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Archive of posts tagged sport

enough already

…enough of crosby already! yes, you’ve heard me, enough of him already. i am not doubting his talent, his determination and his professionalism. the guy is a very very good hockey player, but he’s not the greatest and he will never be. there was this guy named gretzky and there is this russian kid named ovechkin. the arguments that crosby won more at a younger age than gretzky is a weak argument. why? simply put gretzky made the players around him great, crosby is the opposite. without malkin, stall and fleury he would have never won the stanley cup by this point. malkin had an incredible season, and fleury was great when he needed to be. stall was great throughout the season. crosby, just needed to play his game.

ever since the overtime goal everyone is praising crosby. all of a sudden crosby had a great tournament. has anyone watch the entire hockey portion? yes he scored a very important goal. guess what? if toews, or stall, or anyone else on this star-heavy roster would have been in that position they probably would have scored. crosby never showed up for the olympics. his passing was off. his puck handling was horrible. for at least half the games he was less than mediocre. and while some might argue big players show up for big games…he never showed up. he got a lucky bounce of the ref, and then shot the puck. miller made a mistake. his first mistake in the olympics…and all of a sudden crosby is reaching legendary status. it’s undeserved at this point. the other olimpic medalists are more deserving of some mediatization. there were 13 other gold medals in the last two weeks. thh 14th, was won by stall, nash, getzlaf and the rest of the team. he missed a clear break-away in the game. he had the game on the stick, and when the pressure was on him he lost the puck. so…enough of crosby…let’s give the other athletes that represented canada a bit more time on tv.

i personally am growing sick of this already. hockey is canada’s game, but last i checked so is being humble. at this point i’d rather hear about bilodeau or rochette. i’d rather the sports channels stop hyping up crosby and promote the other sports that brought some gold medals. crosby did nothing special in the last two weeks, there are others that did. out of 14 medals, only 2 were hockey. this record would have never happened if in the other 16 days the canadian athletes did not put on their best show.

round 2

given i’ve been away for a bit, i pretty much missed the end of round 1 and beginning of round 2 of the nhl playoffs. my predictions are a bit late, but for the most part, most series are tied at 1-1 with one exception, given that series has yet to have its second game. for round 1, i have to say i’m 3 of 4 for the eastern conference (with new jersey failing to move on), and for the western conference i’m at 50%, 2 of 4, given san jose sharks decided to choke yet again and the blue jackets were not up to par in their first showing in the playoffs. detroit simply had way to many gears to shift in. thus, overall i’m 5 of 8, not bad…but not good either.

so, here are my predictions for the second round (keep in mind, the seating of the teams changed and is from 1 to 4).

Eastern Conference
Boston Bruins (1) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (4) – my prediction: Boston BruinsWashington Capitals (2) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins – my prediction: Washington Capitals

Western Conference
Detroit Red Wings (1) vs. Anaheim Ducks (4) – my prediction: Detroit Red Wings
Vancouver Canucks (2) vs. Chicago Blackhawks (4) – my prediction: Vancouver Canucks

the eastern conferences has one of the nicest laid out series (the capitals vs. the penguins), and regardless of the crosby – malkin pair that the penguins have, the capitals have one answer – ovechkin. they’ll win the series. but it will probably take 6 or 7 games. most likely the other series in the conference will tke 7 games, with boston using the home ice advantage to win the 4th game. while for the west, the ducks play as if they were bulldogs, but detroit will be able to pass them and play for the western crown in the next series. the canucks have their hands full, a lot more than they had with the blues. the hawks are fast and they hit hard. i’m thinking canucks will win this one in 7.

it’s playoff time

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