28 hours of hockey euphoria

1. Bruins 4, Hurricanes 0

I really...this game was a great experience, especially after being at game 2. Timmy and the B's really turned it around and gave a great show.

We got to the glass for warmups - found everyone, sorted out tickets, no problems there - I grabbed my anti-Canes-mojo poster and split off from the group to go sit by Canes warmups, poster pressed firmly against the glass, shit-eating grin on my face.

Moment of the night that seriously set my heart racing and ready for the Bruins to beat the pants off the Whalercanes? Tim Conboy looked at my poster, grinned, and shook his head a little. BUT THEN, two minutes later, Eric Staal himself came over and was stretching right beside my poster; he took a few more laps, then, on his way off the ice to head back into the locker room, ERIC STAAL PUNCHED THE GLASS IN FRONT OF ME, with the most petulant, crabby look on his face, ever! I'm pretty sure I ruined his mojo. Yep, three quick hard raps on the glass with the outside of his fist, a quick scowl, then back in, buzzer sounded, and up we headed to our seats in the nosebleeds.

Other highlights - Milan Lucic was a beast; he put some sweet hits on some of the Canes early on, got things going early, and even potted a goal, thank goodness. Phil Kessel snagged two, and Chara was a +3 on the night. Making up for lost ground in game 2. Good man.

It was like someone flipped a switch in their brains, or replaced their legs with bionic robot ones, or amped them up in some way that didn't seem humanly possible - the drastic change in energy level between games 4 and 5 was absolutely unbelievable. I don't want to think that it's only because of the home energy from the crowd, but I think that was part of it. Another part is that the Bruins had no reason to get ANGRY at the WhalerCanes; they were just sort of...that team, you know, that we're playing against. There were no Komisareks, no Laraques on this team, until last night.

The Bruins were a sleepy bear until last night, until they had their backs to the wall - not only did the Hurricanes back them into a corner, but then they decided to poke the cornered bear. NOT A GOOD IDEA. Now, Walker might as well have a bullseye painted on his back; the Zdeno Chara debacle didn't hurt, and in the third, the Bruins came out swinging. The defense rotated like a well-oiled machine; at one point even the least physical forwards were spotting playing two-way hockey, specifically David Krejci and Marc Savard. The two of them made some nice little checks, and even did some mucking in front of Tim Thomas, the few times the puck made it to the defensive zone.

My favorite stat of the night: The Bruins had 40 SOG to the Whalercanes' 19. These numbers were essentially reversed for games 2 through 4, which is promising.

Game 6 tomorrow - here's hoping the Bruins pack a little bit of Red Sox mojo, circa 2004. My mood: cautiously optimistic. It's true, Carolina is a tough building to play in, but they KNOW now what the atmosphere will be like, and there's a wee bit of momentum. Keep rolling, boys. Keep rolling.

2. Capitals 5, Penguins 4

I missed this game. I am both happy and sad about this; while it sounds like a game in which there were many heart attacks, sometimes those are my favorite kind of games. Your heart races, adrenaline floods your body; a doctor checking your body's reaction would almost think YOU were involved in these games. Alas, though, we're just the plebes watching the struggles of others, living vicariously through their efforts.

And lo did the Caps bring the pain to Pittsburgh tonight. Dave Steckel is apparently a beast, Alexander Semin finally woke up from his 5-game nap, Ovechkin didn't account for ANY goals tonight - before the game, I thought to myself, is Ovie going to try to carry this team through the playoffs? Because if so, they're not going anywhere. Tonight, Viktor Kozlov, Tomas Fleischmann, Alex Semin, and Dave Steckel proved otherwise - and well done! Varlamov let in four goals which still makes me question the quality of the defense, but other than that - well played!

3. Blackhawks 7, Canucks 5

Man, were Khabibulin and Luongo a pair of sieves tonight, or what? Okay, maybe not, but close. The Blackhawks scored a touchdown on the Canucks; Patrick Kane grabbed the first Blackhawks post-season hat trick since 1994, and the Blackhawks took down the last Canadian team in six games to make their first Western Conference Finals appearance since 1995.

