The Swamp

I like Hawks, Wings, Sharks and Kings.

Chicago over San Jose in West Finals.

CHI in 4
ANA in 5
SAN in 6
LOS in 7

Since I'm going to be in LA for Game 5 of the Wings-Ducks series I'm wondering if I should try to make it so I can personally throw dirt on the grave of the Wings having to fly across the country for all of their playoff series'

First round, I'll go with Blackhawks, Red Wings, Sharks, Kings.
Blackhawks over Kings in final.

Brian, I know you hate the travel, but I think the Wings got a favorable draw in the Ducks. Sure better than a Chicago draw, travel aside.

Maybe they'll get Tampa in the first round next year.

sancarlos wrote:First round, I'll go with Blackhawks, Red Wings, Sharks, Kings.
Blackhawks over Kings in final.

Brian, I know you hate the travel, but I think the Wings got a favorable draw in the Ducks. Sure better than a Chicago draw, travel aside.

Maybe they'll get Tampa in the first round next year.

Oh, for sure. To be honest, I don't even really care what happens this season. I haven't seen more than a few minutes of any of their games this season.

The whole thing was a fucking waste and a joke after the lockout. I just didn't want their playoff streak to end with an asterisk. Well, mission accomplished. Season over as far as I'm concerned.

I'm not touching any predictions. This is just set up for another Chicago post-season flameout.

Kinda pissed off that I don't get the Western Conference series between Chicago and The Cult. And the only way I can get it is to call my TV service provider and purchase CBC-Ontario (which is in the friggin' east! Gak!) or watch choppy firstrowsports online.

Anyway . . . let the real games begin! Bring on the nightly overtimes!

Bäckström hurt during warm-ups. The Wild may need to put their goalietending coach into uniform (an actual possibility in an emergency according to Pierre).

Scottie wrote:Kinda pissed off that I don't get the Western Conference series between Chicago and The Cult. And the only way I can get it is to call my TV service provider and purchase CBC-Ontario (which is in the friggin' east! Gak!) or watch choppy firstrowsports online.

Anyway . . . let the real games begin! Bring on the nightly overtimes!

cbc online if its any consolation.

travzilla wrote:cbc online if its any consolation.

Hah! Of course. Thanks. As staggeringly and utterly stupid as this may sound, I didn't even think of that.

HOW ABOUT 2 OT GAMES TO START NIGHT 1

I think the Wild are going to steal this game. Total hunch.

Sabo wrote:I think the Wild are going to steal this game. Total hunch.

a steal it would be.

Good pace to OT in CHI-MIN so far. Wild with some chances early.

I'll take Seabrook and Koivu for OT winners.

Brown (LA) and Steen (STL) in The Show Me State (did I get that right?)

How insane would playoff sudden-death 4on4 OT be? I think I would except it starting at double-OT, especially if it was a way to compromise with the TV-exec crowd who are pushing for shootouts (I just felt Scottie shudder from here)

Scottie, how do you like Dean Brown doing play-by-play in the Wild game? Understated (almost to the point of blah), but compared to the hyper whack jobs doing most games, I kinda enjoy him. Not Millen though.

On night 1 all three games are 1-1 at 11:11 I CAN'T DEAL!!!

Sabo wrote:I think the Wild are going to steal this game. Total hunch.

Yeah, me too.

A little worried that CHI-MIN is going to slow to a crawl soon. Been non-stop back and forth and these guys just be f'ing exhausted right now.

I guess I shouldn't go to Vegas and gamble any time soon.

Woo-Hoo!!!

Minutes apart both games done.

Steen (called it) with a G-I-F-T GIFT from Quick.

And as ugly as that was, the Hawks winner was that pretty.

1 more game to go.

Great start to the playoffs with three close games.

I'm working in the eastern time zone this week, and as a west coast guy, I really hate being out here for watching sports. I'd love to watch the Sharks game tonight, but it doesn't start until 10:30 pm edt and I have an early start (and big day) tomorrow morning. Guess I'll read about it tomorrow.

