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it’s playoff time

Posted by  on 13 April 2009, 12:36 pm
in a couple of day (april 15th to be more exact) the nhl playoffs are set to begin. after an 82 game regular season, the match ups are set…and someone will get to play till june to hold up a cup. may not be as simple as i just put it, but overall it should bring with it lots of fun games, crazy hits and most likely some big brawls…after all it’s the nhl. with this i mind, here are the match-ups (with the conference standing in brackets) and then my predictions of who will win each one. i’ll try to keep track and see how i fare up till the end of the playoffs.
Eastern Conference
Boston Bruins (1) vs. Montreal Canadiens (8) - my prediction: Boston Bruins
Washington Capitals (2) vs. New York Rangers (7) - my prediction: Washington Capitals
New Jersey Devils (3) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (6) – my prediction: New Jersey
Pittsburgh Penguins (4) vs. Philadelphia Flyers (5) - my prediction: Pittsburgh Penguins

Western Conference
San Jose Sharks (1) vs. Anaheim Ducks (8) - my prediction: San Jose Sharks
Detroit Red Wings (2) vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (7) – my prediction: Columbus Blue Jackets
Vancouver Canucks (3) vs. St.Louis Blues (6) - my prediction: Vancouver Canucks
Chicago Blackhawks (4) vs. Calgary Flames (5) - my prediction: Chicago Blackhawks

mostly i’m thinking the higher seeded teams will take care of the match-ups, given they do have home court advantage. although, i must say as well as the red wings have been playing all season, the blue jackets have a point to prove. so i’m thinking upset in seven games. the rest, i guess i’m being conservative, but in the east boston has been playing well as of late, washigton has ovechkin (enough said), new jersey is running with a goalie that is on top of his game given the records he set this year, and then pittsburg for some reason or another has been playing better and better in the last few weeks. as far as the west goes, san jose has a point to prove given the last few years of failed playoff showings, columbus i’m thinking will try to make the best of their first appearance in the playoffs in a long time (i think it’s their first overall), the canucks got luongo (and this guy could potentially win a series all by himself) and then the calgary flames can’t seem to be consistent while chicago is playing amazingly well.

the tv schedules are up, and here’s the one for the canucks with times in pacific time, for the rest see the link to the nhl website:

Wednesday, April 15 at Vancouver, 7:00 p.m. CBC, VERSUS, RDS
Friday, April 17 at Vancouver, 7:00 p.m. CBC, VERSUS, RDS
Sunday, April 19 at St. Louis, 4:00 p.m. CBC, VERSUS
Tuesday, April 21 at St. Louis, 5:00 p.m. CBC, VERSUS
*Friday, April 24 at Vancouver, 7:00 p.m. CBC, VERSUS, RDS
*Sunday, April 26 at St. Louis, 5:00 p.m. CBC, VERSUS, RDS
*Tuesday, April 28 at Vancouver, TBD CBC, VERSUS, RDS
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and so it ends…

Posted by  on 1 April 2009, 4:50 pm
with disgrace, disgust and disappointment. disappointment for an entire country. a country, who’s last hopes of entertainment and dreams were shattered by a corrupt system that clawed its way into a beautiful sport. a system that has infected a country…entered a sport…it entered football and the effects seem to be long-lasting. until now there was somewhat of a trace of hope…even if that hope was based on the stupidity of the most overrated star in romanian history (yes…i am talking about drug-struck mutu). a team lead by an injury prone defender (too bad you came to late chivu), a goalkeeper who can’t seem to be more than a bench-warmer outside of romania, and a drug-user in the attack. anyone else that plays well outside of romania does not have a place on the field for romania in the eyes of the worst player to ever put on a national jersey (yes…we still remember the gambling, the arrests, the dumb comments and the overall idiotic attitude piturca…).

