Round Two, Welcome.

So I went 1-7 in the first round. Honestly, I think 0-8 would have looked a bit better- at least miss the mark completely, ya know? But thank God for the Chicago Blackhawks, that's all I have to say. Anyway, the matchups for Round Two look like this:

Eastern Conference

(4) Pittsburgh vs. (8) Montreal

After a crazy Game 7 upset of No.1 seeded Washington, the Habs take on yet another offensive powerhouse in the Penguins. Unlike the Caps, this Pittsburgh team is unafraid to score by any means necessary- though they will have to contend with monster shot-blockers and a stone wall in net by the name of Jaroslav Halak, which is what they were able to avoid in the first round against Ottawa. They start off tonight at 7.

(6) Boston vs. (7) Philadelphia

Now this is going to be good. After knocking off the number 3 and 2 seeds, respectively, these two teams match up in what will surely be a rough-and-tumble kind of series. Should be interesting. Though the Bruins have gotten some rest, the Flyers have been kicking back for about a week or two now since handily disposing of the NJ Devils in five. Also an interesting goalie duel- Tuukka Rask vs. Brian Boucher.


Western Conference

(1) San Jose vs. (5) Detroit- SJ leads, 1-0

So, these two teams have already started business, with San Jose just getting by with a 4-3 win last night thanks to two goals by Joe Pavelski (including the game-winner). The Red Wings have gone straight into this series after winning Game 7 against the Coyotes 6-1. Look for fatigue to be a factor.

(2) Chicago vs. (3) Vancouver

There's already some bad blood between these two teams, stemming back (I believe) from last year's playoffs in which the Hawks dispatched the Canucks in the second round, 4 games to 2. With an incredibly strong team this season, Vancouver will look to exact revenge- though much of that rests on the pads of one Roberto Luongo. He'll have to be dynamite against the hot offense that Chicago has.

Kick back, relax and enjoy the semi-finals- one step closer to finding out which team will hoist the Stanley Cup. (And as long as it's not Pittsburgh or Detroit, we'll be juuuust fine. :D)

And Two More Picks Bite the Dust.

I'd like to pay my respects to another two of my playoff picks, the Colorado Avalanche and Ottawa Senators. Though they fought bravely and surprised everyone who ever doubted them, Craig Anderson, Matt Duchene and the rest of the Avs were defeated last night by the San Jose Sharks, 5-2, and lost the series four games to two. Also, the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-3 in OT on Pascal Dupuis' goal, taking the series four games to two as well. I am now 0-3 on the first round. Ugh.

Well... I have some serious hopes hinging on the Phoenix Coyotes now, as they take on the Red Wings in Game 6 at 2 p.m. and are on the brink of elimination themselves. I had a dream last night that Ilya Bryzgalov allowed a soft goal in OT, giving the Wings the series win... I'm praying to the hockey gods that that stays only in my subconscious. PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU. I have to win at least one of these rounds.

Anyway... the Kings and Canucks also play tonight, and with the Kings losing big in their last two matches, they need a wake-up call if they want to stay in it. Stay tuned.

One Series Down, Seven to Go...

So... one series has ended, and I'm already on a losing streak.

The Flyers closed out their series with the Devils, 4 games to 1, with their 3-0 shutout last night. Man, that sucks. But honestly, it was well-deserved... they played all out, while the Devs were all over the place and played with no distinguishable urgency whatsoever. Plus, Philly owes four steak dinners to goalie Brian Boucher for pretty much proving everyone (or at least me) wrong with his clutch play during this series. He's got the guys in front of him believing in him and playing some great D as well. I don't know if they'll fare as well against the Capitals (should Washington win this series, I believe that's the team the Flyers will face), but who knows?

Anyway... the Caps have the chance to win their series against the Habs as well, and they'll take it tonight at 7 p.m. Also on the docket: Coyotes-Red Wings, Kings-Canucks, Bruins-Sabres. Versus has made me very happy with its lineup for tonight, so I'll be enjoying the Caps and Coyotes games while keeping an eye on all of the other scores.

