Observations of the last season

Even though the Stanley Cup Finals are not over yet, I thought I would give some views of what I have noticed this last year in the NHL. I have three different topics, players and teams that impressed me, things that are not of major intrest to me but still note worthy, and things that pissed me off.

Players and Teams that impressed me:

Ian Laperierre - I can honestly say that I am not a big fan of his, however taking that puck to the face and the way he played in Philadelphia has changed my views on him, hell he wasn't even out for a month before returning to the line up.

The Sedin Twins - They dominated this year and Henrik should go home with the Hart as well as the Art Ross (which he has already won since he had the most points in the regular season).

The Los Angeles Kings - A team that has been cellar dwellers for a few years has finally got back into the playoff picture, but I am not sure they have the depth to become a major force in the West.

The Phoenix Coyotes - If you had these guys in the playoffs at the beginning of the season, what am I saying if you say you did you are lying. These guys came out of nowhere to get home ice in the first round, too bad it was Detroit they had to face.

Jaroslav Halak - Halak put an end to what was the continual goaltending controversy in Montreal. The Habs should get a good deal for trading Carey Price.


Items of note worthiness but not of major interest to me:

The Washington Capitals - The President's Trophy winners completely melted down in the first round, which has gone to show that they may suffer like the San Jose Sharks in the playoffs, great team in regular season, but can't up their game in the playoffs.

Toronto Maple Leafs - Who knew the Leafs were going to get two star players in such a short time span, unfortunately (or fortunately), they traded them to the Boston Bruins.

Gary Bettman - The IIHF went after hockey players not playing in the world championships, and Bettman sounded off and called out the IIHF, it is one of the few times I have actually sided with him in something.


Things that pissed me off:

Pierre Maguire - I have bashed this guy so often I have decided to lay off on the insults to him until I can find words that accurately describe how piss poor this man (if you want to call him that) is at colour commentary. I highly doubt that it will work as Maguire often shows how little he knows about doing a good broadcast every time he speaks.

Ron MacLean - Usually it takes alot to get me to side with Gary Bettman on anything what so ever when it comes to hockey, he did it in the span of 3 minutes in an intermission interview. MacLean is an absolute tool, has absolutely no comedic timing when it comes to his feeble attempts at jokes (If you can even call them jokes), and is one of the leaders of making the Vancouver Canucks being the bastard sons of Hockey Night in Canada whenever the Canucks are mentioned.

NHL on NBC - Well to save time we will make a list of everything they are doing right when it comes to broadcasting the NHL. Mike Milbury, I guess that concludes the list.

The officiating - This sounds like the same broken record player that when it comes to Pierre Maguire. However there are some differences in the two, the officials are obviously bias towards certain teams. Officials can intentionally cost teams games or carry out personal vendettas without fear of punishment (Auger vs the Canucks). And the also have started calling one of the stupidest penalties when it comes to those weak sticks.

Hockey Night in Canada - with the acception of the following, the rest involved in on screen items should be let go.

The ones who stay:
Jim Hughson
Craig Simpson
PJ Stock
Scott Oake
Don Cherry

Well, this concludes the major items of the year and until next time keep your stick on the ice.

The Ultimate Canucks Team

I was on canucks.com and they had a comment board on the ultimate Canucks team. Well I thought I would give my opinion and put my team together

Forwards

D. Sedin H. Sedin Bure
Bertuzzi Morrison Naslund
Smyl Kesler Linden
Burrows Peca Odjick
Cooke

Defense

Mitchell Lumme
Ohlund Jovanovski
Lidster Edler
Aucoin

Goalies
Luongo
McLean
Brodeur

PP Lines
D. Sedin H. Sedin Burrows
Lumme Bure

Bertuzzi Morrison Naslund
Jovanovski Edler

PK Lines
Burrows Kesler
Mitchell Ohlund

Smyl Peca
Lidster Edler

These would be tentative lines I have set up but they are definitely the players I would choose. As you can easily see, the first two lines have the soul intent of scoring on there mind, and I always have wanted to see what would happen if Pavel was on the same line as the Sedin's because Pavel could get open and could make the amount of goals being put in now look like child's play. The second line better known as the West Coast Express dominated from 2001-2004, Naslund finishing second twice in scoring in that time span. The bottom two forward lines are for checking yet have some offensive flair. Linden had a couple of 80 point seasons in the early-mid 90's and Kesler last year had 75 points. Smyl finishes up a line that would be able to shut down most top lines in the league. The fourth line consists of a Canuck favorite and two more shutdown guys. Odjick would also keep opposing teams honest, even though we know Pavel can take care of himself, it is just an insurance policy. Matt Cooke gets the 13th forward due to the fact that he could play on a scoring line and he can check.

The defense is basically taken from the 1990's onward to today. Mitchell and Ohlund are two of the best shutdown defensemen the Canucks have ever had. Lidster is just a tough old SOB. Lumme was a great offensive defenseman back for the Canucks during their run in '94. Edler is probably going to go down as the best Canucks defenseman of all time that we have had so far. And then there is Jovanovski, one of the best two way defensemen in the game when he was healthy. Aucoin gets the 7 spot due to the fact that he would be great on a PP with his wicked hard shot and he has always been a solid defenseman.

The goalies were pretty easy to decide. Luongo who is the best goalie the Canucks have ever had, and the two goalies that backstopped the Canucks Stanley Cup Finals runs. Luongo gets the nod as the starter because, as far as I am concerned, he is the best goalie in the world today.

What I have come to realize about "The Experts" of the NHL

I try and get as much hockey news as possible and get as much analysis as possible to see if my thoughts are the same as those as the so called hockey experts on TSN, NBC, CBC, the list goes on but I don't want to seem like I need an intervention when it comes to following hockey.

I watch the games and come up with my own conclusions on what happened in them and then see what the so called "Experts" say about the games. Here's what I find about most of there conclusions, they are so off the wall how do they not get fired. We are talking crap to the tenth degree. You want evidence of this, after Game 4 of last years Stanley Cup Finals, they said that Henrik Zetterberg looked tired and they said that the Penguins would take the next two games and win the Cup. Game 5 rolls around and Zetterberg and the Red Wings stomped the Penguins.

We need to have some standards here people and the following should not make you an analyzer automatically for a TV station:

1. Being a former coach of head coach of a team, or a former player.
The reason for this is that if they were any good at coaching they would still be employed by an NHL franchise. Look at Pierre Maguire, the only reason he has a Stanley Cup ring is because he was assistant coach of a team with a guy called Mario on it. Also Pierre Maguire can't get a job as a general manager in the NHL because everybody has seen how bad he has sucked as a colour commentator and no body wants the level of suck on their team.

2. They have to have more than a passion and a knowledge of the game.
If this is the only qualifications for being an expert of hockey now, I am as qualified as most of them, I find that most of them don't have an ounce of charisma or how to get their point across. Look at the Olympics with Kypreos, Darren Pang and Bob McKenzie, Kyper continued to make them look like idiots every intermission.

There are more but these are the two that stand out, I'm not trying to make a handout guide of how to be a hockey commentator here, and until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

How I became a Canucks fan

Well, with topics drying up as the NHL season winds to a close, I thought it would be somewhat interesting as to how I chose my team in hockey.

When I was younger around 3 or 4, the teams I usually followed were those of names I had heard of so I cheered for them. That meant the players I knew of at that time were Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier, and Steve Yzerman. So pretty much when from the 86-87 season to the end of the decade those were my teams that those guys played for.

I was a huge sports fan as a kid (I could and still can tell you the starting lineup of the 1992 and 1993 Toronto Blue Jays) and my ears perked up when I started hearing stuff about the Vancouver Canucks and this Russian player they wanted to bring over Pavel Bure. The only time I had seen Pavel Bure play was against Canada at the '91 World Juniors in Saskatoon on TSN (The only reason I can remember this is because of the line Bure was on and how much it was feared. Bure, Federov, Mogilny).

However I was interested to see him play in the NHL and the way the Russian Rocket played blew my mind. This guy was lightning quick and did stuff at high speed that some players couldn't do walking through it. However, in my later player fixation, I became aware of another player and just adopted that team as the one I would cheer for, #16 Trevor Linden. Linden didn't have the flash of Bure but always busted his ass out on the ice.

Do you guys have any stories like this, give me a comment on how your team became your team.

Hockey Beef Wednesday

For my second installment of things that are pissing me off in the NHL, we will be taking a look at a job where poor vision is key to making your decisions. That's right, I am talking about officiating.

Where certain media members who have no spine to stand up to Gary Bettman say the officiating is good, I do have the spine to say that the officiating is, well, I haven't described a word bad enough to describe it.

If you have been watching the playoffs, you would right now know, that if you were to bet against the Chicago Blackhawks, you'd lose due to the officiating. You don't believe me, take a look at the stuff Chicago gets away with. Whether it be that waste of human matter Dustin Byfuglien intentionally falling on goalies, Ben Eager acting like the Ultimate Warrior and charging everybody and not delivering one hit I would deem to be in a non-penalizing way, the list goes on but you get the picture. Also, no I am not saying this about the Chicago Blackhawks because they beat Vancouver, I am saying this based on all the teams they have played and how they are getting away with anything that needs to be eradicated from the NHL.

