2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs

[EyeTeaGuy]

Okay, I know we have some hockey fans around here. I certainly qualify, even though my beloved Colorado Avalanche didn't make it yet again, and stunningly seem to be content to keep the same management team in place even though the team has one perhaps 1 playoff series since the lockout. Hard to get used to when the team won 2 cups and made it to the conference finals every year except 1998 from 1996 to 2002.

Just for fun, I do a full bracket of the playoffs, making picks every season, and also take a stab at the number of games for each series. I've been either damn good or damn lucky recently - last year I picked EVERY matchup save for 1 correctly including number of games, and if the Bruins had let game 7 of the finals go to double OT, I would have nailed that as well.

Anyways.....(And remember teams get re-seeded every round)

West Playoffs -

1 Vancouver - 8 LA - Vancouver in 6
2 St. Louis - 7 San Jose - San Jose in 5
3 Quebec...er, Phoenix (Quebec in 2 years tops) - 6 Chicago - Chicago in 7
4 Nashville - 5 Detroit - Detroit in 7

1 Vancouver - 7 San Jose - Vancouver in 4
5 Detroit - 6 Chicago - Chicago in 7

1 Vancouver - 6 Chicago - Vancouver in 7 (OT)

East Playoffs -

1 NY Rangers - 8 Ottawa - Ottawa in 6
2 Boston - 7 Washington - Boston in 5
3 Florida - 6 New Jersey - New Jersey in 6
4 Pittsburgh - 5 Philadelphia - Pittsburgh in 7

2 Boston - 8 Ottawa - Boston in 6
4 Pittsburgh - 6 New Jersey - Pittsburgh in 7

2 Boston - 4 Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh in 5

STANLEY CUP FINALS

1 Vancouver - 4 Pittsburgh - Vancouver in 6, Double Overtime.

Conn Smythe Trophy - Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh. (It has happened that a non cup winning player has won playoff MVP - twice that I recall)

So yes, as much as it pains me inside to say it as an Avs fan, I think the Cup goes back to Canada for the first time since 1993, and Vancouver wins their first cup. Not sure on whether to take the over or under on damage compared to the riots last year when they lost.

The chaos & entropy fan in me is curious to see if we see the first large country mass riot, since Canada is so hockey insane...

[auntiem]

Is it sad that I arranged my class schedule this quarter so I could be home (or at the bar) in time for the playoffs and Stanley Cup games?
Even though I think the Canucks are the Red Soxs of hockey I hope you are right about them winning! And as much as I love to watch / root for the Avs - it is so frustrating to watch the team be mis-managed that I can't enjoy their games much anymore.
If the Stanley Cup were to ever be Canucks vs. Avalance I think there might be a riot in my household (SO is an Av fan). I'm barely recovered from the smack talking from my Bruin lovin' cousins last year.

[cashierbex]

Well, you just cursed my Panthers.

[Greenday]

Rangers vs. some team that's not going to win the Stanley Cup in the finals.

[taurinejunkie]

3 Quebec...er, Phoenix (Quebec in 2 years tops)

I certainly hope so

[EyeTeaGuy]

I certainly hope so

It'll be them, or a Florida team, or Columbus. Out of the 4 possible teams, Phoenix certainly looks like the best team right now, but at any rate I doubt Quebec will get back a team that was as close to the cup as the Nordiques were in 1995.

(Even at any rate they would not have won it had they stayed in town in 1996 - No Patrick Roy, no cup for the Avs that year. I think that the odds of Les Habs trading him to Les Nordiques are about as likely as me scoring with a supermodel while my wife approves and sets it up, or the Denver Broncos back in the day trading John Elway in his prime to the Raiders)

I would think that if they did the return of the Nordiques right, they keep the Nordiques retired numbers retired (they have not been so in Colorado - only 19, 21, 33 & 77 - Sakic, Forsberg, Roy & Bourque), and open their first season at home against either the Canadiens or the Avalanche.

There's only one link left from the Nordiques anyways - Milan Hejduk was a draft pick but never played for Quebec. Adam Foote was the last active player for both teams, and he retired last year.

If the Stanley Cup were to ever be Canucks vs. Avalance I think there might be a riot in my household (SO is an Av fan). I'm barely recovered from the smack talking from my Bruin lovin' cousins last year.

Thankfully that won't happen, unless they totally re-do how the playoffs are set up. (I remember reading about a 1st round Philly-Colorado ROCKIES matchup back in the early 1980s......?!?!?!?)

My dream SCF matchup would of course be Avalanche-Red Wings, which MIGHT be possible if realignment kicks the Dead Things over to the eastern conference.

