The 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

^ So sad.

My first post has been updated with the Western Semi matchups and my 2 predictions.

I think both are going 7. I'm going Wings and Hawks. The Canucks/Hawks series should be rather fantastic.
 
As a Sharks fan I am going to show sportsmanship; I have to congratulate the Ducks. You guys absolutely deserve this series; you worked harder and wanted it may more than anyone on our roster ever wanted. We never showed any passion, energy or determination at any point; you did and thats why you won.

Good luck against Detroit; you will need it
 
Man, I love the freakin' playoffs!!!

I'm so happy that the Caps and the 'Canes won.

Wowzers!

Crosby versus Ovechkin in Round 2!
 
^The NHL is creaming their pants at the Crosby/Ovechkin matchup.

Frankly, so am I.

The Great 8 will be all over Crosby.

Should make for one of the best series.

Picking Caps. Varlamov has been nothing short of spectacular so far.
 
Teh Don Ditty said:
^The NHL is creaming their pants at the Crosby/Ovechkin matchup.

Frankly, so am I.

The Great 8 will be all over Crosby.

Should make for one of the best series.

Picking Caps. Varlamov has been nothing short of spectacular so far.
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whats the likelihood that every single game in this series wil either be versus or NBC and will be the only game that those two networks will pay any attention to>
 
Teh Don Ditty said:
^The NHL is creaming their pants at the Crosby/Ovechkin matchup.

Frankly, so am I.

The Great 8 will be all over Crosby.

Should make for one of the best series.

Picking Caps. Varlamov has been nothing short of spectacular so far.
Click to expand...

Ohh, man. This'll be a great series. Can't wait for it, picking the Caps to take it as well. Good on Carolina and Anaheim in taking out the Devils and Sharks. Totally didn't expect that, and glad I didn't bet on any of them unlike one of my co-workers who just lost $10 today, lol.
 
My team ate it painfully (Flyers), so I will choose the Caps for this round as the ones I'll cheer for. Mostly just to piss off my friends who are Pens fans.

I'm glad that a team that can't sell out home playoff games isn't moving on. Oh how I hate the Devils. They should revoke their franchise and send it to Quebec, Winnipeg, or somewhere that will have some butts in the seats.


I'm curious. Who here has been to a Stanley Cup finals game? I was at all of the Colorado home games in 2001. I had a great time being a season ticket holder through the Roy/Forsberg/Sakic days. :)
 
Decrepit said:
My team ate it painfully (Flyers), so I will choose the Caps for this round as the ones I'll cheer for. Mostly just to piss off my friends who are Pens fans.

I'm glad that a team that can't sell out home playoff games isn't moving on. Oh how I hate the Devils. They should revoke their franchise and send it to Quebec, Winnipeg, or somewhere that will have some butts in the seats.


I'm curious. Who here has been to a Stanley Cup finals game? I was at all of the Colorado home games in 2001. I had a great time being a season ticket holder through the Roy/Forsberg/Sakic days. :)
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man I had tickets to game 7 of the finals, but I couldn't go. man I wish I had:(
 
Go Jets Go! If only... but the Coyotes did as poorly this season as they did on any regular season in Winnipeg
 
Rock the RED!

That goal by Federov was reminiscent of his mid 90's days. It reminded me of playing with the Red Wings in SEGA NHL '94! Man, he flew down there, hit the brakes and put it top shelf. What a goal!

Varmalov gets the MVP for that series...
 
^^^^ That was the best of all the Sega EA NHL games, hands down.

I totally remember using Federov exactly like that.

The deke move was also a standard way to score.....


The hype has already begun for the Pens/Caps series...... I hope that it can live up to it.

sid-t_42661.jpg
 
So will all those that said Sundin was all about the money when he signed with Vancouver, if he wanted to win he would have gone to Montreal or New York eat crow now?

Bring on the 'Hawks!
 
stcanard said:
So will all those that said Sundin was all about the money when he signed with Vancouver, if he wanted to win he would have gone to Montreal or New York eat crow now?

Bring on the 'Hawks!
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It's hard to say what kind of impact Sundin would have had on the Habs or the Rangers. Maybe he would have been the piece they needed to be better. On those teams, he would have been more "the man", and probably would have produced more (as he did in Toronto for all those years). In Vancouver, he is just another piece of the puzzle, not the main guy, and I think his performance to date reflects that.

Don't get ahead of yourself now, it's only been one round. I think they're in for one hell of a surprise against the Blackhawks.


bruinsrme said:
Thank you......

My predictions who will advance to the conference
Bruins
Caps
Detroit
hawks

Cup
Caps
hawks
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If the Blackhawks make it past the Canucks, I think that they'll be too spent to deal with the likes of the Red Wings (or Anaheim, for that matter) to advance to the Cup.

My predictions:

Carolina will win in 7 games.

Washington will win in 5 games.

Detroit and Anaheim is a toss-up, and it will go 7 games. Heads is Detroit, Tails is the Ducks.........and..... heads it is.

Vancouver will win in 6 games.
 
