2 goals for Mr.Murphy

Last night was one of the best nights of my life (I have been saying that to myself quiet often since my arrival in Long Beach) and I have some pictures to prove just how great it was.

I have my number 11 jersey, I am wearing number 11 because my coach Dmitriy Zharov wore that number when he was a player. Dmitriy has been teaching me how to skate and play hockey for a few months now and because of him (and some hard work and commitment on my part) I have had an amazing game 1 in my hockey life.

I scored a powerplay goal on my first shot of the game, it was a very nice play in which I scored 5 hole and on a breakaway (I still dont know why that team didnt have any players on their own blue line but its all good to me).

The second goal was a complete garbage goal, the puck was shot from the right side and the goalie made the save...and dropped it right in front of me. So I put it into his net for him :)

I think that after playing a few more games with these guys "Saturday Knights" I am going to have to play the level above "initation". It wasnt very challenging or competative. The playoffs start in a 5 weeks and if we win like 4 of our next 5 games I think we can get home ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

If anyone is interested in seeing me play some hockey just let me know and I will hook you up with some free tickets!

2011 Stanley Cup playoffs Philly vs Buffalo

This series is going to be much more interesting then the western confrence number 2 seed playing the number 7 seed. The flyers have a lot of good things going for them, not the least of which is the BEST defence corp in the NHL. No joke, the bottom pairing defencemen these guys have would be the top pairing on some teams (Columbus and Florida I am talking about you). They are lead by the towering 6 foot 6 inch man named Chris Pronger who has been to the Stanley cup finals 3 times since the lockout. The only other star player who has done that is Marian Hossa. Chris Pronger is out with a wrist injury right now and we dont know when he will be back, but when he is back you will know. Last year he averaged around 27 minutes of ice time a game. After the clear cut all star their are some guys named Matt Carle, Kimmo Timmomen, Shayne O'brien and Braydon Coburn. Matt Carle use to be a San Jose Shark so I really like this guy. For Buffalo they ended the season on a 16-4-4 run. That run is exactly what you want GOING into the playoffs. Goalie Ryan Miller is just like Henrick Lundquist except he is American and is clean shaven. Also he doesnt have the same shut out numbers but he is the back bone to this team. Miller will have to be spectacular for an upset. That being said I think that the Sabres WILL upset the Flyers. Sabres will win this series in 7.

2011 Stanley Cup playoffs Caps vs Rangers

Dear the loyal followers of "Sharks and Ships" The Stanley cup playoffs start today, and if you know me at all (and you do) then you know that this is my FAVOURITE 2 months a year. Playoff games are what the NHL is all about. Seriously. If you are like the Sharks, Canucks or Capitals you really have a 82 game preseason. Those teams (along with a few others) have some extremely high expectations and they should. Round 1 is my favourite round because its a fresh slate for all teams involved. That being said allow me to give my predictions with round 1, in the eastern confrence we have the Capitals and Rangers with the 1st and 8th seed respectively. This series is going to be a Capitals win because they have the advantage in every single department except goaltending. I like what the GM of the Capitals has done this year with this team, acquiring through trade Scott Hannan, Dennis Wideman and Jason Arnott. What these guys bring to this team is expeirience, leadership and they are all still very effective hockey players in their respective roles. Scott Hannan by the way is the only man left from the Sharks epic 5-3 penalty kill (during which we lost 2 sticks so it became a 5-2 pretty much) left in the NHL. Jason Arnott is a very tall and strong center who could be the Caps number 1 center on some nights. He is excited to be on this team after playing in some rather boring teams like the Predators and Devils (by boring I mean defence first) he is playing on a team that is very happy to score 6 goals even if it means giving up 1 or 2. The Rangers have essentially 1 thing going for them as I mentioned before and that is Henrick Lundquist. This guy is amazing. Simply put if I ever get my dream job of becoming a NHL GM and I ever get a goalie like him I am going to lock him down with a LONG term deal. Like 8 years or so. He gives you a chance to win every game, he can steal some games and one of my favourite stats from him is the fact that he leads the NHL with 11 shutouts. Basically every 6 games he doesnt allow a goal. No big deal. Except these games he is facing the best hockey players in the world. So unless Henrick pulls of a Halak (check youtube if you already dont know what this guy did in the playoffs last year) the Caps are going to win in 5.