So Freakin' Excited

The Penguins beat the Rangers 3-2 in OT today to advance to the Eastern Conference finals. Their opponent? The orange and black of Philadelphia, who surprised many people by easily ousting the top seeded bleu, blanc, et rogue (Montreal) in 5 games, a series in which they exposed a young, inexperienced Montreal team who many people thought overachieved during the regular season to get the top seed in the East. Holy shit am I excited for this series. Pittsburgh and Philly is the best rivalry in the NHL right now, which has been created by the renaissance that transformed Pittsburgh from perrenial cellar-dwellers to a team you don't want to face, a couple of lop-sided wins for both teams against each other, and some incredibly physical play that has resulted in more than one fight, including at least one line brawl (the term for when multiple players on the ice start fighting instead of the normal one on one fight). Will there be fights in this series? Maybe...fighting does not happen much in the playoffs, but with the hostility that exists between these two teams, dont be surprised if the gloves are thrown in this series. Hockey isn't about the fights though...this series will have everything that makes hockey beautiful: graceful skating, pinpoint passes, highlight reel goals, earth-shaking hits, and breath taking saves. I can't wait.

Time for Golf

Detroit took the liberty to end Colorado's misery last night courtesy of an 8-2 shellacking to complete the sweep. The injury riddled Avs just couldn't skate with Detroit. Even with a healthy roster, I'm not sure much could have been done...Johann Franzen scored 9 goals in the 4 game series, Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk were on the score sheet quite a few times, and Colorado's piss poor offense couldn't generate much against a strong Detroit defense. I'm calling for a new coach in Denver...Quenneville's "try to play oppressive defense" system that worked in St. Louis prior to the lockout and crackdown on obstruction doesn't work anymore. I can see next year being the worst year in the Quebec/Colorado franchise since 1991/92 when they went 20-48-12. Some of their key offensive players are old and banged up (Sakic and Forsberg) and who knows which young free agents they will re-sign. It's going to be an interesting off season in Denver. For now, though, it's time for them to dust off the golf clubs and hit the links.

Switching Gears

I'm going to talk about something other than hockey for a minute because I feel like it. I'm reading about the media's reaction to the Watergate scandal in the 70's and it got me thinking...does it bother anybody else that ESPN named this whole Patriot's cheating thing "Spygate," which is a knockoff of one of the biggest government scandals in American history??? FOOTBALL IS NOT THAT IMPORTANT!!!!!! NEVER should something from a sport be named after something of such magnitude in this country's history.

Back to hockey...Montreal goalie Carey Price is showing that he really is 20 years old instead of the near-immortal he looked like during the season and Boston series. The Flyers won 3-2 last night to take a 2-1 series lead. Price was pulled from the game after giving up 3 goals on 12 shots. Two of the goals were weak and should have been stopped. This is deflating for a team. If Montreal is going to win, he's going to have to show some serious mettle and rebound in game four, or else the fat lady will sing in Montreal.

Some say he's in the wrong sport...

Sidney Crosby is a great player. One of the biggest complaints about him is that he dives to draw penalties. Diving is not something that great players do...honestly, I don't understand why anybody would be that cowardly, but maybe that's just me. I have to admit, he does go down rather easily sometimes. The Rangers have brought this complaint back to the surface after what they call a questionable penalty that was sparked by a Crosby "dive" (I did not see the play) in Game 1 lead to the game winning goal, and another incident in yesterday's game (he did appear to go down pretty easily here). His first year in the league, I think Sid dove a lot. Now, he still draws a lot of penalties, but I think because of his speed and talent level, he forces other players, especially big, slow defenseman, to clutch and grab and take penalties. This is an example of first impressions lasting a lifetime, and I don't think it's fair. Yes, there are times where he draws a penalty becuase of going down that probably wouldn't be called if a lesser known player had the same thing happen to them. That's not his fault, though, is it? There are players in the league who do dive, and the NHL needs to implement an automatic fine and suspension for a diving penalty to eliminate this problem. I don't think Sid is a problem diver anymore, though.

