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The 1st Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is over and that means Round Two is about to start!

4/29/2015

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Hello Good Lookin Hockey Fans! Where have I been during the playoffs that I haven't written since the beginning? Watching the playoffs.... that is where.

It really couldn't have ended any better but a Game 7 between last year's swept Tampa Bay Lightning and the ever strong playoff contender the Detroit Red Wings. The Wings went into Game 6 with a 3-2 series lead and after a 5-2 final in game 6 (Tampa Winning) it was off to sunny Florida for Game 7. It was literally anyone's game until the last few minutes. It was 0-0 heading into the 3rd period. Tampa Bay's Braydon Coburn scored the game winning goal with almost 4 minutes gone in the 3rd. Detroit came back guns blazing but couldn't figure it out which lead to an empty net goal scored by Anton Stralman and assisted by Tampa goalie Ben Bishop. Perhaps the most interesting fun fact about this series: Captains: Steven Stamkos for Tampa and Henrik Zetterberg for Detroit DID NOT score a goal during the entire series!! To add salt to the wound it was the 1st time in 23 playoff series Zetterberg didn't score a goal. Congrats Tampa!

The rest of the series ended like this:

The Anaheim Ducks ousted the Winnipeg Jets in 4 games. The first 3 games Winnipeg scored and Anaheim had to play catch up. In game 4 the Ducks dominated for a 5-2 final. The silver lining.... Winnipeg has the best fans in the league. They were voted the 3rd star of the game!

The New York Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in 5 games. Really I have nothing to say. The Rangers are a powerhouse. Maybe it is their head coach? #AlainVigneault

Both "Battle of the Canadian Teams" series ended game in 6's. The Montreal Canadiens took a stranglehold lead over the Ottawa Senators winning the first 3 games. Ottawa came back to win games 4 and 5 only to be beat in a heartbreaking game 6. Ottawa is a team to pay attention to next year, they a have a fight in them that I consider old school and classic. That being said, clearly for Canada it is exciting to see the Montreal Canadiens go through to Round 2.

In the West it was the Vancouver Canucks vs the Calgary Flames. The Canucks missed the playoffs last year after a terrible season but rose to the challenge this year. The Calgary Flames were making their first appearance in the playoffs since 2008. It was Calgary, Vancouver, Calgary, Calgary, Vancouver and a crazy game six that saw the Canucks lose a 3 goal 1st period lead to a 7-4 Calgary final. But congrats to the Flames and for the first time ever I think I might be saying "Go Flames Go"

The Chicago Blackhwaks beat the Nashville Predators in a game 6. This only makes me sad because I would love to see the Preds advance and let's be honest, the Blackhawks are playoff hogs. That being said the Blackhawks under Joel Quenneville's lead are one of the biggest powerhouse teams in modern day NHL hockey.

The St. Louis Blues lost in a game 6 to the Hockey States very own Minnesota Wild. It was an intense game to start that lead to 4-2 final for the Wild.

Game 7 was left between two series. The New York Islanders and the Washington Capitals. A personal favourite of mine, Capital Joel Ward scored the 1st goal late in the 2rd period. The Islanders scored an early 3rd period goal but a mid 3rd period goal by the Capitals that lead to Brayden Holtby and his team advancing to the 2nd round.

The other game 7 was between the Detroit Red Wings and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

And Hockey Fans I will leave you with this......

Round Two Unfolds this way:

The Anaheim Ducks are playing the Calgary Flames
The Minnesota Wild will take on the Chicago Blackhawks
The New York Rangers will play the Washington Capitals
and finally the Tampa Bay Lightning with lace up against the Montreal Canadiens

And as I have said in previous years and I will say it again: the Hand Shake at the end of a series is one of if not my favourite traditions in hockey. I couldn't decide on a few so I have uploaded them all!

Enjoy and until next time hockey fans please continue to enjoy this great game!!
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The 1st night of the NHL Playoffs did not let us down, and the good news is we get to do all over again tonight!

