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?!

Playoffs Daily | Game 7 | April 28th, 2011

I have missed another great hockey night. Almost weekend so I am hanging in there till my next live action hockey fix. Watched the Flyers game last night. It was amazing! But lets see what happened last night.

[Bruins-Habs] 4-3. Bruins win the series. Splendid!! Happy golfing Habs! But the Bruins sure gave themselves a heart attack by allowing that annoying Subban to score with just two minutes of regulation time to go. So yes, Nathan Horton would be the 1st star for saving the Bruins' asses in OT ... well done guys! Well, my Flyers will face the Bruins in the next round. I think we are up for an interesting series. Of course my guys will smother the Bruins ;)

[Bolts-Pens] 1-0. Bolts win the series. Well talk about embarrassing!! Pens lose on home ice. But I really thought the Pens would win this series. The Bolts had a good season, but not a particularly sparkly one, while the Pens showed some true dedication by doing very well without Sid and Malkin. So prediction-wise this is a setback, but on an emotial level: WHOOOOO GO HOME PENS! Great work Bolts, glad to see them in the next rounds. Versus the Caps. Well, no contest there if you ask me, Caps will clinch the series.

OK, now that the first round is over I will have to revisit my predictions and bring out The Coins to redo them. Will post that article later today. And should I feel bored I might do a little analysis of the old ones lol

Onto the next round! Today the Nucks are back, facing the Preds. Wonder what that historic first round win will do for the Preds!

Playoffs Daily | QF Game 6 & 7 | April 27th, 2011

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Sorry for the long yell, but I am HAPPY! My Flyers went back to old form and dominated Game 7 and have closed the series to their advantage!

[Bruins-Habs] 1-2. Series tied. Dammit. But I am positive the Bruins will win the series!

[Sabres-Flyers] 5-2. Flyers win series! YEAH! We slashed the Sabres ;) I woke up some time during the night. I cranked up the NHL applet and saw we were leading 2-0. I knew we would win so I continued my sleep quite blissfully lol ... so waking up and seeing a good old 5-2 made my day! Must hunt it down for watching because once again ESPN America snubbed my Flyers. I am sending in a complaint :p - have however watched the highlights and those were some awesome goals by our guys. Leino's was my fave. And hahah, Carcillo, that was pretty great too :)

[Blackhawks-Nucks] 1-2. My wish has been granted. The Nucks have ousted the Hawks. Splendid! And by the looks of it it was a memorable game. I have DVR-ed it so will be watching later. But the tweets were of the charts :)

Well, today we have the final two QF games. I hope the Bruins and the Pens win their series. But hell, if the Bolts move to the next round I will not be complaining! :D

Might share a few Playoffs Tidbits, but for now I am just elated my guys went through and as per usual I will leave the more in-depth analysis to those who actually know what they are talking about lol

And here my crazy predictions in full!
My Whimsical Playoffs Predictions

I will be posting new ones after the QFs have been completed.

Playoffs Daily | QF Game 5 | April 24th, 2011

Guys, Summer has arrived early in the Netherlands! Easter Weekend is proving to be perfect weather-wise and my weekend could have been even more perfect if I could get my hockey fix! I am however staying at my parents' place and they do not have ESPN America. Which makes sense because they do not care about American Sports at all ;) ... so instead of watching a few fun games last night, I had to follow the games through the NHL BlackBerry applet. But that is OK, at least I knew what was going on and I have DVR'ed all the games ESPN aired yesterday for future viewing. So what happened last night?

[Bolts-Pens] 8-2. Pens still lead series 3-2. So I could not watch this game, but watching the score go up and up and up for the Bolts on the NHL BlackBerry applet was wild enough. At 5-0 I thought OK, good going Bolts. At 7-0 I started to feel sorry for the Pens. Can you believe it? For my predictions I still need the Pens to win, but cannot help feeling joy seeing them lose to the Bolts like this ;)

[Rangers-Caps] 1-3. Caps clinch series win with an excellent 4-1 result. Caps did what they had to do and rather deftly disposed of the Rags. Feel like I can stop calling them Rangers ;) Only glitch: why did the Caps allow a goal in the final seconds? By the way, I just impressed myself. I predicted a 4-1 Caps series win lol ... at least got one right in terms of numbers ;) ... Oh yeah. BYE BYE RAGS! Hahah, glad you are gone!