IT WAS A GOOD NIGHT AT THE UNITED CENTER TONIGHT.

Glad to see Toews and Burish snag goals as well. Really, other than that, I've got nothing, except: this gif sums up my feelings since yesterday night.



I'll soak in this feeling for about 30 more minutes, and then it's back to watching my team fight for its life. Two more, Bruins. One more, Caps.

DO IT.

Time to go REDUX

First of all, I don't want to talk about the Bruins getting blanked in game two past this:

Game one was the release of the stircrazy energy that builds up over nine days. Game two, there was none of that stircrazy energy left. Game two was rust. Two days off between games two and three means practice, getting back to what we know, settling back into the groove of hard work and retaliation. The Bruins are nothing if not retaliant, and this is a good thing to bounce back from. (I do not ever want to see Zdeno Chara get a -3 for the night, ever, EVER again.)

Game three in three hours: this kid can't wait.

Other games in the last few days were incredibly lively and dramatic. That's one thing - the fewer teams that remain, the more concentrated the drama seems to get. Canucks/Blackhawks game two was intense (soo intens!) although game three the 'Hawks seemed to lack mojo, dropping that one 3-1. They looked a lot like the Bruins in game 2 - just not a full-force presence on the ice. Red Wings/Ducks game three was a big bowl of crazy - James Wisniewski carted off the ice in a stretcher after taking a puck to the chest, and a Marian Hossa goal that was - and then wasn't. (I am learning the Ways of the Terrible NHL Ref from this playoff round, as well. Good times.)

Also learning about the whole deal with who gets suspended for what, and it seems a little off to me. Like - Brashear gets suspended for six games for a hit on Blair Betts that didn't even seem that bad, but guys like Chris Kunitz and Sean Avery can deck Semyon Varlamov in the head (or cross check him) and...nothing? Or, and this is water under the bridge at this point, but still - Lucic's suspension for crosschecking, but nothing for Komisarek's eye-gouging? Or Mike Brown's hit on Jiri Hudler? I think the NHL needs to sit down, after this season, and take a serious good hard look at how they rule these sorts of penalties. It's not fair to assess a five-minute-major and game misconduct to Brown, and then a two-minute minor and SIX GAME SUSPENSION to Brashear, when both hits are of the same caliber. If the NHL is going to take a harder hand to hits like these, it needs to serve out penalties equally and fairly, not in what appears to be a random, crapshoot-esque manner.

Capitals/Penguins game two was in a league of its own - terrible NBC coverage (although with our Brick!), Ovie and Sid the Kid both scoring hat tricks (pretty sure the media collectively peed themselves as soon as this happened) - with the differences being Dave Steckel and Semyon Varlamov. The Pens need to pull one out, tonight - more of their team needs to show up. Where's Evgeni Malkin been, this series? Did he forget to catch the plane to Washington? Maybe now that they're home tonight, he can find his way to the rink. Oh, Mineral. So faily.

So, game three. Times two. (Dear NHL, why would you schedule two games at the same exact time?) Matt Hunwick and Marco Sturm had private skate sessions yesterday before practice; it's the little things. Maybe it'll help energize their team, seeing their teammates struggling their way back through rehab. Maybe the shocker of dropping a game 3-0 to a team they beat soundly four times in the regular season and once in the postseason, along with seeing that 3-0 drop on video, will be enough to motivate them to step up their game. Whatever the case, look to see a completely different Bruins team tonight.

Oh, and let's go Celts. (And Red Sox, I guess? THERE ARE FOUR SPORTS GAMES ON TONIGHT THAT I HAVE TO COVER. Difficulty: I am having it.)

Well hello there, round two.

I feel like for each set of Round 2 matchups, the media/internet is trying to grab onto one aspect of the series and run with it. Some of them are awesome, some annoying.

