Category Archives: Sports

NHL Playoff Pool 2011

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A co-worker of mine started a pool for the NHL playoffs. It was two bucks to enter so I figured that I’d enter since I’d never really been in a playoff pool before.

The rules were pretty simple; pick ten skaters and four goaltenders. For skaters, goals are worth two points, assists are worth one point and a shorthanded goal is worth an additional one point. For goaltenders, a win is worth three points, a shutout is worth an additional two points and an overtime loss is worth one point. In the unlikely event of a goalie making it onto the scoresheet, if a goalie tallies an assist it’s worth five points and should a goalie actually score a goal, it’s worth ten points.

It was the last day for me so I put together about 5 minutes of stats research and not a whole lot of thought before making my selections. But here was the list I came up with:

Skaters: Patrick Marleau (SJS), Danny Briere (PHI), Milan Lucic (BOS), Sidney Crosby (PIT), Alex Ovechkin (WAS), Jeff Carter (PHI), Corey Perry (ANA), Steven Stamkos (TAM), Henrik Sedin (VAN) and Daniel Sedin (VAN).

Goaltenders: Sergei Bobrovsky (PHI), Roberto Luongo (VAN), Antii Niemi (SJS) and Tim Thomas (BOS).

Based on the regular season, you’d think, “El Jefe, you’ve got some solid picks there.” And in the regular season, these obviously were good picks. The unfortunate part is that in the playoffs… you may as well take the regular season stats and throw them out the window.

I had decided to run with teams; thinking that Philly would make short work of Buffalo and Boston would lay the smack down on Montreal. As it would turn out, Buffalo isn’t going to lay down for anyone and Montreal is playing spoilers for the second year in a row. And with so many players running the board in the scoring stats for the Tampa Bay Lightning, I could have thrown Martin St. Louis and Vinny LaCavalier in there too… but they’re playing the Penguins in the first round so who’s coming out of that race is anyone’s bet. I also picked Sidney Crosby anticipating a swift return for him, which hasn’t been the case at all.

The Sedin sisters… that’s pretty much a no-brainer that requires no explanation nor does my selection of Luongo. With Corey Perry coming on so hot in the last half of the regular season, I couldn’t ignore him at all. Danny Briere was the playoff scoring king in last year’s playoffs, so I figured he was a good pick and Alex Ovechkin, after the suckish year he has had with the playoffs last year and the Russians tanking it in the Olympics, I had a hunch he was due. With his shift from his ridiculously insane individual stats of previous seasons to a more focussed, defensive team play… I’m seriously rooting for him and the Caps to run the board.

Now let’s move to the debacle that is the Boston Bruins. During the regular season, you probably could have put up a brick wall in front of the Bruins’ net that wouldn’t have stopped as many pucks as Tim Thomas had. His goals against average and his save percentage were unbeatable. I figured that he’d be able to carry that over into the playoffs. I banked on it, actually, which was why I selected Milan Lucic as well.

But what has Boston done in the playoffs? Absolutely nothing. The Montreal Canadiens have owned them with Carey Price taking over top spot in the league stats between the pipes. Where is Tim Thomas? And, for that matter, where are Antii Niemi and Sergei Bobrovsky? Take a look:

OMG, my picks suck.

I figured that there’s only so many seasons in a row that the San Jose Sharks could completely choke in the playoffs (hence my pick of Marleau) and since Niemi took the Hawks to the Cup… maybe they were due. The series with the Kings is tied at one so I’m not going to totally discount these players but with stats like these… it ain’t lookin’ good.

Who I Should Have Picked

Pavel Datsyuk:

Pavel Datsyuk is kicking your ass.

Carey Price and Michael Neuvirth:

Carey Price is pwn.

Drew Doughty:

Who knows if the Kings are going to make it past the Sharks in the first round but Doughty almost single handedly dismantled them last night posting two goals and two assists on the night.

Since he’s with the Kings, he might not make it all the way to the Cup final but at least he’d be getting me more points than both Steven Stamkos, Patrick Marleau and Milan Lucic combined… all three players sporting a giant goose-egg for points thus far.

I could have also gone with Martin St. Louis or Ryan Getzlaf of Brian Gionta… all of which would have given me more points. I mean, it’s still really early in the playoffs and there’s a long way to go but I’m feeling a little dumb at this point. And I’ll feel incredibly stupid if Sidney Crosby doesn’t come back at all.

Rod Phillips’ Retirement

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The Voice Of The Edmonton Oilers

Tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Kings marks the end of an era for the Edmonton Oilers and their fan base as play-by-play great, Rod Phillips,  calls the game for the last time ever tonight on 630 CHED.