4/16/2015

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Happy Thursday Hockey Fans! After yesterday's games I don't think any hockey pools are crumbling to the floor but it was for sure an exciting night!

The battle of the Canadian Teams saw the Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators 4-3. Ottawa took an early lead in the 1st period but in the 2nd period there were 6 goals scored in 10 minutes! A scoreless 3rd period meant the 4th Montreal goal scored by Brian Flynn was the game winning goal.

The New York Islanders outright whipped the Washington Capitals with a 4-1 final.

The Vancouver Canucks lost to the Calgary Flames with only 30 seconds left in the 3rd period. It was a 1-1 tie before Kris Russell got one past Eddie Lack.

The only game we saw go into overtime was between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Nashville Predators. The Preds had a 3-0 lead at the end of the 1st period. Then Chicago answered back with 3 goals in the 2nd period, the tying goal being scored by Captain Jonathan Toews. Then is was Duncan Keith's goal in the 2nd overtime period the sealed the deal.
I know what some of you are probably thinking? There is no 2nd overtime? True and False at the same time. There is no 2nd overtime in the regular season, but playoffs are not the regular season. THEY.ARE.THE.PLAYOFFS.

Here are the main differences between the regular season and playoffs

1) Overtime is more then 5 minutes of 4 on 4: In the regular season if a game goes into OT, it is played for 5 minutes sudden death, 4 on 4. Then they move to the shootout. There is also only a quick minute or two between starting OT and organizing your shooters for the shootout. In the playoffs, if a game goes into OT, the players get a full 17 minute break and hit the ice for a 20 minute period. It is still sudden death so first goal scored wins. And this can go on all night, just like it has before. In 1936, the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Maroons 1-0. The teams played 116 minutes and 30 seconds of overtime hockey before Mud Bruneteau's goal won the game!

2) Hockey Ice Advantage: Home ice advantage means three things: 1) Coach of the home team gets to send out his line second to match the line the visiting team has put out 2) Home team players don't have to travel, and finally 3) The fans. Home team gets a rink full of their 7th man.

Remember hockey fans, the Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy to win in professional sports. Not only does the winning team have to play 4 rounds, they have to win 16 games! Each series is best of of 7 so first team to win 4 games moves on.

Tonight's line up looks like this:

Sidney Crosby and his Pittsburgh Penguins take on the New York Rangers at 4:00pm
The Detroit Red Wings and the Tampa Bay Lightning duke it out at 4:30pm
The Minnesota Wild and the St. Louis Blues drop the puck at 6:30 in possibly the most evenly/undecided match up of the series
and finally
The beloved Winnipeg Jets take on the Mighty Anaheim Ducks at 7:30pm
All time Pacific Standard Time (PST)

Until Next Time Hockey Fans!
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The Run to the Stanley Cup Playoffs starts tonight! The 1st Round is only hours away and it is some of the BEST hockey you will ever watch!

4/15/2015

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Yo yo yo Good Lookin Hockey Fans! Tonight is the night! The run to the Stanley Cup begins! There isn't much more to say besides turn on your TV, grab a beverage, some great food because there will be great games all night.

Let's quickly recap how teams make it into the playoffs and who is playing who. Out of the 30 teams in the league, 16 will make it. Eight from the Western Conference and eight from the Eastern Conference. During the regular season teams play 82 games and pick up 2 points for a win, 0 for a lose in regulation and 1 point for a lose in overtime or a shootout. Those points are added up. The top 3 teams in each division (there are four: Pacific, Central, Atlantic and Metropolitan) make it into the playoffs. That leaves two spots open in each conference. Those two spots are called 'Wild Card Spots' and they go to the two teams with the next highest points. Then team are "seeded" 1-4. Each conference is seeded 1,2 and 3, then a Wild Card time is slotted in as the 4th team, 1plays 4 and 2 plays 3. That means this year

The St. Louis Blues are playing the Minnesota Wild
The Nashville Predators are playing the Chicago Blackhawks
The Anaheim Duck are playing the Winnipeg Jets
The Vancouver Canucks are playing the Calgary Flames
The Montreal Canadiens are playing the Ottawa Senators
The Tampa Bay Lightning are playing the Detroit Red Wings
The New York Islanders are playing the Washington Capitals
and finally the
The New York Rangers are taking on Pittsburgh Penguins
The video above is still on of my favourites, It is from 2010 and sums up the fight to win the Cup perfectly.

