Friday, May 13, 2011

NHL Conference Finals Predictions

Let's get this one in quick before Blogger craps out again...

Usually when I play this silly little game I do a half decent job of picking the first round winners and a terrible job picking the second round. This time it was different.

In the first round I got five out of eight. Not too bad, but not great either. How'd I do in round two?

The Washington Capitals vs The Tampa Bay Lightning: I saw the choke coming a mile away, but I may have underestimated the severity. The Lightning swept. The Mighty Capitals go home for the summer pretty early, once again. Pretty soon I'm going to have to start calling the San Jose Sharks the Capitals of the West, instead of the other way around. I picked this one correctly.

The Boston Bruins vs the Philadelphia Flyers: It does not erase last year's tragedy. Not at all. Not even a Stanley Cup championship will erase that memory... although it will make it a shit ton easier to deal with. The Bruins did what they failed to do last year and swept the Flyers, making them look really bad in the process. Q: How many Philly goalies does it take to win a 2nd round game? A: At least one more than they had against the Bruins. I picked this one correctly.

Over to the West...

The Vancouver Canucks vs the Nashville Predators: The Canucks have a very high choke quotient, but they were playing against the Ringo Starrs of the second round. Nashville was just happy to be there. They made a series of it, but Vancouver was just too much for them. I picked this one correctly.

The San Jose Sharks vs the Detroit Red Wings: The Sharks almost blew it. They almost blew it in 2010 Bruins fashion. Detroit just couldn't stretch their come back magic through game seven and after blowing the 3-0 series lead the Sharks hung on to win it in seven. The undisputed kings of NHL choke have somehow managed to survive once again. Maybe I should pass that choke crown over to the Caps after all.

So, after the first round I was 5-3. Now after two rounds I am 8-4. I believe that's the best I've ever done. (but who knows, my memory is crap)

Now we move on to the third round, starting as always with the Eastern Conference...

The Boston Bruins vs the Tampa Bay Lightning: Obviously I am picking Boston. Duh. I refuse to pick against my team. Having said that, I am somehow less worried about Tampa Bay than I was about Montreal or Philadelphia. That's not to say I'm not scared, because I am freakin' terrified. Have you seen the Lightning's forward lines? Holy Crap! And Dwayne Roloson, my former college classmate? (we were never in any of the same classes, but we did go to UMass Lowell at the same time for a semester or two. No I never met him.) How awesome is it that a goalie who is older than I am has his team in the Conference Finals. This series will be tough. The teams match up well. Go Bruins

The Vancouver Canucks vs the San Jose Sharks: Damn... which traditional choker do I pick to choke the least and win? I not so long ago promised myself that I would never pick San Jose again, but I think maybe the whammy is finally off of them. I think maybe this is the year they wait until the finals to choke. I am picking San Jose. Both teams survived blowing a 3 games to none lead in a series, Vancouver in the first round, San Jose in the second, but I think San Jose is going to put the lessons learned against the Red Wings to work for them and I think they are going to take this series and get themselves to the finals.

So, my picks for the cup finals are Boston and San Jose. Please, please please, oh mighty hockey gods, make this happen!

Go Bruins!

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