Pens/Caps (aka the PaperMate series (thanks, @voteforgrant!): OVIE/CROSBY. I think the NHL media outlets collectively wet themselves when the Hurricanes came back to win over the Devils, thus solidifying that matchup. Is it exciting? Yes. Is it the most exciting Round 2 matchup? No. (Okay, maybe. You didn't hear that from me, though.) Am I excited to see Varlamov take on Marc-Andre Fleury? VERY.

My pick: Caps in 6. (This means I need to figure out two days to pick the Pens, or just go with the Caps every day and get a few wrong. Hmm.)

B's/Canes (aka the series formerly known as the Battle of New England): This Team Used to Be the Whalers. Let's lay out every statistic relevant to the Hartford Whalers that we can find! Okay, that's a little silly. I love calling them the Whalercanes as much as the next guy, but can we focus on the current team and how our team will match up against them? Granted the B's swept the season series, but since the Bruins last saw the WhalerCanes (look at me, I'm trying to quit!), they went 17-5-2 into the playoffs, beating out New York and Montreal for the sixth seed. Not an easy feat, and definitely a team the Bruins should be at least wary of.

My pick: Bruins in 5.

Red Wings/Ducks (aka the Disney Movie series:) The Ducks/Red Wings angle is all about the wee upsetters vs. the Hockey Machine. Somebody needs to tell the Ducks that the Red Wings are not the same team as the Sharks. The Sharks' black-hole level playoff collapses don't happen to the Detroit Red Wings; additionally, the drive to defend their Stanley Cup means that their momentum from round one probably won't change.

My pick: Red Wings in 5.

Blackhawks/Canucks (aka the Mystery series:) The angle here is OMG the Blackhawks made it past the first round, Chi-town has a hockey team again, SO WHAT NOW? And really, it's true; this series is a big fat question mark. The Canucks feel comparable to the Flames, to me; true, they swept the Blues, but that's different from playing a team two seeds higher. The only weakness I can see here is Chicago having taken their first round to 6 games versus Vancouver's sweep-in-four and week off from rest; however, I don't know if that will make Vancouver weak from rust, or Chicago weak from fatigue? This series is truly an enigma - if the series goes to seven games, or Vancouver sweeps, or Chicago takes it in 6, I wouldn't be surprised - this is a series where truly, anything could happen. Really all I can say is thank goodness the first game of this series is tonight!

My pick: Blackhawks in 7 (but actually a big ????)

Round 1 Roundup

Well THIS was an interesting first round. Three teams wrapped it up and moved on early; three series went to six games, and two went to seven. Epic moments occurred in every series, though some had more impact than others; players were suspended, as were coaches, goalies were given the boot, and one team made a ridiculous comeback. Here's a ranking of the eight series, from least exciting to most amazing. (May be a little biased.)

8. Detroit Red Wings sweep Columbus Blue Jackets

I have to admit, I did not pay attention to this series at ALL. For one thing, for the most part, I tend to shy away from Western Conference games unless the Blackhawks are involved; for another, I had a feeling that the Red Wings would completely dominate. I picked them all four times in the Twtpool and that was that. Things of note include the fact that this was CBJ's first ever trip to the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs; to be fair, they're a young franchise. Hopefully they'll take this playoff experience and run with it, coming back next year with a vengeance. I have to say, too, I was secretly rooting really hard for Steve Mason, especially after he blanked the Bruins back on March 10th.

7. Vancouver Canucks sweep St. Louis Blues

Vancouver Canucks sweep the St. Louis Blues: another series I didn't pay much attention to, except via all the 'Nucks and Blues fans who apparently follow me on Twitter. (highly entertaining to watch Twitter react when goals were scored in this series.) Again, I picked the Canucks in all four games in the pool, and I got 'em all.