[Habs-Bruins] 1-2. Bruins now lead series 3-2. Timmmeeeeeeh! The Vezina Trophy is yours buddy! I have yet to see the game and believe me, I am happy it is waiting for me on my DVR. But the NHL report, the tweets and the FB posts all point in one direction: one hell of a memorable game! Will probably add an {edit} once I have seen it. I love a good hockey game (ok, who does not?) and even more so if it leads to a Habs defeat ;)

[Kings-Sharks] 3-1. Sharks lead series 3-2. OK, The Coins were predicting this one perfectly till this game. The predicted 4-1 is out of the window now, but The Coins are still in the running for predicting the series winner and if they get that right I might use the coins to redo my Semi Finals predictions ;)

Tonight my Flyers are playing to stay in the running. And the Ducklings are in the same situation. The Nucks. Hmm. What do you guys think? Will they pick up speed again, or will they let the Hawks smother them and tie the series?

If you care, check my original Whimsical Playoffs Predictions here:
My Whimsical Playoffs Predictions

Playoffs Daily | QF Game 4 & 5 | April 22nd, 2011

Hmm ... *frowns* ... what are the Nucks up to? Not that I care for the Nucks, but I do hate the Hawks so I want them out. I do not want them to think they might actually still win this series. The Nucks are allowed to choke, but they need to wait for the Semi Finals!

[Bruins-Habs] 5-4. Series tied at 2-2. Thanks Bruins for believing it. And thanks for the intensity and some interesting moments. Yeah you know what I am talking about. I will add a picture of course ;)
[Blackhawks-Nucks] 5-0. Nucks still lead series 3-2. All is well still. But a 5-0 shut-out is not very inspiring. Well it might inspire the Hawks, but I certainly hope not.
[Sharks-Kings] 6-3. Sharks lead series 3-1. So far The Coins who helped me predict this particular series' outcome are on the money *hahah pun intended, I know it is bad lol* Never paid much attention to either team, but have seen a few of their games now and I must admit they do look good on the ice.

OK, with my short overview out of the way, time for some hockey fun. Ference of the Bruins first:

Oh yes. Ference flipped off the entire Bell Centre. He claims he did not, his teammates claim he did not and never would do such a thing. Equipment malfunction has been brought up as an excuse too. Everyone is 'shocked' and apologetic. I understand that. They can hardly go about telling everyone that "Yeah, Ference gave them the bird." It would be a public relations fiasco! And Ference himself seemed so suitably shocked at his own behaviour that I am willing to accept he did not mean to do it lol ... Having said all that:

Thanks Ference for doing what everyone else playing the Habs and facing their horrible fans would like to do.

And the next one is just fun and very comforting. A stumbling Tim Thomas (courtesy of NHL.com). It is cute!

Tumbling Tim

And saunter over here to see my complete Whimsical Playoffs Predictions:
My Whimsical Playoffs Predictions

Playoffs Daily | QF Game 3 & 4 | April 20th, 2011

I was fairly positive that I would wake up to a Nucks win. So seeing them being kicked in the nuts with a 7-2 Hawks win is hardly what I expected or wished for. But at least the Sharks are doing the right thing.

[Nucks-Hawks] 2-7. Wow. That has got to hurt! Really? 2-7? The Nucks better get to form in the next game.
[Sharks-Kings] 6-5. Whoa. Now I do not really care about either team, but the game recap tells me this was a wild game and I will watch the rerun tonight. I am sure that the Kings thought they had the game in their pocket once they got to the 4-0 lead. I doubt the Sharks can repeat such a feat again, so I think they used up their Playoffs luck. Not saying they can't move ahead in the Playoffs, just meaning to say they better not allow such deficits in the games to come ;)

Yesterday after work I watched the Bruins and Wings reruns. And I liked the way that the Bruins played in the first two periods. Thety should keep up that energy for the full 60. And they were a bit lucky that Thomas picked up his game in the third. But a blast to see the Habs lose :D

Should you care to see my Whimsical Playoffs Predictions, you can find those here:
My Whimsical Playoffs Predictions

{edit} I just watched the Sharks game and that was a WILD second period, very entertaining!

Playoffs Daily | QF Game 3 | April 19th, 2011

This morning I was driving to work and much of my thoughts had to do with last night's games. Have my Flyers won? Did the Bruins finally beat the Habs? And could the Wings add a third win? And alright, for the sake of my predictions, did the Pens beat the Bolts? Cranking up my laptop is usually a bit of waiting game, but with all these questions in mind it seemed to take forever. I went for a little walk, got a cup of tea before I could finally surf to nhl.com and I have to admit ... seeing all your picks win their game is pretty damned good.

[Flyers-Sabres] 4-2. YEAH! Two more wins to go! I suppose picking Boosh over Sergei at this stage is a wise idea. I am by no means a fan of Boosh, even less so of Leights, but you cannot deny that experience seems to be a bit more important at this stage. And it is a good idea to get the pressure off Sergei, he will grow so much next year and he will have had his first taste of the Playoffs. I see nothing but good happen for him next year. Lets just hope Boosh does not choke. But I suppose he wants to show his best work, after missing out playing last year.

