Stanley Cup Playoffs
 

I did a search for this topic and found last year's; the thread was started by yours truly, so I thought I'd turn this into a tradition and start the hockey playoffs thread again!

I did something last night I don't normally do - I watched an NHL game that didn't involve the Canucks - I watched the Battle of Alberta and was totally cheering for the Flames, because as everyone in Vancouver knew, if the Flames could knock of the Oilers, the Nucks were in - and that's exactly what they did.

Ofcourse if you didn't know the playoffs hadn't started yet, if you've been in Vancouver this past week, you might of thought otherwise - yes Canuck fever has gripped this town and province -Canucks merchandise sales are way up - seasons tickets for next year are already being sold and you can't find anything with #44 on it...

With all that said - I hope Calgary looses tonight so we move back into 7th, but really who cares, bring on the RedWings, bring on the Avs - the Canucks are ready for anything and anyone.

My predictions for a Stanley Cup winner, can't really tell yet, obviously I want the Nucks to win it (which was a laughable thought before Christmas), but I am positive it will be someone from the Western Conference, and I hope the cup comes back home to Canada.

The playoff final I would love to see: Canucks vs. Maple Leafs: civil war on ice... :)

Oh yeah, just for the record - I have never fallen off the Canucks bandwagon - I've fallen out a few times and have been hanging on the edge (especially from 96-01), but I boarded that thing 11 years ago, and I don't plan on getting off anytime soon.


Towel Power!!

If it was the Canucks and Leafs we all know who would win.... :)

Go Leafs Go

Although born and raised in Calgary.... gotta go with the Blue and White....(hey I'm moving back in 67 days!)

Go Leafs Go!!!

(and you know we're gonna here from Lil_G about those Sens)

Okay, so I'm routing for the Red Wings, of course! I'm just hoping they don't screw it up in one of the early rounds.

GO DEVILS!!!!!!!!



I am such a HUGE New Jersey Devils fan - in a state that has never heard of hockey - i'm screwed when it comes to watching games - if i'm lucky i'll get to see a pens game (YUCK!) or what ever the deuce is playing late at night!

I'm all for the devils though dude - man - we were SO close last year!

We need a third ring!!!!

Finally, another devils fan!! I live in NM..so the only games i ever get to see are the very rare one on espn(like last night, woke up at 3am to watch the last 5 mins of the period, and to see neidermyer win it in overtime)..and during playoffs :(

Looks like the Canucks are playing Detroit in the first round - that should be some damn good hockey. I can't wait.

Re: Stanley Cup Playoffs
 

I'm a bandwagon jumper-onner and I freely admit it!
:D:D:D

If anyone is interested here are the match ups for the 1st round...
 

Western Conference:

Canucks vs. Red Wings
Avs vs. Kings
Sharks vs. Coyotes
Blues vs. Blackhawks


Eastern Conference:

Leafs vs. Islanders
Devils vs. Hurricanes
Bruins vs. Habs
Sens vs. Flyers

I have very little interest in hockey (Sorry Siobhan!) unless it looks like New York might win the Stanley Cup. I have paid no attention to this so far this year. Since it seems like the Rangers are out, I will keep my fingers crossed for the Islanders. New York really needs a win. We were spoiled by all of those World Series victories!
I remember a few years ago when the Rangers won, the Stanley Cup wound up in bars all over the city with people drinking beer out of it.:eek: :cool: I want that to happen again! :p :D

Re: If anyone is interested here are the match ups for the 1st round...
 

Actually ottawa plays the flyers.

Re: If anyone is interested here are the match ups for the 1st round...
 

Thank Siobhan! I take it the Canucks won yesterday then? They were predicting someone else was gonna play us, but I can't remember who...

GO LEAFS GO!!!
 

Well we all know where my loyalties lie. But common, we're gonna win the cup forsure. After all, we do have Pat Quinn. Imagine what a great cap it would be to a year where Quinn lead the Canadians to a gold medal in the olympics.

We've been playing the latter part of the season without 6 of our star players, and yet we still played well. Once we get all our players back, we'll be unstoppable!

GO LEAFS GO!

Re: Re: If anyone is interested here are the match ups for the 1st round...
 

You know what I didn't even notice that and I knew the Sens were in, I got this of the TSN Sporting news website

Re: Re: If anyone is interested here are the match ups for the 1st round...
 

