Filed under: Archived: Hockey | Tags: anaheim ducks, boston bruins, chicago blackhawks, colorado avalanche, columbus bluejackets, dallas stars, detroit red wings, los angeles kings, minnesota wild, montreal canadiens, New York Rangers, NHL, philadelphia flyers, pittsburgh penguins, playoffs, san jose sharks, st. louis blues, stanley cup, tampa bay lightning, vancouver canucks
I did make these picks in a pool before the playoffs started. That pool, in case you’re interested see you get a certain point value for picking the right team who moves on and also for picking the right amount of games. You can also win a bonus by selecting the Stanley Cup winner, but you have to make that pick before the first round begins.
Each selection comes with a brief explanation I gave on the pool’s Facebook page. I will be updating this page as the playoffs go along. Feel free to post your picks.
ROUND 1
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Boston vs Detroit – Boston in 6 (Boston’s just too big and tough for the very Canuck-like, personnel-wise, Wings) [CORRECT TEAM]
Montreal vs Tampa Bay – Montreal in 6 (Bishop out and even with Stamkos, as good as he is can’t keep up with all the Habs’ parts which include Price, Pacioretty, Vanek and Subban) [CORRECT TEAM]
Pittsburgh vs Columbus – Pittsburgh in 5 (Crosby, Malkin, ’nuff said) [CORRECT TEAM]
New York vs Philly – New York in 7 (I guess the Canucks played each twice this year but I don’t recall either Philly game..and both Rangers games, they owned us so I’ll take NYR) [CORRECT TEAM AND GAMES]
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Colorado vs Minnesota – Colorado in 6 (Colorado looks like a team of destiny this year. Edmonton is so jealous of them right now) [INCORRECT]
Anaheim vs Dallas – Anaheim in 6 (Again, from what I’ve seen of Anaheim which includes a 9-1 beatdown of the Nucks, they are just too high powered for Dallas. Seguin could be a game changer) [CORRECT TEAM AND GAMES]
Chicago vs St. Louis – Chicago in 6 (St. Louis has looked sexy this season but with Kane and Toews back, not to mention Sharp and all that supporting cast, gotta go with Chi-town) [CORRECT TEAM AND GAMES]
LA vs San Jose – LA in 7 (Seven game battle to the death via cheap shots. Thornton and co. choke again and LA moves on) [CORRECT TEAM AND GAMES]
STANLEY CUP SELECTION
Stanley Cup Winner will be the Pittsburgh Penguins. (Crosby and Malkin, ’nuff said…oh and they win it over the Avalanche. Varlamov will take them to the Final)
ROUND 1 SUMMARY
7 CORRECT TEAMS AND 4 CORRECT SERIES (I MUST BE A PROPHET)
ROUND 2
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Canadiens vs Bruins – Montreal in 7 (I’m going to go ahead and say that Boston IS slow and the speed of Pacioretty, Vanek, Gallagher and Subban will burn them, but it will take 7 games) [CORRECT TEAM AND GAMES]
Penguins vs Rangers – Pittsburgh in 6 (Rangers are good but not on the Pens’ level. The flightless birds caught the wind beneath their wings to close out Columbus. Momentum) [INCORRECT]
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Ducks vs Kings – Anaheim in 7 (Kings are stingy and will take another series to 7 games but Getzlaf and Perry will prevail with Selanne also playing a key role) [INCORRECT]
Hawks vs Wild – Chicago in 5 (Hawks also have massive momentum on their side and Minnesota was LUUUUUUUCKY to get by the Avs…also even though it means nothing, I’ll say it’s gonna be Hawks in the final now vs Pitt…I had Avs before) [CORRECT TEAM]
ROUND 3
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Canadiens vs Rangers – Montreal in 6 [INCORRECT]
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Kings vs Hawks – Chicago in 6 [INCORRECT]
STANLEY CUP FINAL
Kings vs Rangers – Kings in 6
Filed under: Archived: Hockey | Tags: alain vigneault, Alex Edler, daniel sedin, henrik sedin, IIHF, Jaromir Jagr, marty mcsorley, mike gillis, NHL, off-season speculation, Patrick Kane, Peter Andersson, Stanley Cup Playoffs, vancouver canucks, World Championships, Zack Kassian
NWSB Vancouver Canucks insider Josh Hall speculates what Thursday’s off-season press conference could possibly be about. Does Zack Kassian’s do have anything TO DO with it? Are Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin and Alex Edler looking for one more linemate to take over to Sweden with them? The answer is probably pretty obvious. Tell us in the comments section what you think. Hit us back at NWSB today.
