AT LAST - The Return Of Hockey!!

At long last, the time is nigh. The Stanley Cup Finals have arrived.
I'm not sure why the NHL decided that it would be a good idea to have a 5 day break between the end of the conference finals and the beginning of the finals. Just what the sport needs, eh, to drop out of the sports cycle for a week. Brilliant!!
All I know is that I have been in total withdrawal. Going from hockey every night for a month and a half to having to resort to actually watching the NBA playoffs. Thank God Lord Stanley is here to save me from that.

Seeing as how my prediction at the beginning of the playoffs of a Buffalo-Vancouver final was not even close, I'm not sure if I should even hazzard a prediction on the Finals. But, I'm thinking it will be Anaheim in 6. I'll be pulling for the Senators, but in goal, Anaheim seems to have a sizeable advantage, despite Ray Emery playing well throughout the playoffs. Anaheim is so tough on the blue line with Pronger, Niedameyer and crew, and so physical up front. Ottawa's big line (Heatley, Alfredsson and Spezza) could have a tough time breaking through, and I just don't see enough scoring depth for the Sens. But I've been proven wrong on that throughout the playoffs so far. Hard for me to dislike or pull against either of these teams going in, but I'll be rooting for the Sens for my friend Jeremy. Let's just hope for a good series.

TIme to crank up the DVR and get things rolling. One more series of hockey.
Bittersweet as a Canes fan, as someone else will be raising the Cup.
But as a hockey fan, there's just nothing like the Stanley Cup Finals.

Let's get it on!!

-m

Scheduling Is Everything

You are forgiven if you did not even know that the National LaCrosse League existed.

And you are not alone.

But on Sunday, The Rochester NIghthawks were crowned champions of the NLL with a 13-11 win over the Arziona Sting. It might have been hard to forgive the scheduling co-ordinators at Blue Cross Arena had the Nighthwaks succombed to the desert heat in Tucson. You see, Rochester was supposed to host the championship game, but due to a scheduling conflict they were forced to play the game on their opponents home turf. Seems that officials in Rochester were so confident in their teams playoff chances that they scheduled the Ringling Bros Circus instead of the chapionship game.

Read more about it at DEADSPIN.

Complete local coverage from the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.

Hey Buffalo fans, at least up state NY has one championship to cherish.

-m

Where Did You go Buffalo?

Please keep all sharp objects and firearms away from Buffalo Sabres fans tonight.

Boy. That had to be pretty disheartening.

Ryan Miller gave the Sabres the type of stellar goaltending performance that a team with its back against the wall needs. Unfortunately, he seems to be the only Sabre who bothered to show up as the Ottawa Senators took a commanding 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals. Ouch.

I'm not sure what happened to the Sabres team that I watched with awe for most of regular season, but they appear to have turned into the...ummm...Ottawa Senators, in the playoffs. I had the Sabres and Cannucks in the finals. Obviously I'm an idiot.

Ryan Miller was stellar. Ottawa could have easily won this game 4 or 5 - 0 if not for Miller's heroics. Ottawa's lone goal was a complete fluke on a bounce of the boards, but when your goaltender only allows one goal in a playoff game, you are not supposed to lose. Buffalo's offense was abysmal, but take nothing away from Ottawa. They have probably been the most impressive team over all in these playoffs and they have managed to take the Sabres completely out of their game.

Game Notes:

- 15 shots on goal from a Buffalo team that is built on offensive pressure? Only 5 shots in the third period?
- 0 for 18 on the power play for a team that boasted SEVEN 20 goal scorers in the regular season? Some folks on the Buffalo blogs were asking, perhaps in an effort to laugh to keep from crying, if the Sabres had the option of declining the penalties. (Believe me, as a Canes fan, I know how they feel).
- Buffalo managed only one shot on goal on 6 power plays.
- The Senators are now a NHL best 11-2 on the playloffs this season and have won 6 straight games.
- Ray Emery had 15 saves, while his defense came up with 13 blocks. It was Emery's third shutout of the playoffs. Ottawa's team defense was astounding. As exciting as the likes of Alfredsson, Heatley, Spezza, Comry, and Vermette can be on the offensive end, it's guys named Wade Redden, Chris Phillips, Andrej Mezaros, Anton Volchenkov, Tom Preissing, Joseph Korvos and Christoph Shubert who have been the unsung heros in this series.
- Daniel Alfredsson notched his 9th goal and leads the playoffs in scoring. He has now scored in 5 straight post-season games.
- As stated before, Miller was stout in net for the Sabres, stopping 31 of 32 shots, with several spectacular saves. He was awarded the third star of the game for his efforts.
- Dmitri Kalinin might be public ememy #1 in Buffalo right about now. He was abysmal on defense, looking completely lost and overmatched for most of the game. Even the studio guys on Versus were killing him. Scott Norwood, meet Dmitri Kalinin...
- As badly as Kalinin played at least he did manage one shot on goal...that matches the totals of Daniel Briere, Chris Drury and Thomas Vanek...COMBINED. Ouch.
- Hats off the the oft-maligned Maxim Afinogenov, who was the only Sabre not named Ryan Miller who bothered to bring his A-game tonight.
-Three stars: Daniel Alfredsson (Ottawa), Wade Redden (Ottawa), Ryan Miller (Buffalo)

As bad as things look at the moment, all is not completely lost for the Sabres, but it does not look good for the fans in upstate NY. Two teams in NHL history have come back from 0-3 deficits in the Stanley Cup playoffs (Toronto in 1942 and NY Islanders in 1975) . And as a life long Red Sox fan, I can attest to the fact that nothing is impossible. But it usually seems that way. The road back will be long, and the odds are against you but the cliches ring true...all the Sabres can do at this point is win the next game they play. Take it from Terry Francona, they don't need to worry about winning 4 straight, right now they just need to win the next game, and take it from there.

As a Cane's fan, I do not have a dog in this fight, but unlike a lot of my bretheren, I am not pulling against the Sabres in this series. I just want to see a good series. And for anything approaching that, Buffalo will have to play a lot better than they did tonight in Ottawa.

-m