Witchcrafting 2012 | Stanley Cup Predictions | Post-QF Update

*another macchiato done, a nice, yet tiny bit of chocolate cake collected, time to write some more*

If like me you are a Flyers fan, you were in for a craaaaazy ride! That was an awesome series versus the Pens. Even the Witch had no clue it would unfold like it did. Goals were being scored like there was no tomorrow and the fights a reason for concern. Would our Roo or Danny or Jagr make it to the next game or not? What a ride this series was. Even more so because we WON it! Yeah.

Looking at the other series the one that stood out for me was the Kings booting out the Nucks. With Richie there I have been following them a lot closer than before and I hoped for them to win. But I won't lie, I thought it was a long-shot, so yeah, this was a pleasing win by the Kings. And the Yotes, who'd have thought? Finally, I was sad to see the Bruins go, but the Caps did amaze me (eventhough I had predicted the series win heheh).

Anyways, this Witch had planned to update her predictions sooner, but got sidetracked by life ;) ... so let me see ...

*continues with the wishful thinking, absurdity, hoping, runewatching, coin-flipping and crystal-ballery!*


EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMI-FINALS & FINALS
[Rangers #1 vs Caps #7]
As I am writing this, the series is tied at 1-1. I predicted this series so I am going with my initial assessment (quite a bit of it is wishful thinking): With the Sens out of the way it is time for the Rangers to say bye bye. Come on Caps! 4-3 Caps. 

[Flyers #5 vs Devils #4]
Well. I had predicted my Flyers to make it through. But I hate the Devils so much, so I hoped they wouldn't make it this far. Not that I am fond of the Panthers mind you, but yeah. Got this one wrong. The Flyers will of course win, but as my guys like to keep us guessing they'll need a few games to accomplish it. 4-2 Flyers.

[Caps vs Flyers]
This outcome remains at this point. So going with my earlier prediction again. 4-2 Flyers.


WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMI-FINALS & FINALS
[Blues #2 vs Kings #8]
Yippee! I called this one right too. The Coins helped me with predicting the Sharks-Blues series. And I used them to predict this match-up as well: Kings are tails. Oooooh nice, I would have gone with the Kings here too. And The Coins agree strongly. 4-1 Kings. I am sure The Coins have their reasons, but I am going to be bold and say this will be a 4-0 win for the Kings!

[Yotes #3 vs Preds #4]
Got the Yotes right. They did a nice job disposing of the Hawks. Thank you. The Preds got rid off my fave Western team, the Wings. Definitely not happy with that. So mainly out of spite I predict. 4-1 Yotes.

[Kings vs Yotes]
Not the Conference Finals I predicted in my first post, but it's not too bad really. But love the Kings and I don't need runes or The Coins for this one. 4-2 Kings.


STANLEY CUP FINALS
[Flyers vs Kings]
My dream - Flyers vs Red Wings - got shattered lol ... but I am quite looking forward to seeing this final match-up happening ... my oh my ... that would be quite something. Carts and Richie battling their old team? Quite delish lol ... but Flyers got this one. 4-3 Flyers.

I like a seven game final series!

The Witch Is Back! | Witchcrafting 2012 | Stanley Cup Predictions

*macchiato done, cookies collected, time to write*

Ah, just when you thought I would never post again, I raise from the Ashes. Probably not for long. This blogging is so timeconsuming for me, that since late November, I have found zero time to write something. But how could I not return for my favourite pastime of the season: utterly and completely misreading the stars and other omens and failing in predicting the winner of the Stanley Cup!

But the Witch is back! And as last year, you can feast your eyes on a mix of wishful thinking, absurdity, hoping, runewatching, coin-flipping and crystal-ballery!


EASTERN CONFERENCE
[Senators #8 vs Rangers #1]
Last year the Rangers fought with all their might to make it to #8 ahead of the Canes. What a difference a year can make. This year they had several great runs and at times I had to admit they looked strong. Definitely stronger than I like seeing them. And they have King Henrik. Oh boy. But they also provided me with some fun moments and although I have no love for this squad at all, Torts definitely made my day the other week when he so openly dissed the Pens Prima Donnas. Nice. The Sens, ugh. So unless the Rangers decide to fail again in the first round, I can see them win this one quite easily. 4-2 Rags, I mean Rangers.

[Caps #7 vs Bruins #2]
Oh no. I hate this match-up this early in the Playoffs *wince*. Once the Flyers had 'left the building' last year, I totally jumped on the Bruins bandwagon. They were playing the game the way I had expected to see my Flyers play. But I have a soft spot for the Caps too. And correct me if I'm wrong, but there were some sparks in those last few games ... *ponders deeply* ... I can't think of bad things to say about the Bruins, such a complete team. And the Caps, do they even have a goalie?! But a little voice in my head is telling me to expect the perhaps unexpected and that maybe the Caps won't choke this time around. I am going to upset my buddy Sven with this and myself a bit too to be honest. 4-3 Caps.

