Storm is my dog

So today i took my dog storm for a walk out back and realized that he has been a really good friend for me for a really long time and that i should give credit where credit is due. He has been friendly to everyone and is a great watch dog. I have used him in pretty much all of my years of 4-H where he has gone on to win lots or ribbons that were mostly blue and red. He even got a grand champion reserve ribbon once. It was a long time ago but it happened. Some of my highlights with storm would be watching him run and eat snow at the same time. Him not being able to catch anything ever (literally a piece of cookie will hit him in the face before he opens his mouth to catch it). He is also very photo getic and here are some photos of my dog for the past 10 or so years.

My predictions where 7/8 for round one

So i made all the correct predictions in round one except for my San Jose Sharks. I thought that they would win in 6. Instead they lose in six. Aside from that amazing upset the rest of the teams i thought that would advance to round two did. So the match ups are as follows: Detriot vs Anahiem and Vancouver vs Chicago in the west. Boston vs Carolina and Washington vs Pittsburgh back east.

This round is going to be harder for me to make predictions because with the exception of Chicago and Carolina the remaining teams have made a case for winning the stanley cup this year. Boston, Vancouver and Detriot swept their first sereis respectively. Anahiem beat the top seeded sharks and made it look easy. Washington now has excellent goaltending (another prediction that i made correctly about Jose Thedore a while back). Any team can go deep when it has sidney crosby and evgeny malkin. Add in to the fact that this team made in to the stanley cup finals last year and Pittsburgh really does look good.

So enough talk here are my difficlut predictions:
Detriot will win in 7. The i am soooo tempted to say that the ducks will win because fact of Jonas hiller. Here are the most mouth watering stats a rookie goalie can give you: 2 shutouts in 6 games. 4 wins in 6 games. 10 goals against in 6 games. 230 saves and a 1.64 goals against average. This guy was the only reason that the ducks won round one. I doubt that he can keep it up though because Detriot has been scoring at least 4 goals a game in round one. What is really amazing though is the fact that Detriot has 8 players averaging a point a game with 2 players averaging over a point a game.

Vancouver will win in 6. Again you have the best goalie left in the playoffs with probably the best all round defence corp. The only problem is that these Blackhawks can score. They are very offencive, with the most noticable gund being Jonathan Towes and Patrick Kane. It will be a great series but i can only see the canucks advancing.

Out east I have the bruins winning in 6. The canes were fantastic in round one against the devils with the all star Eric Stall putting in the most timely goals ever. But the bruins are simply the better team. What really helps the bruins is there defence with the likes of Zdeno Chara, Denis Wideman. It will be a pretty good series but the Bruins will win.

I have the Penguins winning in 6. My reasoning is simple. These two teams match up very evenly in all aspects but the edge goes to the penguins because they dont have the pressure of home ice in this series. As long as they win one of the two first games they will be golden. The capitals are still new to this thing called the playoffs having only one their first round in a decade.

Losing in round two doesn't seem that bad anymore

Well the sharks season is over and this is by far the worst ending that they have been ever since i can rember (about 5-6 years). The sharks lost in the first round. Numero Uno. They are out and now the only thing to do is get ready for next year. For the past four years they have always been able to shake hands with the opposition knowing that they still had some hockey in very near future. This year losing in round two doesnt seem that bad at all.
Its really a shame when a team is eliminated, there are about 23 or more guys on each team who have been working hard since training camp to win the stanley cup. And then 8 months later they get sent home with nothing. The sharks have it worse then the other 14 teams that will be elimated from the playoffs this year, because they won the presidents trophy. When the sharks put up their presidents trophy banner they will look at it with dissapiontment and lilkely disgust. Knowing that trophy pales in comparsion to the one that they are just getting further and further away from.However the last presidents trophy winner to lose in round one made it to the western confrence finals the following year. And then won the stanley cup the next. Todd McLellen was there for all three of those years as an assistant coach to Mike Babcock and the detriot redwings. Maybe he can repeat those results again for the Sharks. I will gladly wait 2 years to see my sharks hoist the Stanley Cup. I still think that firing Ron Wilson was the right thing to do and that Todd McLellen has his best coaching years ahead of him, particularly in the post season.

