Speaking of Motivational Posters...

I sure hope this picture the Chicago Tribune whipped up isn't a case of providing someone with the motivation to come back and destroy you.

Go Hawks.

2nd Round!

Touche Habs. Touche.

So, 4/4 in the West (on who would win, granted i botched the game totals), and 0/4 in the East.
Yeah 50%. At this rate I'm more qualified than everyone on the Sportnet Hockey panel - so I've got that going for me.

On to 2nd round predictions!

West!

(1) San Jose vs (5) Detroit
There's a mysterious ailment going around the San Jose dressing room - team doctors are puzzled by it, and can only describe it as an 'upper body injury'. What else can you call it when your top players have no heart? Detroit will steamroll them on the road to start the series, and it'll go 6 with the Red Wings prevailing.

(2) Chicago vs (3) Vancouver
This is gonna be a great series. Three years ago, Ottawa beat Pittsburgh in the first round of the playoffs. Two years ago, Pittsburgh mailed in their last game of the season so they could take on the Senators in the first round of the playoffs. They did this so they could finally get over that hump, and know they're capable of making a cup run. Vancouver's in the same situation. All year they've said they wanted to face Chicago again in the playoffs, and they've got their wish. The Canucks will rise up and vanquish the demons from their past - Van in 6.

East!

(4) Pittsburgh vs (8) Montreal
No one saw that upset of the Capitals coming - full marks to Montreal. But the dream run in the post-season ends here.... or does it? Yes. It does. Pittsburgh's a much better team (I stress the word team) than Washington, and that'll show in spades against the Habs. Or at least I think it will. Halak has been unreal, but I dont see him being able to do it 4 games against Pitt. Maybe once or twice. Pittsburgh in 6.

(6) Boston vs (7) Philadelphia
It wasn't so much that Philly looked great against NJ, but that the Devils looked horrible in that first round loss to the Flyers. This will be a much better series - but I give the nod to Boston on this one. Brian Boucher? Really? It cant possibly continue into the second round, based solely on the fact that Boston will actually work hard. Boston in 7.

I had wings last night while watching the Habs upset, so maybe I'll go with pizza to the start of round 2!

Playoffs are here!

Aww Yeah.
Love the playoffs in the NHL!
The sports channels are all making their predictions as to who has a shot of upsetting who, and who will make it to the Finals. Most likely they'll be wrong more often than right, like those damned weathermen.
So I figured what the hell, I'll jump in as well. Here's my round one predictions, feel free to make fun of me, or like the cool kids in highschool smoke pits everywhere, conform to my views.

We'll start in the Western Conference, since that's where the majority of my hockey watching takes place.

(1)San Jose vs. (8)Colorado
This is almost a no-brainer. Unless San Jose suffers from some sort of history where they choke repeatedly in the playoffs, they should come out ahead. So, that being said, there's substantial possibility of an upset here. Colorado's staffed by a bunch of young kids who have already greatly exceeded expectations for this season by finishing 8th in the west, everything from here on in is gravy. Does this mean they'll be happy to lose? Of course not. They'll want to win, but they wont be demoralized by any bad goals or freak injuries that always seem to sneak up in the playoffs. Forsberg's spleen anyone? They'll be able to let a lot roll off their backs, but they wont be able to match the Sharks in this round. Marleau, Thornton and Heatley will ripple the mesh a little too often, and San Jose will take it in 6.

(2)Chicago vs. (7)Nashville
This one is actually a no-brainer. Chicago showed last year that they were right on the edge of being great, and they're gonna have enough goaltending to get past Nashville without too many issues. The only games the 'Hawks will lose in this series will be the ones that Pekka Rinne steals for the Preds. Although the Preds arent a bad team by any means, they just dont have enough to compete with Chicago. Led by Kane, Toews, and throwing Hossa into the mix? That's a lot of fire-power. The only part of Chicago's game that could be suspect is their goaltending, but as mentioned, I think they've got enough to outlast Nashville, however the 2nd or 3rd rounds of the playoffs could be a completely different story.
Chicago wins the series in 6.

(3)Vancouver vs. (6)Los Angeles
I like to think of myself as a pretty realistic Canucks fan, and because of this, I honestly think we can beat LA this spring. We've got more balanced scoring than ever before, and if (yes, a huge if) Luongo gets back to his usual self, then I think we can go places. That being said, LA is a solid team, and as much as I loved watching Drew Doughty play for Team Canada in February, I'm going to hate watching him single-handedly shift momentum in this series. This will be a tight series on the ice, but not so much on paper. The first game might be a decisive win - the Canucks are coming off a lot of emotion/fun with Henrik winning the league scoring title, but after that, it'll be one-goal, nail-biter, overtime finishes. This year's Canucks has what it takes to go a long ways, and they'll flex their muscles by taking this first round in 5 games.

(4)Phoenix vs. (5)Detroit
Detroit, hands down. Well done Jets, you've bought your desert hockey team some more time, and more money lost. But you're not getting any further. Bryzgalov might steal a game or two, but there was a reason that no one wanted to play Detroit, and they're gonna dominate. Detroit was well back of the Flames after the Olympics, and they wound up 5th. And the Flames... well, we all know how that turned out. Quite a few turds in the punchbowl in Calgary. Detroit won't run the table on Phoenix, but they'll be close to it unless Bryzgalov busts out some J.S. Giguere Conn-Smyth while playing for the losing team action. But even that wont stop the big red wheel. Detroit cleans house in 5.


