2007/2008 Hockey Thread

[Cactus Drags]

They better. The regular season record suggests otherwise though.

[The Sultan of Swank]

Mmm, I'm loving the taste of the East...

Montreal and Boston, Well, Montreal won the season series 8-0 and are on an 11-0 run, oh also, they've met 30 times in the playoffs, Montreal's won 23 of those series, the last one they lost was like in 71?

Pittsburgh and Ottawa... I don't particularly want to face either team. In any case it gets rid of a team that Montreal would probably go 6 or 7 games against.

Washington and Philly... If Philly wins it's awesome, if Washington wins, it's one step closer to a Huet/Price playoff battle.

Jersey and Rangers... Well, we're notoriously bad against both teams. Going 3-1 against the Devils aside they're tough to beat and besides the single largest comeback in the 99 year history of the Canadiens coming at the expense of the Rangers in February, they beat us pretty sore every other game this year. Either way it gets rid of a team we usually suck against.

Predictions?

Montreal def. Boston

Pittsburgh def. Ottawa

Washington def. Philly

New York def. New Jersey

Montreal def. New York

Washington def. Pittsburgh

Montreal def. Washington.

Ok... ok, The Rangers would likely take us in 5 games, but I gotta love the Habs.

EDIT Also, McCabe... yeah, classy you little prick. He shoves you, a nudge, something that happens constantly in the game, even out of the play *gasp* and you two handed slash him then spear him in the gut twice?! It's too bad the league isn't going to review it, not that there's any games they can suspend him for. At least Stewart, who by the way was playing in his first NHL game, at least he didn't back down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y2L_uECYYg

that's what I'm talking about... and when the CBC of all networks is talking trash about the actions of a Leaf, you know it was a shitty thing to do.

Great leadership from him and Tucker... I wonder why the Leafs couldn't find themselves this year.

Edited April 7, 2008 by The Sultan of Swank

[Plubby]

Habs Over Bruins in 5 – Tim Thomas will steal one, play like garbage in 2-3 others, and the Habs will outwork them in the remainder.

Penguins over Senators in 7 – I wanted to say six, but the Penguins injury questions are too important for me to ignore.

Capitals over Flyers in 7 – the Caps are hot. If anyone can shut down AO, it’s the BSB’s, but they won’t.

Rangers over Devils in 6 – Rangers are better up front for my money, and give me Henrik over Starty Marty any day.

----------------------------------

Wings over Predators in 6 – Wings are sliding, but will have too much firepower

Sharks over Flames in 5 – Outmatched in every facet of the lineup. If the Flames can defend their building both times, it will become interesting, but I can’t see them winning in the tank..

Avs over Wild in 6 – And St. Patrick is avenged by another Ex-Habs goaltender. Homer’d a bit.

Ducks over Stars in 6 – Turco is still a playoff liability.

[Clawson]

Bwahahahahaha Basha, that wasn't a spear. Don't over exaggerate stuff. The two hands slash was excessive and unneccessary, but the two things afterwards were little hooks to his legs. And if you watch the clip you see McCabe's knees buckle after Stewart pushed him in the numbers towards the boards. The slash just overshadowed it, so Stewart isn't Mr. Innoncent here.

Anyway...

Canadiens def. Bruins

Penguins def. Senators

Flyers def. Capitals

Devils def. Rangers

Canadiens def. Flyers

Devils def. Penguins

Devils def. Canadiens

-------------------------------------------

Red Wings def. Predators

Sharks def. Flames

Avalanche def. Wild

Ducks def. Stars

Red Wings def. Avalanche

Sharks def. Ducks

Sharks def. Red Wings

--------------------------------------------

Sharks def. Devils

Man, I just realized I hate everybody in the East besides Washington and I don't see them going past the first round.

Edited April 7, 2008 by Clawson

[Enter Blue Guy]

Montreal over Boston in 4

Pittsburgh over Ottawa in 5

Washington over Philly in 6

Jersey over New York in 6

Detroit over Nashville in 5

Calgary over San Jose in 7

Wild over Avalanche in 6

Anaheim over Dallas in 7

[Enter Blue Guy]

EDIT: Also, If you want to do an EWB hockey pool, I set one up here at www.onlinepools.com

pool name = EWB

password = playoffs

It's a free one, so it's just basic. It's set up so you can pick as many players from either conference, but for the sake of a pool it should split down the middle for both East and West.

I have it set as 20 skaters and 4 goalies all together, but to split into East/West and positions it should be 6 forwards, 4 defense, and 2 goalies per conference.

2 points for a goal

1 point for an assist

2 points for a win

3 points for a shutout

edit: shit, I meant to edit that to my last post, my bad.

Edited April 7, 2008 by Enter Blue Guy

[Toe]

I'll just look at the first round and then choose the next round when we get to it.