Tonight's line up looks like this:

The Ottawa Senators play the Montreal Canadiens at 4:00pm
The New York Islanders lace up their skates to play the Washington Capitals at 4:00pm
Veteran playoff team the Chicago Blackhawks will drop the puck with the Nashville Predators at 5:30pm
and lastly
The Vancouver Canucks take on a great rivalry the Calgary Flames at 7:00pm!
All times Pacific Standard Time (PST)

Tomorrow hockey fans I will go over what makes a playoff game different from a regular season game

Until then please continue to enjoy this great game!
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The Last Night of the Regular Season and the Run to the Stanley Cup Begins!

4/11/2015

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Yo yo yo Good Lookin Hockey Fans! Sad but true, tonight is the last night of the regular season in the NHL. The only fact that can make this better is that the Stanley Cup Playoffs start on April 15th and the 1st round of the playoffs in my opinion is some of the best hockey you will ever watch.

Before we bid farewell to the 2014/2015 season let's look at tonight's line up:

Vancouver Canucks vs Edmonton Oilers
Pittsburgh Penguins vs Buffalo Sabres
Calgary Flames vs Winnipeg Jets
Montreal Canadiens vs Toronto Maple Leafs
San Jose Sharks vs Los Angeles Kings
Ottawa Senators vs Philadelphia Flyers
New York Rangers vs Washington Capitals
Minnesota Wild vs St. Louis Blues
New Jersey Devils vs Florida Panthers
Columbus Bluejackets vs New York Islanders
Detroit Red Wings vs Carolina Hurricanes
Boston Bruins vs Tampa Bay Lightning
Nashville Predators vs Dallas Stars
Chicago Blackhawks vs Colorado Avalanche
Anaheim Ducks vs Arizona Coyotes

Do the math: 30 teams in the NHL + 15 games tonight, 2 teams per game = every team in the NHL is playing today! #WIN

This next part may possibly be the best part of hockey for any fan. It isn't even set in stone yet who is going to make the playoffs. In the East for example, the Detroit Red Wings have 98 points and the Ottawa Senators have 97. A win for the Sens and loss for the Wings would mean the Sens could take 3rd spot in the Atlantic Division and the Wings would get a Wild Card spot. BUT we also have the Boston Bruins to think about. The Bruins are not in a playoff spot right now. With a Bruins win that would give them 97 points. If the Penguins lose they will be out and Boston would take their spot, with a Penguins win the Bruins are out. So the East won't be decided until later. Trust me on this one, it will be some good hockey.

The West doesn't have the same dramatic flare as the East this year. Every team in a playoff spot is going to the playoffs. The next team in line, in 9th place, is the reigning Stanley Cup Champs the LA Kings who have only 93 points and are out. The last time the Stanley Cup Champions won and then didn't make the playoffs the following year was in 2007 when the Carolina Hurricane won in 2006 and failed to make it to round 1 the following year. We can cut the Kings some slack though, they joined the league during the the expansion in 1967. Hadn't won a Cup until 2012 and then won again in 2014. They have played more hockey in the past 3 seasons than any other team, so maybe this will be a nice break for them.

And that is it for now hockey fans. Enjoy your fun filled day of hockey. Keep your eye on the East; Detroit, Pittsburgh, Boston and Ottawa all have a lot riding on today's outcome.

Until next time hockey fans, keep enjoying this great game!



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