Comments for Lost in Skates http://puck.hockeyshrine.com Hockey Thoughts in Canada Wed, 06 May 2009 10:49:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 Comment on Brophy, what are you thinking? by MacT http://puck.hockeyshrine.com/?p=66&cpage=1#comment-310 MacT Wed, 06 May 2009 10:49:53 +0000 http://puck.hockeyshrine.com/?p=66#comment-310 'Broph' is a homeless person's Bob McKenzie and has opinions that range from boring to asinine. The thought of changing the current playoff sudden death overtime from five on five format borders on asinine. I don't think this is a purist's stance either but simply makes for excellent performance and drama (what most of us want in hockey). The quality of hockey these playoffs so far has been unbelievable. Imagine if you would four Sunbelt teams lopped off the NHL, theoretically removing the weakest 100 players, and what that would do to the level of play in more regular season games. Chop a dozen games off the season to allow our ultra-conditioned modern day players some extra rest/heal time in the season and again the quality of play should go up and the man-loss games down. This article, written by a Yank, pretty much sums up the NHL playoffs...http://www.ocregister.com/articles/nba-nhl-playoff-2371615-series-game ‘Broph’ is a homeless person’s Bob McKenzie and has opinions that range from boring to asinine. The thought of changing the current playoff sudden death overtime from five on five format borders on asinine. I don’t think this is a purist’s stance either but simply makes for excellent performance and drama (what most of us want in hockey). The quality of hockey these playoffs so far has been unbelievable. Imagine if you would four Sunbelt teams lopped off the NHL, theoretically removing the weakest 100 players, and what that would do to the level of play in more regular season games. Chop a dozen games off the season to allow our ultra-conditioned modern day players some extra rest/heal time in the season and again the quality of play should go up and the man-loss games down. This article, written by a Yank, pretty much sums up the NHL playoffs…http://www.ocregister.com/articles/nba-nhl-playoff-2371615-series-game

]]> Comment on Round 2 NHL playoffs 2008-9 continued… by MacT http://puck.hockeyshrine.com/?p=61&cpage=1#comment-308 MacT Sat, 02 May 2009 22:49:35 +0000 http://puck.hockeyshrine.com/?p=61#comment-308 Canes in seven. They have ten players from their Stanley Cup winning team and have improved their defence corp from that team. They are battle-hardened and will not be satisfied with anything but the Cup. The Bruins are a well-coached, disciplined team that executes their game-plan consistently. Savard and Chara are among the elite players at their positions right now. Boston also has Yelle, Ward and Recchi with Cup rings. I think the keys are to Carolina winning are slightly better forwards, defencemen, goaltending and coaching. Penguins in seven. Pittsburgh's on a mission to win it all this year. Adding Guerin was one of the best deadline deals. Malkin and Crosby are twin threats whenever they're on the ice. Their defence is only average. Ovechkin is a dynamic talent and is surrounded by a great supporting cast including Semin, Backstrom, Green and Laich. Their defencemen are underrated but overall team defence can be suspect at times. Fleury is on his game and Varlamov has been solid and made the saves he's had to so far. Fedorov brings veteran leadership. The key to this series is Pittsburgh found out last year what commitment is needed to get there and now must win two more games. Vancouver in five. Both teams boast a diverse group of talented forwards with three lines that can roll and a fourth that can make things happen. Vancouver has an excellent defence corps but Black Hawks' may be even better. Khabibulin has one Cup while Luongo is the best goalie in the world right now. The key to this series is the Canucks time is now while Chicago may need a bit more experience to match their impressive skills. Detroit in six. The only weakness for both teams is goaltending. The Wings now how to win and have talent up front and on the back end. Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Lidstrom are the leaders with everybody aware of their roles. Anaheim has an outstanding group of defencemen, two high octane forward lines and team playoff experience. I think forward depth and goaltending experience will be the keys to winning. Canes in seven. They have ten players from their Stanley Cup winning team and have improved their defence corp from that team. They are battle-hardened and will not be satisfied with anything but the Cup. The Bruins are a well-coached, disciplined team that executes their game-plan consistently. Savard and Chara are among the elite players at their positions right now. Boston also has Yelle, Ward and Recchi with Cup rings. I think the keys are to Carolina winning are slightly better forwards, defencemen, goaltending and coaching.

Penguins in seven. Pittsburgh’s on a mission to win it all this year. Adding Guerin was one of the best deadline deals. Malkin and Crosby are twin threats whenever they’re on the ice. Their defence is only average. Ovechkin is a dynamic talent and is surrounded by a great supporting cast including Semin, Backstrom, Green and Laich. Their defencemen are underrated but overall team defence can be suspect at times. Fleury is on his game and Varlamov has been solid and made the saves he’s had to so far. Fedorov brings veteran leadership. The key to this series is Pittsburgh found out last year what commitment is needed to get there and now must win two more games.

Vancouver in five. Both teams boast a diverse group of talented forwards with three lines that can roll and a fourth that can make things happen. Vancouver has an excellent defence corps but Black Hawks’ may be even better. Khabibulin has one Cup while Luongo is the best goalie in the world right now. The key to this series is the Canucks time is now while Chicago may need a bit more experience to match their impressive skills.

Detroit in six. The only weakness for both teams is goaltending. The Wings now how to win and have talent up front and on the back end. Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Lidstrom are the leaders with everybody aware of their roles. Anaheim has an outstanding group of defencemen, two high octane forward lines and team playoff experience. I think forward depth and goaltending experience will be the keys to winning.

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