[Devils #6 vs Panthers #3]
I have no particular interest in this match-up. Hate the Devils though, Panthers are so-so. So this is easy to decide on. The series score has nothing to do with me thinking the Panthers are THAT good, no, it's just a reflection of my dislike of the Debs. 4-0 Panthers.

[Flyers #5 vs Pens #4]
Oh boy. Really? In the first round? *sigh* Look. After the crazy trades that happened after the post-season I was really worried about how things would pan out for my Flyers this season. But I must admit, I am quite pleased. The season hasn't been perfect, but I had good hopes for a good Playoffs run. Hmm, well, if nothing else, I expect fireworks between the two. No love lost there! I don't mind seeing another bout of Lavvy trying to climb the boarding in order to give Bylsma a good talking to :D ... but the Pens, if they keep a healthy team, are quite formidable. Vomitted a bit in my mouth there :S ... so I am going for a mix of hoping and love for my Flyboys. 4-3 Flyers.

 
WESTERN CONFERENCE
[Kings #8 vs Nucks #1]
I just don't like the Nucks. Well, maybe Ryan Kessler, but that's it. The Kings have Anze! And Richie! And oh no, Carter, but I won't hold it against them. So simply because I hate the Nucks. I say. 4-2 Kings.

[Sharks #7 vs Blues #2]
Eh the Sharks made it again, eh? And the Blues too this time. What a lousy series, both are just such non-entities for me. So I am going to consult The Coins! Tail is Sharks. *flips a coin several times* Oh, The Coins like a full series! 4-3 Blues. Whatever.

[Blackhawks #6 vs Yotes #3]
What is that? The Hawks are still here? I blotted them out last year. So pesky of them to return again ... *continues pretending the Hawks do not exist* ... guess that's a by for the Yotes. Lucky bastards. 4-0 - as they had no opponents - Yotes. 

[Red Wings #5 vs Predators #4]
Red Wings, my fave Western team. So, easy for me. Wings of course win. Don't want them to get too tired. 4-2 Wings.


EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMI-FINALS & FINALS
[Rangers vs Caps]
Ohhhh, with the Sens out of the way it is time for the Rangers to say bye bye. Come on Caps! 4-3 Caps.

[Panthers vs Flyers]
Yeah no rocket science required to figure out what I am going to predict here ;) ... 4-1 Flyers.

[Caps vs Flyers]
Caps, I love you guys, but my Flyers will get stronger with each series. 4-2 Flyers.


WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMI-FINALS & FINALS
[Kings vs Blues]
As The Coins helped me out during the first round, let me consult them again. Kings are tails. Oooooh nice, I would have gone with the Kings here. And The Coins agree strongly. 4-1 Kings.

[Yotes - Red Wings]
No contest. Red Wings march through and quite easily too with lots of Datsyukian dekes. 4-1 Wings.

[Kings vs Red Wings]
You may know I am an Eastern Conference girl myself, but this is a sexy Western Conference Finals match-up. Delish! My Western faves have to win this one though, would love to see them in the SC Finals! But the Kings won't just give it up and will take it all the way to game seven, before gracefully bowing out. 4-3 Wings.


STANLEY CUP FINALS
[Flyers vs Red Wings]
Hahah, this is the exact same final series I predicted last year. My my, how wrong I was. But hey, a mix of wishful thinking, absurdity, hoping, runewatching, coin-flipping and crystal-ballery can be very potent and maybe this year that dream really will come true xD ... last year I predicted a 4-2 Flyers win and I see no reason why it should be different in this SC dream. So yeah. 4-2 Flyers. And I will be in Hockey Heaven!

So what do you think?

Black Friday Hockey

Black Friday Hockey. Or as I like to call it, "Hockey Night In Holland'. There were so many early games that I was able to watch a whole bunch of games before 1am! So I got myself some nice tasty food morsels, Cherry Coke (usually drink water only, so that is my guilty pleasure lol), started up NHL Gamecenter and settled in for a hockey-filled evening.


Starting off with the WINGS @ BRUINS. Tuned in just in time to see my hero Datsyuk score one of his awesome goals to make it 2-1. A pleasing score ... but I wasn't that happy with the Wings' play once they got there. There was a sense of complacency, which would have been alright with a 2-goal lead perhaps. My view is that when you lead by one goal, you keep pushing pushing pushing for another one before you take it down a notch. And I love Zetterberg, but that was a disgusting giveaway. Of course Bergeron would not let it go by unpunished!

