Game 7 Excitement

Tomorrow night Gary Bettman will hand the Stanley Cup to either Nicklas Lidstrom or Sidney Crosby, and the curtain will fall on an exciting 2008-09 NHL season. It has been a great Final (with the exception of the 5-0 rut by Detroit in Game 5) featuring some of the best and brightest stars of the hockey world: Crosby, Malkin, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Datsyuk et al.

Some random questions heading into Game 7:

• Will home ice advantage continue to define this series? The home team has won each of the first six games. At home, the Wings have outscored the Pens 11-2. At the Igloo, meanwhile, the Penguins hold a 10-5 edge. My feeling is that the adrenaline, passion and win-or-go-home desperation of a Game 7 trumps home ice advantage, which is a big plus for the Penguins.

• Will Sidney Crosby emerge as a force? Thus far he has been limited to 3 points (1G, 2A) in the series, while being shadowed by the Wings' Henrik Zetterberg. Without a doubt this is the biggest game of his career, and it represents a chance to carve out a legacy at this early stage of his young career.
  

• Speaking of Zetterberg, how amazing is the Wings' depth and team game that they can use him in a checking role? This is a guy who had 92 points two seasons ago, 73 this year and won the Conn Smythe Trophy last season. And Mike Babcock has enough faith in his team to stick Zetterberg on Crosby, and rely on the rest of the team to pick up the offensive slack.

• How will the goaltenders play? As mentioned, both have given up a lot of goals on the road and not many at home, which would suggest an advantage for Chris Osgood. Osgood also the advantage of experience, having already played in 128 playoff games and won three Stanley Cups (two as a starter). Fleury, on the other hand, has played just 48 playoff games (almost half of which have been this post-season) and has only last year's Final loss to draw upon.

• Will the role players decide the outcome? Hitherto unknown Justin Abelkader stepped in and scored two huge goals for the Wings in Games 1 and 2. Tyler Kennedy busted out a two point game, including scoring the game winner, in the Penguins 2-1 Game 6 win. Lesser lights such as Jordan Staal, Dan Cleary, Max Talbot and Darren Helm have all made significant contributions to their teams' success throughout the series. This game may be decided by Crosby, Malkin, Zetterberg, Lidstrom or Datsyuk. But don't be surprised if it's Kris Draper or Matt Cooke who emerges as the hero of the game.

All these questions will be answered in less than 36 hours. I can't wait, it should be an amazing conclusion to the season.

2009 Playoffs: Stanley Cup Finals Predictions

Travel and technology have prevented me from posting my Finals predictions. Travel, because I am in Ontario. Technology, because whenever I try to create a post, the site looks super ghetto. So here's hoping this works, but based on what I see in front of me I have no idea if it will.

Anyway, I'm not going to change my original prediction just because the Red Wings are up 2-0 so far. I will stick with the Penguins in 7, with Sidney Crosby capturing the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Both Crosby and the Pens had better start stepping it up if my predictions are to come true! Detroit has looked scarily good thus far, and is ridiculously opportunistic when it comes to taking advantage of Penguins' mistakes and/or lucky bounces.

What are your thoughts and/or predictions about the series so far?

More playoff beard fun

Hope you enjoyed the first installment of "Pete's Playoff Beard" a few days ago. Hopefully the Canucks pull their socks up (let's just not talk about last night, okay?) so his beard has a chance to reach Grizzly Adams-esque proportions soon.

Speaking of playoff beards, here are a couple more fun stories that I recently came across. First off there is this entertaining read from The Hockey News, featuring some wicked photos of Chris Mason and Scott Neidermayer, as well as some advice on how to tell playoff-Daniel from playoff-Henrik.

Secondly, there is this commercial which was posted on Puck Daddy two weeks ago. It is YouTube gold:



Too bad the boys in the ad couldn't help Sidney Crosby out. The dude is trying but, as you can see from this picture, not succeeding very well in his playoff beard efforts.

Pete's Playoff Beard - Part 1

My buddy Pete has decided to grow a playoff beard for the Canucks postseason run, and I thought it would be entertaining to document the progress of what will hopefully be a beard worthy of Confucius come mid-June. Fortunately Pete also thought this was a good idea - otherwise this ongoing feature would be both creepy and borderline illegal. Enjoy!


This is Pete's beard as of May 3, 2009. The Canucks began their playoff quest on April 15.

Random thoughts on Round One

• What is up with the San Jose Sharks? I'm not saying this series is over 'til it's over, but still it does not look good for the boys in teal against a tough Ducks squad. If they cannot win three straight they will go down as bigger teases than the Canucks. This is a team that has never made it to the Stanley Cup Finals despite some great teams, and despite this year seeming like the year they change that trend. It now looks like it will be another disappointing spring for Sharks fans.

• If you have not yet seen this goal by Alex Ovechkin from last night's game, well, just watch:

• Rough end to the season for the Montreal Canadiens. I feel badly for Carey Price, who is only 21 but already getting blamed for the Habs' problems. I appreciate the passion of Habs fans, but booing your team and your goalie as they get swept does not show a lot of class in my opinion.
  

• Columbus Blue Jackets, fans on the other hand, were apparently amazing even as their team got swept by the powerhouse Detroit Red Wings. I was really hoping for a strong showing from the Jackets (let's ignore, for a moment, that I picked them to win this series) because their fans have waited a long time for the team's first post-season berth and have been apparently very rabid all year. Still, they gave the team a classy send off last night and the players returned the favour with a salute to the fans:
  

• Right now I am very impressed by the Boston Bruins, who outmuscled and outscored the Habs to totally dominate the series. And man, do I wish that Milan Lucic was on the Canucks! I'm thinking that right now the Bruins look like a very good bet to come out of the East.
  

• What are your thoughts on the playoffs thus far? Feel free to chip in under the comments section.