Yup, click right here – Top 5 Announcements Gilly M could make
Filed under: Archived: Hockey | Tags: derek roy, mike gillis, NHL, roberto luongo, trade deadline, tradecentre, vancouver canucks
The 2013 NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone and GM Mike Gillis didn’t exactly do what we were all hoping for or expecting. You might even say it made us a little mad.
Here are the details with a little rant on the side.
Michael D. Gillis’ worst day on the job for the Canucks
Filed under: Archived: Hockey | Tags: alain vigneault, chris higgins, dallas stars, derek roy, jordan schroeder, mike gillis, NHL, trade deadline, vancouver canucks
The NHL trade deadline is Wednesday at noon pacific time and on Tuesday is when Canucks GM Mike Gillis began his wheeling and dealing.
Josh takes a look at the three transactions and they could affect the rest of the regular and post season for the Canucks.
Mike Gillis: Canucks wheeler and dealer
Filed under: Archived: Hockey | Tags: canucks, gary bettman, lockout, NHL, rogers arena, vancouver
Josh Hall, 100 Mile House – They say there’s a first for everything and as the title suggests, this is the first volume in what shall be a periodic update from a lonesome and locked out fan.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time in our lifetime we’ve had to sit and ponder the meaning of life while our heroes on ice battle with their bosses.
A shot to the heart is what this lockout is. Higgy knows…
If this is the first time in your lifetime, you’re too young to be on the internet, so get off of it now.
If you heard your older sibling talking about my writing and asked them to print it off for you, then you are very resourceful for a 6 year old and I predict that you shall do well in life.
Anyways, what I would like this (hopefully short) series to be about is what hockey means to a guy like me, a fan of the game and my team until the day I drop dead in a doughnut factory.
Don Koharski would be proud.
Seriously though, it’s been 48 hours since the NHL locked out its players and that is a travesty. It never should have gone this far. Regardless of which side you are on at this very moment, the two sides have had months and months to negotiate a new deal.
Yet for some reason they decided to wait until a month and a half ago to commence the needed deliberations.
I stand firmly on the side of the players though. Today on Facebook, I got into a debate with someone as I am almost certain many of you reading this have as well, again regardless of which side you’re on.
This was my penultimate comment that pretty much sums up why I take the side of the players:
“The issue is that players have signed contracts and are being asked to take major pay cuts of around 20%. The issue here is the NHLPA bowed to the NHL’s commands already 7 years ago. The issue is that now the NHL is asking the NHLPA once again to take less money. The NHLPA should be commended because they have offered to take less than what they’ve been receiving the last 7 years which is 57%. They have actually offered to take around 52%. The issue here is the greedy Mr. Bettman and the owners who even the week leading up the lockout officially being announced were handing out huge contract extensions to star players (Alex Burrows, Evander Kane, Kari Lehtonen) and yet they complain that players are making too much. People wouldn’t have jobs if there were no customers, we get that but that is not the major issue. Check out TSN, you’ll see a video of Carey Price telling the fans how much they just want to get back on the ice and play the game because without they feel lost. I firmly stand by the players because they have done nothing but concede and concede more.”
Maybe you agree with me and maybe you don’t but we all as fans have a common desire. That would be to see some hockey games.
Perhaps I am biased because at one point I wanted to be in the NHL, albeit when I was very young.
Perhaps it’s the straight up fact that players like the Leafs’ James Reimer and Habs’ Mathieu Darche stating that they want to play simultaneous to a new CBA being negotiated. However, the owners won’t have any of that.
I mean who cares about pre-season really? Not this guy! To be perfectly honest, I’m happy to see the Canucks just skating together right now so I’m not even too concerned about a training camp.
Of course if a deal is to be reached in time for the regular season to start on time, there’s still the case of Roberto Luongo to be dealt with. What an off-season eh?! It’d sure be funny if it were more eventful than the 2012-13 regular season.
[random thoughts due to lost and confused hockey mind = dangerous]
To close, I’ll just say that I remain optimistic although I certainly don’t have any reason to be. I’m not a TSN Hockey Insider and I don’t yet have Mike Gillis on speed-dial so I can’t dish you the latest rumours and secrets from the bargaining table.
I will have Mike Gillis on speed-dial. Oh yes, I will have Mike Gillis on speed-dial.
Maybe I am optimistic because I see too much good that can be lost if the owners and players don’t get their scheisse together.
So I’ll sit here on my couch, writing these things, watching Monday Night Raw (don’t judge me), continuing to hit the twit (tweet) and hope that there really are Hockey Gods because with the distance between both sides right now, it seems that maybe they’re the only ones who can save us now.
