NHL Playoffs: Round 1 Predictions
Everybody does it... And I am, too. Because I am susceptible to peer pressure.
Actually, most of my family makes predictions every year, and we compete to see who picked things the most accurately. So this can also be an opportunity to make my victory a matter of public record!
Here are my selections:
Western Conference
Vancouver (1) vs. Chicago (8)
Vancouver in 5.
San Jose (2) vs. Los Angeles (7)
San Jose in 5.
Detroit (3) vs. Phoenix (6)
Detroit in 7.
Anaheim (4) vs. Nashville (5)
Anaheim in 6.
Eastern Conference
Washington (1) vs. New York Rangers (8)
Washington in 6.
Philadelphia (2) vs. Buffalo (7)
Philadelphia in 5.
Boston (3) vs. Montreal (6)
Boston in 6.
Pittsburgh (4) vs. Tampa Bay (5)
Tampa Bay in 7.
Playoff Time Approaches
It's almost playoff time!
The last games of the 2010/2011 NHL regular season will be played on Sunday, so as soon I know which teams are in, and what the matchups are, it's going to be prediction-making time.
I'll probably share some thoughts on how things are going as the playoffs progress. There are several teams I'm interested in seeing go far, but of course my two big favourites are the Canucks and the Lightning. I'd love to see Vancouver beat Tampa Bay in the finals.
First the Canucks have to stop losing to teams like Edmonton, though. They clinched the President's Trophy, so it's not like it means anything at all, but it's still a little disheartening to lose twice to the worst team in the league.
As for the Bolts, I want to see Stamkos pick up his game. It's great that Lecavalier has been stepping up big time, but they need all of their top scorers to be rolling, and Roloson to stand on his head, if they want to go deep this year. It's going to be tough for them, I think, but they have the tools they need. It's time to put it all together, though. Now's when it really matters.
Stay tuned for lots more hockey talk over the coming weeks!
Oh, also, I'm getting married in 24 days. Huh.
Chinatown and the All-Star Game
Yesterday Larissa and I went to Fan Tan Alley in downtown Victoria's Chinatown, which claims to be the oldest Chinatown in Canada. (It may also be the smallest, but there's some cool stuff there.)
We bought some paper lanterns for wedding decorations and also found a cute little white basket for the flower girl.
While we were downtown we stopped by a board game store to look at Ticket To Ride. A couple of nights ago we played Ticket To Ride Europe for the first time with some friends, and it was awesome, so we were curious how many different versions there were and how much it cost. Turns out it's like $60. Seems like a lot for a board game, but when I compare it to a new video game, it sounds much more reasonable. I think I know what I'll be asking for when my birthday rolls around...
Over the weekend I also watched the NHL All-Star skills competition and game. Seeing Michael Grabner win fastest skater and Daniel Sedin win the accuracy competition was pretty cool. I didn't pay full attention to the game, though. Patrick Sharp won MVP by fan vote, mostly on account of a strong first period. He didn't seem to do as much in the second and third, but first impressions are powerful. But it doesn't really matter. It's not like any NHL All-Stars really need to win a $25,000 car. They earn that much in a game or two. It's basically a feather in their cap, and I think feathers look silly in men's caps, as a general rule.
The rest of this week looks pretty routine, other than my book release. Oh, and my cousin's getting married on Saturday. Yay!
Playin’ Hockey!
On Saturday I played ice hockey for the first time in a few years. Now, that's not to say that I used to play a lot of ice hockey. I can probably count the number of times I've played ice hockey in the last 15 years on one hand. But this time was a bit different. This time I owned my own equipment, and I have expectations of playing again with the same group in the next month or two.
I'm still a bit sore, and it's Wednesday now, but my back is almost back to normal. On Sunday and Monday I was having a hard time bending over to tie my shoelaces! Some good news is that I'm getting a massage on Friday from a not-yet-certified professional masseuse who's offering free massages in order to get testimonal signatures towards his/her certification, so that's pretty awesome.
My skating felt about as good as it always has. I learned to skate as a kid, when I played in a kids' league at ages 6 and 7. So I have an ok stride, I can skate backwards (slowly, admittedly), and I can stop properly. Well, ok, I can only stop properly with my left foot, for some reason. I've never had the right balance to stop with my right foot. I'm not sure why.
My shot was better than I expected. I'm not sure how much credit to give to my new stick. I bought a composite stick with a decent curve in it, and I found I could get a pretty accurate wrist shot off. The biggest thing holding back my slapshot is my skating balance, I think.
Most of the people I was playing with had a similar skill level to mine. My skating ability was probably just above average for the group, but my stamina is still subpar. I found I was able to deke around people better than I expected, but one of the hardest things for a poor skater to do is skate backwards on defense (trust me; I know), so being able to deke around a guy in that situation isn't that big of an accomplishment.
All told, I think the biggest things I need to work on are 1) stopping with my right foot, 2) skating balance, which will help me going backwards and shooting, and 3) stamina. Altogether, improving my overall sense of balance will contribute to all of these things, I think, so I'm going to see what I can do about that.
I'm also going to see if I can get a jersey to wear that isn't advertising Molson Canadian...
The Best Shooters in the NHL
After sharing my opinions on the best passers in the NHL, I think it's only appropriate that I explain who I think the best shooters in the league are. To be clear, this is not a list of the best scorers. It's a list of the players with the best (hardest, quickest, most accurate) shot. So Sidney Crosby isn't on this list, because he does a lot of his scoring on dekes or right in front of the net. He scores a lot with strength and agility rather than shooting.
Let me know your opinion of my list!
The Best Shooters in the NHL
Steven Stamkos (shoots Right), Tampa Bay Lightning
- Setup man: Martin St. Louis
- This season: 21 goals in 26 games.
Ilya Kovalchuk (shoots Right), New Jersey Devils
- Setup men: Travis Zajac, Jason Arnott
- This season: 4 goals in 24 games (ouch!).
Alex Ovechkin (shoots Right), Washington Capitals
- Setup man: Nicklas Backstrom
- This season: 10 goals in 27 games.
Alexander Semin (shoots Right), Washington Capitals
- Setup man: Nicklas Backstrom
- This season: 18 goals in 27 games.
Dany Heatley (shoots Left), San Jose Sharks
- Setup man: Joe Thornton
- This season: 12 goals in 24 games.
Points of note:
- Four of these five players shoot right.
- Three of these players are right-handed Russians.
- Kovalchuk is far better than his numbers suggest. Something in New Jersey is cursed this year.
- I'm not sold on Heatley as my fifth choice. Maybe Patrick Sharp or Jeff Carter deserve to make this list ahead of him... I don't know.
So interestingly, my shooters are almost all right-handed shooters, while my passers all shoot left. I don't think that's a coincidence. There may be something about the way players hold their sticks, or their positioning on the ice, that favours lefties as passers and dekers and righties as pure shooters. It's worth thinking about.
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