What the sharks must do to force a game 7

In the San Jose Sharks past five playoff games where they have faced elimination they have won four times. Tonight they need to keep that streak going and win in the ducks territory to force what would be an amazing game 7. I dont think that the sharks will be able to do it simply because of the statistics. But if they are to win this crucial game here is what must happen: #1 Nabokov must play his best game of the series and steal some saves. So far he has just been average on serval of the goals scored against him and that will not do tonight. #2 The sharks must win the specail teams battle. After failing to score on their first 12 powerplay chances in the first two games they have scored 3 powerplay goals in the next three games. Also every time the sharks have converted on the man advantage they have gone on to win the game. It would be ever so nice if that trend could continue. #3 They still need to continue to get trafic in front of the net. The sharks did a great job of that in game 2 but ever since they have been doing it to a lesser degree. Hiller has stopped about 99% of the pucks he has seen this series and only about 75% of the ones he hasnt seen.

I also think that getting the lead would be wonderful for the sharks as everytime that they lead in the game they go on to win it. To get the win these sharks are just taking it one shift at a time. I must say that the addition of Torrey Mitchel has been great for the sharks. Ever since he joined the line up they have gone 2-1 and he is great at throwing his body around and doesnt shy away from the physical play that some sharks players do.

So there you have it the keys to a succesful game 6 and i dearly hope that my beloved sharks can prove me wrong and beat these ducks despite the odds.

Big Joe has a big night

Lets face it, the San Jose sharks have been the team with the most preassure to get results in this years playoffs. They have won the presidents trophy for the first time in franchise history and their home record had only 5 regulation loses on it. And because every time a team doesnt win someone has to be blamed the spotlight has been put on many of the sharks. But the one person that has been on the spot light the most is deffinatly Joe Thornton. Mr.Thornton has been under so much preasure to preform this post season that it would have broken many lesser men. But Joe came through when he needed it most. With his team facing elimination he came through with a 3 point night. All three goals that the sharks scored were because of him and because of him the sharks live to fight another day.

Joe Thornton has been hearing all of the critisim for the past four games. Like the fact that he is losing over half of his faceoffs. He has only managed 5 goals in 41 playoff games as a shark and untill tonight that number would have been even worse.

The thing is Joe is about as important to this team as Nabby, when they are both playing a dominate game the sharks win. When one of them plays a dominate game the sharks still manage to win and when niether of them play a great game the sharks still manage to squez out some wins.

So tonight Nabby did not have a dominate game (he did untill the third period but alas that is part of the game and so his game was not dominate) but Joe did. He won his faceoffs. He was a human battering ram for some shifts. He contributed sever quality shots on net (including the assist to the game winning goal in OT1) and simply did the right thing every time he could. And now the sharks will take on the ducks in game 6 and again will face elimination. But I think that they will prevail because of several reasons. #1 Nabby is over due to have a dominate game #2 The ducks played a game that they have been playing all series and the sharks still beat them and so their confidence is great right now #3 With the sharks facing elimation they will be a desperate hocky club and when they play desperate hockey they can beat anyone in the league.

So now that Big Joe has checked in, and patty Marleau has both of the game winning goals for the sharks in this series it is time that the rest of the team follows suit and plays a dominate game because ladies and gentlemen these sharks are just starting to look good again. Expect a game 7.

Childish or competative?

Around the NHL right now there is much to talk about (as is the case early in the playoffs with 16 teams still fighting for a stanley cup). For starters, the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins have sweept their series and are now sitting at home awaiting round two. Tough luck for St.Louis as they tried ever so hard to get into the playoffs and battled hard to get the sixth seed. For Montreal on the other hand, they got the eight seed because no one else did and the Bruins indeed swept them as i predicted. The red wings are a win away from sweeping the blue jackets and i wouldnt be suprised to see them do so. I am surprised by Chris Osgoods play, he truly does look as good as (if not better) himself last years at this time.