Rod’s career has spanned 3,542 games, 37 years and 5 Stanley Cup championships. Oilers writer, Robin Brownlee, details the monumental occasion on OilersNation.com in a far better way than I could.

I’ve been lucky to catch a few of “Rod’s Classics” this year, where Rod has returned behind the mic for ten games to do the play-by-play. Hearing Rod’s excitement and passion for the game takes me back to when the Oilers were in their hay day, chewing bubble gum and winning Stanley Cups (and they were all out of bubble gum in those days). I also wouldn’t discount his influence over my own ‘no holds barred’ vocal insanity while watching the Oilers play, even to this day.

Enjoy this game, Rod. Hats off to you.

It’s Do Or Die

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That’s what time it is for the Prince of Stanley’s hockey team. Tomorrow night, they play a crucial game that will not only decide their path toward a gold medal but will also, more importantly, decide whether or not I have to wake up at an ungodly hour on Saturday morning.

If they win tomorrow night, then they will play in a game on Friday night to decide if they head to the gold medal game. If they lose tomorrow night, then they play at 7:45 am at the arena on the opposite side of the city, in the heart of Downs’ Castle.

I’m going to do the math on this one; if the game starts at 7:45 am, he needs to be there a half an hour earlier as a minimum… at 7:15 am. I’m going to have to give the standard one hour of travel time, meaning that we have to leave the house at 6:15 am. Providing an allowance for how much time I need to get the Prince awake and fed, tack on getting a coffee in there… multiply it by the crab factor (which is basically how cranky the Prince is going to be getting up that early) and you have a crazy early morning.

Hence why it’s a ‘do-or-die’ scenario. Because if he doesn’t win… I’m going to die.

Top 15 Worst Sports Moments of All Time (via Listverse)

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Top 15 Worst Sports Moments of All Time For every Lance Armstrong and Jesse Owens who beat the odds and give us heartwarming and unforgettable moments, there are hundreds of athletes who do not come out on top. There are the guys who didn’t quite come back, the players who disgraced their sports and disgusted the world. This list is the antithesis of The Greatest Sports Moments of All Time. These are the moments that made your scream at your TV in anguish, pain, sympathy and disg … Read More

via Listverse

Please Horc, Don’t Hurt ‘Em

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Too Legit To Quit

If you’re a fan of the Edmonton Oilers, then this season could mark the light at the end of a very long and very dark tunnel you’ve been traveling through for about a decade. That being said, the tunnel isn’t as long as the tunnel the Toronto Maple Leafs have been driving through but… well, they’re the Leafs and they’re destined to suck for all of eternity.

There have been bright spots here and there; none of them burning brighter than the 2006 run for Lord Stanley’s Mug.  With the Oilers coming out of nowhere all the way to game seven of the Stanley Cup final which, ironically, would spell the beginning of the end for the ‘old guard’ Edmonton Oilers. The team continued their tailspin for the next four seasons with the fourth season (2009-2010) marking the team hitting absolute rock-bottom; they finished dead last in the league, a first for the Edmonton Oilers.

Taylor Hall

However, with every death there is an inevitable rebirth. And at the NHL Entry Draft, the Oilers would use their 1st overall pick to select Taylor Hall to be their phoenix rising from the ashes of their burned-out team.

Previous draft years had yielded picks Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson, Jordan Eberle, Sam Gagner and the YouTube scoring wonder, Linus Omark.  Going even further back, we can note players who have made it into the line-up on a consistent basis like Theo Peckham, Andrew Cogliano, Taylor Chorney (although not currently in the line up) and current backup goaltender, Devan Dubnyk.

Mixing a few wily veterans in with this much young talent, you get the feeling that it’s only a matter of time before the team can be considered to be a contender again.

I must admit that, in the past four seasons, I’ve been one of those fans who has been publicly chiding Kevin Lowe for offering up a multi-million dollar, multi-year deal to Shawn Horcoff after the 2006 Cup run. Prior to this season, number 10 had done little and offered up very little in the way of… well… anything of note since the spring of ’06.

This season, however, marks a pivotal time in Horcoff’s career. He would be named the 13th captain of the team and would centre two of the hottest young stars to enter the league, Jordan Eberle and the newly drafted Taylor Hall. With the roster being chock full of young players, the team needs a veteran player to step into a leadership role… a role that Tom Renney and the rest of the coaching staff feels belongs to Shawn Horcoff.

The 13th Captain

And not only has Horcoff been given the nod for the ‘C’, he’s also been centering two of the golden boys of the Oilers’ new era, Hall and Eberle. That’s no small responsibility; grooming these two young men into the future of the franchise. Let’s just hope that Horc is the guy that can do that… and with him out of the line-up due to knee injury, we hope that he can make his way back to continue working with not only these two rookies but leading the entire team. I’m not expecting great things to happen this year however, eventually, I think the Oilers can build themselves into a Stanley Cup contender… if they play their cards right.