At least it lead to a more animated remainder of the game. The OT was hectic with the Bruins looking just a tad sharper, but it ended in SO. Seguin and Pevs missed, Horton got a goal. But the Wings won this one with pretty nice goals by Datsyuk and Bertuzzi. Yeah! I would have liked to see the Bruins continue their awesome 10-game winning streak and turn it onto an even longer one, but not at the expense of my fave Western Conference team.


Next up. HABS @ FLYERS. Hmm. I had planned to to switch to this game as soon as it started, but the Wings game got me excited enough to keep watching. Unfortunately I saw that at the end of the 1st period the Habs had scored. I hate the Habs so much and for a minute considered watching the Oilers game instead. But have to stick with my Flyers, eventhough I noticed that I hate the Habs so much, that seeing them on Flyers ice made me quite nauseous!

But I persevered and tuned in for the second period. In the early minutes I saw several interesting attempts to score on Price, most noteably a breakaway rush by Sean Couturier and just a few seconds later Roo and Talbot had a great chance as well, both attempts making me wonder 'How in the hell did they not score?!' ... but I like it when my Flyers start playing hard and fast and they definitely went for it. By the time Roo equalised the game, my guys had thrice the shots on goal (2nd period stat: 5 vs 18). And Roo's wrist-shot was amazing. One of those shots taken from an apparently impossible angle. And they kept going and going, succesfully killing a PP and following it up smoothly with another goal. Voracek this time. He's one of the new additions that make sense to me. I am still trying to discover what Lilja and Rinaldo are supposed to add to the mix (feel free to add your thoughts about this in the comments). But I digress, because with 5.9 seconds left in the 2nd, Roo scored again. 3-1! YEAH!!! Oh, Kessel better get some goals tonight, Roo is close to taking over his spot in 'most points'. The third period saw no goals, but I liked the energy shown by my guys and they kept it interesting to watch. And I must point out Sergei Bobrovsky's awesome goaltending, he had several big saves today and looked as sharp as ever.


After that fun game I tuned in to the RAGS @ CAPS game. The Rags were ahead 3-1, but the first thing I got to see was a goal by the Caps which gave me good hope of a possible turnaround for the Caps. Unfortunately just a bit later the Rags answered and made it 4-2. Third period wasn't good for the Caps either and when the Rags made it 5-2 I gave up and switched to ....


... the OILERS @ WILD game. I had been switching back and forth, but decided to go with this game permanently, because I like to see the young Oilers play (4 points combined this game) and they were en route to beating the Wild. A 5-2 win for these former underdogs. And in the end the Caps lost 6-3.


It's 1am here and I don't have any energy left for watching the Pens. The Leafs game is even later, so I will watch those games tomorrow and share my thoughts about later!

Let me finish this post with a fun pic and a little musing ...

That is one scary 'tache! I like my Roo smooth, so can't wait for December lol

Musing: Wouldn't it be funny if Bobs became the starter once more and we'd have the most expensive back-up goalie?!

Twitter Time #14 | Sidney's Return

Ha, I noticed NHL was blogging some players' tweets too the day Crosby's return was announced ... #copycats ... although that would imply they'd come across my puny blog. I doubt it! :D

Anyways, I creeped all the NHL and AHL players I follow on Twitter ... SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO! It was a boring task. Here the tweets I came across ... the prize for funniest tweet goes to Colby Armstrong.

Enjoy! Or not ... ;)

Ryan Whitney
"yup, this leagues still a joke for me." -Sidney Crosby 4 minutes into first game back 

Tyler Bozak 

Wow Sidney Crosby. What a player. It was great for the game of hockey to have him back on the ice putting on a show again 

Colby Armstrong 

Great to have Sid back and healthy. Hes been out a long time but it's exciting for the NHL and our fans to have a player like him back #NHL 

Colby Armstrong 

After this Crosby return stuff all media will turn to trying to find out the return of me....right?? It's gonna be crazy. #mediacircus 

Matt Lashoff 

Wasn't expecting any less from 87. So fun to watch. 

Logan Couture 

Saying #87 makes it look easy is an understatement. 

Jordan Eberle 

Hordichuk told me today CBC was supposed to cover his return tonight but then Crosby stole his thunder 

Paul Bissonnette 

Had to drop myself in fantasy hockey today. Welcome back Sidney Crosby. 

Nathan Thompson

What a night for hockey getting the best player in the world back on the ice. #sidthekid 

Luca Caputi 

Is anyone not watching this game? #sidthekid back in action!   

Luca Caputi
Wow! #sidthekid Sickkk 

Scottie Upshall
Great day for NHL today w/ Sid comin back. Here's him and my bro @brento_ at our last game. Sick stache! #movember pic.twitter.com/Y6957J8T 

Luke Adam
This crosby guy is pretty good i guess, its not even really fair is it? #87isback @NHL 

Mark Dekanich
Any guesses on how much money Crosby put on the board last night? #10grand 

Thomas Kiriakou
Hide yo kids. Hide yo wives...Sid's back!! #GetExcited

Tired Leafs | Game 21

Taking full of advantage of my new NHL Gamecenter subscription and watching as many live games as I can. Luckily that included one Flyers and two Leafs games this weekend. With the weekend gone I'll have to make do with delayed watching, but Gamecenter sure makes that easy!