I also know the officiating has been bad because in the series that involve teams I don't really care for, I have been going ballistic due to poor officiating. If you wonder what teams I don't care for think of teams that use to try and buy the cup every year, play in a severely defensive system, are based in the sunbelt, or the total teams douche baggery nullifies the teams overall skill (So good bye Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, NY Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, Phoenix Coyotes, San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, Detroit Red Wings, New Jersey Devils, Colorado Avalanche, Toronto Maple Leafs, Minnesota Wild, Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, Atlanta Thrashers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Columbus Blue Jackets, and the NY Islanders just because they will trade away Tavares sooner or later and lets face it, he is the only reason I even consider watching them).

Sidebar: The Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes were automatically disqualified for being named after weather systems.

As you can see there were a number of teams I could care less about a majority of the teams in the NHL.

Here is a complete list on why they don't get followed by me:
Sunbelt Teams: Dallas, Florida, Tampa, Phoenix, Nashville, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Atlanta
Trying to buy the Stanley Cup: Colorado, Detroit, NY Rangers, Toronto
Defensive Minded: Columbus, New Jersey, Minnesota, Calgary
Douche baggery: Chicago, Pittsburgh

Here's what I think needs to happen with the officiating
1. What's called a penalty in the regular season is called a penalty in the playoffs.
2. Any player who falls on a goalie in a post whistle scrum without being tackled onto the goalie, should get the goalies blocker multiple times in the head and can get the tar beaten out of him by the teams enforcer.
3. Have them call a proper game, not who Gary Bettman wants to win.
4. Make sure the referee is not in the god position he currently is on the ice, it will make him think twice about close calls.

So add some comments if you like and don't forget to keep your stick on the ice.

Why do they do this to me

I was only able to watch about 5 minutes of the Habs vs Flyers yesterday, and if you are asking if I had something to do, the answer is no. The show altogether was horrible.

Let's see where to start.

1. Pregame show, once again the only highlight of this was Don Cherry. Everybody else looks and acts like complete tools and have the charisma of a kumquat.

2. The announcers. They give Bob "The Dinosaur" Cole the announcing on this series over the far superior announcing abilities of Jim Hughson also the don't have any credit in the colour commentary, get Craig Simpson or John Garrett up there to do the job properly.

3. Eliot Friedman. If you have read his twitter in the past, I don't know how many IQ points you have lost but I urge for the sake of your intelligence please stop. This guy makes a three year old who has only been on skates twice look like a hockey god.

This concludes my list, the only good part of HNIC in this series is going to be Don Cherry, and don't forget to keep your stick on the ice.

4.

Forgetting to mention

I would have added this to my other blog but I forgot about it. Willie Mitchell, defenceman for the Vancouver Canucks, was taken out be a season ending injury on a check from behind by Evgeny Malkin. It was a dangerous hit that warranted suspension. Willie Mitchell came out after the season was over for the Canucks and said the Campbell should be replaced as league disciplinarian because he has too many friends as general managers.

But we all know what the real reason is that Malkin did not get suspended. Malkin is supposedly one of the superstars that Gary Bettman is trying to build around, the fact that he plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins also factors into this because if Malkin were out of the line up, teams could easily shut down Crosby because they wouldn't have to worry about a second scoring threat (Even though Halak just shut them all down on his own).

The hit should have warranted about a 10 game suspension, and if Mitchell is able to play again, I hope he hits Malkin so hard, Malkin goes and plays in Siberia.

I honestly agree with what Willie Mitchell says about suspensions and dirty plays like the hit he received from Malkin. An outside third party should be the one's implementing the calls and not somebody who is friends with general managers around the league.

2nd Round Wrap up

Sorry I haven't been able to blog for the last little bit here but I have a new nephew, Sebastian is his name and no he is not a crab. Game 7 of the Bruins and Flyers is tonight and to quote the the NHL in a way, history may be made if the Flyers win after being down 3-0 in the series are one win away from taking the series. However I will give my thoughts on the second round.

Well, Joe Thornton actually showed up for some playoff games and the Sharks eliminated the Wings, well actually Thornton was replaced with a Russian ice hockey playing bear.

Crosbitch and the Penguins have been eliminated by the Montreal Canadiens, well, just a sure sign of the apocalypse.

The Chicago Blackhawks, hold on a second the officiating eliminated the Vancouver Canucks from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, vision tests were supposed to be administered, however on getting a hold of the NHL office said that all the NHL officials would fail.

Boston scored too many goals in the first three games, didn't have enough to beat Philadelphia in any of the others.

Well, have fun there hockey fans, and remember keep your stick on the ice.

The Standards of what can be considered a viral hit by CBC and more problems with CBC

If you happened to catch CBC's preview to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, you saw what they called a viral hit of a guy talking about the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This guy was so boring I fell asleep within 0.00000000000000000001 seconds. This was such an insult to anybody who actually follows hockey's intelligence that the guy should be given the death penalty for sheer stupidity.

Now to my other problems with these guys on their hockey coverage.

Elliot Friedman, this guy has absolutely no knowledge of the game, he considers Mason Raymond a little Sedin. No offence to Mason Raymond, but he is far from being a Sedin. The guy also has no interview abilities and makes the biggest tool look unique and cool.

The I-desk, this thing is absolutely pointless, why do they even have it, the guys just say stuff that is usually covered on satellite hotstove.

Ron MacLean, the guy will dig for days to prove what a bad apple Alex Burrows is and won't show the 31 seconds of Auger talking to Burrows before the game, the guy is a complete sell out and is actually completely pointless to the on air broadcast. And MacLean makes Pierre Maguire somewhat reputable.

Bob Cole and Harry Neale. Does the CBC actually allow people to retire, or do they literally get told by Bettman that if someone stays on, they won't get a contract for broadcasting games. These two are so irrelevant now that I would rather listen to a tone deaf pop singer.

The early game every Saturday night. This really annoying if you have HDTV, because all you get is the Toronto Maple Leafs. We already know what is going to happen in the Leafs game, the Leafs are going to lose, not sure how, but they will.

Pierre LeBrun, the CBC's so called hockey insider. This guy is another tool who use to be on The Score the other being Elliot Friedman. Come to think of it, the only two I have ever liked from the score are Martine Gaillard and Cabbie.

The new HNIC song. It sucks period, not to mention all the voice overs they have on it of various Stanley Cup plays. I am guessing that they are trying to cover up how awful it actually is.

Here is who I would keep who actually appears on CBC:
Don Cherry
Jim Hughson
Craig Simpson
Dick Irvin
Scott Oake

Yes the list is this short, Mike Milbury does more stuff with the Bruins and NBC so I am not too worried about him.

Now to watch Game 5 of the Habs and Pens, and have all the voices I want gone from CBC.

What is the average IQ of an NHL official

I am personally guessing around -982. In all four second round series that I have watched of there games, the officiating has been so horrible, I have yet do come up with a word that fairly describes the officiating. Craptacular, no too nice. I could say it sucks and blows at the same time but that still seems to be too high of praise for the officiating.

Whether I am watching Luongo get hit by any member of the Blackhawks and the Hawks not getting penalized, Pittsburgh being able to commit murder on Montreal and the Habs more likely get called for a penalty for fighting back, members of the San Jose Sharks making contact with members of the Detroit Red Wings, the Sharks player falling down to the ice and a Red Wings player getting penalized, or just the plain poor officiating in the Boston vs Philadelphia series, the referees are doing a horrible job.

The other thing that has been really pissing me off in the playoffs right now, is how Bettman's favorites or picks seem to bitch like little girls every time there is a penalty called against them (I'm looking at the Hawks and Penguins here). These guys will complain all the way to the penalty box and bitch. If I was the official, hit them with an additional 2 minute unsportsman penalty and a game misconduct, if the players refuse to shut there traps after that, penalize them harder until your point is made.

The bottom line is this, the best officials are the ones you never hear of or you don't go scouring the score sheet for their name. With that being said, keep your stick on the ice, unless you are scoring a goal like Mike Camalleri.

Hockey Beef Wednesday

I have decided to make Wednesday right now my day to grip about something wrong with hockey and how it can improve. Although I highly doubt the NHL will look at my suggestions on this, I can prove that my side is very accurate and what should be done. First topic, the supreme douche bag of the universe, AKA Gary Bettman.

Bettman was originally involved in the NBA under commissioner David Stern (Who has also had his own problem with officials and does nothing about it). Stern's theory is to showcase the stars, give the stars special treatment, and so on and so forth. Bettman was offered an opportunity to become the lead man in the NHL and took the post February 1, 1993. 1993, is also the only year that Gary Bettman has been involved with the NHL where a Canadian team has won a Stanley Cup and he was only there for the last quarter of the season and playoffs. Constant calls against Canadian teams have had people wondering if there is a bias by Bettman against Canadian teams, some of these are:

1994 SCF Game 7, Canuck goal called back for Trevor Linden's toe being in the crease, no interference on play.
2004 SCF Game 4, I am Flames hater and I think they got fucked over in that game, even Sutter called the integrity of Bettman into question in the post game interview. Fans so furious, the NHL removed official Kerry Fraser who was suppose to officiate Game 6 in Calgary and him officiate Game 7 in Tampa Bay, yes, the officiating was that bad the fans would have lynched him.
There are more of these but, back to the case at hand.

