There are no ifs, ands or buts about it – the NHL playoffs this year have been nothing short of great.
And although there is still a long way to…and even making a general comment at this juncture can come back to haunt you in print…I have to say a few things about the way some of the teams have been performing.
This is a breakthrough playoff year for both the San Jose Sharks and the Vancouver Canucks. The Sharks have been the playoff chokers for many years, but there is something different about this team this post-season.
San Jose looks far more in control than they have in any other playoff run. Joe Pavelski has developed into a playoff MVP candidate and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised of this turns out to be the Sharks year.
Of course to just even get to the Stanley Cup Final, the Sharks are going to have to get by the Canucks, who are in the middle of a another war with the Chicago Blackhawks as I write this. I am not slighting the Hawks at all by saying this, but I really like the way the Canucks are playing. How can you not like Chicago at anytime, they have already shown they are going to be a team to be reckoned with down the road and this year too….but Roberto Luongo and his team look just as sharp as the Hawks do to me at this point in the series.
Detroit is still very tough, but they aren’t the same team they were the past two seasons. I would never bet against them, but they don’t look to have the same depth or defensive abilities they’ve had the past two playoff years.
The Pittsburgh Penguins could easily win the Stanley Cup again, they are that good. But I guess “easily” isn’t the right word, because nothing will come easy to any team in this year’s playoff run. But with Montreal and Boston/Philadelphia yet, despite the great hockey being played by the Canadiens and the Bruins at this point, I can’t see Pittsburgh not being back in the Stanley Cup final for a third straight year.
But no matter what happens the rest of the way, this playoff year is going to be remembered as a great one, I am convinced of that. When you clear out 14 teams and get down to the top 16, and factor in the vital importance of each game, you get hockey at its best…or close to its best (gotta take the Olympics gold medal game for the highlight of this year for sure).
We’re a month into a two month journey and there is still no clear Cup favourite – and if anybody thinks they have this figured out yet, just check in with Bruce Boudreau and his Washington Capitals and they’ll tell you a different story!
However, for what it’s worth, I’ve put the hex on the San Jose Sharks because I really think they have taken the next step towards being a championship team. I’m picking them to win the Cup after what I’ve seen so far.
However fans of other teams, don’t worry. After all, I just ripped up my Washington Capitals Stanley Cup ticket I bought in Las Vegas at the start of the season!
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If anybody wants a further indication of how seriously the Ontario Hockey League takes suspensions, all they have to do is look at how some ugly incidents were handled at the end of Game 3 of the OHL Finals.
The defending Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires and the Barrie Colts were right in the middle of their championship series, but the league still came down hard on both teams after some nonsense late in Game 3, a 5-2 Windsor win that gave the Spitfires a 3-0 series lead.
Barrie Colts forward Zac Rinaldo was suspended indefinitely for his physical interaction with an official, while Spitfires winger Adam Wallace was slapped with an indefinite suspension for what the league described as "inappropriate physical interaction with an opponent late in the game." And Colts forward Darren Archibald was suspended indefinitely for his late-game hit on Windsor goalie Philipp Grubauer.
Both organizations were also slapped with $5,000 fines for "unprofessional off-ice conduct" as a result of a yelling match between staff from both clubs breaking out in the press box during the game.
With so much at stake and the season winding down, it’s a tough time to hit any team or player with suspensions. But once again Dave Branch, OHL Commissioner and CHL President, didn’t waste any time sending players to the sidelines.
Good for him. One thing you can say for Branch – he’s been a disciplinarian all of his time in the OHL and he’s stayed consistent whether it’s been early in the season or right in the middle of an OHL final.
Suspending three players at such a time is not going to be a popular move with any of the teams involved – but he did it anyway. Full credit to him.