And after the Taylor vs Taylor post I need to post a real article too ;)

LEAFS @ CANES

Ouch, my guys looked tired during the anthems and looked even more haggard as the game started. I knew this was going to be a tough one. Back to back games, awkward travel timing, just a few hours of rest, lots of players in sickbay, those not in sickbay depleted of energy (that game versus the Caps sure took care of that), our third goalie in goal. Wow. In the end it wasn't even that bad come to think of it.

♦ The first period was weird. Canes generating turnovers, at times upping the pressure just a bit and Scrivens was called upon several times, had a great save to start with too; then Phaneuf went to the penalty box for hooking. I had a look at that several times and that was no hooking, that was Skinner hanging onto Phaneuf's stick for dear life. Oh well, karma will get back at him eventually. OK, the Leafs hardly managed to circle the puck, so it was tough for them to get into that flow where things seem to run so effortlesly. Then we had a boring part, lots of center ice play and just as I thought we'd survive the first, the Canes pressurised Scrivens, took several shots on goal and had everyone scrambling and I was just waiting for a stupid goal. With 29 seconds left, Harrison did score. Boo!

♦ Again a messy start and the first five minutes had my Leafs in some type of survival mode. The game got even weirder when Scrivens ended up without his stick as the Canes were in attack mode. Scrivens did well there, robbing the Canes pf several goal opportunities. In the meantime Connoly had lost his stick as well and it all looked frantic. How the Canes didn't score here, I don't know. Next to be robbed of a goal was Dwyer. Scrivs, bless him, did really well. Unfortunately Jokinen then scored on the PP.  What I missed in my Leafs during this period was any type of forechecking and winning faceoffs. I dare not look at the faceoff stats, because I have a feeling we didn't win much of those. *has a look anyways* ... ouch 20 FO wins vs 37 FO wins by the Canes. No wonder the Leafs had a hard time playing offensively. I kept thinking 'Sound the horn please!'

♦ Ah, the third period. A little rest and the Leafs came out looking much fresher. Don't know what type of incantations were cast during the intermission but at least my guys looked much more alive. They skated better and added some speed and created some opportunities too. And who but Kessel would score to make it a one-goal game? Well, uhmm, Kessel indeed. Several Leafies had their chances after this goal, but lacked precision. It was good to see the energy, but unfortunately it got tempered by Skinner on a breakaway. Staal just ran off with the puck, but Scrivs denied him the goal. Unfortunately Skinner was in pursuit as well and scored on the rebound to make it 3-1. Look, a better team would have pushed on now and enhanced the lead and the Canes sure tried. But the Leafs kept hanging in there, with just a bit over a minute to go, Scrivs was pulled and we had 6 guys attacking and sure enough, Kessel scored another one! The final seconds were exciting, but time ran out and we lost 3-2 

♦ In hindsight we can still be pleased. PPK and PP are both still working well, Scrivs may not be perfect but showed great stamina during the game and despite a total lack of energy, the Leafs at times managed to call up just enough energy to cause some havoc. Sad we lost, but not disappointed in my guys. Onto the next one!

And in other news, the Red Wings beat the Ducks 4-2. Yippee! And I wonder how Crosby's first game will pan out ... exciting!

Hockey Shenanigans #1 | Taylor vs Taylor

Probably not the first one to point this one out, but it's just so uncanny.

*ponders*

Maybe I *am* the first one to point it out to some of you lol ... not sure how many hockey fans are into the whole Twilight Saga. I am never one to shy away from fessing up to stuff, so yeah, I have seen the movies lol

Horrible? For sure.
Entertaining in a crazy way? Yes, unfortunately.

Anyways, Taylor Hall (he of Oilers fame) and Taylor Lautner (he of Twilight fame). Could've been twins!

Eerie!!

By the way, Lautner is a hockey fan. He's been spotted at a Stanley Cup game a few years ago, sporting Red Wings gear and apparently he plays EA's NHL game. Yay for Google Search ;)

Sidney Crosby | He's Back

 Ladies and Gentlemen.

It has finally been announced.
Sidney Crosby is back.

Courtesy of NHL.com

Set to play on Monday 21st, 2011.
Isles @ Pens.

Pens, the Bruins have properly disarmed the Isles last night.
All you have to do is just gently skate across the ice and take shots on goal.

Sidney, I hope you play well and feel well. And that this time no crazy antics take place. Remember that 1 million penalty minutes game last year? Not that kind of shit. You need an easy game to get back on track.

The best of luck in any case!