I think I'm like a bull - I hate red in teams. KC Chiefs (although not as much as the Raiders, Broncos fan here), Red Wings, Red Sox for beating my Rockies in the World Series and talking like the Rocks never had a chance....yeah, they got swept, but two games were 1 run games), and the Nebraska Cornhuskers, since my family is Colorado aligned.

Rangers vs. some team that's not going to win the Stanley Cup in the finals.

Not yet. I don't see them having any player that can stand up to the pressure in NYC, a la Mr. Messier. They need a year or two more seasoning, but have a ton of potential. Although, Lunqvist could turn in a Roy in 86 or Giguere in 03 type of performance and totally annhiliate my bracket.

And that's coming from someone who when he roots for an eastern conference team, he roots for the Rangers. In the 80s, their top farm team for a while was the Colorado Rangers. Got to see Mike Richter play minor league hockey from 2 rows behind his net as a lad, I did.

[CoffeeMonkey]

I'm a diehard Wings fan and I generally don't start looking east just yet. But here's my picks for the first round.

1 Vancouver - 8 LA - Vancouver in 5
2 St. Louis - 7 San Jose -St louis in 7
3 Phoenix - 6 Chicago - Chicago in 6
4 Nashville - 5 Detroit - Detroit in 6

for my beloved Wings to win, a few things need to happen.
1) don't get hurt.
2) HOWARD don't get hurt. I think he's a steller goalie, but Ty Conklin is a sieve.
3) For the love of God, the power play is for SCORING, not skating about aimlessly or giving up short handed goals.
4) Don't take stupid penalties.

the rest comes down to luck, good bounces, and hoping the officials call it fairly.

[EyeTeaGuy]

For the record, I will be most displeased if my eastern conference pick gets bounced in the first round after losing game 1 in OT because the linesmen can't call offsides by a full 2 feet for what it is - OFFSIDES!

Take that goal out, gee whiz, Pittsburgh wins in regulation.

Can't say I'm shocked about a blown call like that, though - NHL officials have never been what I would call competent.

[wolfie]

So yes, as much as it pains me inside to say it as an Avs fan, I think the Cup goes back to Canada for the first time since 1993, and Vancouver wins their first cup. Not sure on whether to take the over or under on damage compared to the riots last year when they lost.

And even though Vancouver has never won the cup, their drought is still shorter than that of another team from Canada (a donut chain is named after one of that team's former players). That team's name is appropriate, after all, at the start of the season, they're green. By November, they're falling fast, and by the time the playoffs come in the spring, they're out.

[Greenday]

Holy crap. How God awful are the Flyers and Penguins?

[Jester]

Glad to see that no one, and I mean NO ONE, is giving my beloved PHOENIX COYOTES a snowball's chance in the desert to do anything more than their typical first round exit.

I would beg to differ. Yes, traditionally, when they have made the playoffs, they have either made the first round entertaining or just gotten their tails kicked out from under them, but either way, giving the same end result: an early pass to the golf courses. Never in their 33 year history, as either the Phoenix Coyotes or the Winnipeg Jets, has this team ever won a playoff series.

Of course, this would be the perfect time to point out that, never in their 33 year history as either team had they ever won a division title.

Until now.

Say what you will about the potential move. I've been hearing it for years.
Say what you will about the non-call of too many men on the ice in Game 1. As Charles Barkley once famously said, you have to play ABOVE the refs.
Say what you will about their woeful history. I've heard it all. My head chef (a devoted Flyers fan) told me that if Teows played for the Blackhawks, they would beat the Coyotes in 6, but if he didn't play, they'd still win in 7. Well, Teows played in Game 1, and played well, and despite that, and despite Vrbata, Phoenix's top goal-scorer, being knocked out of the game 30 seconds in, and despite even the deflating Blackhawks goal to tie Game 1 with 14 or so seconds left in regulation...somehow, against everyone's predictions, against everything I've been told, the Coyotes won Game 1.

And I got news for you kids...They're. Not. Done.

I don't know how far the Dogs will go in the playoffs, and I won't sit here and predict them taking it all, although I would relish it if they did. But I WILL sit here and tell you that this team is for real. These are not your parents' Jets. These are the Phoenix Coyotes, they are here to howl, and they are going to surprise quite a few people as they WIN.

And not only will they win, but their winning will keep them where they belong from now until the end of time--the greatest place on Earth, the Valley of the Sun.

Now, as for the rest of the playoffs: in the offseason, many of the local Philly fans down here in Key West gave me all kinds of grief when their precious Flyers signed Bryzgalov away from the Coyotes, and my head chef pretty much stuck a fork in the Yotes because of it. And yet they found a new goalie, who has been a virtual brick wall, and the vaunted Russian allowed....how many goals in the first two games? Sure, the Flyers are up 2-0, but you can't say that Bryzgalov is the reason.

