Stanley Cup Playoffs '07

[bakakame]

Well as anyone who read some of the junk I posted a year ago might remember, it's time to open up this years Stanley Cup thread. Basic discussion: Predictions, assessments, you should know what should go into it.

My favorite team is out by 1 point which sucks, but then again the Pens are looking strong so I get to root for them. Can't take too much pride since I turned my back on them in favor of the Av's years ago, but at least there's some hometown pride in it.

Predictions for the quarterfinals round:

East...............

Buffalo/NYI----------Buffalo
New Jersey/Tampa---New Jersey
Atlanta/NYR---------NYR
Ottowa/Pittsburgh---Pittsburgh

West..............

Detroit/Calgary------Detroit
Anaheim/Minnesota--Minnesota
Vancouver/Dallas----Dallas
Nashville/San Jose---Nashville

[Kewii]

My heart broke a little yesterday...You'd think after a goal with less than a second left, the Devils could've pulled it out.

Stupid Devils. (no bitterness here at all). It looks like I'm going for Calgary and Vancouver...I can't support Ottawa, but I need to support a Canadian team. Plus Ottawa will probably be out soon anyway.

[LadyPSerenity]

I CHEERED when Toronto was knocked out.

They knocked my Habs out ;_;

East...............

Buffalo vs NYI
Winner: Buffalo
New Jersey vs Tampa
Winner: New Jersey
Atlanta vs NYR
Winner: Atlanta
Ottawa vs Pittsburgh
Winner: Ottawa

West..............

Detroit vs Calgary
Winner: Calgary (Gotta cheer for Canadian Teams)
Anaheim vs Minnesota
Winner: Anaheim
Vancouver vs Dallas
Winner: Vancouver (See above)
Nashville vs San Jose
Winner: San Jose

I'm probably totally off this year but meh!

[Sagat]

lol Sens will pwn the Penguins and their happy feet

[Kewii]

I CHEERED when Toronto was knocked out.

They knocked my Habs out ;_;

I knew a comment like this would come from you. Don't worry. I cheered when Toronto knocked the Habs out

[LadyPSerenity]

=P At least our teams can go play golf together <3

[Eris]

I'm really not into golf or tennis or soccer or whatever Stanley Cup is.

[Celtic Warrior]

I'm gonna keep a real good eye on the Nashville/San Jose series, but Buffalo is the team to beat right now. The Sabers should have no problem with the Islanders.

[Vasarian]

Since I am from Montreal... I was with Habs all the way but those damned Maple Leafs... anyway now I support Penguins and Sabres and I say that the stanley cup final will be : Sabres VS San Jose... but I don't know a lot the west teams but Sabres will win anyway!

[bakakame]

Woot, Pens even out the series and Ottawa still can't go 2-0

Course the Minnesota upset doesn't look like that's gonna happen.....

[Celtic Warrior]

All I can say right now is the Preds betta win game 3 or it's gonna get harder to win against San Jose.

[Sagat]

And the Sens take the lead 2-1 in the series... hahhah...

[Eris]

Wohoo! The hens are in the lead! 1 - 2 - 5! Go new york!

[bakakame]

I was so angry when the one fight broke out stopping play half a second before Crosby got that one goal.... could have been a turning point, but they just can't seem to get any lucky breaks.

On the plus side, news reports apparently are saying that Eaves's injury isn't too serious. He may be out for the rest of the playoffs as a precaution, but it doesn't appear to be anything worse than a concussion.

[bakakame]

Ok, first round is now over. Winners are Buffalo, New Jersey, NYR, Ottawa, Detroit, Anaheim, Vancouver, San Jose. Eh, I got 4-4... Anyway, next round starts, and I'll go with the pattern that showed last year, the team that played more games in the previous round probably wins. So my guesses are:

East:

Buffalo/NYR----------Buffalo
New Jersey/Ottawa---New Jersey

West:

Detroit/San Jose------Detroit
Anaheim/Vancouver---Vancouver

I'll comment on the Pit/Ott series since.... well, living in the US it was really the only series I could actually watch.

The Penguins have reinforced what I have been saying about offensive stradegy since I was 10... you can't win games by playing dump and chase! Ottawa did a very good job against the Pens carrying the puck into the offensive zone and setting up their players to take advantage of it, that more than anything else seemed to be the differance maker in this series. The Senators played an agressive game and normally risky, against most teams I'd assume that such a stradegy would backfire. I deffinitally don't think it'll work against New Jersey.