When Bettman first started in the NHL there were 24 teams with 2 expansions teams on the way being the Florida Panthers and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Bettman continued to expand and relocate teams into southern markets, in places where the only ice people see is in there cups. Bettman has also relocated teams whose owners were in or close to bankruptcy, the three that have happened are Hartford Whalers to Raleigh, North Carolina now known as the Carolina Hurricanes, the Quebec Nordiques to Denver, Colorado now the Colorado Avalanche, and the Winnipeg Jets to Phoenix, Arizona now the Phoenix Coyotes. The only one of these markets to have done well is Colorado which actually has some knowledge of snow and ice.

Bettman has also refused to move teams back to Canada. Jim Balsille, a Canadian based entrepreneur, has tried to buy a team from a struggling southern market and tried to move them to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Balsille first tried to buy the Nashville Predators in 2007, the deal did not go through and Balsille has accused Bettman of telling the Predators to end negotiations with him. Similar things have happened when Balsille has tried to purchase the Tampa Bay Lightning and had a long dispute when trying to buy the Phoenix Coyotes.

Bettman has also been responsible for the two lockouts of the NHL including being the first pro sports organization to cancel an entire season.

Bettman has also shown an anti-Canadian side when it comes to television with the playoffs. Even though CBC pays huge money to broadcast the game, NBC (Who pays nothing up front to the NHL) is given the first choice of playoff times. The only times I have seen an NBC broadcast is between 10 am start and a 12 pm start here in Saskatchewan, and these games have only featured the following until the playoffs:
Washington Capitals
Pittsburgh Penguins
Chicago Blackhawks
Detroit Red Wings
Boston Bruins
New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers
If there were any more during the regular season, I didn't spot them, not to mention they have an awful team calling the games in Mike Emrick, who is good as a Devils regional announcer, Pierre Maguire, who is as qualified as me for being a commentator (He has a passion and a knowledge for the game, that is it), and sometimes Ed Olzyck who can provide some insight but other times sounds like a complete fool.

Bettman has also implemented some of the dumbest rules in hockey such as, no tag offside and the instigator penalty.

Bettman has also created a profit sharing plan for the 30 NHL teams, which means if your franchise makes a ton of profit, it gets split up to help the teams that don't make money to help them stay financially afloat. This is absolutely stupid. Why would you keep teams in a market where they have continued to fail to make money? This is what any logical businessman would do:
This market isn't making any money, why? Is it location? Is it not being marketed properly there? Are people to infatuated with other sports teams there to go to the teams game? Do people not care about hockey there?
If you were looking at this like a chain store, lets say Wal-Mart, if the store continued to not make profits would Wal-Mart keep it open, they would probably take the following steps before deciding:

1. Are the products we are supplying to them not right for them
2. Is the Wal-Mart hard to get to
3. Are people aware of the store here
4. Are people in this community that much against us (The City of Vancouver has continually barred attempts from letting a Wal-Mart into the city)
There are probably more questions they would ask but I'm not exactly sure what they would be.

This concludes my first hockey beef, and in the meantime, keep your stick on the ice.

The scope keeps on focusing on officiating

Watching Game 2 of Detroit vs San Jose last night, one thing became painfully apparent, you have to be on some awesome stuff before officiating the NHL. Both penalties to Bertuzzi in the game were weak. That doesn't even include Dany Heatley's interference with the goalie penalty. How about that slashing penalty Detroit got that didn't even hit the Sharks player. The list keeps growing and that was just one game. I am seriously getting pissed off at officials in games I don't give a damn about the teams, that is how bad it is.

Here are some changes that I would make to the NHL rulebook and some things overall:

1. The slashing penalty for breaking an opponents stick when there is no actual malice intent behind it. These twigs break so easily it has gotten to the point of ridiculous, I've had these sticks and gave them away because they always broke at the worst time on me, at least my $30 wood stick is consistant, and doesn't break.

2. Touch up icing. Somebody is going to get killed in one of these races for the puck. Either go to no touch icing or do what the USHL does, have them race to the faceoff dot, no whistle, prepare to get hit.

3. Allow the bearhug for a hit against the wall. Everybody has seen the injuries from hits from behind go up, why? Because they don't allow the bear hug which was a way of making sure the players full body go into the boards.

4. Start penalizing on action, not the player. I am sick and tired of seeing this double standard being applied. Hossa does the same thing to Hamhuis that Ovechkin did to Campbell yet he gets no suspension. Carcillo got the biggest bull shit suspension late in the season for getting his stick up on a player (I think was the suspension was for his lame attempt at a moustache).

Round 2 Predictions

I know I am little late with these but here are my round 2 Predictions for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I went 5-3 in the first round calling all the series in the West and only getting Pittsburgh right in the East.

Eastern Conference

(4)Pittsburgh Penguins vs (8)Montreal Canadiens
My Prediction: Pittsburgh in 7
I don't think people are giving the Habs enough credit. Halak will keep them in the series but to knock off Crosby and Ovechkin, I don't think that would be a miracle as much as it is a sign of the apocalypse.

(6)Boston Bruins vs (7)Philadelphia Flyers
My Prediction: Bruins in 7
I can really see this one going either way, I give Boston the edge due to home ice advantage and that I would rather bet on Rask than Boucher.

Western Conference

(1)San Jose Sharks vs (5)Detroit Red Wings
My Prediction: Wings in 6
Even though the Sharks have won game 1, you can pretty much put your weakest defensive pairing on the ice against Thornton and Heatley and they aren't going to do much damage.

(2)Chicago Blackhawks vs (3)Vancouver Canucks
My Prediction: Hawks in 7 (Forgive me father for I have sinned, please prove me wrong Vancouver)
Even though I am a Canucks fan I think that we are going to get the crappy officiating that was there last year. Expect few penalties on that waste of protoplasm Dustin Byfuglien (I watched this guy in juniors, he was a waste of space on the ice then too.). This series is more likely going to resemble a street fight than a hockey game.

Also, how the hell was Hossa not suspended for his hit on Dan Hamhuis. Players should be penalized on the action, not if they are repeat offender.

Thoughts on the first round

Even though Game 7 between Montreal and Washington is tonight, I am going to give my thoughts on what has happened in the first round.

I have only found one referee who has been calling good games, the rest should be neutered to make sure there lack of brains do not infect the next generation. Wait, what that, they already have kids, I'm surprised they figured out how to do that.

How the hell does the lowest seed remaining in the West (Detroit) gets the worst team remaining in the Western Conference (San Jose) that is still remaining, this is a cruel joke being played on Vancouver and Chicago.

Chicago defeated the Predators in six games, what, Nashville still has a team? Who's on it?

The first line of the Sharks is controlling the game, oh wait, wrong Joe, Pavelski has been carrying the Sharks, I haven't heard a peep from Thornton, Heatley, or Marleau.

Mike Murphy is busy coming up with bogus rules so the Canucks won't be credited with another goal for the rest of the playoffs, this will see him get a bonus check and possibly a promotion.

Brodeur greatest goalie of all time? Hell no. He got taken out by a goalie who had 10 years in between series victories. And what has he done since the lock out, oh yeah, look bad in goal for team Canada.

Jaro Halak has been standing on his head, who knew you could make as many save as he has in that position.

Someone should send a memo to the Capitals, you are allowed to win a series in under seven games, it doesn't have to go to seven.

Buffalo failed to realise that they can't win in the playoffs by playing for a shootout.

Crosby has yet to face a team that has a real defence, how else can you explain 13 points in 6 games.

NBC will not show any games from the Chicago vs Vancouver series, this strictly goes against their policy of showing anything Canadian unless it is on 30 Rock (Horrible show by the way). God help us if Montreal defeats Washington, NBC may cancel there NHL programming because they aren't able to show Alex Ovechkin or Sidney Crosbitch. Wait, that would be a good thing, they don't know how to do anything with the game of hockey, and less airtime for Pierre Maguire would only be a great thing.

Fellow blogger HTP has got a "Fire Darryl Sutter" counter going we are up to Day 55 waiting for it to happen according to HTP. Can't blame them either, how do you improve your team when you trade with worse teams in the league, your team will not become better only worse and there is no guarantee that the new players will have chemistry.

How much of a warrior is Shane Doan, he has a grade 3 separated shoulder (I'm in pain just thinking about it) and he wants to play. Respect level for Shane Doan goes up another notch.

Something also that I have yet to focus in on my blog is something put forward by the Liberal Party of Canada that wants to do a Royal Commission on Violence is Sports. Well if you want to see violence, send out the dumb ass that suggested it my way and I will show him violence for wanting to do this. This is as pointless as the U.S. Senate having a hearing on steroids in baseball. There is about 10 billion more important things for government to concerned themselves with before they should focus on violence in sports. Some things they should focus on before violence in sports: Unemployment, crime, health care, education, the list can go on forever.

Well, hopefully I can get my Round 2 predictions up before they start. In the meantime, keep your stick on the ice.

Why no one hates Rick Rypien (Unless you cheer for a team other than the Canucks)

I was so happy at the end of Game 5 when Rick Rypien destroyed some ass clown from the Los Angeles Kings. The guy was yapping at the Canucks bench, and doing the ultimate in douche baggery as far as I am concerned, dog piling a goalie (Anyone who does this should get up and receive any type of punishment from the opposing team for 2 minutes without getting penalized, I hate the guys that do it so much). In relation to this, for dealing with the douche bag from the Canucks, he has received a place of honour in the Top 5 Canucks enforcers of all time.