P.S. Triple OT last night in Pittsburgh? Yikes! I know some Pens fans weren't happy about the result. (4-3 win) Looks like they'll have to close out the series on road ice... that is, if all goes as planned.

Hockey and the Female Fan, Revisited.

I have a favorite Tweep of mine to thank for this link- Angela MacIsaac, or @that_angela. She's a former sportswriter and journalist and a Flames fan who knows her stuff. Today she sent me this link to an article by Cassie McClellan of fromtherink.com about hockey and the female fan. In it, a roundtable of female bloggers and fans talk about how they first fell in love with the sport, how male fans have received them, and some of their negative encounters. I found it interesting and quite relatable.

I don't know if I ever made it clear to anyone how I first got into the sport, so I'll do so now. The movie "Miracle," about (what else) the 1980 U.S. Men's Olympic hockey team and their coach, Herb Brooks, was released in 2004. I saw it on cable one day during the eighth grade and fell in love with the story, and with the sport in general. Throughout that summer (which was ironically in the middle of the lockout year, 2004-05), I watched the movie, read a book (The Boys of Winter by Wayne Coffey) based on it, and watched classic games on MSG. By the time the 2005 preseason started, I was head over heels for hockey. How I became an Islanders fan is a different story.

In five full years of being a fan, I've been pretty lucky so far. Though I have gotten surprised looks from fellow fans, not to mention some less-than-acceptable name suggestions in my eyes when looking for the perfect podcast name ("Hockey Score Broads"? Uh, no), overall the majority of male fans I've encountered has accepted me as an equal, and we've had some great discussions and debates. Unfortunately, though, that's not the same everywhere- and even the NHL's marketing team, not to mention individual team marketing squads, tugs at the wrong strings. Pink and shiny isn't the way to go, guys, and I've said it before. Neither are those detestable "Marry me, Miller!" shirts a friend of mine found in a team store- at HSBC Arena. Yes, those are real, the hockey gods help us.

So yes, women can be actual fans who spew stats and celebrate goals and can name more than one player on the team. Of course, women can be women as well, and every now and then they will notice a player who's easy on the eyes, but more often (at least, I hope) they will bleed their team's colors, cheer on and cry for their favorites every season, right along with the guys. I know I do.

Vote for Rob Schremp in TSN's Play of the Year Showdown: Pool B

So, Rob Schremp's baseball-style goal against the Colorado Avalanche dazzled many hockey fans for sure. Now, Bob the Builder's up against Miikka Kiprusoff, Jonathan Toews and others for one of the best plays of the season on TSN.ca.

Right now, Robbie's trailing behind Kipper, 40.2% to 35.6%. Kiprusoff's incredible toe save against the San Jose Sharks is impressive, no doubt, but some believe it's based more on luck than anything else. Of course, Isles fans *should* be voting for Robbie because not only was that an incredible goal, but he wears the orange and blue as well. :) But you are, of course, the judge.

P.S. Doug Weight talks about the Canucks-Kings series here on Fanhouse TV. He gives some great insight on both teams, as well as specific players.

P.P.S. Coyotes, Senators, Blackhawks, Avalanche all lost. I really know how to pick my teams, eh? :( Hoping for a Capitals win tonight.

Playoff Addiction Step One: Admit You Have a Problem...

I have to admit, I wasn't quite as involved in watching the playoffs last night as I had been for the past week. Oh, don't get me wrong, I watched, but damn if I forgot there were two OTHER games to watch out for- Phoenix-Detroit and New Jersey-Philly. Oopsie.

Enough of that, though. You know what the best thing about this has been? No team has gone 2-0 in the series. For the FIRST TIME in league history! That's when you know every team is playing its hardest- even the lower seeds have come to play and are making it hard on those whom are favored to win. Take Phoenix, for example. Plenty of people I know wrote off the Coyotes despite them being the higher seed because, after all, it's Detroit they're playing, and the Red Wings have all this history, 19 years straight in the playoffs, blah blah blah. All the respect in the world, but Phoenix has a ton of momentum, not to mention a newly nominated Vezina candidate (Ilya Bryzgalov) in net. I've said all of this before, but I'll say it again- you can't count them out, especially since they won Game 3 convincingly yesterday afternoon, 4-2.