One other big factor seemed to be dumb luck, going almost exclusivly to Ottawa. Games 3 and 4 could have easily gone the other way and leave Pittsburgh going into game 5 with the 3-1 lead, but lucky bounces and calls seem to be the Penguin's undoing.

Well, my grandpa always says "rather be lucky than good".....

[LadyPSerenity]

Woot, I like the guessing game!
I got 6/8 Right... lol. If only I hadn't been so stubborn about having my Canadian teams... alas.

Round TWO!

East:

Buffalo vs NYR
Winner: Buffalo

New Jersey vs Ottawa
Winner: Ottawa

West:

Detroit vs San Jose
Winner: Detroit

Anaheim vs. Vancouver
Winner: Vancouver

Only disagree with you once. GO OTTAWA!!! w00t w00t!!

[bakakame]

I went 50/50 again... Winners Buffalo, Ottawa, Detroit, Anaheim.

Round 2 over. I can't really comment on any of the games since I don't get any of them here anymore.

Guesses for the conference finals:

Buffalo/Ottawa------Buffalo
Detroit/Anaheim-----Anaheim

Ottawa's 0/3 against Buffalo in the post-season, so I'll continue being a nay-sayer to them. Anaheim..... maybe losing the "Mighty" from their name will make it more bearable to hear them winning.

[Sandro]

I was distraught when Canucks lost to Anaheim. Our forwards were struggling in that one. It seems like they didn't play with the energy and focus they did when they played and beat the Stars.

Going to go with the Sens.

[LadyPSerenity]

Ottawa has really been driving it home in the playoffs though. Gotta remember this is a whole new season. Buffalo didn't struggle with the rangers in the regular season as much as they did in the playoffs. If Ottawa continues to play the way they've been playing they really stand a good chance. So here's me, behind them 100&#37; and I'd love to see the cup home in my hometown!

I've been 7/8 and 3/4
Let's see if I Can be 2/2 in this one!

So my picks.

Round One

Ottawa vs Buffalo
Winner: Ottawa

Detroit Vs. Anaheim
Winner: Detroit

Good luck to the playing teams!

[Celtic Warrior]

I'll take Buffalo in 6 games and Detroit (even though I hate the Red Wings) in five and the Red Wings are gonna win the Stanley Cup in five game; plus Dominik Hasek will win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

[bakakame]

Oh come on now, the Cup finals start on monday and this thread hasn't seen any life in weeks... and how the heck are soccer threads the most popular sports topic around here? ugh...

Anyway, it's down to Anaheim and Ottawa.

Since this is the actual championship now, I may be able to watch a few of the games on NBC. Won't be able to watch the first 2, but pending on the schedule I may get to watch the latter half.

I'm going to keep the streak alive and once again vote against Ottawa. Looking at the stats and highlights from the past 2 months I should probably know better, but I'm still picking Anaheim.

So far my overall total is 50/50. This series will be the tie-breaker for me.... man, I'm much better at predicting football games.... then again I actually get to watch about 8 of them a week.

[Sandro]

Ah, of course..the yanks are against the Canadian team >.>
be it as it may, it's been an extremely long time since the Stanley Cup has been in Canada. The Oilers didn't get the job done last season. So, as Canadians, our only hope lies with the Sens.

[bakakame]

I don't quite get that, I mean half of just about any team is canadian anyway... I dunno.

And I'm mostly just bitter because they knocked out the Penguins so I haven't been able to watch any of the games since then.

[Sagat]

Good thing you aren't a betting man Celtic, you'd have lost a lot with both predictions.

Don Cherry predicted Anaheim/Ottawa far back ... he will not say his final prediction just yet though, although he has already made it.

Sens have had a weeks rest, and Anaheim played a long series. On paper it looks good for the Sens, though too much rest can be a bad thing, it wasn't when the Canadiens beat the Kings 4-1 series and won the cup back in .. 95 was it?

[LadyPSerenity]

Heh, See me myself, in the first round I was 7/8 The second round 3/4 and then again 1/2 So I'm always getting one wrong... but here I hope I'm not going to get it wrong.

Sens but in Seven games. I think it's going to take them all the games to do it. But here's hoping for the best! Go Sens Go!