The New York Rangers are the most surprising team this year as they have held Alexander Ovechkin to a single goal in four games. It mind boggeling really but that is the case and now they lead the series 3-1 and are more or less a lock to go on to round two. So far my predictions i am off by one.

Pittsburgh is also a very likely team to see in round two as they lead their series by a solid 3-1. From goaltending out they have been nothing short of great and really could threaten the Bruins bid for the eastern confrence championship. The flyers havent done anything wrong in this series, they are just playing a better team and can not win.
Here is what I have been waiting to talk about ever since i saw it last night in the highlight real; Martin Brouder (the winnigest goaltender in league history) allowed a goal in with two tenths of a second and now the series is tied 2-2. Well he went to argue his case to the refs that there was goaltender interference. True Mr.Brouder was bumped by a screening hurricane but he was about 1 foot out of his crease. In my humble opinion not goaltender interference. The refs agreed with me. Martin however was so upset by this call (some might use a word that ryhmes with hissed) that he threw his stick against the boards as he stormed off (and after getting in the refs faces and telling them that they werent doing their jobs). Well Martin everyone in New Jersey is happy that you are a competative man who wants to win every game and stop every puck, in fact i would think less of you if you didnt. But when you fail to do those things you have no right to make the scene that you did. There is a time and place for everything and on national T.V. is not the place.

How many people think that Martin is a classy guy? Well i have never seen Trevor Linden throw a hissy fit like that. And that last time i checked Jerome Iginla shakes everyones hand when the playoff series is over, even if he does lose (obviously he is too high to shake Sean Avery's hand). The fact of the matter is that being a leader and some one that hundreds upon thousands of young goalies try to be like you should act better when the camera is rolling because those little things are just childish.

Now onto my beloved sharks. Last night they scored on 2 of 3 powerplay opportunites and got the game winning goal from their captain Patrick Marleau and now trail by one game. They are still in a horrid position (one more loss and they face elimination) but they are without question looking and playing better. It really starts from the defencemen though as Dan Boyle played one of his best ever as a shark in all zones. He shut players down, battled, passed and scored. Thats what he was brought in here to do and i for one am glad that we have him for another 5 years.

So now if the sharks can win game 4 this series will really be in there favour. If they lose i expect them to lose the series simply because the ducks are too good a team to win 3 straight against. So no preasure sharks but if you can win tommorow night that would be great.

The last stand for the president trophy winners is tonight

All right the sharks are in the worst possible position that they can be right now. They are behind by two games after playing two games. They will make a stand tonight, they will win and i have a good feeling that this series is headed to the wonderful game 7. These sharks lost two games that they should have won but have nothing to show for it. This time they will make sure they have something to show for it. They realize that they have no choice but to win this game. If anything these sharks havent pushed the panick button (which recently i recommended) because they have had a chance to win both of these games.

Powerplay. It must start clicking for the sharks, if they could have scored on maybe one of thier six powerplays each game then each game would have likely gone into over time. If they could have scored more then once on each of their six chances a game then they could have likely won both of those games. Tonight the sharks will have a clicking powerplay thanks to a powerplay guru by the name of Todd McLellan. They have had long enough to work out getting into the ducks zone and creating quality chances. The real issue i think is that they have to get out of their own zone, spending 20-40 seconds in your own zone with the man advantage is just to much.

Nabokov. I think that Nabby has been great and we cant blame the lose on him for game one at all. Game two he gave the sharks a chance to win but he let in a very weak goal that changed momentum. Tonight he must be the better goaltender. He must be nearly perfect because the ducks are just playing that well. Ideally Nabby needs to post a shutout tonight maybe allow one goal if that isnt possible. But what it really boils down to is that Nabby isnt making those key/timely saves when its been needed of him. Tonight must be a differant story.

So to a splended game seven we go and the road there will be bumpy so have sun watching the next five games in this series.