Also, unfortunately taking a 2-1 series lead in this round was the Flyers. After getting to overtime, an unlikely fellow by the name of Daniel Carcillo scored the game-winner. Ugh. Spare me. The Devils should be in full desperation mode- or at least trying hard to get the ball, or puck as it were, back into their hands regarding this series.

In other games, the Penguins scored a big win over the Senators last night 4-2 on the road, with Sidney Crosby a present factor (1 G, 1 A, +1) and Marc-Andre Fleury (20 saves) getting things done in net. The Senators had the crowd with them for most of the game, but Brian Elliott has definitely been sharper, and their defense needs to be more focused as well. Also, after a 0-0 stalemate for three periods, a fluke goal off of the stick of San Jose's Dan Boyle cost the Sharks the game in overtime, giving the Colorado Avalanche a 2-1 series edge. Talk about tough times for the No. 1 seed.

Tonight, the Capitals and Canadiens face off in front of a raucous Bell Centre crowd, no doubt, at 7:00 p.m., and Semyon Varlamov will start in place of Jose Theodore for Washington, so we'll see how that goes. The Bruins and Sabres also play tonight, with another Vezina candidate (Ryan Miller) in net, and the Sabres looking to avenge a 5-3 drubbing in Game Two. The late game is the Kings against the Canucks, in L.A. tonight. I'll likely only be watching one of these games (Caps-Habs)... I'm in terrible danger of suffering from premature playoff burnout, resulting in an unhappy Angie, and we don't want that, now do we? :P

Enjoy!

Bruins, Caps, Kings All Deliver

The drama just keeps on coming. Gotta love it!

First... if you haven't already, please watch the first half-minute of this video in which Andy Sutton gets into it with a reporter about his hit on Jordan Leopold. It's spawned a trending topic on Twitter (#areyouanexpert) and its own Facebook fan page, and though perhaps it shouldn't, it's given me a whole new reason to love the big guy. :)

Now, on to the games, and though I missed about the whole first period of Bruins-Sabres, I got to see at least all of Habs-Caps, and what a game that was. But first things first.

Bruins beat Sabres 5-3; series tied at 1.

So no huge hits or strange feats here, but Thomas Vanek lovers will definitely have a hard time dealing with this; the forward left the game in the first period with the dreaded "lower-body" injury. Should he end up missing the rest of this series, that will definitely change things- for the better for Boston, and for the worse for the Sabres.

Washington beats Montreal 6-5 (OT); series tied at 1.

W.O.W. This game was the most entertaining of the night. Jose Theodore certainly didn't think so- he allowed 2 goals on the first two shots he faced and ended up giving way to Semyon Varlamov, who did allow three, but no matter- Nicklas Backstrom saved the night with his hat trick, including the game-winner in overtime, as the Caps battled back from 4-1, then tied the game at 5 just after Tomas Plekanec scored late in the third period. Best part? The reaction on the bench from all of the coaches, who got into a legitimate group hug as the team celebrated. They knew they needed this one before heading into the snake pit that is the Bell Centre.

L.A. beats Vancouver, 3-2 (OT); series tied at 1.

I saw Vancouver build up their 2-0 lead just before falling asleep, but I missed all the good stuff, unfortunately. And the best thing? Jonathan Quick, who made some incredible saves in the second and third period to keep the Canucks from adding to their lead, thus allowing the Kings to come back and win it. Give kudos to some great defensive work by the guys in front of him to stymie Vancouver's offense.

So tonight, here goes nothing- Game 3 of Pens-Sens, followed by Game 2 of Hawks-Preds, followed by Game 3 of Sharks-Avs. All one right after another on Versus. Addiction, I has it. Enjoy, y'all.

Playoffs, Night Three: Not a Good Track Record.

Well, at least the Devils won.