Filed under: Archived: Hockey | Tags: boston bruins, cory schneider, NHL, roberto luongo, vancouver canucks
Facepalm is right!
Facepalm is right!
3. Kevin Bieksa/Ryan Kesler
Let’s just get this out of the way; I know Juice had a goal and Kesler had an assist. Spare me! There is one sole reason why these two buffoons share the #3 spot in tonight 3 Non-Stars of the game. That being a series of plays that took place in the final 60 seconds.
The Canucks are desperately trying to exit the zone so they can pull Schneidz for the extra attacker. Bieksa, who has the puck and is heading towards his blue line and out instead circles back into his own zone because maybe he didn’t have the clearest of paths through the neutral zone. I don’t care if Zdeno Chara was standing in front of him, he has to get that puck out. What was a simple play turned into a near insurance marker for the Canes, not to mention about 20 more seconds taken off the clock for Carolina.
Ryan Kesler has a very similar play with about 8 seconds left where the puck has been dumped out of the ‘Canes zone and retrieved by the Canucks. As mentioned, with about 8 seconds left, Kesler has it on his stick and instead of trying for one final desperation chance up the ice, he circles back towards his own end. I and I hope many of you reading this were livid when these 2 plays occurred and frankly, these two idiots should get a verbal lashing from Coach Vee tonight and tomorrow during practice.
Advice Going Forward: Find your drive. Whatever happened to playing until the final whistle and actually trying to win the game until there is absolutely no chance. Folks, 7 seconds is plenty to have gone for one more attempt at net.
2. Alain Vigneault
Oh Coach Vee. Viggy. Alain Vigneault, your head coach with some rather questionable decisions of late. It all starts with the prescribed pre-game roster of Aaron Rome on the 2nd line and Cody Hodgson on the 4th. Obviously it didn’t end that way but really? That shouldn’t even be a pipe dream for Aaron Rome to play on the 3rd line. Let’s not make this about Rome though, it’s about Alain. What are you doing with Mark Mancari out on the ice with 3 minutes to go, down a goal? For cryin’ out loud, play your star players. Those are the situations they get paid to play in. Coach Vee’s act is really starting to wear thin on me.
Advice Going Forward: Learn who to put on forward when you’re down a couple forwards.
1. Keith Ballard
Do I really need to explain why he the #1 Non Star of tonight’s game? Yeah sure, the Canucks were up 2-0 and the score never should have gotten the way it ended up, with Carolina leading but my god. Without a doubt, that will be the save of the year in the NHL come April. When Raymond got the puck to Ballard, it reminded me of that scene in Mighty Ducks where he is just standing there at the side of the net with the puck and Goldberg is down and out. He scrambles over and the douchebag opponent just flips it in. Seriously that net was more open than Neil Patrick Harris.
Advice Going Forward: Seriously….start with shooting pucks into a soccer net, and then work your way down. Maybe a storage locker next and then maybe, just maybe, you can score on an open net.
Wrapup: Don’t get me wrong; the Canucks were in tough to start the night…in a way. One twin in the lineup is never good, although Henrik didn’t look completely out of sorts minus his best friend in life. David Booth is still out and Aaron Rome was playing as a forward. To top that off, a guy who has played 36 NHL games since being drafted in 2004 was also on the 4th line, that being Mark Mancari. All that being said, the Canucks still were the better team on paper and they proved that through 35 minutes which is when they let up and gave the game away to Carolina. The rest of the way, it was just agonizing to watch as the names mentioned above shat the bed. Give it a week; Daniel will be back, Booth will almost be back and guys like Mancari and Rome will be back where they belong. Stay strong Canucks nation.
Filed under: Archived: Hockey | Tags: bettman, canucks, NHL, shootout, vancouver
The opening drop of the puck and two players jostle to skillfully obtain the puck for their team. Who’s quicker to get their stick on the puck? Who has defter hands?
Play goes on as players glide across the ice at great speeds. Skating; a skill these men learned at such a young age and one that is essential to being a good hockey player at the NHL level.
A saucer pass over not one but two sticks; not only that, but it’s right on the tape, leaving the receiver of the pass with an open net. The saucer pass and passing in general is a skill very few players can say they are great at.
It’s mid-way through the 2nd period now and a talented winger drifts down the right side boards, his skating sleek as silk. He’s got company; one defenseman. The winger cuts to the middle and undressed the d-man. He left all his finesse skills out on the ice with that dipsy doodle. It doesn’t end there though; no that winger put the puck on the toe of his blade and snipes it top shelf above the goalies glove hand. He was aiming right where he put it. Now tell me that is not pure skill.
