Here is Part II of my postmortem on my playoff predictions (Part I can be found here), covering my Round 3 and Stanley Cup Final picks. Again, I know this happened a long time ago, but many things prevented me from prioritizing the revisitation of my playoff picks.
As per my regular season prediction evaluations, I will use the following scale to evaluate my selections:
A - Nailed the pick exactly right
B - In the ballpark but not right on
C - A pretty misguided pick, but you can kind of understand why I made it
F - Epic fail
Round 3 - Eastern Conference
Pittsburgh Penguins (4) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (6)
Predicted: Penguins in 7
Actual: Penguins in 4
Grade: C-
Yeah I picked the team right, but I thought this would be a WAY closer series than it was. This series marked the playoff coming-out party for Evgeni Malkin, who had 6 goals and 3 assists in the four games, including this hat-trick effort in Game 2:
And because that third goal was so amazing, let's watch it one more time:
Round 3 - Western Conference
Detroit Red Wings (2) vs. Chicago Blackhawks (4)
Predicted: Red Wings in 6
Actual: Red Wings in 5
Grade: B
Having learned my lesson about underestimating the Blackhawks, I thought they would give Detroit a tougher time than they did. In the end the Wings were too good and too experienced to make the mistakes that cost the Canucks their Round 2 series against the 'Hawks.
Stanley Cup Final
Detroit Red Wings vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
Predicted: Penguins in 7
Actual: Penguins in 7
Grade: A+
I picked this before the series began, but was unable to post due to some computer issues while I was traveling. I stuck with my pick despite the Red Wings winning the first two games and appearing to have a pretty strong lock on their second straight Cup. So I give myself a little extra credit for having the option of bailing on my pick, but sticking with it and in the end getting it right on. And here is the conclusion to what was a fantastic 2009 NHL Playoffs*:
* Watching this again makes me remember how ridiculously dramatic Game 7 was! What a great playoffs all round.
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2 comments:
My favourite & least favourite aspects of that incredibly dramatic finish to the Cup Final:
LEAST FAVE: I adore Lidstrom, and was very disappointed he didn't manage to score a tying goal with seconds to go.
(Actually, my least fave aspect is that Crosby became a non-factor... but I'm trying to set up point #2 here...)
FAVE: When interviewed on CBC immediately afterward, Fleury was asked what was going through his head when he saw Lidstrom's shot coming. His reply: "Oh, shit!"
Haha, thanks for reminding me of that/giving me my latest post!
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