And speaking of golden boys, let’s check out Linus Omark’s “cheeky” shootout goal from the other night against Tampa Bay… because I can never get tired of seeing this:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5powwre3H8I&fs=1&hl=en_US]

Oil

Why The Leafs Stink

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The very definition of 'epic failure'.

It’s not bad luck. It’s not bad karma. What it takes to build a chronic loser.

A genuinely insightful article by Steve Maich published in Macleans on April 2, 2008 and has, somehow, gone unheeded by the Maple Leafs organization as nearly two years later and with no end in sight… the Leafs still stink.

God hates the blue and white — it’s that belief which binds together all those who call themselves citizens of Leafs Nation. On talk radio, in chat rooms, and in sports bars across the country (but mainly in southern Ontario) they share the misery of loving a team that does not give back. Not ever. Their bond is galvanized by the common struggle against forces beyond their control, and by the knowledge that they are hated (vehemently) by fans in Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver and beyond. It’s that sense of grievance and isolation that, in the absence of anything real to celebrate, holds them all together.

via Why the Leafs stink | Macleans.ca – Canada – Features.

Rider Pride And The 2010 Grey Cup

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It’s the weekend of the CFL’s 2010 Grey Cup; a rematch of last year’s championship between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Montreal Alouettes. This year, the Grey Cup is being played in Edmonton.

Riders

Now, I’ve been in the stands in Commonwealth Stadium when Saskatchewan rolled into town against the Eskimos and the attendance swelled from the average 29,780 to 47,829.  The likeliest scenario is that more than one third of fans in attendance were full of Rider Pride. This meant that over 18,000 Roughrider fans made the pilgrimage from the ‘Old Country’ to Edmonton to watch their football team play.  And this was a regular season game. Picture Edmonton with the Rider Pride rolling into town because of the Grey Cup.

To say it gets crazy when the Saskatchewan Roughriders come to town would be an understatement.

Getting a basic understanding of a Riders fan isn’t difficult; you really need to go no further than the internet.  However, to help out, I’ve chosen several Riders fans photos from a quick search to demonstrate a typical fan to those who may not have ever seen this phenomenon in person.  Besides their fanatical dedication to their team, they are also known for their small town attitudes and are stereotyped as lovers of Pilsner beer.

For real lovers of Old Style Pilsner

To get on with my story, I headed out to a nearby liquor store to grab some beer for the evening and as I pulled into the parking lot, a white crew-cab truck pulled in and parked.  I watched as six large men stepped out of the truck, all of them wearing the emerald green home jersey of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.  I wanted to perform a bit of a social test of the whole ‘Riders fan loves Pilsner’ stereotype for my own interest so I lagged behind a little and observed.

Two of them briefly lingered by the vodka shelf before following the other four guys headed for the beer cooler.  I followed and casually observed them head to the domestic beer section. I was on the other side of the beer cooler mulling over my options at the import beer shelf, keeping one eye on the six Riders fans.

Half of the motley crew left around the same time I did and the other half remained in the beer cooler for a little while longer.  At the end of the day, all six of these Riders fans ended up at the till while I was still there.  Five of the six of them ended up with a box of Pilsner beer with the sixth being the rogue of the bunch and carrying a 24 can box of Wildcat Strong.

So what does this mean?  It’s hard to say, really.

One could also say that five out of six Riders fans prefer Pilsner to Wildcat Strong, however I don’t feel this is truly a scientific conclusion. My main thought revolves around whether a stereotype is actually a stereotype if it’s true.  Because, in this case, I’d say that it is.

JeffLand’s National Sport

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I’m trying to decide on a national sport for the New JeffLand Empire.  I have always loved hockey and there are many other citizens of the NJLE that also love hockey.  The obvious thing would be to just make hockey the national sport.  However, all of the citizens of NJLE are fanatical Skee-Ball fans and, while Skee-Ball may not be an obvious choice for a sport, it may be the most appropriate selection.

 

Skee-Ball

Skee-Ball. Close to the heart of the NJLE.

The jury is still out.

NHL Entry Draft – 2010

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Taylor Hall Draft Day

After a incredibly brutal season that dropped them to the basement of the NHL, the Edmonton Oilers secured the #1 draft pick in yesterday’s NHL Entry Draft.  And with it, they picked two-time Memorial Cup MVP Taylor Hall.  I can’t wait to see this guy in an Oilers uniform… let’s just hope they don’t absolutely crush this dude’s talent with management idiocy.