1. Gino Odjick
2. Tiger Williams
3. Rick Rypien
4. Donald Brashear
5. Dana Murzyn

I will be back shortly with another blog, currently watching the fight sequence from Enter the Dragon with Bruce Lee fighting Chuck Norris. I will leave with one of my favorite Canuck playoff clips, the mother of all elbows

My Thoughts on the Playoffs so far

Well, if you have been reading my blog you know what gets on my nerves more than anything, inconsistent officiating and poor calls from the Toronto office.

However I have decided to give my views on what I have seen in the playoffs so far.

1. "Hi, Ottawa and Vancouver, this is the NHL, we are going to screw over as best we can because we don't care about the teams in Canada.". This can't be made any more apparent then in the two disallowed goals that have happened to both teams. Even though I think Ron MacLean is a complete moron at points, during the 1st OT intermission between Ottawa and Pittsburgh (If you missed the game, Foligno had a puck go in off his skate in overtime, no kicking motion), Ron MacLean showed some of the goals of skates that were allowed. The two highlights that CBC showed were one of Daniel Alfredsson having one off his skate and into the net, very similar to the Nick Foligno OT winner that was said to be a good goal, and one of Kyle Wellwood that was similar to the Daniel Sedin no goal that was on there and considered a good goal on the DVD. Which only leads more fuel to the fire that Canadian teams are getting screwed over.

2. Officiating overall. The inconsistency in all the series is making me think that all NHL officials should be drug tested, or have their eye sight tested because there has been some calls that make me go hmmm. The best evidence of this come from the Pittsburgh-Ottawa series in which Mike Fisher, near the Penguins net, is shoving a little bit with Penguins d-man Brooks Orpik. Marc Andre Fleury cross checks Fisher from behind, Fisher not expecting to be nailed from behind has his visor go into Orpik's face cutting him open. Fleury gets two for cross checking and Fisher gets a double minor for high sticking. Here is the incident. The event happens at 9:13 of the video.



3. Big name goalie = no guarantee. Martin Brodeur is gone in 5 games (Woohoo), Ryan Miller is on the brink of elimination, Luongo has looked ordinary, Halak drew the short end of the stick vs Washington, Bryzgalov has been beaten a lot by Detroit. The only goalies who seem to be having a decent playoff so far are Nabakov (even with Boyle scoring on him in OT), Tuukka Rask (Who actually had solid numbers in the regular season), and Craig Anderson (The only reason the Av's are still in their series).

4. The amount of Dan Boyle jokes going around. Yes, I have seen the goal and I still find it hard to believe, the real funny thing on this was Steve Smith was in the building (Sorry Oilers fans, I had to go there). Here are some of my favorites:

1. The domination of this game made Boyle relapse to the Olympics and thought he was suppose to shoot on Nabakov.

2. Boyle was getting back at Nabakov for hiding his gold medal.

3. Always hating being left out as to one of the reasons the Sharks playoffs flops.

This could go on forever but I'll stop there.

5.The amount of parodies being done of the Stanley Cup Playoffs commercials from other playoff moments. Whether they be of this years playoffs (The Canucks no goal inspired "What if the NHL wasn't ran by a bunch of high school dropouts?") or the infamous Kerry Fraser blown call in 1993 "What if Kerry Fraser wasn't blind?". These are all done pretty well and just show the NHL how easy they are to mock, which is something no company should ever want to be.

Here is the Kerry Fraser one made by Bloge Salming and Down Goes Brown



Here is the Canucks no goal one:



Those are all the major ones I can think of now, I will be back soon to give my thoughts on the second round.

Goal or No Goal..... 04/01/10

To add further fuel to the fire, this was called a goal. What the fuck is the call then on Daniel Sedin for being no goal.

Wanting a job with the NHL?

I made this video and decided to post it tonight instead of doing it in the morning. Just get the frustration out now and see how far this goes.

Disallowed Goal Vs LA Kings 04.19.10

If you need any more cause to wonder why the Canucks may lose this series take a look at this. Even the official on the ice called it a good goal. So, supreme douche bag of the universe, if you want people to stop doubting whether you are wanting certain teams only to win the Stanley Cup, stop having calls like this you freaking moron.

The NHL referees, worst on earth, and more thoughts on Gary Bettman, the supreme douchebag of the universe

I was watching the Canucks vs Kings game 3 and have stopped watching due to disgust with officiating. Where the Canucks are getting called for getting to close to a player on the Los Angeles Kings, The Kings pretty much have to commit murder to be called for a penalty.

What makes it worse is that no announcer will say anything about officiating because they don't want to have happen to them what happen to Jim Robson. Robson questioned the calls of the officials and as a result, commissioner Gary Bettman made sure he would not announce again. If you saw the Trevor Linden retirement ceremony, Jim Robson was the emcee, what was an insult to every Canucks fan was the Gary Bettman was there, why?

I will tell you why Bettman was there. The commissioner, who shall now be known as the supreme douche bag of the universe was there to make sure that Robson did not make any comments that were in reference to the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals between the Canucks and Rangers. I didn't see the supreme douche bag of the universe at Steve Yzerman's or Joe Sakic's number retirement, nor did I see Bill Daly.

This has been a constant area of annoyance for me. When I watch hockey I want the official to call a consistent, fair game and what was a penalty in the first five minutes of a game to be called in the last five minutes. I don't want a referee who is going to be a homer or who has an ego. I really dislike Kerry Fraser as an official because anything that is weird or obscure he is known to call it. Also small piece of interest, try betting on a game in Las Vegas when the Oilers were playing and the official was Andy Van Hellemond, or a Canucks game where Kerry Fraser was the official, oh wait, you can't. Las Vegas won't take bets on these games due to games that have been officiated in the past involving these teams. Also, there is highly unlikely any games with the Vancouver Canucks with referee Stephane Auger going to be taken due to the incident with Alex Burrows.

The best referees are the ones you never hear of such as Mike Cvik (or along those lines can't remember his name) or Faucette.

What goes into making a good official as far as I am concerned:

1. Can check ego at the door.
This is important to me, I don't want the referee to be the centre of attention.

2. Is not a homer.
This is a severe problem in the NHL, I hate watching games where the home team can get away with stuff and the road team is so scared to make contact that they end up losing bad. It also makes the road team not want to play the game.

3. Treats all players the same.
I am sick and tired of watching guys like Crosbitch oops Crosby or Malkin being able to play by a certain set of rules and Dan Carcillo having to play by another, this should also go for Colin Campbell and the NHL higher ups.

Things that make me detest certain officials:

1. Are constantly overshadowing the play.

2. And the rest are the opposite of what are above

And if you really want to improve the NHL lets take the following steps.

1. Get rid of supreme douche bag of the universe, Bill Daly and Colin Campbell and put people in who actually have the sport of hockey's best interest.

2. Get rid of the instigator rule, it would help the star players stay healthy, besides I have never seen it called accurately for an entire season.

3. Have officials call a consistent game and actually be able to call the rules as they are suppose to be called.

4. Don't have the officials in such a god position. You criticize the officiating, you get fined for speaking your mind, that's censorship and goes against freedom of speech. The fines that are given out are under the line of detrimental to the game of hockey. The first time I saw that statement given out with a fine I nearly shot myself in the head it was so stupid.

Well, if the officiating continues the way it has the Canucks vs Kings, expect the Canucks to lose, no team can overcome that crappy of officiating.

Blackberry: Holder of the Canadian national anthem

If you happen to catch the singing of the nationl anthems at game 3 between the Kings and Canucks. you would notice the singer had a blackberry was in his hand which he was reading the Canadian national anthem off of.

I know that Canada is not the biggest thing going in America, most could care less about Canada but if you are hired to sing the national anthem at a sporting event and know they are going to have to sing O Canada at least 6 times and pending on playoffs even more.

Unknown Dan Boyle Trade

I just watched the Avs vs Sharks and one thing is going to stand out:


I was unaware that Dan Boyle was traded to the Avalanche. I am starting to think the Sharks are jinxed.

The Most hated team by the Canadian media

I have been watching hockey all season and one thing has become very apparent to me. The Vancouver Canucks are absolutely slimmed by all the media outlets that have a national coverage. Whether I am watching TSN or CBC, they always are discrediting the Vancouver Canucks one way or another. This has been apparent for a very long time, and was made painfully apparent right after the Alexandre Burrows-Stephane Auger incident.

This is also not just a new trend. During the first round of the 1994 Stanley Cup Playoffs between Calgary and Vancouver, the only team you would have been aware of was the Calgary Flames and how the announcers were drooling over them. The Canucks were an after thought and even after they got passed the Flames they were still being pissed on by CBC because the Toronto Maple Leafs were still in and was all Ron MacLean wanted to talk about.

I don't know where this came from or due to the fact that the best commentators for a team that does local feeds that has had multiple announcers and they are jealous but this should stop. They are a Canadian team and should be treated the same way Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, or Calgary is treated, not some bastard child.