We beat the Flames saturday night which pushed us up to 5th, but yesterday, Chicago, St. Louis, LA and Phoenix all won which pushed us back to 8th. Some of us were hoping to stay in 7th and play the Avs, but it will be very exciting to watch the number 1 team take on the number 2 team, plus detroit and vancouver have never played each other in the playoffs before.

That was in 94 and your Rangers beat my Canucks :( :p

Re: Re: Re: If anyone is interested here are the match ups for the 1st round...
 

Thanks for the update...I need to go read up on www.faceoff.com/nhl

Sorry my sister! Good luck this year! If not the Islanders, then the Canucks! :p ;)

....you knew this was coming...
 

first and foremost, shame on siobhan for giving the false playoff matchups...blah...
speaking of blah, how the hell can you guys cheer for detroit?

I hope they get knocked off by the canucks who tied the devils for most points in the final 20 games with 29 (of playoff teams, obviously). I don't see it happening, but i took them in the work pool anyways. If cloutier doesn't stand on his head, it won't even be close.

other matchups...
Avs vs Kings
i'm not really big on the avs (or their 'honeymooner' fans), but i can't see the kings pull off anything here - col in 6.

Sharks vs. Coyotes
San Jose in 6, unlike the folks in denver these fans are loyal to their team which is on the 'cusp of joining the elite. Coyotes haven't won a playoff series since 1987, sorry you'll have to wait another year again.

Blues vs. Blackhawks
Blues in six, i'll go with my die-hard blues fan chum on this one.

Eastern Conference: wha, if this ain't wide-open then miami1839 ain't a stalker.

Leafs vs. Islanders
T.O. in 6, although i love toronto almost as much as detroit i don't see the isle winning this series. Too many holes in their roster.

Devils vs. Hurricanes
One of the top 3 teams in the east turned on the after burners and is playing by far the worst team in stanley's crib in carolina.
Jersey in 5.

Bruins vs. Habs
Nice original 6 matchup, can anyone geuss who Cherry will be rooting for? Like the West, i'm staying consistent and picking the other #8 team to upset the bs in 7 due to an emotional lift with the comeback of audette and saku.

Sens vs. Flyers
I left the best for last, this matchup probably has the most implications because both teams have a lot riding on this and cannot go out in the first round. Ottawa fans will not tolerate another first round exit, if they go martin will be gone. Philly shelled out some big bucks in the off season (payroll of $56 mil.) and gave up a lot for Oates, so there's a sense of urgency among coaching and management to go deep. Either way i'll be watching each game closely, Sens in 6.

This isn't specifically on the playoffs, but...

Gotta say the comeback of Saku Koivu may be the best story in sports this year, and it's not getting a whole hell of a lot of coverage, at least not here in the states. ESPN.com had a good article on it, but for the situation involved, not much has been said. The fact that Koivu is back playing professional hockey, and able to live a normal life is absolutely amazing. What a great story.

Collin

Re: ....you knew this was coming...
 

There's a little thing called the President's Cup and maybe the fact that they won the Stanley Cup twice in the past ten years. I love my team and I'm loyal to them even when I'm screaming at the TV cuz they're playing a bad game.

..Slighty off, but ...
 

A big time hats off to the Ottawa Senators organization ...

What other sport would allow Roger Neilson, Ottawa's asst coach, to be named the 'head coach' for the last 2 games of the year so he could coach his 999th and 1,000th NHL game?

Truly a classy move by a classy organization

(He's the other 'feel good' story of the year along with Saku)

:cool:


- you got that Habs/Bruins thing called, G - you know Don Cherry - he just loves his Gilmour!

Re: ....you knew this was coming...
 

Hey blame it on the TSN website, they wrote Pens not Sens :P, besides I changed my original post - obviously I want my nation's capital running for the cup...

As far as Detroit goes we'll see what happens, Ireally don't know who will win that one, obviously I'm rooting for the Canucks, like Lil G said if Cloutier can stand on his head and the West Coast Express is too much for Chelios et al, we can take it,but we just have to wait and see.

Canucks have to get to the 3rd round though, for my sake, tix to the 1st 2 rounds sold out in 15mins and 1 hour.... otherwise it no live playoff games this year :(

Re: If anyone is interested here are the match ups for the 1st round...
 

