Sunday, April 6, 2008

We're Goin to the Playoffs!!!!

The playoff's are set in the NHL. Here's the first round...

Eastern Conference
Montreal vs Boston
Pittsburgh vs Ottawa
Washington vs Philadelphia
New Jersey vs New York Rangers

Western Conference
Detroit vs Nashville
San Jose vs Calgary
Minnesota vs Colorado
Anaheim vs Dallas

I'm really excited for the Eastern battles. Montreal vs Boston is a rivalry that dates back to the 1920s and the atmosphere at those games will be electric. Pittsburgh and Ottawa have a past playoff history as do Washington and Philadelphia (as well as exciting regular season games), and New York and New Jersey are rivals separated only by a river...bring extra security to these games.

In the West, I'm not too sure about the first series, although with strong goaltending Nashville could upset Detroit. Minnesota and Colorado are divisional rivals, and Anaheim and Dallas have had heated, closely contested games all season. Look for some black eyes in that series. No predictions for Calgary and San Jose...S.J. is the hottest team in the league right now, but Calgary has the West's only 50 goal scorer in Jarome Iginla.

If you're looking for a prediction...sorry...I can't make an unbiased prediction. Most experts are picking Detroit, Anaheim (the defending champs) or San Jose, although I hope to hell it's a team from the East who doesn't have New in their name.

The playoffs start this Wednesday, April 9th. Early round coverage can be seen on Versus (channel 62 here in Annville) if you're interested in tuning in.

2 comments:

Noelle said...

What time is this stuff at? Haha.

Nate said...

Depends who is playing...the Eastern Conference games will be either 7 or 7:30. Western Conference games will be early in Detroit but 9 at the earliest anywhere else.