicker, less whippy designs IOW), whatever advantage they have for wristers will be greatly diminshed. Then from [any] player's standpoint, what's the point of buying one?
Pro game aside, I can think of two instances in a recreational league / adult rat hockey, where someone broke a composite stick. Both times they were blade breaks. Never seen one snap in half other than in a professional match / junior match. That means another big part of it is player strength probably. These guys are snapping them like twigs because they're so ripped / put so much force behind their shots / slashes.
Colorado - Dallas has a been a real disappointment. Very little hitting / hard checking, very little emotion. Basically no different than a regular season game IMO. Dallas better get mean, or they're screwed.
That's the one thing I don't like about Tippet. He's so calm even when things are bad... I don't think he instills much of a mean streak in his players, and that's exactly what they need right now. Dallas has never been a finesse-only team; they need to get back to their game and stop trying to match skill-on-skill with Colorado. Big hits, crash the net, start some scuffles.
Boston-Montreal was OK last night...
Hoping tonight's Ottawa-Toronto game is a barn-burner.
Whatever. Leafs in six.
The Vancouver/Calgary series is awesome. It reminds me of the Dallas/Edmonton match ups from a few years ago.
I guess Jersey is nigh on useless in the post season without Stevens on the ice. Maybe they'll turn it around back in the swamp but I doubt it. Which is good. Leafs can't beat the Devils in the playoffs.