My first round predictions:

West

San Jose vs. Colorado --> San Jose
Chicago vs. Nashville --> Nashville
Vancouver vs. LA --> Vancouver
Detroit vs. Phoenix --> Detroit

East

Philadelphia vs. New Jersey --> New Jersey
Ottawa vs. Pittsburgh --> Pittsburgh
Montreal vs. Washington --> Washington
Buffalo vs. Boston --> Buffalo

The Eastern conference seems pretty easily predicted, in that if any of NJ, Pitt, Buff, or Wash lose I'd view it as a colossal upset.

On the other hand, the West looks wide open. I'll be surprised if Colorado beats San Jose, but all the other series look like they could go either way.


I love this time of year.

Oh, and for the inevitable dinks that like to continually repeat themselves in these hockey threads here's some templates for you to use:

There were a lot of sad bastard Calgary fans around here lately.

Daryl Sutter should win an award for being the worst GM of the past few years. And you could just see that it was absolutely no fun for the team to play for that sour motherfucker - and then when he brought his equally sour brother in as coach you knew the season was doomed. Then the panic mid-season when he blew the team up to acquire a shitload of Maple Leafs? That just proved there was NO plan in place. I love how there's whispering now about trading Iginla away - I'm praying they do that, because it'll ensure the Flames will be a bottom dweller for years to come.

I don't follow nearly as closely as you guys do, but Washington has been on fire lately. Of course I gotta support my boy Sidney, and will cheer for the 'Nucks too.

Rads, can you call and make sure Salo doesn't play in any of these games? And give Bobby Lu my best.

Salo recently got injured while taking the team picture. Dude's made of glass. Even if he wants to play, he'll be out by the third game.

Bobby Lou sez hi back.

West

San Jose vs. Colorado: San Jose
Chicago vs. Nashville: Chicago
Vancouver vs. LA: Canucks
Detroit vs. Phoenix: Detroit

Detroit over San Jose
Chicago over Vancouver

Chicago over Vancouver

East

Philadelphia vs. New Jersey: Devils
Ottawa vs. Pittsburgh: Penguins
Montreal vs. Washington: Caps
Buffalo vs. Boston : Bruins

Caps over Penguins
Devils over Bruins

Caps over Devils

Stanley Cup
Washington over Chicago in six games

This is the one that I prefer to use:

LETS GO BUFFALO!

I like their chances to get beyond Boston...after that not so much. They need their scorers to get hot.

West

San Jose vs. Colorado --> San Jose
Chicago vs. Nashville --> Chicago
Vancouver vs. LA --> Vancouver
Detroit vs. Phoenix --> Detroit

East

Philadelphia vs. New Jersey --> New Jersey
Ottawa vs. Pittsburgh --> Pittsburgh
Montreal vs. Washington --> Washington
Buffalo vs. Boston --> Buffalo


Then

San Jose vs Detroit ---> Detroit
Chicago vs Vancouver ---> Vancouver

New Jersey vs Buffalo ---> New Jersey
Pittsburgh vs Washington ---> Pittsburgh

THEN

Detroit vs Vancouver ---> Vancouver

New Jersey vs Pittsburgh ---> Pittsburgh

THEN!!!!!

Vancouver beats Pittsburgh in 6 and finally wins the mutha fuckin' cup!!



Whaddaya think rads, is this our year?

that is assuming that your are in fact a nucks fan

i'm not expecting the Flyers to beat NJ, but i don't think it would be a colossal upset considering the Flyers beat the Devils five out of six times this season.

Yeah. I was going to just say this. There's some bizarre resiliency Philly gets from their shitty, unreliable goaltending it seems. haha

I am choosing Boston to beat Buffalo. Boston beat them 4 of 6 in the regular season, not that type of stat is ever a recipe for post-season success, but I am going to hope that they continue to ride the tails of the rather impressive Rask (who was "4-1-0 against Buffalo with a 1.43 goals-against average and a .954 save percentage") and they take their recent successes at scoring (after being the lowest scoring team in the NHL) into the playoffs. I believe they also allowed the fewest goals against, so I think the BOS/BUF matchup will be those games that could potentially give us games that go into 3 or 4 OTs. I was lucky enough to watch the game with three shorties on one penalty kill. Holy hell I was screaming like a girl (yes, I love Boston--sue me).

Washington is a given and if they lose, well, I think that I might start looking toward the heavens for the arrival of the pale horse.

EAST prediction winners:

WSH
BOS
PHI
PIT

(i refuse to predict the games it will take)

I saw 3 western conference games this season so I am way too unprepared to make educated predictions. So, I will post what I HOPE happens:

COL (because I want another video of that Sharks fan's father asking him "where are your god damn brains boy?"
CHI (I mean, I love NSH as much as the next guy but I am hoping for at least a VAN/CHI conference finals)
VAN (though there is a part of me that wouldn't mind seeing both PHX and LA make it)
DET (this is an actual prediction, I'd actually hope that PHX just ousted them in the first round).

I'm so much a 'nucks fan that I refuse to jinx it by predicting victory. Never forget Canuck tradition: build up a city's hopes, then dash them against the rocks.

Besides, with the exception of Ehrhoff, the Van defence is dogfood. Our shutdown pair is Salo and Edler, fer chrissakes. Edler is the kind of player that just saps my will to live. All year I've been hoping the team trades him for beef jerky or a puppy or something the city could make use of. Bieksa may be tough as nails, but he's also as smart as a bag of them. Rome is AHL quality. I actually like Shane O'Brien though - he's mistake-prone and probably pees in his own duffel bag, but at least he shows some kind of promise for the future.

All 6 of the D are gonna have to play waaaaaay over their heads just to get out of the first round.

That's the kind of regular season stat that means nothing. It's Brodeur vs. Boucher, and anyone betting on Boucher is playing with their mom's money.

By "lately" I'm assuming you mean early September. Somewhere, Robert Picard is smiling.

Anything to boost this thread over other sports threads.

Pittsburgh bit it tonight.

So far I am 1 game closer to being right about PHI/NJ.

Go Nucks!

I love this time of year, games on all the time one right after another. East Coast games at 7 and then west coast games right after that. Everyday for at least the first week or so.

That was an awesome opening night. Every one of my picks lost - which is the way it should be. Upsets and surprises = drama.

As some players have expressed already--anything less will be considered a season failure.

Grew up watching (Tony) Esposito, Makita, Hull, and Magnuson.
As a pee-wee league goalie, I wanted to be Tony Esposito.
So...



And this (2010) team is pretty fun to watch, too.