6. Penguins take it to the Flyers in 6

Marc-Andre Fleury really owned this series, except when he didn't. I kept picking the Pens, and they only dissapointed me twice.

Basically: Pens take games 1 & 2, Sarah goes "Oh, well, this'll be a quick one." WRONG. Series goes to Wachovia for game 3; all of a sudden, my haterade for Scott Hartnell QUADRUPLES, and the Flyers take game 3. Dang. Flyers fans have to be the most annoying things ever ("Crosby sucks?" Be a little more original, Philly.) Luckily, game 4 didn't go the same way; Flower nearly shut out the Flyers (3-1, final) in a bit of a turnaround from game 3.

Flyers take game 5 in a 3-0 shutout at Mellon Arena, making Pens fans everywhere incredibly angry and further screwing me over in the twtpool; luckily the Pens came back for game 6 with a fury.

...sort of.

At the end of the first period it's 3-0 Flyers and I am seriously having doubts about ever having picked the Pens for any reason other than I love Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury. AWFUL. Luckily my doubts were assuaged when Sidney Crosby decided he wanted to actually show up to the game. Final score: 5-3, Pens win, move onto round 2, and get me some pool points again. (I am nothing if not devoted to the teams I pick.)*

5. Ducks jump the #1 seeded Sharks in 6

Okay, I have to admit, I have a soft spot for the Ducks. After all, they did acquire one Petteri Nokelainen from the Bruins and James Wisniewski from the 'Hawks back on Hockey Christmas, along with a bunch of other dudes. Post March 4th, they were basically this team cobbled together from parts of other teams, and then they started winning. Craziness.

Plus, I don't really like the Sharks. Going into this, I pretty much assumed it was going to be 4 and done, Sharks move on - in all my round pools, I picked them to do that, even though it made me a little sad.

Lucky for me (sort of?), Joe Thornton and the Curse of the President's Trophy struck again! The Ducks made some epic comebacks, and while the Sharks struggled to stay in it, Jonas Hiller the Shark Killer kept them to two games, and the Ducks took it in 6. Good times. Glad I picked the Ducks in game 6. This was a fairly exciting series.

4. Bruins sweep the sad-sack Habs in 4

The only reason this isn't further down on the list is because I'm a giant homer. No, wait, that's incorrect.

THIS SERIES ROCKED. Really hard. I'm not a bad person, I swear, but it was like the best sort of revenge.

Game 1: First, Phil Kessel scored. Seconds later, David Krejci scored. (Dear Peter Chiarelli: RE-SIGN KREJCI. That is all.) Some Habs did some scoring. Lame. Later, Zdeno Chara scored the GWG and Marc Savard totally gave him a big smooch for it. There were some extracurriculars at the end of the game, which resulted in Matt Hunwick getting his eye poked out, practically (that image is a little icky, watch out) and Kessel getting plowed after his last-minute goal. This game was probably the most struggly. Matt Hunwick got sent to the hospital the following day.

Game 2: Best game in the series. Sheriff Shane Hnidy, playing in Matt Hunwick's spot (which he took from Hnides earlier in the year, BTW) SCORES A GOAL. WHAT.

Too bad that's not ALL that happened. Marc Savard was crazy, Mike Ryder lit it up against his former team, Tim Thomas got his FIRST NHL PLAYOFF POINT (assisted on Ryder's goal, I believe). And did I mention that Patrice Bergeron got in a fight?



Lucic got a game misconduct and a 1-game suspension which did not make ANY sense considering the extracurriculars that went on in game 1 and the beginnings of this game. Oh well. BAM, 5-1, let's go to Montreal.

Game 3: This is where the Habs really started looking sad-sack. We take the series to ye olde Bell Centre, A Shawn Thornton from Byron Bitz goal happens (and can I pause here to mention that for a while Thorts had more goals in the playoffs than supposed superstahhh Joe Thornton? AWESOME.), Timmy is yet again an unstoppable brick wall, only letting in one goal in the first period. THOOOOOOOOOOO-MAS chant, what? Ole, what? Bring on game four!