Getting flak from my friends

Some of my friends have been giving me trouble about the picks I have made and saying I should have chosen more with my heart. Well if I was to have done that, most people would call me a moron. My friends know how much I hate the Chicago Blackhawks, or a player on the team and think he should be out of the NHL. However I had to use my head and predict who would win and not my heart, even as much as I hate Dustin Byfuglien. This also goes for Sidney Crosbitch, oops I mean Crosby or by and the most overrated goalie in my opinion, Martin Brodeur.

I have various dislikes for all the above mentioned players, whether they have no real need to be on the ice except to add to the stupidity of the game (Byufglien), or if they complain about celebrations of opposing teams (Crosby), or if they get praise that they do not deserve and it gets to the point of making me feel sick.

The bottom line is this, when I make my picks, I have to make them free of personal opinion, as much as I dislike certain players.

The 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs: 1st Round Predictions and My Award Picks and Predictions

Well, I'm not gonna wait until Tuesday like the rest of the world, I am going to give instant analysis as to what I think is going to happen in the first round

Western Conference

(1)San Jose Sharks vs (8)Colorado Avalanche
My Prediction: Sharks in 6

The Sharks have once again gained the number one seed in the West and are trying to get rid of the demons of Stanley Cup Playoffs past by getting past the second round. The Sharks should be able to get through a young Avalanche team who was a bit of a surprise on making it to the playoffs. The thing that I will be watching is if Joe Thornton will actually perform in the playoffs. Another question is Nabakov, has he recovered from the destruction of Canada vs Russia, if not, the Sharks may not go that far.

The Avalanche clinched in the last week of the season and were too far back to challenge for a higher seed, expect them to try there best to get this to seven games but the Av's are too inexperienced to really make an impact this year.

(2)Chicago Blackhawks vs (7)Nashville Predators
My Prediction: Hawks in 5

Chicago has been extremely good this season, the only question that anyone is going to have about this team is there goal tending. Antti Niemi looks like he has been giving the starter job, however, no playoff experience and will he be able to stand the increase in intensity.

Nashville had a 100 point season but nothing about them has really stood out. They had a good season but they don't have what it takes to get deep in the playoffs. They have to get a game breaker before they can make a move forward in the playoffs.

(3)Vancouver Canucks vs (6)Los Angeles Kings
My Prediction: Canucks in 6

For the first time in a while, the Canucks do not need to completely rely on Roberto Luongo to win them games. To be completely honest, Luongo has been so-so since winning gold at the Olympics, however the intensity will pick up and expect Luongo's play to as well. The Canucks also have the second highest scoring team in the NHL this season and Henrik Sedin has won the second piece of major hardware for the Canucks this season having won the Art Ross trophy for most points in a season. The Canucks are wanting to make a big playoff run and if Luongo is the biggest problem right now, I'm not sure about you but I would be pretty confident.

The Kings have made the postseason for the first time since the lockout and are looking to make some waves. However they face the same problem as the Colorado Avalanche, not enough experience. The Kings have a good team but they won't be able to compete, especially if Luongo goes on a hot streak.

(4)Phoenix Coyotes vs (5)Detroit Red Wings
My Prediction: Wings in 6

The Phoenix Coyotes have been the Cindarella story of the NHL this season. However, with their first round match up, the clock has struck midnight. The Coyotes are in the inexperience group that the Av's and Kings are in. The one factor the Coyotes do have is goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov. If the Coyotes win the series, look to Bryzgalov being a huge factor.

Detroit comes into the playoffs like a bat out of hell having been on fire since the Olympic break. There is only two questions that I have with the Wings.
1. How is Jimmy Howard going to do since he has no playoff experience?
2. Is the results of this season showing there age or were they really suffering badly from injuries?
If they answer these questions easily, they can go far, if not they wont make it past the second round.


Eastern Conference

(1)Washington Capitals vs (8) Montreal Canadiens
My Prediction: Caps in 4

This is really simple, Washington is too fast, too big, and too strong. And I almost forgot, the Capitals also have Alexander Ovechkin.

The only way the Habs win this series is Jaroslav Halak, if he can pull off this miracle, the ghost may have finally made there way from the Forum,

(2)New Jersey Devils vs (7)Philadelphia Flyers
My Prediction: Devils in 6

The Devils won the #2 seed in there last game over Buffalo, however they are not going to do too much beyond the first round. The Devils have yet to see the conference finals since the lock out and Brodeur is now in the dimming of his career. They may make the second round but not much beyond that.

The Flyers as always have a big, physical team. If they want to beat New Jersey they are going to have to disrupt Parise and Elias and get bodies in front of Brodeur.

(3)Buffalo Sabers vs (6)Boston Bruins
My Prediction: Sabers in 6

This series is the battle of the goaltenders and Buffalo Sabers goalie Ryan Miller is trying to get the bitter silver medal taste out of his mouth. Expect Miller to carry the Sabers deep in the playoffs.

Tuukka Rask is going to be the goalie for the Bruins in the playoffs, and if the Bruins want to win, Rask is going to have to match Miller save for save. I think this will be the best first round match up and will not be surprised if it goes seven.

(4)Pittsburgh Penguins vs Ottawa Senators
My Prediction: Penguins in 6

The defending Stanley Cup Champions are coming in looking to repeat, they finished second in their division behind the New Jersey Devils. The one problem they have is that they are not as deep as years past. They may make it past Ottawa but I don't see them repeating right now.

Ottawa gets somewhat of a short end of the stick here, they really only have one line and one line teams in the playoffs don't usually go that far in the playoffs.

The Awards

Number Awards (Known at end of regular season)

Presidents Trophy: Washington Capitals - 121 Pts
Art Ross Trophy: Henrik Sedin (VAN) - 112 Pts
Rocket Richard Trophy: Steven Stamkos (TB) & Sidney Crosby (PIT) - 51
William H. Jennings Award (Fewest Goals Against Team): New Jersey Devils - 191

Voted Awards

All my finalist are presented in the order in which I would vote

Voted on by the General Managers of the NHL
Vezina Trophy (Best Goalie)
My Finalist : Ilya Bryzglov (PHX), Ryan Miller (BUF), Martin Brodeur (NJ)
Who Will Win: Ryan Miller (BUF)
This is really a two horse race in my mind, Bryzgalov and Miller. I expect Miller to get more respect because he is the only reason the Sabers are where they are. Same can be said about Bryzgalov but east tend to get some favoritism in this.
Brodeur gets in on good numbers across the board.

Voted on by the Media
Jack Adams Award (Best Coach)
My Finalists: Dave Tippett (PHX), Joe Sacco (COL), Lindy Ruff (BUF)
Who Will Win: Dave Tippett (PHX)
Tippett has taken a team that was in mediocrity and gave the franchise it's first 100 point season and set a franchise record in wins. Sacco led a rebuilding Avalanche squad to a surprising playoff birth. Lindy Ruff gets in on the fact that as the longest serving coach, he still has the teams ear and lead them to a division championship.

Lady Byng Trophy (Most Gentlemanly Player)
Who cares about this one, all it says is I'm a goody-two-shoes.

Norris Trophy (Best Defenceman)
My Finalists: Mike Green (WAS), Duncan Keith (CHI), Drew Doughty (LAK)
Who Will Win: Mike Green (WAS)
Mike Green once again led all defensemen in points, and his +/- is excellent, this is my lock for the awards. Keith and Doughty also had good seasons but they just weren't as good as Green's.

Frank J. Selke Trophy (Best Defensive Forward)
My Finalists: Alex Burrows (VAN), Kris Versteeg (CHI), Pavel Datsyuk (DET)
Who Will Win: Pavel Datsyuk (DET)
The Only reason I say Datsyuk will win is because of Eastern media. Burrows tied for league lead in short handed goals, has the fewest amount of PP goals amongst 30+ goal scorers and ended the season with a +/- of +34, 6th amongst forwards. Versteeg was just consistant all year long and don't expect much credit for him in this area.

Calder Memorial Trophy (Best Rookie)
My Finalists: Tyler Myers (BUF), Matt Duchene (COL), John Tavares(NYI)
Who Will Win: Tyler Myers (BUF)
The 6'8 d-man for Buffalo was a tower of power on the blue line. Duchene lead all rookies in points and helped the surprise Avalanche to a playoff spot. Tavares was second in rookie points and that is what is mainly focused on in the Calder trophy.

King Clancy Trophy (A Player who makes a difference in the community)
The guys who should win this are Henrik and Daniel Sedin. They both donated $1.5 million to a children's hospital in British Columbia.

Hart Trophy (Most Valuable Player)
My Finalists: Henrik Sedin (VAN), Alexander Ovechkin (WAS), Ilya Bryzgalov (PHX)
Who Will Win: Alexander Ovechkin (WAS)
I say Ovechkin will win due to the Eastern bias around the writers who don't stay up to watch the Coyotes or Canucks. Henrik led the league in points and was the reason why the Canucks finished where they did. Bryzgalov was rock solid all season and once again, Coyotes fans wouldn't want to think where they would be if they didn't have Bryzgalov.

A bone to pick with NHL.com

I have a bigger blog coming later today but this has to do with yesterdays nhl.com's 3 stars of the night. The selections went as followed

1st Star: Henrik Sedin 0G 4A
2nd Star: Tomas Vanek 4G 0A
3rd Star: Steven Stamkos 2G 1A

However in this they have given a huge middle finger to Canucks winger Daniel Sedin who had the hat trick and an assist. No offence to Stamkos on getting his 50th, but lets not show bias and go with more American team players than Canadian teams. The point I am wanting to make on it is this, I don't care who it is, they have more points in a game or were on top of there heads making saves, pick the players who had the best night.