Here's who/what's going down in the Eastern Conference:


(1)Washington vs. (8)Montreal
As much as I like the plucky roster of Les Habitant, it aint gonna be anything more than 5-6 games of April hockey for them this time around. Washington is too powerful, and as good as Jaroslav Halak was, he didnt have to face the Caps once. Unless something devastating happens in the injury department (earlier today Jose Three-or-more left practice after getting hit with an Ovechkin shot, but that seems more helpful than anything) the Caps will roll over the Habs. Backstrom and Ovechkin light up Montreal repeatedly in 5 games.

(2)New Jersey vs. (7)Philadelphia
2 words here : Bro-deur. Yes, he's had a bit of an off year. Yes, he's old. And yes, he's one of the best playoff goaltenders of all time. Granted, he gave up those soft goals to get beat by Carolina last year, but Marty is comin back strong this spring - I can feel it. That and the Devils offensive power, coupled with the face Brian Boitano Boucher is in net for the Flyers, this series is over quickly. Boucher's gonna get lit up more than a Christmas tree by Parise and Kovalchuk, and while Brodeur wont have to work too hard, he'll make the key saves when they count and deflate the Flyers. Devils walk into round two in 5 games or less.



(3)Buffalo vs. (6)Boston
Boston could have a slight chance of an upset here if Tukka Rask continues his solid play of late, but I dont think it'll happen. Buffalo has been rolling along all year, and as Ryan Miller showed at the Olympics, he's already an elite goaltender - single-handedly he'll win the games when Buffalo doesnt show up offensively. Also against the Bruins' favour in this scenario, they're one of, if not the lowest scoring team that made the NHL's 2nd season. It all stacks up in favour of Buffalo in 6.


(4)Pittsburgh vs. (5)Ottawa
Yes, as you can see, I'm picking Ottawa to win this series. You're probably saying, "Tom, what the hell are you thinking? Pitt has been to the dance the last two years, and Crosby scored 51 goals this year in the regular season!" Okay, both are valid arguments, but Fleury's looked a little shaky lately, and although he's a solid goalie, if Ottawa can manage to jump on him quickly out of the gate, I think they could manage a split on the road. Which sets up for the visiting team to make a serious run at an upset. If Brian Elliot matches the way he played during the last half of the season, Ottawa is in okay shape. It'll go the distance, but I'm picking the Senators in 7.

And now, the playoffs have officially started, so I'm off to get my wings on!

Saskatchewon

Typo alert! Sound the alarm! If it's intentional, is it still a typo? Anyway, on to the good stuff...

Watched the nail-biting, heart attack-inducing, too-close-for-comfort semi-final last night against Slovakia. I feel, like the rest of Canada I'm sure, that I aged a few years in those final few minutes. I had plans to go out after the game, but I was exhausted when it was all said and done, and called it a night. I slept like a baby. Looking back at the game, there were things I loved about it, and things (mainly the last 7.5 minutes) that caused some mild cardiac issues. Let's focus on the good.


Putting all of Canada on it's shoulders
and getting us all free health-care.


Saskatchewan. All the goals scored for Canada in last night's game... you got it. The boys from Canada's bread basket (lamest nickname ever, btw) were the ones lighting the lamp. Patrick Marleau - Aneroid, SK. Brenden Morrow - Carlyle, SK. Ryan Getzlaf - Regina, SK. I was skeptical of the addition of Morrow to the team, but he's more than dispelled that notion with his hard work and level of compete. Another effort like that from those 3, and a step-up from the Crosby line, and we should be golden.

And after the last 2 fantastic days in terms of medals, we just need a few more medals to eclipse what we managed in Torino in '06. Which is great news, and while I already consider these Games as a success, beating the previous mark would be all we need to bring sexy back.

Martin bringing sexy back

Men's curling is a biggy, and as much as I want to see Kevin win for Canada, I want to see him exorcise those previous Olympic demons, and what better way to do it than against Norway and their delightful pajama-pants. And congrats to the Women's Curling team, I know it wasn't the result we were all hoping for, but I think a silver is pretty damn great.

4man Bobsleigh is another event we've got a few medal chances in - both Canada sleds are in position to make some noise, so hopefully that will boost our totals. And did anyone catch the interview with Pierre Lueders after their first run? It lasted all of 5 seconds, so don't be alarmed if you missed it. He was rather pissy, and I thought that was pretty funny. Kind of like how Jared Leto gets when nobody's paying attention to him. I'm sorry people crashed in front of you and it affected your run, but that's a fairly common thing Pierre...

And a great show put on by the relay team in the Men's Short-Track event last night. I had no qualms about turning away from the hockey game to watch that final. It was really entertaining, and the fact that we busted out a secret strategy to win was awesome. Finally our skaters grabbed some hardware for us, and in convincing fashion too! Loved the moment before they received their medals, and all kissed the podium.

I'm gonna take tonight off from the Games and my TV, to go watch a much bigger screen that will be showing Shutter Island. The book is fantastic, written by Dennis Lehane, and the movie is directed by Martin Scorsese (who's fantastic when he's not delivering essays about film preservation at the Golden Globes - what a snoozefest that was), and starring Mr. DiCaprio, and a great cast. I cant wait to see what they do to make the book come alive, and hopefully it's as good as I think it can be.





Totally worth a read






Hopefully this evening will I'll be able to decompress and relax, then gear back up tomorrow for the fantasticalness that is going to occur in the afternoon. Or at least it had better.
Go Canada!