And you call yourself a fan.

kranepool wrote:And you call yourself a fan.

This is especially effective with the passed out Mr Met avatar. Nice.

kranepool wrote:And you call yourself a fan.

It's not on tv in the hotel, anyway...

Freudian slip by the Hawks' local TV reporter ...

[media=400, 300]http://www.youtube.com/embed/2AlU2RpM1TI?[/media]

travzilla wrote:How insane would playoff sudden-death 4on4 OT be? I think I would except it starting at double-OT, especially if it was a way to compromise with the TV-exec crowd who are pushing for shootouts (I just felt Scottie shudder from here)

Noooooooooo! Sorry, Mr Bettman, it ain't broke and don't need fixin'. NHL playoff overtime remains one of the most exciting spectacles in sports. Going to 4-on-4 would be about the most obvious way to ruin it. Look at last year's Rangers-Capitals first round match. Game three (?) went into triple-overtime and the series went seven games. That pretty much killed off their Stanley Cup chances, right there; can't drive on an empty tank. And the teams damn well know it, which puts soooooooo much more pressure on them to not let a game go that long; knowing the urgency really opens up a game and makes for tremendous hockey.

travzilla wrote:Scottie, how do you like Dean Brown doing play-by-play in the Wild game? Understated (almost to the point of blah), but compared to the hyper whack jobs doing most games, I kinda enjoy him. Not Millen though.

I like him. Mark Lee, too. And I'd argue that the crews, taken as a whole, are the best collection CBC has had in decades. None of those guys make me want to shoot the televisions like, say, Chris Cuthbert does.

travzilla wrote:Steen (called it) with a G-I-F-T GIFT from Quick.

See Cherry tonight? For those who didn't, he had a great explanation for why Quick hesitated behind his own net. He simply looked up to pass the puck out and nobody was there; all five Kings skaters went to the bench to change. Next thing Quick knows, which he also wasn't expecting, is Steen was right on top of him. Can't really put it all on Quick's shoulders.

Great play by Steen to identify that Quick was stuck back there.

This is so amazing, I'm putting it in both the Eastern Conference and Western Conference NHL playoff threads.

To be fair, you could set a bunch of fat chicks jogging to Baba O'Riley and it would still be epic.

Wings looked lousy in the opener, then great as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the second. Of course, they have since given up one power play goal and are threatening to do it again with the second not close to over yet.

brian wrote:To be fair, you could set a bunch of fat chicks jogging to Baba O'Riley and it would still be epic.

If you were listening to it on an iPod perhaps.

One thing the CBC has going for it that the other networks do not: sixty years of their own archived footage.

Wings get a cheapie to start the third (the Ducks' color man called it soft), but a power play goal followed by another one right after a penalty ends have Anaheim within 4-3, now just under seven minutes left in the third.

DSafetyGuy wrote:Wings get a cheapie to start the third (the Ducks' color man called it soft), but a power play goal followed by another one right after a penalty ends have Anaheim within 4-3, now just under seven minutes left in the third.

And tied with 2:22 to go.

Going to OT. An absolute garbage call has the Wings on the power play for 1:23 when it resumes.

Thanks for leaving us hanging...now I gotta go to nhl.com to see how it ended...

I was watching NHL Network, seeing Vancouver coach Alain Vignault whining that the reason the Sharks were dominating the face offs was because they were cheating. I loved Joe Thornton's amused response that "Ryan Kesler and the Sedins are the best face off cheaters in the league."

Irony that the coach of noted divers and late-hitting punks Burrows, LaPierre and Kesler complains about"cheating".

Hawks about to go up 2-0 in the series vs. Minnesota. They look like they are in fine form, and I can't be the only one that feels like they have another level they can take it too. (I wouldn't waste too much energy on the wild either).

Sharks up 1-0 going into the third. Could be big trouble for the Canucks. They certainly weren't Presidents' Trophy candidate this year, but the aftermath of a second straight first round flop could be the funnest thing to watch all off-season.