How the Hell Does This Happen?

On the last Saturday of the regular season or the NHL, I watched a rare event. No, not a well officiated game. The Boston Bruins on one penalty kill against the Carolina Hurricanes scored three short handed goals. It was a penalty to Matt Hunwick for hooking 18 seconds left in the first period. The Bruins started the second period short handed and started with a flurry.

Daniel Paille scored 32 seconds in to the second period. Blake Wheeler scored 1:21 in and Steve Begin scored 15 seconds later. To tell you how rare this is, I can not recall off the top of my head when I have seen three short handed goals scored on one PK, hell, I can barely do this on NHL 10.

So for Hurricanes fans, if you are wondering why your team missed the playoffs, ask yourselves, "How the hell a team can give up three short handed goals on one PK.".

And with the way it looks, congratulations are in order for the Boston Bruins making the playoffs.

Western Playoff Teams Set

Well, with 2 or 3 games remaining for most NHL teams, the playoff teams in the West are known, even the division winners are known. The only thing left to figure is who is going to get first in the conference, whether it be San Jose or Chicago, and which unfortunate high seed will get a dance with the Detroit Red Wings in the first round.

As it is right now the standings look like this:
San Jose Sharks 109 Pts, 2 Games Remaining(GR)
Chicago Blackhawks 107 Pts, 3 GR
Vancouver Canucks 101 Pts, 2GR
Phoenix Coyotes 102 Pts, 3 GR
Nashville Predators 98 Pts, 2 GR
Los Angeles Kings 97 Pts, 3 GR
Detroit Red Wings 96 Pts, 3 GR
Colorado Avalanche 93 Pts, 3 GR

This is how I am sure that Vancouver, San Jose, and Phoenix fans are wanting to see it finished. They avoid having Detroit in the first round and get what I feel are to be easier match ups. Also if the points are tied and it comes down to the first tie-breaker, wins, all the other teams have an advantage on Detroit here. Basically it boils down like this, Los Angeles and Detroit finish the season with the same amount of points, Los Angeles wins the tie breaker due to having more wins.

However, out of these teams in the West, I only see one upset team in the bottom 4. If you haven't figured it out, follow hockey more closely. This may be the first time in a while that the Top 4 seeds in the West into the second round (Barring the usual choke job by San Jose).

I'll be back in a couple days giving my thoughts on all first round match-ups after they are set, they should be fun.

Interesting Note: The NHL's rules for tie-breaking's first way is ridiculous, all teams play 82 games in a season how can any team have a greater point percentage.

It reads as followed:

If two or more clubs are tied in points during the regular season, the standing of the clubs is determined in the following order:

1. The fewer number of games played (i.e., superior points percentage).
(Pointless all teams play 82 games)

2. The greater number of games won.
(What is the first way to do tie breaking)

3. The greater number of points earned in games between the tied clubs. If two clubs are tied, and have not played an equal number of home games against each other, points earned in the first game played in the city that had the extra game shall not be included. If more than two clubs are tied, the higher percentage of available points earned in games among those clubs, and not including any "odd" games, shall be used to determine the standing.
(There would be no taking away of games because all teams play an even number of games with division and conference opponents 4 and 6 respectively, would only matter in Stanley Cup Finals if two teams were tied in wins and points. In other words, this is complete nonsense and shouldn't even be in the rule book.)

4. The greater differential between goals for and against for the entire regular season. (More likely to be used than tie-breaker # 3.)

I'll be back in a few days to give my playoff match up predictions. These should be easy, ecspecially in the East, it is almost a given we know who is going to win those series.

I think an NHL player is reading my blog: My Washington Capitals playoff preview

Even though I believe it to be highly unlikely, pretty much some stuff I put into a recent blog was almost said word for word by Columbus Blue Jacket forward R.J. Umberger. In the interview he said that he thinks that the Washington Capitals don't have what it takes to win the Stanley Cup because if they make it to the finals that they can be shut down by any Western Conference team.

There is also evidence to support this theory. If you happen to catch the game between the Vancouver Canucks and Washington Capitals from this year, you will understand. Alexander Ovechkin in that game didn't even have a shot and was completely shut down like a nerd on prom night (No, I do not speak from personal experience about the prom night).

The Canucks did to him what they did to Sidney Crosby or any other high skilled player from the East that they play against, shut the player down with a five man unit and play them hard. If a team can do this against the Washington Capitals they can beat them.

However having said this, Washington is far from a one trick pony. The Capitals also boast a great offensive line up with Niklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin, Mike Green, Brendan Morrison, and Mike Knuble has been a great fit on a line with Ovechkin.

The one question I do have with Washington though is their goaltending. Jose Theodore who has been doing very well this calendar year (He has yet to lose a game in regulation), has been known to fold under pressure. I have seen Theodore collapse in the past and that can be any teams undoing, it won't matter how many goals the Caps can score if opponents can put more behind Theodore.

In conclusion though, I see the Capitals making it to the Stanley Cup finals, it depends who they are against if they win it. If they end up against the Vancouver Canucks, the Detroit Red Wings, or the Phoenix Coyotes, the Sea of Red may have to wait another year for the Cup.

The Post Season Approaches

Well, The Stanley Cup playoffs are approaching and it is becoming clearer on who is going to make it and who is not. The teams that have clinched are: In the East, the Washington Capitals, who have already clinched the conference, the New Jersey Devil, the Buffalo Sabres, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Ottawa Senators. The teams in the West who have clinched are the San Jose Sharks, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Vancouver Canucks, the Phoenix Coyotes, and the Nashville Predators. The Detroit Red Wings and LA Kings are pretty much locks as well but still can mathematically not make the playoffs but the Calgary Flames and Colorado Avalanche both have 89 points and are highly unlikely to win out the season.

I am going to give my opinions for teams that I think are locks for the playoffs and what the keys are for them.

Well, lets start in the East.

The Washington Capitals: The Capitals play in the weakest division in the NHL, and they took full advantage of it. This could be a benefit and a challenge for the Capitals, the benefit is that they have locked up home ice advantage for the playoffs. The challenge is having dominated the weakest division in all of hockey, they have played no real challenging games wear they had a chance of falling down the standings. This no pressure situation could cause them to falter early as teams who get in to the playoffs in the 7 or 8 spot have been playing playoff hockey for the last month and could beat them. Also, a good team defence can shut down this team, look at what the Canucks did to Ovechkin, he was hardly noticeable in that game.

The New Jersey Devils: The Devils are in a dogfight with the Penguins for the top spot in the division, this will give them a playoff readiness facing off against what could possibly be a lowly #6 or #7 seed should they win the division. However, it has been shown that Marty Brodeur isn't the goalie he was a few years ago and the Devils have yet to come close to the Stanley Cup Finals since their last one in '03. I don't see them moving past the second round, they don't have what it takes as far as I am concerned and if they don't win the division, that means Ottawa and they are probably a match up the Devils don't want.

The Buffalo Sabres: However Ryan Miller goes, the Sabres follow, if Miller is on his game the Cup is attainable, however, if Miller stumbles, they could be in a world of hurt.

The Pittsburgh Penguins: Have yet to show that jump from last year that they had from last year in the playoffs. I am skeptical if they can repeat but wouldn't be surprised if they have turbo chargers for the post season.

The Ottawa Senators: The Sens are peaking at the right time and are on a roll with Brian Elliot in goal, they could go deep if Elliot keeps up the great play.




The Western Conference

The San Jose Sharks: The question is, will Joe Thorton look as bad as he did at the Olympics or will he actually show up this year. Another potential question is what is Nabakov's confidence level at right now after being shell shocked by Canada at the Olympics.

The Chicago Blackhawks: The only question for this team is goaltending, if they get it, hard to beat, if they don't could be sent home early.

The Vancouver Canucks: If Luongo gets back into form the Canucks could easily take the cup back to Vancouver for the first time since the Millionaires did it in 1915.

The Phoenix Coyotes: If there is a glass slipper, when will it hit midnight. Also this team wasn't planning a big playoff run, just to make the playoffs, it could be there Achilles come playoff time.

The Nashville Predators: Have quietly amassed 98 points so far this season, they are a sleeper pick but don't think they have the mettle to get it done.

The Detroit Red Wings: Have made there way back into the playoff picture, question is, how will they deal without home ice advantage. Also goaltending could be another question mark this year.

The LA Kings: Another entrant that I am surprised to say will easily make the playoffs, could be in tough because they look to be winding up in the #7 spot.

How novels and movies are going downhill

I have been finding lately the lots of novels and movies that are of the hero overcoming evil variety are missing something, a fear inspiring villain. Where there have been some great villains, lately, novels and movies have been coming up short on this and I wanted to take a look at it.

Where many of these movies and novels have defined heroes/protagonists most of the villains/antagonists, remain very incomplete. When you think of the biggest villains who comes to mind? I know this much, it ain't Zeus from No Holds Barred. What usually goes into a strong villain is that they can inspire fear from you by the mere mention of there name or their appearance in the book or on the screen.