I don't have much more to say about the playoffs, other than that I am thrilled that the Ducks that I despise so much didn't qualify, and that I (by no means a regular hockey watcher) was quite entertained by the testiness of Game 1 between Phoenix and Chicago. Oh, and how much the Philly fans were gripping in the bar tonight as they went down early, again. And how much Pittsburgh fans have got to be gripping now, after twice snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

(I remember reading about a 1st round Philly-Colorado ROCKIES matchup back in the early 1980s......?!?!?!?)

I can't speak much about the alignment of the conferences or divisions back then (I wasn't even sure what hockey really WAS back then), but I am relatively certain that the Colorado Rockies were the team that moved and ended up becoming the New Jersey Devils.



Oh, one more thing:

Coyotes in 6.

[EyeTeaGuy]

I can't speak much about the alignment of the conferences or divisions back then (I wasn't even sure what hockey really WAS back then), but I am relatively certain that the Colorado Rockies were the team that moved and ended up becoming the New Jersey Devils.

You are correct, sir. Started life as the Kansas City Scouts, moved after 1 year to Denver, moved to NJ in 83 or thereabouts. The Colorado "Hockey" Rockies (given how our largely bumbling MLB team is also the Rockies...how often does that happen? Same city, same name, 2 different sports) even had Don Cherry as a head coach for a bit.

They had the #1 pick in the draft the year a certain defenseman fell to the Bruins at about 7 or 8........Raymond Bourque. Selected Rob Ramage, IIRC - nice player, but not one of the best of all time. The Hockey Rockies jersey is one of the more badass retro jerseys around.

http://www.icejerseys.com/item_details.php?id=313 (just to show a pic)

Back in 1998, my dad scored tix to the Avs-Bruins game - AWESOME seats, just inside the blue line and close enough that your head was right at the top of the glass. I saw Bourque score a blistering slapshot goal on the PP right in front of me and thought "Man, he's good - too bad I'll never see him in an Avalanche uniform."

Then the spring of 2000 came around.........I was doing many a happy dance. Still have my replica #77 Avs jersey. Pry it from my cold dead fingers, I dares ya!

[EyeTeaGuy]

Well, it seems as though I need to start a side business - soliciting donations from sports fans, to pick their most hated rivals/opponents in tournaments/playoffs.

My Stanley Cup pick? Vancouver - Pittsburgh? Yeah........they've played 5 games combined.

They've lost all of them. For Pittsburgh to come back, they have to do what only the 1942 Maple Leafs, 1975 Islanders, 2004 Red Sox and 2010 Flyers have been able to do, in HUNDREDS of best of seven matchups in North American sports - come back from a 0-3 hole.

Pittsburgh has given up around 20 goals. Both teams have given up way too many shorthanded goals, the death knell of any playoff team.

So yeah............be nice to me or I'll pick your teams next year!!!! Heck, I'll happily pick teams like the Red Wings, Cornhuskers & Raiders (sorry Jester! ), so the "fee" for those teams won't be too high.

[dragon_wings]

I'm actually paying attention to hockey this year (granted its a late start) thanks to a couple of customers that are fans of the Red Wings, my dad's favorite team. I actually have Tuesday off and will be able to watch the next game between them and the Predators (who I've actually seen when I lived in Tennessee).
Love me some hockey. One of the few sports I played myself, understand, and really enjoy watching. (Seen Knoxville's minor league team play a few time too.)

[Jester]

Regarding last night's game: ugh. Why can't we put our foot down on the neck of these Chicago guys? Double ugh.

Amusingly, while I am clearly more a football guy than anything (to me there's football season and offseason), my older sister's boyfriend of the last several years views hockey the same way I view football, as The Main Sport. Difference between he and I, though, is that he actually used to PLAY hockey (not the NHL though) and actually makes a good portion of his living these days by refereeing minor league and youth league hockey.

...how often does that happen? Same city, same name, 2 different sports...

I can think of two other times in history, one of them within my own personal memory, the other within that of my parents'.

St. Louis has the Cardinals baseball team, but they used to also have the Cardinals football team (now the Arizona Cardinals after they moved in 1988), both called the St. Louis Cardinals (as opposed to one being called the Missouri Cardinals, for example).

Also, there use to be two teams called the New York Giants: the football team, which is still there (well, in New Jersey, but they are still in the SHADOWS of NYC!), and the baseball team, which moved west in (I think) 1959 and became the San Francisco Giants.