That's the consolation I have to give myself, after watching four straight hockey games and getting updates on another one. And go figure- the one I don't watch is the one in which the team I'm rooting for wins. Up until 2:00 a.m. for all of that?! But hey, at least there were some great games on. And I will say this much- for all my complaints about Versus showing NHL games, I was in hockey heaven last night with their continuous coverage of the playoffs. Four games, all shown one right after the next. Don't say you can't appreciate that!

New Jersey beats Philadelphia, 5-3; series tied at 1.

Thank the hockey gods. I couldn't take much more of the Flyers winning. The Parise-Zubrus-Elias line was definitely cooking last night, combining for 2 goals and 6 points, and Ilya Kovalchuk had three points himself, plus Martin Brodeur made 26 saves to seal the deal. This was the only game I couldn't watch (I need Center Ice badly), but I got enough of the gist of it to know that this, as every game is now, was a big one for NJ.

Pittsburgh beats Ottawa, 2-1; series tied at 1.

A much low-scoring event than was Game 1 (though don't worry, the other three games more than made up for it). Brian Elliot did his best, but in the end it was Sidney Crosby making an excellent move on Jason Spezza and three other Ottawa Senators to assist on the winning goal by Kris Letang. One of the highlights of this game? Former Islander Andy Sutton's vicious hit on Jordan Leopold. Leopold, focused on the puck and the D already on him (Nick Foligno), barely even caught sight of the freight train that was Sutton until he'd already been hit. They call it a clean hit, and I saw no signs of an elbow, but it won't ingratiate him one bit with Pens fans.

Nashville beats Chicago, 4-1, take 1-0 series lead.

Antti Niemi? He was good, but he didn't compare to Pekka Rinne, who made some fantastic saves in order to keep the high-scoring Hawks offense off the board. Also, he didn't let in the two headscratchers Niemi did- one an unlucky bounce, the next an unfortunate rebound, both going to the stick of J.P. Dumont. Dumont got the first star of the game for his efforts, and two empty-netters sealed the deal for Music City.

Detroit beats Phoenix, 7-4; series tied at 1.

What a game this was. Five goals in four minutes in the third period- all trading off, Detroit, Phoenix, then the Wings, then the Coyotes again, until finally Justin Abdelkader got the deciding goal. Then Henrik Zetterberg capped off a hat trick, Valtteri Filppula got his second, and the Wings skated off with the victory (to my chagrin). You wanna talk drama? This and the next game had plenty of it. Not a lot of defense, but plenty of action!

San Jose beats Colorado, 6-5 (OT); series tied at 1.

The Sharks needed this one as well... and they got it, in dramatic fashion. Much like the Coyotes-Wings game, the Avs and Sharks exchanged goals, and Colorado went late into the third period with a 5-4 lead- until Joe Pavelski got to the front of the net and knotted it up at 5 with 30 seconds to go. Then Devin Setoguchi put it away for San Jose at 5:22 of OT, on the power play. After watching the end of the Hawks game, then the end of the 'Yotes game, by this point all I could do was turn off the TV, turn over on the sofa and sleep... and yes, I did sleep on the sofa. My little cousin took my bed over. But it was worth it!

So today's games are as follows: Buffalo-Boston, currently in progress (the Sabres lead 2-0), Montreal-Washington at 7:00 p.m. and the L.A. Kings in Vancouver at 10:00. Drunk on hockey? Nawww. This is just a pleasant buzz to start off. :)

Lee Named Rookie of the Year; JT, KO, JH to Play in Worlds; Koskinen, Petrov on the Move

Lots of stuff has gone on this week for the Isles- both players and prospects.

-First, Scott Gordon has been named head coach of the 2010 U.S. team for the World Championships. Defenseman Jack Hillen and forward Kyle Okposo (who turns 22 today- happy birthday!) have also been named to the squad. Also, John Tavares will play for Team Canada in the Worlds. Great job, guys!

- Trevor Gillies has been signed to a one-year contract with the Islanders. In 14 games this season, the tough guy tallied 75 penalty minutes.