April 25 Recap

Hershey's season ended on a sour note last night, as they gave up four third period goals en route to a 7-3 shellacking in Wilkes Barre. The Bears actually scored the first goal of the game and had a 2-1 lead at one point, and were down 3-2 after two periods before the Baby Pens exploded for a four goal third to put the game out of question. After winning the Calder Cup two years ago and losing in the finals last year, a first round exit is a bit of a disappointment for the guys in Chocolate and White, but oh well, you can't make it that far every year. Just making the playoffs is a respectable season.

One of the bad things about the AHL is that there are a lot of roster changes from one year to the next as guys either move up to the NHL or switch teams because of either being involved in a trade or signed as a free agent to a minor league contract by another NHL club. My guess is Chris Bourque, Alexandre Giroux, and probably Sami Lepisto will be in Washington instead of Hershey next year, although Giroux and Lepisto could go elsewhere. Hopefully Hershey doesn't lose too many key players, or they are able to make good offseason signings.

In the NHL, the Penguins erased a 3-0 deficit early in the second period by scoring four unanswered goals, including the first two in a 14 second span, to open their series against the Rangers with a 5-4 win. Per usual, Sidney Crosby created controversy amongst the opposition, who claims that he took a dive to embellish the penalty that lead to the game winning goal. I think Sid does draw some BS penalties, but in this case, I'm not complaning as I want the Penguins to win the series.

Dallas beat San Jose 3-2 in OT to take a 1-0 lead in that series. Look for OT to be a constant theme there...if not OT, definitely tight, one goal games. I didn't watch the end of this game because of being exhausted from getting up at 5:30 to go to Penn Relays for the day, but the first two periods weren't terrible...not a lot of shots, since both teams are strong on D, but there wasn't a lack of opportunites or action.

Stayin Alive

Hershey staved off elimination last night with a 3-2 OT win at home against the Baby Pens. WB/S scored with 19 seconds left to tie the game, but Hershey ended the agony and avoided the sweep just 20 seconds into OT. Game 5 is tomorrow night (April 25) in Wilkes Barre, as Hershey looks to live another day. Eric Fehr's return from Washington should be a big offensive boost for the Bears, as well as a leadership boost. LET's GO BEARS!

Round Two

The Flyers (shit) and Sharks both won their decisive game seven's last night, officially ending an exciting first round. Here are the match-ups for round two.

Montreal vs Philadelphia
Pittsburgh vs New York Rangers

Detroit vs Colorado
San Jose vs Dallas

I'm really excited for these match-ups. Montreal and Philadelphia usually play entertaining games and they have a history of action packed playoff series. They both had seven game first round series, so neither team will be more well-rested than the other. They each have potent offenses and block a lot of shots on defense. I'd give Carey Price the edge over Marty Biron in goal based on his resume in playoffs in lower levels, and the fact that the last two Montreal rookies to start in the playoffs were these guys named Ken Dryedn (1971) and Patrick Roy (1986). Guess what? The Habs won the Stanley Cup both times, and both goaltenders went on to Hall of Fame careers. I hope history repeats itself here.

The Rangers and Penguins are Atlantic Division rivals, and it features a high powered Pens offense against a stingy Rangers defense; however, the Pens defense is the most underrated part of their game, and the Rangers offense came alive in the first round against New Jersey. This one could go either way.

Colorado and Detroit used to be THE rivalry in hockey, but it has gradually died down over the years as players have moved on from the clubs or retired from hockey all together. I don't like the odds for my boys from the Mile High City, as they only scored two or three goals against the Wings in four regular season games. Hopefully these games are more entertaining than they were during the season, as they were very one sided in Detroit's favor everywhere but the scoreboard, which had very low scores on it. Keep in mind, the Avs did not have Peter Forsberg, Ryan Smyth, Joe Sakic, and Paul Stastny for much of the regular season. They will be keys on offense if the Avs are going to put up a fight.

I don't have too many thoughts about the San Jose and Dallas series. Dallas looked very strong in their first round demolition of defending champs Anaheim, and San Jose was pushed to the brink against a Calgary squad who they were supposed to dispatch of easily. Many experts picked San Jose to win it all, but I think they will be lucky to make it out of this round alive.

The first games of the second round are Thursday night...not sure of the start times yet.