Montreal vs. Boston

Montreal has to take this one. Boston has no depth, is missing some people, and Tim Thomas/Alex Auld are not #1 goaltenders in my books. Montreal doesn't have the best top line but have a well balanced line-up and bring depth to the table along with a great powerplay and solid (although inexperienced) netminding. I am taking Montreal in 6 simply because Boston will steal one based on their style of play and grab a game due to the inexperienced goaltending of Montreal.

Pittsburgh vs. Ottawa

Ottawa is no slouch despite the #7 position. Losing Alfie hurts them a ton though, and in the past they have suffered with him out of the line-up. I am picking Pittsburgh to win this series in 5.

Washington vs. Philadelphia

The closest series in the Eastern Conference if you ask me. Washington is a high powered offence with solid defence, although a weak defence. Philadelphia is a big team with some good scorers too. Biron is a good goaltender and their defence is decent. The big difference will be Ovechkin - will he come out guns blazing for his first taste of playoff hockey? I think he will - and I give the series to Washington in 7.

New Jersey vs. New York

I don't know a lot about either team except for Lunqvist and Brodeur being pretty good goaltenders. New York underperformed in the season while Jersey did better then expected. I don't really care. Jersey in 6? Whatever.

I'll do some Western predictions later.

[Gabriel]

The McCabe thing was in bad taste. He's supposed to be a veteran and a leader. Sure, his knees buckled... but that was his knees buckling. It wasn't Stewart taking advantage of an out of position player to make a vicious hit. Either way, McCabe was very unclassy about it, and I was extremely proud of Stewart for standing up to a veteran like that and making him eat a couple of good left hands.

Playoff predictions:

Detroit d. Nashville in 6

Calgary d. San Jose in 7

Colorado d. Minnesota in 6

Anaheim d. Dallas in 5

Montreal d. Boston in 5

Pittsburgh d. Ottawa in 5

Washington d. Philadelphia in 7

New Jersey d. New York in 6

Montreal MIGHT sweep Boston, but I don't see anyone else being able to do it.

Should be fun to watch.

[Cactus Drags]

Yeah, no spearing in that clip. Not cool, but no spear.

My predictions, bearing in mind I'm not the soundest mind hockey-wise:

East:

Montreal over Boston in 5

Pittsburgh over Ottawa in 6

Washington over Philadelphia in 7

New York over New Jersey in 6

West:

Detroit over Nashville in 4

San Jose over Calgary in 6

Colorado over Minnesota in 6 (honest >_>)

Anaheim over Dallas in 7

[The Sultan of Swank]

Haha, I love Price. A reporter asked if he was excited about helping the Habs clinch their first conference title in 19 years(Price went 10-3 since the Huet trade). Price looked at the reporter and went; Well they don't hang Conference titles from the rafters in this building.

[Enter Blue Guy]

When the Leafs are out of the playoffs, I automatically cheer for Detroit. It's a complete playoff thing, but it has given me shit to cheer for when there shouldn't be.

So I will be wearing my size too small Wings' jersey with the sleeves cut off for extra tacky, playoff feel, as long as they are in.

Edited April 7, 2008 by Enter Blue Guy

[Clawson]

I'm going for the Sharks and Capitals.

[Enter Blue Guy]

I've been pulling for the Capitals too. Probably the only team in the East I can stomach cheering for.

I'm picking Minnesota and Montreal in the finals, though.

Edited April 7, 2008 by Enter Blue Guy

[The Sultan of Swank]

Habs and Sharks

[Cactus Drags]

WTF? Fuck the Red Wings.

The only hockey jerseys I own are Montreal and NYR (both white home jerseys, pre-lockout), so I cheer those guys on in the East. And I generally like to see the original 6, barring of course the aforementioned bag of dicks.

[Enter Blue Guy]

All my friends hate the Wings. All that does is give me more reason to continue to cheer for them every post season.

[Cactus Drags]

Why, do you hate your friends?

[Enter Blue Guy]

Only when Detroit is playing, I guess.

[Slogger]

EDIT: Also, If you want to do an EWB hockey pool, I set one up here at www.onlinepools.com

pool name = EWB

password = playoffs

It's a free one, so it's just basic. It's set up so you can pick as many players from either conference, but for the sake of a pool it should split down the middle for both East and West.

I have it set as 20 skaters and 4 goalies all together, but to split into East/West and positions it should be 6 forwards, 4 defense, and 2 goalies per conference.

2 points for a goal

1 point for an assist

2 points for a win

3 points for a shutout

edit: shit, I meant to edit that to my last post, my bad.

How do we join it, I cant find anywhere to type that in.

[Cactus Drags]

Meh, I can't be arsed picking individual players >_>