The score is tied 2-2, both goalies having put on a clinic the entire night; a clinic of their skills that is. Stopping pucks, snagging point shots and hot dogging it once or twice are just a sample of what they managed to do this night.
The play is down in one team’s end for the final 60 seconds of regulation. The pressure being withheld like none other during that game. The puck finds its way to the right of the net, 15 feet out. The D turn to that man as he threads the needle to his teammate, unmanned, 20 feet away on the other side of the net. The goalie is down, but not out. The forward who took the pass takes a shot and somehow, someway, the goalie lunges back, stretches his stick out into the gaping void that is the open net. Some will call that luck. I call that a skill of strength and determination and never giving up on a play.
Regulation ends with the squads deadlocked at 2 goals apiece.
OT is played and chanced are traded back and forth, with both teams coming close to ending it on numerous occasions. It was a tremendous display of pure hockey skill.
Then comes the hated and loved shootout. It’s what many call the skills competition. “How ignorant,” I say to myself just about every time a colour commentator blurts out those two words upon the ending of OT. Were we not all just treated to a skills competition? Who can shoot the puck better? Who can make crisper passes? Who can maintain possession by constantly winning faceoffs? Even the act of throwing a hipcheck a la Ballard would be considered a skill.
Yet some of us are so quick to judge the shootout as something different, when really it’s just not.
The moral of the story is…Don’t judge a shootout by its cover!
Follow me on Twitter @vancan19
Filed under: Archived: Hockey | Tags: #RIPKevinBieksasTooth, canucks, death, gingivitis, NHL, vancouver
Photo courtesy of Canucks.com
By Josh Hall
A gap now suffices for thee
Whom a mouth was not enough.
Dense, United, Shiny, Elven.
Conference Finals History.
32 Teeth.
The Sneaky Shot King.
He Scored As They Watched.
Nay was it the man housing the tooth,
Hath made glory rain on the house of Roger,
But the tooth itself shining bright upon the fans,
And let out a burst of brilliance matched by only those wiser.
It did it the hard way.
Dodging vulcanized rubber hither and tither.
It did what any tooth would do for its Elven master.
Took one for the team.
It is on this day we remember Kevin Bieksa’s tooth. Glorious were its days as the d-man’s best friend. Kevin looked down on no one more fluoride…I mean fondly than his left front tooth. A mighty part of the mandible it was, providing Kevin with a safe environment for chewing other player’s fingers should he have ever chosen to follow the steps of team-mates Burr and Lappy. Dentist Recchi would be so proud (everyone knows dentists aren’t real doctors).
Word is that Todd Bertuzzi was in attendance and he said simply, “It is what it is.” And how filling…I mean, uh, fitting that is for him to be there on a night that Kevin Bieksa’s fine and fandangled tooth was attacked viciously by an elbow (and against Colorado). Ironically David Jones claims the tooth only fell out because of Bieksa clutching at his mouth with all his little fingers jamming away at it. Go figure.
Alas, the days of the tooth need not be over. Sometime when the Canucks ice team brushed…DAMMIT I mean shoveled the on ice snow, that poor, lost chomper was moved to his new residence, via said shovel. His new home now being a giant pile of ice and snow in the bowels of Rogers Arena. Reportedly the shovel used was none other than the one used by Marty McSorley to hit Donald Brashear in the skull…rest his career.
The attention at long last turns back to the Elven one, ears and all. Well he must not be forgotten for he must now live a life that forces him to try and fill a void everyday….with his tongue.
Rest in peace little Tooth and may you find friendship in the arms of Brendan Morrison’s lost bit.
#RIPKevinBieksasTooth
By Josh Hall
I’m sure everyone who’s reading this is tired of reading those three words in every title of every blog post I have done the last 3 weeks and a bit. Those three words being “Replace The KB” all merged into one to form the hashtag #ReplaceTheKB have dominated my own life in that same span.
Well it was announced this afternoon that I was not one of the four chosen. Here is a link to the results.
If there is one thing I have learned over all the years I have been watching sports (basically since I was born 22 years ago), it’s that you need to be graceful in defeat. In other words, don’t be a sore loser. So congratulations to the four who were chosen…I’m sure you’ll do a great…*cough*…horrible…*cough*…job.
I thank everyone for their support throughout (followers, friends, plus 1′ers) the entire process. Please continue to to read my posts here and all the other great pieces and stories that are available on the VanCity Sports Blog Network.
You can find all of my Replace The KB Posts below.
Vancan Outta The Blue 