[Bruins-Habs] 4-2. I half-jokingly predicted 6-2 last night. Sort of tried to cheer up a buddy of mine - Sven - who is a Bruins fan. Not holding it against him, especially not when they are facing the Habs ;) Having Chara back probably makes all the difference. Some guys just bring a certain confidence to a team. Alright Bruins, you are back in the game, now net the next three wins!

[Pens-Bolts] 3-2. Well, what can I say. Normally I would have cheered for the Bolts, but for my predictions ... good win. Cheers.

[Red Wings-Yotes] 4-2. Ha, lots of 4-2 wins last night! And way to Wings, my Western Conference faves! One more to go :)

Just two games tonight, but the Nucks can clinch their SF spot tonight. Bye bye Blackhawks!

And as per usual, for my complete predictions, have a look at my previous scribblings:
My Whimsical Playoffs Forecast

Playoffs Daily | QF Game 1 | April 15th, 2011

Yes, nothing quite as fun as checking in on nhl.com and find your team has lost their first game. Right. And to top it off, the Bruins were not able to win their first game either. Habs! *sends evil looks all the way to Montréal* 

[Habs-Bruins] 2-0. Say what? Hmm, this must be the 'by accident' Habs win I mentioned in my predictions. All is cool.
[Sabres-Flyers] 1-0. Oh boy, so much for my 'forecasted' sweep. Hmm, I am not sure why many of my fellow Flyers fans wanted to play the BKK (as I call them) ... they have been the nemesis for my Leafies much of the past few months, by beating a lot of teams on their way to 7th place. Grrrr. But Sergei looked solid for his first ever playoff game! Good vibes for the games to come :D
[Kings-Sharks] 2-3. Sharks might be listening to The Coins.

For my complete predictions, have a look at my previous scribblings:
My Whimsical Playoffs Forecast

Also, if you have not read my forecast yet, stuff like 'listening to The Coins' will suddenly make sense to you ;)

Playoffs 2011 | Witchcrafting | April 12th, 2011

I would like to share my Whimsical Playoffs Forecast with you. One of my Twitter-buddies posted his predictions earlier, so I got inspired to try this as well. Staying true to my style, this is by no means an in-depth analysis and I will not be showing off my awesome hockey knowledge - hahahah! As if I possess such a thing! Nopes, it is a mix of wishful thinking, absurdity and hoping lol .. which is probably worse than runewatching or consulting a crystal bowl ;)

EASTERN CONFERENCE
[Series A - Caps vs Rangers]
Still hate the fact that the Rangers got through and left the Canes in 9th. So they must be dealt with in a swift and decisive manner. The Caps will dominate all but one game. I say 4-1 Caps.

[Series B - Flyers vs Sabres]
Sabres. Yuck. Still hurts seeing them in the Playoffs. My Flyboys will rise to the occasion and obliterate them. 4-0 Flyers.

[Series C - Bruins vs Habs]
This one is easy. Bruins will expunge the evil that is known as the Habs! I can see the Habs win one game by accident. 4-1 Bruins.

[Series D - Pens vs Bolts]
OK, I prefer the Bolts over Pens, but even in a delusional state of mind I just cannot see the Bolts move on past this stage. So with much regret: 4-2 Pens.

WESTERN CONFERENCE
[Series E - Nucks vs Blackhawks]
Blackhawks ... I pretend they do not exist. 4-0 Nucks. Cause Hawks? Where? *looks around, sees nothing, just some Nucks*

[Series F - Sharks vs Kings]
Have no idea and absolutely do not care. Tail is Sharks. *flips a coin several times* OK, sorry Kings, you are out! I flipped the coin five times and four times I had tails. Since The Coins seem so sure of themselves: 4-1 Sharks.

[Series G - Red Wings vs Yotes]
Like both but the Red Wings more. They have Datsyuk after all. And the Wings will really go for it. Yaps. 4-2 Wings.

[Series H - Ducks vs Preds]
Love the Ducklings! So I hope they can evade the Preds. Mama Duck will save them! 4-2 Ducks.

Ouch, what's next?

EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMI-FINALS & FINALS
[Caps vs Pens]
Caps over Pens anytime and definitely not a prob for Ovi. So here is where the Pens buy it. Buh-bye! 4-2 Caps.

[Flyers vs Bruins]
Bobs {edit: ok so he got replaced by Boosh, and eventually Boosh will be replaced by Leights - I foresee pain in the future} settles in and beats Thomas. Yeah! Bruins have to go home now. 4-2 Flyers.

[Caps vs Flyers]
Caps, I love you guys, but my Flyers will be on a roll. 4-2 Flyers.

WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMI-FINALS & FINALS
[Nucks vs Ducks]
The Ducklings feel confident and surprise the Nucks. Sedin twins are seeing Ducks rain and forget to play. Ridiculous? Very much so! But sticking with it lol. 4-3 Ducks.