Prediction for Finals:

Western Conference - Detroit or Colorado (SJ has outside chance)
Eastern (NJ, Philly, or maybe the Leafs)

Of course, I'm a HUGE Avs fan - not a honeymooner fan either - I'm not 100% convinced they have what it takes this year offensively - defensively, they statistically have the best group on the ice - but you also have to score to win...that'll be their biggest hurdle...we'll see what happens with Peter the Great and Hedjuk - if they can both be playing at 90% by the 2nd round, they'll have the inside track, along with the Wings (they're biggest hurdle is getting everyone healthy and hungry - they had what, a 10 game winless streak to end the season?):eek:

Re: Re: If anyone is interested here are the match ups for the 1st round...
 

sorry champ, gotta disagree with ya...not the same chemistry this year. This is what comes from renting players every year.

p.s. i don't see that quote anywhere, did you make it up to contradict her?

Honeymooner? I think that refers to the fact that the Avs are/were "new" to Denver...but most hockey fans outside Colorado don't understand that hockey is big here - we know the game...DU, CC, at one time the (original) Rockies and Grizzlies all were around, and played great (well, OK, not the Rockies) hockey.

I don't see "chemistry" as the problems with the Avs - it's more a style problem....I get so frustrated when they don't pull the trigger on an open net - they're so busy looking for the pretty setup pass, they forget that the aim in hockey is to SCORE, so it needs to be fixed - they did a good job of correcting that last year after the 2nd round.

Avs, Wings, maybe the Sharks - that will be the Western Champ. I personally think the Wings have the best chances based on talent, but their drive hasn't shown recently...I personally wouldn't mind seeing the 'nucks knock them out in the first round (Crawford finally getting some redemption there) - but it's not very likely with Bowman at the helm....

Oh I am so pissed off right now!!! Wings lost in overtime tonight. There were such terrible calls tonight (***to both teams***) and, to anyone who saw the game, that 5 on 3 should have never, ever happened...just goes to show the refs can help you win or lose.

But, Carolina played well against NJ.

The 'hooneymooner' term is what we use to refer to fans in cities that only show up when the team wins but disappear as soon as they lose...florida, t.b., phoenix, there's a few others in there as well, none of which will be around in 10 years.

Actually, jersey outshot carolina 2-1, the final score is not always causal to the game that was played.

my God what a huge win for the Canucks - we haven't won in Detroit in 5 years and to win the first game of the series, man that is so big... yeah for Henrik!! and of course Linden!!

It sucks that the Sens lost - I watching some of that OT before CBC switched it back to the West for our OT

whatever.
 

we lost. $hit ball$

i'm not a happy camper when my devils lose.

whatever.

just adds to the week i suppose!


j/k btw -- my devils are the best - and i love them win or lose - i'm gonna marry petr sykora (and dave matthews!)

he he - i'm in rare form tonight

That is very true! I didn't see the whole game, however, I was just flipping during the Red Wing commercial breaks.

Re: Re: ....you knew this was coming...
 

Presidents cup, BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA yeah that is quite an honor. Does anyone who is reading this thread have a presidents cup t-shirt? Go small payroll teams. Hey wings.... the ny yankees plan is good except, you have to win the whole thing, not just the reg season title.

Re: Re: Re: ....you knew this was coming...
 

no kidding...
hey ottawa won 4 cups in the 1910s, that means they're really due to win...
where did the presidents cup come from, and what does it look like? I've never seen it, does it even exist...probably made from chocolate with tin foil wrapped around it. Maybe they shouldn't have eaten the cup before the last game.

Yeah I would compare the wings to the Atlanta Braves in baseball but atlanta has been to 5 world series in the past decade, the wingshave only been to 2 stanley cup finals

Wings joke of the day:

How many red wings does it take to change a light bulb?

Answer: None, they will rent anyone they can to do it yet no one will get the job done.

Exgreek - Wings went to the finals three times last decade....one was a swept loss to NJ(95), then they won the cup back to back, I believe in 97-98....

Exactly, and they have had the best team from about 1994 to now. They have an Atlanta Braves like streak going. With all due respect to the Nordiques and now the avalanche(they will always be the nordiques to me), the wings have had the best regular season team each year in that timeframe except for maybe one year.

So then what is your point exactly?

How about those Leafs and Habs ...! :cool: (gotta love the Leafs wearing their vintage 1967 jerseys ... the last time the won the Cup ....maybe it will bring good luck?)

2 cups, in 9 years of being the best, thats why they suck