Surely said:
It's hard to say what kind of impact Sundin would have had on the Habs or the Rangers. Maybe he would have been the piece they needed to be better. On those teams, he would have been more "the man", and probably would have produced more (as he did in Toronto for all those years). In Vancouver, he is just another piece of the puzzle, not the main guy, and I think his performance to date reflects that.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I think that's why he made the right choice -- between his (lack of) speed, and his injury issues he would never have held up as "the man". As it is he's making a great depth player, but do you honestly see somebody who is a depth player on the Canucks being the difference between Montreal losing four straight to Boston and them winning the Stanley Cup?

Don't get ahead of yourself now, it's only been one round. I think they're in for one hell of a surprise against the Blackhawks.
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Oh we're not ahead of ourselves, the Hawks won't be easy, but here's the thing -- we get to thank the media for giving the Canucks an extra push. Its not often that a team that wins its division, finishes top-10 in the league, and gets home-ice advantage in two rounds gets to be the underdog.

Two weeks ago all the major writers (at least in Canada) were talking about how the Canucks had missed a chance -- they matched up better against the Hawks, and how St. Louis had a good chance of taking them down because they were the hottest team in the league.

4 games later the talk was how the Canucks had an easy first round, because the Blues were a non-playoff team who had been lucky to get there.

Now, all of a sudden, instead of being a good matchup for the Canucks, the 'Hawks are a dangerous team that we can barely contain (barely contain although we outscored them total of 11 - 3 in the last two games).

Lets face it ... the Hawks took 6 games to beat a Calgary team that was frankly not very good. They were missing key players and had no heart. Honestly not a lot can be read from that other than the fact that the Hawks are ready to play, and this time Chicago won't have Dion Phaneuf on their side.

The 'Nucks have an elite goaltender and arguably one of the deepest defence corps in the league. Willie Mitchell spent the entire season against the other team's top lines and came out of it with a plus 29 -- if anybody can shut down Toews he can.

So, while we won't overlook Chicago, I'd suggest that people who didn't watch them play all season not overlook the Canucks ... they are a lot better a team than you might think, and have a lot more depth at forward than it might first seem.

But that's alright, I enjoy being an underdog with home-ice advantage ... and that's why the dig about Sundin's choice. All year they have been underestimated despite putting up some of the best numbers in the league.

I guess that's what we get for playing on the west side of the Rockies.
 
stcanard said:
Honestly, I think that's why he made the right choice -- between his (lack of) speed, and his injury issues he would never have held up as "the man". As it is he's making a great depth player, but do you honestly see somebody who is a depth player on the Canucks being the difference between Montreal losing four straight to Boston and them winning the Stanley Cup?
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I don't know man. I think that if Sundin went to a team with the mindset of being the man, he would have performed differently. I think he understood that as a Canuck he didn't/doesn't need to be the go-to-guy, and ended up (subconsciously?) toning down his play to being more of a supporting player.

stcanard said:
All that stuff you said
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As you can see from my above prediction, I mostly agree with your assessment. I think the Blackhawks are still a young, inexperienced team, and they still need to make a few depth personnel moves to get to the elite level. However, they're going to give the Canucks a hard time. It won't be as easy as 4-and-out like Round 1.

Who says the Canucks are the underdog? Nothing I've heard or read. Sounds like the Vancouver sports writer/PR hype-machine has created this underdog thing to get people all defensive. Anyways, do you think the players pay attention to the media for that extra push? They don't care what the media say. They're totally biased towards the Leafs anyway;):rolleyes:.

See, the thing about sports writers is that they try to predict what will happen, and when it doesn't turn out that way, they change their tune and give reasons why it didn't work out that way. Some went out on a limb to say the Blues were going to take down the powerhouse Canucks. If that happened, they would be geniuses and would remind everyone that they predicted it. Eh, I wouldn't pay too much attention to the writers anyway.

St. Louis did have a good chance of taking them down- before the playoffs began. At that point in time, it seemed plausible and possible. However, the Blues were totally spent from playing at the level they were playing at towards the end of the season, and just didn't have the energy or the will to compete at the Canucks' level. Their accomplishment- and goal- was to make the playoffs. Mission accomplished.

Remember.....the regular season is not the same as the playoffs. It doesn't matter that you outscored the Hawks 11-3 in the last 2 games. With that reasoning, we should have given the Sharks a bye to the finals.....

If Luongo goes down, they're done. That's the key. I predict a lot of running the goalie by Chicago. I don't think- is it LaBarberra?- is going to be able to carry the team like the 'captain' can.

I don't think anyone is saying that the Canucks aren't a solid/top team.

I'd like to see them make it to the next round. I think they will, but it'll take 6 games to get there. Oh, and if I'm wrong..... then, um, it's because, um, all the travel. Yeah, that's it.... the Canucks' travel schedule is the worst in the league (WAY worse than Detroit's :rolleyes:), and they're just too tired from all the travel, and, um, Chicago, is really far away and stuff. ;)
See, I can be a sportswriter too......

Solid post, stcanard. :cool:
 
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