the stick, the stone and the puddle

well, round 3 is almost underway; almost, because it starts tomorrow in hockey town (detroit for those of you not familiar with the term). they will host the blackhawks, while flightless birds (the penguins) prepare for a hurricane alert on monday. so, round 2 was not only disappointing, but overall i went 1 for 4 in that round. if it wasn’t for detroit in game 7, my predictions would have been quite pathetic, not that they’re not at this point. anyhow, besides that one can only wonder ‘what if…’ in regards to the canucks…a team that was supposed to fight to perhaps take the 8th seed in the west, ended up on a streak in the last few months of the season to take the division away from calgary. with it, they also ensured that the bandwagon was filled over capacity in vancouver, excitement was high, the bias analysis started (yours truly being part of it), and essentially robson street was getting ready for the cup parade. at this point…the only thing left is ‘maybe, next year’. but if history thought us something…for the last few seasons, they somehow managed to miss the playoffs the year after something like this. thus, perhaps in 2 years vancouver will live again…at least when it comes as a result of the blue with green…

back to round 3, the matchups are

Eastern Conference
Pittsburgh Penguins (1) vs. Carolina Hurricans (2) – my prediction: Pittsburgh in 7
Western ConferenceDetroit Red Wings (1) vs. Chicago Blackhawks (2) – my prediction: Detroit in 6

it’s been a while since i’ve seen vancouver excited about anything…then again, it’s playoff hockey, the home team and it’s in canada. enough said, as a good chunk of cars wear canuck flags (see pic on the side), most more than one, or better yet…some even wear the large flags with their favorite team. now, don’t think they don’t have imagination…there’s at least 5 types of canuck flags that i’ve seen, including some with joe canuck, the ‘c’ logo, and others. the latest one i’ve seen…was one with the name/jersey number combination of alex burrows (arguably one of the best players on the team this year). don’t get me wrong, i think it’s great that the city finally cheers for something…given vancouver has been hit and hit again with the accusations that nobody cares about anything in this town…given the large mosaic that it is. you might have seen the small celebrations for football (soccer) from the european imigrants; however, those are few and very small. well, there is one exceptions, 2006…the italians on commercial drive, but that’s a whole different story…for perhaps another time.

anyhow, it seems that this hype and support from the city was not enough to push the team towards wanting a win in game 5. they have been arguably out-played by a younger and much faster chicago team. fair enough to say the blackhawks are younger and faster…but at least play as if you want to be there. while some have complained that vancouver’s style is boring and too defence minded…i don’t mind it…as long as it gets the win. make a game plan, stick with it…and win….really don’t care if it’s 1-0 or 5-0, as long as at the end of the night it’s a win. i’m hoping this won’t be another disappointment, like 2 years ago.

same can pretty much be said about the other team i follow, the capitals…they somehow managed to lose game 5 on their own turf. they at least played with heart, too bad half the time their head wasn’t in the game. so…i’m hoping monday will be a better day for these two teams…