- Last year's sixth-rounder in the draft, Anders Lee, has been named the USHL's Rookie of the Year. He played 59 of 60 games for the Green Bay Gamblers and tallied 66 points (35 G, 31 A). Congratulations to him!

- And according to Chris Botta, Isles prospect Kirill Petrov will be at prospect camp this summer, apparently with the blessing of the Russian KHL and his current team, Ak Bars. The skilled winger has been touted as one of the team's best future players.
Not only that, but another top prospect, goalie Mikko Koskinen, has been called up to Bridgeport. The big, solid netminder reportedly underwent hip surgery, but had a solid end of the season in the ECHL for the Utah Grizzlies. Expect him to be a mainstay in BPT next season.

Playoffs, Night Two Revisited

So last night, there were only three games to pay attention to, and only two of them were at the same time, but I still had a hard time! Get this: I LIVE in Buffalo, and it took me ten minutes just to find the channel that was showing the Sabres- Bruins game. Ugh. All that aside, I did have a very enjoyable time watching the games, though one of them was a shocker.

Sabres beat Bruins 2-1, take 1-0 lead.

Low-scoring, as I suspected. A little bit boring in the third, yeah. But it's great to see the Sabres get off to an early start, just for the benefit of seeing all those devoted fans celebrating not only in HSBC Arena, but in the tent outside. When they say "standing room only" in Buffalo, they MEAN it. Ryan Miller was his usual sharp self, as was Tuukka Rask despite allowing more goals. And while it got scrappy... why wouldn't it? It's the playoffs!

Canadiens beat Capitals 3-2 (OT), take 1-0 lead.

WOW. I mean it. WOW. Ovechkin was very much a non-factor in this one, and the Habs did what they had to do to keep the game close and eventually beat the #1 seed in OT. Yes, it is just the first game of the series, but if possible the Habs have made a statement: we're here to play, just like Washington is. The Caps are gonna have to buckle down to prove that they're not going to turn out to be the San Jose Sharks of the East. P.S. How about the trash talk going down between both teams?

Canucks beat Kings 3-2 (OT), take 1-0 lead.

This was to be expected, even if the Kings got to a 1-0 lead in the first period. Vancouver's a tough team to play, and they outshot and outplayed the Kings for much of the game. However, Jonathan Quick held up there for a while and the fact that they're such a young team and kept it from being a blowout helps things.

Tonight, it goes like this...

(7) Nashville at (2) Chicago, 8:30 p.m.

The final Game One of this round. I have no idea why they started it so late, but oh well. It should be good. The Blackhawks won this series 4-2 but haven't played the Predators in months, though they're division rivals. The Hawks haven't lost in regulation in seven, but the Preds shouldn't be overlooked- they have strong goaltending with Pekka Rinne, though they'll need to deal with a dangerous Chicago offense. As for Antti Niemi, well... he'll need to keep from allowing soft goals so often.

Ottawa at Pittsburgh (Ottawa leads 1-0), 7:00 p.m. - the last game was high-scoring... look for more of the same.

Philadelphia at New Jersey (Philly leads, 1-0), 7:30 p.m.- maybe a goalie change? Martin Brodeur was not at his sharpest, and perhaps Jacques Lemaire will go for a lineup shakeup.

Detroit at Phoenix (Phoenix leads 1-0), 10:00 p.m. - Detroit will need stronger special teams, particularly the penalty kill, against the Coyotes, while Phoenix will need to keep winning faceoffs and peppering Jimmy Howard.

Colorado at San Jose (Colorado leads 1-0), 10:30 p.m.- The outcome of Game One should be a wake-up call for the Sharks, who have tons of pressure on now while Colorado should be looking to just keep this momentum going on the road.

FIVE GAMES! Wow. I'm going to be paying the most attention to Chicago-Nashville, Philly-New Jersey and Detroit-Phoenix, though all of these series are great to watch. Something tells me I'm going to be crawling out of bed to do tomorrow's blog post. Well, that's the playoffs for ya.