Game 4: Michael Ryder vs. the Habs, round 4. Michael Ryder wins. 2 goals, 1 assist. Andrei Kostitsyn and the Habs showed up for about ten minutes in the first; however, Ryder and Krejci scored goals (off assists from each other...Lucic-Ryder-Krejci MIGHT be my favorite line, EVER) less than a minute apart, and after that, it was really all over. A bit of extracurriculars, Montreal going crazy on Carey Price (who did NOT deserve what those fans did to him, in my opinion) and that was that, onto a week of bumming around Wilmington and some not-really-needed rest.


3. Blackhawks put out the Flames in 6

I watched as much of this series as I could. Basically what I gleaned from it for the most part is: Marty Havlat is the most versatile forward on the team; Coach Quenneville could stick him ANYWHERE (first line, fourth line) and things would get done. Iginla-Cammaleri-Jokinen gave them problems, and at times the Hawks looked like they had no idea what they were doing; first playoffs since Jonathan Toews was what, 8? or so will do that to you.

But magic happened; in game 1, Marty Havlat scored the third fastest overtime goal in playoffs history. Check please, United Center goes wild. Game 2: Captain Serious scores two goals, Patrick Sharp grabs one, the defense and Khabibulin are GREAT and limit Calgary to two goals.

Games 3 and 4 in Calgary were a struggle; Kane sat Game 3 with flu-like symptoms (perhaps Swine Flu of Doom?) and some crazy rumors started that the 'Hawks were yelling racist slurs during the game. Come on, let's just play some hockey. Jokinen and Iginla played really well at home; the Hawks just really couldn't handle them.

After that, it was like the Hawks just decided they wanted to be done with things. Kiprusoff forgot there was a game 5; Kaner and the boys rocked game 6 and that was that. Exciting series.


2: Hurricanes whale on the Devils; take it to 7

Didn't watch a minute of this series because it was never on TV. Things I saw in highlights include two things:
1) Carolina scores with :00.7 left in the third, Marty Brodeur throws a hissyfit (game 4).
2) Carolina scores two goals in one minute to take game seven; somewhere, Mama and Daddy Staal declare Eric their favorite of the night. Marc goes and cries in a corner, due to the results of epic series #1.

These two things were ridiculous; the series went to game 7, Lady Luck was SO with Carolina it's sort of unbelievable.

1. Baby goalie, Ovie, and Sergei Federov are better than Sean Avery and Coach Torts in 7 games

Oh god, where to begin.
THINGS THAT ARE AWESOME:
*Jose Theodore gives everything up in game one; is pulled; New baby goalie Semyon Varlamov (who'd logged what, like five actual NHL games at that point?) pulls through, Caps win.
*Ovie has a few super nice goals, but this is overshadowed by
*MATT BRADLEY WITH TWO GOALS IN GAME FIVE. Yes, THAT Matt Bradley. Ovie's goal was pretty, but Brad's were the ones that counted.
*Two shutouts for Semyon Varlamov; on top of this, gets Sean Avery sat for one game because of his shenanigans. Avery does not like goalies, apparently; he smacked Varly in the back of the head. Check out Varly's reaction: IT IS NONEXISTANT. Russian goalie is....very stoic.
*Mike Green finally pulls his head out of the sand and does well in the last two games.
*Some Caps fan taunts Torts; Torts throws a water bottle at him, gets thrown out of the next game, Caps proceed to trounce the Rangers yet again.
*It all comes down to the last few minutes of game 7 at the Verizon Center. It's 1-1, and Old Man Feds bangs one in for the win, and for the pass to Round Two. Bring on the Pens!

So now it's time for Round Two. I just want to say: I picked 7/8 of these series correctly. Sweet. Go Bruins, Caps, and Hawks! And...Ducks, I guess!

* This is a giant lie. Case in point: Devils/Canes series.