I love hockey. And I love the Avalanche. I have a big post almost ready about the purpose of church services, but I haven't finished it yet because I'm too absorbed with the NHL playoffs (that's not really true, I'm busy with other things too, but it makes me sound more obsessed).
Anyone who follows hockey will agree, the "new NHL" has been a huge success and this years playoffs are some of the best I've ever seen. Notably, the 7th-seeded teams in both divisions are doing quite well against the 2nd-seeded (the number 7 Avs lead the series 3-0 over the number 2 Stars). Furthermore, Edmonton, the 8th seed, is tied 2-2 with the number 1 Red Wings, and that's only after the Red Wings won last night after being down 2-1. Any playoff series that involves low seeds contending or beating high-seeds is exciting -- especially when its "your" team. I didn't expect the Avalanche to fare well at all against the Stars. The Stars have been phenomenal this year, and the Avs have been... slightly above average. However, the Avs are in the most competitive division in the NHL. In the new NHL each team plays even more intra-divisional games than before. And I think this adds an interesting twist on the playoffs because, as with college football, the team with the best record may not be the best team if they had a weaker "strength of schedule." The fact that three of the eight teams in the Western Conference quaterfinals are from the Northwest Division. Furthermore, two of those teams are underdogs hanging with or dominating the higher seed they are playing.
Its been a very exciting first two weeks of the playoffs for me. Here are my hopes for the first round, although I don't know how realistic they are at this point. Really I just think it would be awesome if all the Northwest Division teams win their first round games, and I want the Red Wings to lose because I hate them, and that way we (the Avalanche... I'm totally on a "we" basis with the Avalanche) don't have to play them next round:
Avalanche beat the Stars in 4 games (sweep 'em, baby!)
Oilers beat the Red Wings in 7 games
Flames beat the Mighty Ducks in 7 games
Sharks beat the Predators in 5 games
I'm not as interested in the Eastern Conference. I don't really like the way they play in the Eastern Conference. Even with the new rules their games seem lethargic and lack an intensity that the Western Conference has. Not all the teams, New Jersey and Buffalo especially don't play this way. But enough of them that the Eastern Conference seems boring to me. If Ottawa wins their conference it will be a very interesting Stanley Cup finals, since Ottawa is generally a more boring team to watch. If New Jersey or Buffalo win, or even the Flyers, then it will be more like a Western Conference series. Here are my predictions for the Eastern Conference:
Senators beat the Lightning in 6 games
Devils beat the Rangers in 4 games
Canadiens beat the Hurricanes in 5 games (not sure at all about this one)
Sabres beat the Flyers in 6 games (maybe 7)
I know this post has nothing to do with what we normally talk about, but I'm way into the NHL playoffs right now but wanted to update my blog so it doesn't idle for another month. So here's something to talk about.
9 comments:
I think I speak for myself and everyone here when I say the Avs can fornicate themselves with a metal stick- go Wings!
but yeah, I'm also digging the new NHL- all we need is a TV contract (maybe even on ESPN the Ocho)
"the Avs can fornicate themselves with a metal stick" haven't you said that before? I think you put that on RedHurt's blog one time...
Anyway, you're an idiot.
Go Spurs!
(by the way, I'm very excited about the playoffs too.....just the NBA playoffs)
But I can still understand your excitement.
I've had the amazing good fortune of attending three separate games this season, all of which I had amazing seats for (in the first 10 rows, or in a suite on box level.) I like the new rules, and I grew up loving hockey....but I have to say that all three times this year, I've been insanely bored. Since the lockout, I just haven't cared at all about hockey. The games take forever, the scoring is still pretty sparse, the offense is rarely settled. It's like watching tennis, except with 10 people running up and down the ice instead of a single green ball, and occassionaly one of them accidentally screens the goalie and the puck falls in.
I can't really say what's caused me to feel so bored with hockey these days, but I think it's probably indoor lacrosse. The NLL has ten times the action and replaced overpaid sweaty russians with underpaid sweaty canadians, which I agree doesn't sound like a great trade at face value, but has a much stronger showing in the capital gains arena of large cap funds.
So, hooray for hockey, lacrosse rocks, and the red wings, as always, suck.
I once flew through Minneapolis instead of Detroit on a layover flight just because the red wings suck, and I was afraid of getting some of that suckiness on my new jacket.
I also rooted for the spurs over the pistons, just because the redwings suck, and manu ginobili has an awesome name.
I saw a kid downtown last week wearing an avs jersey and a redwings hat. I checked the DSM IV, and that definitely qualifies as schizophrenia.
I was reading an article the other day about what movies teams watch when flying for away trips. I don't remember all of them, but I'm pretty sure the Avs only watch Hugh Grant movies, while the Red Wings watch episodes of Walker: Texas Ranger.
Also, 9 out of 10 postmodernists say the Avs sucking is a legitimate metanarrative...
I think you're remembering the Devils - I read the same article, and it said that the wings exclusively watch Brokeback Mountain, on repeat.
Heyo!
I also read an article the other day about what food different teams eat while they're flying to their games. I don't remember all of the specifics, but I think the avalanche bring up a herd of live cows and rip steaks off of the flanks and then cook it over the jet engine while hanging out of the window at 30,000 feet. In direct and existential contrast, the RedWings eat only tofu, and not even real tofu, but one of those weird soy vegitarian tofus that's really made out of estrogen.
Goddam it! Stupid estrogen tofu made them lose in the first round!
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