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

[Ducks vs Red Wings]
Who knew right? But it is happening. The Wings soar as the Ducklings have more issues with flying. All that lurking around in ponds you know ;) ... 4-2 Wings.

STANLEY CUP FINALS
[Flyers vs Red Wings]
My dream comes true. My Flyboys totally dominate and even Datsyuk cannot save the Wings. But good effort there! 4-2 FLYERS!!

So much for my witchcrafting. For a more meaningful prediction you should probably stick with the guys at NHL On The Fly or even with my previously mentioned buddy. Eventhough I have to warn you! He has this strange affliction, he is a Habs fan. *chuckle* You can read his article here: Stevie's playoff predictions 2010-11

Hockey Night In Canada | Feb 27, 2011

Yesterday I watched the Preds-Stars game as a warm-up for the Pens-Leafs game and it was a bit boring. Probably because nothing much happened and there was nothing to gain for my teams based of the outcome of this game. But it's hockey and I'll watch as much of it as I can ;) ... the Leafs game. Now, that was extremely exciting. I was on the edge of my seat throughtout the first two periods. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay up for the last period, I was so tired and it was way past my bedtime, but earlier today I watched the highlights and what I can I say. I am proud of my Leafies, they played a high-octane game! And although they did not win this one, they got it to SO and bagged an all-important 1 point to stay in the race.

Some folks will laugh and based on a really bad run in the first half of the this season, who can blame them? But we picked up pace and suddenly, the play-offs are still within our grasp! *gasp* ... and since we have not reached the play-offs since the 2003-2004 season, you can imagine how much we all want this to happen. Over the past few months I have seen many mad and disgusted Leafs fans on the FB fan page. Personally I am a strong believer of sticking with your team through the good times and the bad times and definitely not disrespecting them, ever. But I digress. Lately people have started to hope again although a similar amount of people is telling 'the hopers' to stop being idiots and that they will just disappoint us again. To an extent I agree with the latter. I think that maybe they found their form a bit too late. Sure, there is still time to reach that 8th, but there are so many factors influencing the final result. The Sabres, the Thrashers and the Panthers have not given up either and are putting in good games too. And I read someplace that even the Devils have an inkling of hope to make it. Hahah, that sound ridiculous, but OK ... the puck can bounce in mysterious ways.

My plan is to just enjoy each and every game. No matter what happens, safe for a few games, the Leafs have showed up and played their games with energy and dedication and sometimes frustration. Six more weeks to go ... and I bet we will be seeing many great games.

OK, back to yesterday. Very happy for Lupul to get his first two goals! And I think he was robbed of his hattrick! The goal that got waived was a good hockey goal in my opinion, although I confess I might be biased ;) ... and too bad that the Pens managed to equalise the game in the third period. The OT was wonderfully hectic. The SO much less so. Heheh, some nice efforts by our guys there, but you have got to hand it to Fleury, he is great on these one-on-ones. Annoyed we did not get the two points, but heck, we got the one and there's another game today!

On to my Flyers. Could not watch this game, and after having seen the hightlights and some of the comments by my fellow fans, perhaps that was for the best. A lacklustre game and it definitely lacked in energy. Even the goals scored by the Sens seemed accidental. So why were we this gloomy? I find it hard to imagine, but maybe the trading shenanigans of the day prior had something to do with it? We were a bit low on D. Prongs injured and the newly acquired Boynton could not make it on time due to travel issues. JVR had to be sent down to the Phantoms for just one game to make room in terms of cap. But no, that cannot be it! We are to good to let stuff like that bother us! So I am going to go with this: we are conserving energy and saving the best for last. Hah. OK.

Elsewhere in the League. You can tell it's getting close to the play-offs. I have found myself cheering for the teams I hate most ... yes, yesterday ... I cheered for the Habs. I need to take a break for a few minutes to overcome the nausea that comes with the thought alone.

Back. But OK, the Habs beat the Canes. And the Red Wings beat the Sabres in SO. The Sabres were ahead 2-0 for a long time and on the road to two points, but thankfully Datsyuk and his teammates fought on and equalised the game. So just one point for the Sabres. So on behalf of the Leafs, thanks Habs and Wings!

And on behalf of the Flyers, thank you Bruins for beating the Nucks and keeping the one-point lead the Nucks have in the League standings!

Hockey Sunday. Sundays are great. A few early games allow me to have a fun hockey evening. Going to watch the Bolts vs Rags. Gooooo Bolts. Then the Jackets vs Preds and I will watch at least the first period of the Leafs game tonight. They play fellow contenders: Trashers. Have to work tomorrow, so unfortunately cannot watch the whole game.