Sixteen Wins!!!

Yes...16 wins...that's how many hockey games one team has to win in order to get their names engraved on Lord Stanley's Cup...and it all starts TONIGHT!!!! This is the best part of hockey season...the post-season. The media will be ripping each team apart through stats and play-off experience just to make their own predictions. All hockey pools are buzzing right now and people are making decisions based on one of three things...1) their favourite team is in so they'll be rooting for them 2) looking at the teams and making picks based on stats and 3) jersey colour.
You can basically eliminate reasons 1 and 3...these are people making picks without reason. If they actually thought about things they may actually pick against their favourite team or their favourite colour. So, as my personal contribution to the hockey society I will give you my picks for the 1st round and my reasons for the choice.

Let's start in the East.
Buffalo vs New York Islanders(Buffalo in 7): I'd love to see the Islanders take this one just for Ted Nolan. For those of you who don't remember, Ted Nolan used to be the coach for the Buffalo Sabres when John Muckler was the GM. Nolan had just won the Jack Adams trophy as coach of the year in 1995-1996. Unfortunately he and Dominik Hasek (Buffalo's goalie at the time) didn't get along so Muckler had to get rid of one or the other...Nolan was gone. He was blacklisted from the NHL for some time but he continued coaching in the juniors. The Islanders took a chance on him and he got them to just squeeze into the playoffs. Dubie is hot in nets right now...the team is clicking at the right time. I think they'll make a series out of it but any team that has Alexei Yashin in the line-up will not be going anywhere.

New Jersey vs Tampa Bay (NJ in 5): Tampa has some wicked firepower and they play a very high energy game however, their goaltending is average at best. You don't get anywhere in the post-season with average goaltending and you also never bet against Martin Brodeur in the play-offs. I think Tampa may steal one game...that will be game 3 in Tampa just to make it interesting. After that NJ will shut the door!!!

Atlanta vs New York Rangers (NYR in 6): Notice that 3 of the 8 teams in the east are from New York State!!! The last time that happened was in 1994 and that was the year the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup after defeating the Vancouver Canucks 4 games to 3. Anyone remember Mark Messier's bold prediction??? I'll save that one for another blog posting. Anyway, I think the Rangers are a much stronger and well-rounded team than the Thrashers. To me it boils down to strength in goal. Lehtonen was inconsistent all year whereas Lundquist was pretty solid. Also, you can count on Sean Avery to agitate Kovalchuk and Hossa to the point where they won't even want to step on the ice.

Ottawa vs Pittsburgh (Pens in 6): The lack of experience on the Pittsburgh bench will be a non-factor in this series. The veteran leadership of Mark Recchi, Gary Roberts and Sergei Gonchar plus the security of Georges Laraque will have this team firing on all cylinders. The Senators are a very fragile play-off team due to their past losses. The main reason the Sens have lost in the past is in their inability to play with the heart that is required in the post-season. The Penguins have the talent and their veterans will right the ship to rip out the Sens' hearts once again. The strength on paper sides with the Sens...at every position. However, you can't measure heart on paper and that's the Sens downfall.

In the West.
Detroit vs Calgary (Detroit in 7): This has the makings of an upset with Calgary winning it in game 7 but I think Detroit will take this one. The depth of the Red Wings is just too much for Calgary to contain. They will make a good push for it but I think Hasek will win the goaltending duel against the Kipper. This series will be a tough one physically and the winner will have some sore bodies to mend. Detroit won't have anything left after this series.

Anaheim vs Minnesota (Minn. in 6): This is my pick for the upset in the west. The Wild will play a trap style of game that will frustrate the Ducks to no end. This will be a boring series and, unfortunately there will be more in round 2. Coach Jacques Lemaire was a coach in New Jersey and he introduced the trap then. Now that he's in Minnesota they're playing the same style...BORING!!!! In nets the battle will be won by Niklas Backstrom over JS Giguere. Backstrom led the league with a 1.97 goals against average and .929 save percentage. Of course it helps when you have an entire team playing defence in front of you.

Vancouver vs Dallas (Vancouver in 5): This one is a no-brainer. Turco has been horribly inconsistent in nets all year...Luongo has been outstanding. The way these teams play goes by the way of their goalies...Luongo will shine and the Canucks will adavance.

Nashville vs San Jose (San Jose in 6): My reason for picking the Sharks is quite simple...Joe Thornton. I loved him in Boston and I still can't figure out why they traded him but he's been having a blast in San Jose. If Nashville can figure out a way to stop Thornton, Cheechoo, Marleau, and Guerin then they might have a chance. Nashville have Kariya, Forsberg, and Arnott but they don't have the depth. In goal they're pretty much equal so it'll take goal-scoring talent to win this series...Thornton was second in the league with 114 points. That should do it!!!

That's it for the 1st round...I'll be back to cover the 2nd round.

As usual any comments are welcomed and encouraged.

Keep it real!!!
The Rokpig...