The best villain of all-time as far as I am concerned is Darth Vader (Episodes 4-6). The first time you see him he shows no mercy for what appears to be an errand boy and choking the guy to death. Shows automatically that this is a man you don't want to be on the wrong side of. Throw in the fact that he is the most powerful Jedi ever found and you have a recipe for the man that defeats him being considered great due to the fact that he took someone down so powerful. It wouldn't have mattered if it was Luke, Yoda, Han Solo, Chewbacca, the list goes on they would automatically have a hero status.

Coming in a close second is Lord Voldemort. This guy is a mere shadow for the first three books and most of book four and yet no one likes to speak his name out of fear of the name, now that is intimidation. The guy is considered to be one of the greatest wizards of all time and even has an ability of control of his skills before he is properly trained at Hogwarts. Once again we have a situation here where the person who destroys a character being elevated to the level of hero. The only reason that he is below Darth Vader is because he was ignorant of certain types of magic.

The third greatest villain as far as I am concerned is Sauron. Once again we have a character who in the novels only appears as a spirit being in the form of a fiery eye. Once again we find people being intimidated by a creature that is neither living nor dead, more of a concentrated spirit. He is so feared that if he was to gain the ring of power again, he would destroy all of Middle Earth for his own purposes. Once again we find the person who defeats him being elevated to hero status.

The guy just off the podium as far as being evil goes is Agent Smith of the Matrix movies. Even though this series went downhill after the first movie, what didn't go down was how bad ass Agent Smith was. Clearly defined as the main villain of the series, he became more evil over time. Even though the end of his life was a complete joke as to how he died, he was clearly the villain and whoever destroyed him would be given hero status.

Here is the problem with most of the novels and movies today.

1. There is no defined primary antagonist. This is clearly defined in the Twilight series. The main bad guy from the first one is knocked off at the end of the first book and they add new characters without defining who we should be afraid of. Makes me lose interest in the movies.

2. The villain is not allowed to show his abilities. Even though you are wanting to show off the protagonist, a hero will look better if we know that the villain the hero is defeating one serious bad ass. Look at Harry Potter, everybody knows of Voldemort's abilities even though he is not seen in the first book until the climax of the book. When he appears, you know one thing, be afraid, be very afraid.

3. Most villains I feel no anticipation of fear from. I commonly see villains that you know are the bad guy but when you see them, you already know the outcome, the bad guy doesn't stand a chance because he is one of many secondary villains. Does any one remember any of Superman's nemesis other than Lex Luthor and Doomsday? Unless you are a Superman addict the answer is no, they are too many and they get deluded. Keep the amount of villains low and don't make them soup cans, they are far more fearsome if you think they can actually beat the protagonist.

4. Don't be afraid to feature the bad guy. This is more commonly done in pro wrestling but it does have it's merits. Think along the lines of The Four Horsemen, you had to go through all of them to get to Ric Flair and the title. And when you got there, you were in for a war, making anyone who beat him look even better.

So if you are writing a book or wanting to make a screen play, remember the list, it will help you in the long run.

No love for Western Confrence Players

As the NHL season begins to wind down, trophy speculations begins to heat up, who is going to win what, will so and so be able to take the lead in this category to claim the scoring title. However, on awards voted on by the hockey writers association, it looks like Western Conference players are going to be hard pressed to win awards again.

This isn't saying that there aren't talented players in the East but teams in the West have a far more difficult schedule and that most of the writer's who vote on this live in the East and couldn't care if you lived out west and don't watch any games out there unless the team they are covering is playing them. The main concern here comes from two players who are out West who are likely to be given the snub when it comes to the voted on awards, they are Phoenix goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, and Canucks center Henrik Sedin.

The reason I say these two will get the snub is because of there location, where Bryzgalov will have tough competition and is an underdog to Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller, they face tougher competition in the Hart against guys who are big names in the East.

The Hart trophy given to the NHL's MVP of the regular season, and this is where the debate will begin. The main names from the East who will be getting recognition are Washington Capital forward, Alex Ovechkin, Pittsburgh Penguin center Sidney Crosby, and Buffalo Sabers goalie Ryan Miller.

Here are my argument you can make against all three of those players, all but maybe 14 or 15 road games are played in the same time zone. where if the Canucks play a road game in there division, they have to make a time change. The Coyotes are close to this too as they have to change time zones to play 3 of the 5 teams in there division.

The individual arguments are as followed.

Sidney Crosby (PIT): Even though he is one of the premier names in the game, he has probably the most well known supporting group in Evgeny Malkin, Bill Guerin, Jordan Staal, and Sergei Gonchar. Not only that, he is ten points behind the current leader in points and has not looked very dominating this year.

Alexander Ovechkin (WAS): The superstar Russian has missed 10 games this season due to injury and suspension, this may play against him because even when he has been out of the line up, the Capitals have kept on rolling without missing a beat which is part of the Hart Trophy which is most valuable to his team. Where would the Canucks be right now if they didn't have Henrik Sedin or the Coyotes didn't have Ilya Bryzgalov, a place those fans don't want to think about.

Ryan Miller (BUF): The case for Miller is less strong on this but where he has been the best goalie this year, his team currently holds the least amount of points by a division leader.

Here is my current voting if I had a say who the players would be if I had a vote:

1. Henrik Sedin (VAN) - leads the league in points, career high in goals, assists, and points. Plus where would the Canucks be without him
2. Alex Ovechkin (WAS) - having a good year but not as dominant as years past. However team has been successful in his absence
3. Ilya Bryzgalov (PHX) - has lead the Coyotes to the most points in team history
4. Ryan Miller (BUF) - my choice for Vezina but has easier schedule the Bryzgalov
5. Sidney Crosby (PIT) - set career high in goals and has kept the Penguins near the top of the Eastern conference

Also having to do with this, is my biggest screw job of awards handed out in years past:
2003: Peter Forsberg wins Hart Trophy over Markus Naslund. I didn't know you could play only half a season and win this award, this award is for consistency through the year, not just the second half.

2000: Olaf Kolzig wins Vezina over Curtis Joseph. Look above for reason, Cujo was spectacular the entire year where Kolzig was playing in the weakest division in hockey and thrived playing against weak opponents.

1998: Sergei Samsanov wins Calder trophy over Mattius Ohlund. This was obvious that people on the East coast didn't stay up to watch the games the Ohlund was in, even though Ohlund wasn't on a good team, he was a shining beacon for the Canucks when they were suffering.

Joel Quenville, Shut the hell up.

If you follow hockey you have probably seen the hit, James Wisnewski of the Anaheim Ducks smashing Brent Seabrook of the Chicago Blackhawks into the boards and glass and Seabrook being out on his feet before toppling like the pin that is last to go down on it own. The hit could have been called one of three penalties: Elbowing since he hit him with the elbow, charging, since Wisnewski left his feet, or interference because Seabrook never touched the puck in that playing segment. It was a nasty hit and I agree with the 8 game suspension handed out by Colin Campbell and the NHL. The part I don't agree with is Chicago Blackhawks' coach Joel Quenville's comments after the game.

Quenville has the rare ability that whenever he opens his mouth, he gets dumber than the time before. This is not the first time Quenville has been in my cross hairs for making stupid comments either.

Quenville said that it was the most dirtiest hit in hockey history. Let me channel my inner Edge here, WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONGGGGGGGGGGG. Where this was a questionable play to make it is far from being the biggest cheap shot/dirty play of all time. Here are some of my examples of dirtier plays, 1994 Canucks vs Stars series up to the point where Bure made Churla his bitch with a flying elbow. How about Steve Moore on Markus Naslund, Gary Suter on Gretzky during the '91 Canada Cup. The list goes on before I would declare that the dirtiest hit.

If you are wondering what the other time was, it was early on in the 2003/2004 NHL season when Todd Bertuzzi obliterated Barrett Jackman with a great hit and Quenville said that it was a dasturdly hit that had no place in the game. Watch the highlight you numbskull, Jackman had his head down and Bertuzzi flattened him.

Since I am on the topic of headshots, here is my way of thinking to get it so these don't happen so often. The players wear soft cap elbow and shoulder pads, instead of teaching players to turn away so that the opposing player can only see your numbers, teach them to be more aware on the ice, and take out the worst rule in hockey, the instigator, the rule has no place in the game of hockey and it will make players think twice about going after star players, did anyone ever go after Gretzky the way they can go after Crosby? No, because if they did they would have to deal with Semenko, McSorley, Beukaboom, and about another half dozen players.

So, if you want to get headshots out of the game, try implimenting that and see what happens, oh wait, hockey will become to popular and Bettman doesn't want that, that just leads to more teams being in Canada.

A Recap of the 2010 Olympics

Well, the Olympics have been over for a couple of weeks and should give my views of what happened.

I'm going to start off with the positives of what happened at the Olympics and then get to the negatives.

There were lots of positive things coming out of these Olympics, whether it be Canadians actually stepping up and not choking on a big stage taking home the most gold, athletes redeeming themselves after a bad race and coming back to win in another event, the patriotism Canadians showed that even took American speed skater Shani Davis by surprise. But I am just going to list them here:
1. The hockey: The only major team sport at the Winter Olympics did not disappoint, big hits, big goals, and unbelievable saves.
2. Jon Montgomery: Canadian athlete who won gold in the skeleton was very charismatic and even ended up on Oprah.
3. Stephen Colbert: Enough said
4. The closing ceremonies: Everyone remembers the gaffe of the fourth arm not working and they were able to make fun of that and let Catorina Lemay-Doan light the cauldron

There were lots more that are there but I am not going to try and write a novel.