what happened? it’s simple…quite too simple actually…it starts from the top…with the federation’s ‘leader’…a shady double-faced character…by the name of sandu…the same guy that runs the romanian football federation as if he wants it to fail. the same guy that changes his word depending on who’s words are sweeter (given the ‘favorable’ referring romanian received after sandu screwed over the uefa president a few years ago). regardless…it’s not as if he will step down…so we can at least not dream about it.

lack of professionalism from the coach…on top of that…there’s a clear lack of dignity (let’s not forget he wont’ resign because getting him fired…will pot him around half a million euros)…and on top of that a clear lack of contact with reality. after the loss against serbia…he stated quite calmly…’that serbia passed the center line just 6 times’…why would they need to pass it more often if they played most of the game in the romanian half? better yet…why worry to pass it more often if they scored 3 goals with those 6 times?…that’s a 50% efficiency…quite a different team if you’d ask me?

after the austria game…he states ‘we lost a game…that’s all’. obviously…everyone knows romania lost a game and with destroyed mutu’s dream at snorting coke off a south african woman…the question is will he take responsibility? probably not…and thus the eternal pain will continue for a country that simply has nothing else to look forward to. at least until now…football was something to look for in order to forget the corruption of the system…now the system took over football…

the best joke today on april 1st…is that the romanian ‘national team’ showed up for a game…

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sometimes even grown men cry…

Posted by  on 22 February 2009, 7:48 pm
for most canadian hockey fans february 21st (yesterday) was a day when an ex-captain return to take on his old team. the vancouver canucks visited the toronto maple leafs, in the toronto…bringing with them a ‘small’ and ‘insignificant’ figure…by the name of mats sundin. a player that spent 13 years in toronto, and was their captain for the last 10. the implications of this match go a bit more beyond the return of the maple leaf captain…given the canucks also brought with them a guy name wellwood…and the leafs just recently hired the last two vancouver canucks’ gm’s…thus the implications between the two teams can be stretched…

however, to put matters in perspective…last year sundin was asked by the leafs to wave his ‘no-trade’ clause and give the team a chance to pick up some new guys in order to re-build…he refused and then eventually signed with vancouver. all that being said, it caused quite a bit of stir in the city…and he was accused of going for the green (given vancouver offered quite a nice pay-cheque for his ‘autograph’ on the dotted line).

this is not quite that unusual, that a player leaves a team where he’s a fan favorite and moves over to an opponent, or even worst a rival. for short, for some football fans (yes football…not soccer), remember figo’s move from barcelona to real madrid? what about ashley cole’s move from arsenal to cheslea? and ronaldo’s ‘in-direct’ move from barcelona to real madrid (given he first moved from barcelona to inter milan then to real madrid). they all received boos on their return to face their old team.

the anticipation of last night…was significant…sundin had a few interviews to share his views on the move, the game…essentially everything. it’s quite safe to say, the media yet again played this for ever cent. however, was the old captain going to get boo-ed or cheered as he touched the ice? for the ones who watched the game, he did get boo-ed (minor boos that is), but during the commercial break when a video in his honor was shown…the crowed gave their captain a standing ovation…which did bring tears to the ‘small forward’s’ eyes.

so, boo or not boo? a player that refused to ‘help’ the team grab some much needed young guns, only to leave for nothing…and return to eventually score the shoot-out winner? keep in mind, the leafs don’t have anyone wearing a ‘c’ this season. he spend 13 years wearing the team’s jersey…he bleeded countless of times for the team…and he lead them each and every season. i don’t think they could have asked for a more stand up guy…so no, even though he left the way he did…the fans did the honorable thing and gave him a standing ovation, for what is most likely the last time they will see him playing on the air canada place ice. the fans that boo-ed him, should recall the countless times the player lead their team in the playoffs, the countless of times he stood up for the community in toronto…and what he meant to the team each and every game…

from the canucks’ point of view, it’s nice to see how well sundin was received, for the most part, in his return…thus one can only hope that he will play with the same fire for his new team…as he did for his ‘only canadian home’ team…

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