The Negative:
1. The exploitation of the death of Joannie Rochette's mother: I am not bashing her performance, or that she skated. All I am saying is that the media just put too much into this and didn't allow her a moments rest, especially after she won the bronze medal. Watching her do interviews it looked like she just wanted to go and be alone or at least not have cameras shoved in her face.
2. The announcing: I called this before the games began, at least they let Chris Cuthbert call the gold medal game but they stuck him with Pierre Maguire (Oh well, I guess I can't have everything), there is a lot more here that I could talk about but that is an entire novel.
3. The death of the Georgian luger: Not much more needs to be said here
4. The between period analysis on TSN and CTV of Men's Hockey: Nick Kypreos continually made his points very easily and expertly and made Darren Pang and Bob McKenzie look like complete fools for talking as hockey experts.
5. The singing at the opening ceremonies: Whether it be the obvious link sync of Bryan Adams who didn't have the microphone up to his mouth at the start of the song, K.D. Lang destroying a Leonard Cohen masterpiece, or Nikki Yafonsky singing of O Canada making a four year old's attempt Nessun Dorma sound like Pavarotti, the singing sucked, period. And here is another question, why was there no Ben Hepner (native British Columbian opera singer), Shania Twain, Avril Lavigne, hell, I would have taken Celine Dion over K.D. Lang.
6. The hosts that were in the International Broadcast Building: I was able to watch Olympic events on CTV and NBC and the hosts were awful, the exceptions to this were James Duthie and the morning hosts on CTV and Al Micheals on NBC. Lisa Laflamme was awful at best, Brian Williams (Canadian) was reminding me of the Canada-Soviet brawl in the '80s at the world juniors, Bob Costas was plain boring, and I can't remember the name of the person who did the Olympics on NBC after Costas but she could have used some lessons and she might have been decent.
7. The Canadian song for the Olympics: If you haven't heard it, don't. Every time I heard this song I thought a castration would be less painful. These guys even have the best song for hockey at there use and don't use it before any of the games (Yes, the original Hockey Night In Canada theme). Instead we get stuck listening to an Ontario girl who probably has connections to CTV singing on of the worst songs to ever be recorded.

There are more but I don't want to torture you people any further than this, you don't want to read all day, so take care and Happy St. Patty's day

Nearing the end of the olympic games, and I find a major idiot

I just went onto the Internet and checked out an article on my homepage that has a British writer (and I use this term loosely) complaining about Canadians celebrating winning gold at the Olympics. Here is the link here.

Basically, he is upset at Canadians for not acting apologetic for winning events. Hmmm, what word best describes this guy, dumb, idiotic, complete moron, the list goes on. If this guy is getting upset at Canadians celebrating while winning gold. I would ask for this guy to take an IQ test but fear the results would come back negative.

This is my main beef with it, how come this moron is only targeting Canadians, why not Germany, the United States, any other country who has had an athlete win gold (England has one in women's skeleton as well and I am sure she celebrated as well). What are we suppose to do apologize? What are we suppose to say, "Sorry, but you aren't as good as me.", "Sorry, but your team sucks.", or how about "Sorry that I am better than you."?

The bottom line as far as I am concerned, it doesn't matter whether you are from Canada, the United States, behind my left nipple, if you win the gold, as far as I am concerned, you can celebrate something that you know not many people get the chance to ever be, an Olympic champion.

I will putting up a new blog in a couple of days with my thoughts and my awards for the games.

Can we please stop the Sidney Crosby love fest!!!

I have just finished watching a full day of Olympic hockey and man I am drained. Canada was the only team that dominated as they beat Germany 8-2. However I have a major grievance with something I saw. With the score 4-0 for Canada, Rick Nash put on a hell of a dangle and gets hooked and a penalty shot is called. I figured, good play by Nash, let him take the penalty shot. However under IIHF rules, any player may take a penalty shot and head coach of Team Canada, Mike Babcock, chose to go with Sidney Crosby. Before the penalty shot was even taken I said "What the hell is Babcock doing.". The end result of the penalty shot was an easy save by Griess on Crosby who seems to lack the comprehension that if you come in with speed on a penalty shot or a shootout shot that it is easier to beat a goalie when you are going fast.

I feel that part of my dislike of Crosby commotion is the fact that Sidney Crosby gets shoved down my throat as commentators make him out to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Here are the facts that the pro commentators that I find to be opinion

1. Crosby is the best player in the NHL
False: Crosby is on a team with 4 first 5, first round draft picks and they have not been able to find consistent scoring wingers for him. Also Ovechkin has done a lot more with a lot less around him.

2. Crosby is a rival to being better than Gretzky
False: As stated above, Crosby has not been able to make his wingers 50 goal scorers so this argument falls apart right there. Besides, Gretzky got Semenko a hat trick and Semenko didn't even have to shoot the puck once, Gretzky deflected all three shots off of various pieces (Helmet, butt, and stick). Also, Gretzky could have a defender on him and would still make the guy his bitch, Crosby has been shut down, especially by New Jersey and Vancouver. This could go on forever but I don't want to type til I am dead.

3. The best way to market the NHL is by showing Sidney Crosby
WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Crosby is not the way to market the NHL, not only does he defy what most players do after an opposing player scores a hat trick (He should just go back to his bench and take his medicine, he goes and whines to the official about the game being slowed down) he defies charisma. He gives robotic cliche answers that are extremely well known to anyone who has watched any sporting event in recent history. I'm not saying he should become the next The Rock when he gives interviews, but add something more than just the same old answer, it will catch people's attention. Also, the best guy for marketing the NHL right now is Alexander Ovechkin, he has charisma, and is wanting to get hockey to be the biggest thing in the world.

I could go on but it is getting real late, so if you disagree, tell me, and if you agree, spread the word. Also if you disagree, give me a logical argument and just don't say you are an idiot, you aren't proving anything by saying that.

The 2010 Olympics, Preparing for the headache

The 2010 Olympics are coming up in a week in Vancouver. Personally I am very excited to watch the Olympics, however the one thing I am not looking forward to is the announcing of the sports that people will be subjected to.

I live in Canada so I will be catching the Olympics on CTV, who have not shown the Olympics as far back as I remember. The problem is that we are going to be subjected to horrible announcing in the biggest sport in the winter Olympics which is Ice Hockey. With CTV hosting the Olympics they are likely going to use the announcers of there sister sport station TSN. TSN's main announcers Gord Miller and Pierre Maguire will likely get Team Canada's games and all the other big games. Miller can be good if he is into it, Maguire on the other hand, sucks so hard a vacuum cleaner is jealous. Instead of using some truly talented people such as Chris Cuthbert or Jim Hughson who are two of the best in the business right now, we get subjected to crap and told they are good.

I may have been spoiled though when it comes to play-by-play hockey announcers having grown up in British Columbia and cheering for the Vancouver Canucks. The two guys I have listened to growing up calling Canucks games are Jim Robson and Jim Hughson who are two announcers I would encourage anybody who wants to get into announcing to copy their announcing technique. When Robson or Hughson do a game, they know the numbers of all the players on both teams, they know the background of the players, (An example of this is Mark Hartigan who is from my hometown and played for the Junior B team there, the Fort St. John Huskies.), they are able to tell you how many points a player has very quickly which leads you to believe that they actually follow the game, and most importantly, they can make you feel like you are at a once in a lifetime event.

The other thing with the commentators for the Olympics is they can make something exciting make you want to go watch paint dry because it is more exciting. Case and point on this is watching Snowboarding Halfpipe in 2006 and the guy doing commentary was just going, "Wow, what a move, I think that was a 720 indy.", the guy also said this in an uninterested voice as if he was forced to do it. Second, if you don't know, don't say, it makes you look stupid, (The move was also a McTwist and was very sloppily done).

Bottom line to this is that we want good commentary for the events, not the guys who are suppose to be good that actually want to make us mute the TV.

My choices for interviewers and commentators to follow the lead of:
Jim Hughson (Current CBC lead hockey commentator, also does the rare Blue Jays game on CBC), Jim Robson (Former Canucks play-by-play for the Vancouver Canucks), Rick Jeanerette (Current play-by-play for the Buffalo Sabers), John Garrett (Current colour commentary for the Canucks), Chris Cuthbert (Play-by-Play commentator for TSN and does almost all the CFL games for the season), Craig Simpson (Colour commentator for CBC), Dan Murphy (Post game interviews for Canucks on Sportsnet, this is a difficult area because most of the guys are not good at this)

Commentators I usually suggest you push the mute button on:
Pierre Maguire (See above for what I think of him), Bob Cole (Did have some talent back in the day but has stayed around too long and his commentary sucks now), Harry Neale (Very inaccurate comments and says stuff that can be usually be covered by a half decent play-by-play man), Elliot Friedman (This guy would actually have to get better to suck, you could hire a kid who could talk and would be more relevant than this moron)

I should be back soon and God willing I will not go crazy listening to the moron that is Pierre Maguire and some other idiots they will find to call some of the other sports.