Bourdon Killed in Motorcycle Accident..

Young Vancouver Canuck defenseman Luc Bourdon was killed in a motorcycle accident today in Northern New Brusnwick. Very sad news as he had the makings to be a solid defenseman in the NHL. He was just 21.

Gary Roberts a Scratch for Game One...?

Seasoned and respected vet Gary Roberts has been told that he will not be playing in tommorrow's game one of the Stanley Cup Finals. Apparently we'll find out after tommorrow's morning skate as to why, but it really doesn't matter.

42 year old Gary has only played 6 of Pittsburgh's 14 playoff games due to a mild case of pnuemonia, but he's so valued on the ice and in the lockerroom with Pittsburgh's young team, I can't imagine why they'd make him a healthy scratch.

Seems this is a case of hockey's many superstitions coming to light. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Pittsburgh's had an amazing run in this year's playoffs and Gary hasn't played too much, so I'm sure the real reason is Therrien doesn't want to mess with his team's chemistry going into the Finals and going against a bit of a juggernaut in Detroit. Still, Roberts won't hurt his team, especially on the fourth line, where he'd be.

I'd love to see the Penguins win the Cup because of Roberts, but I don't like that he's not going to be playing, even if it's only game one. This stinks to me!

Granato To Return As Colorado Coach

The Colorado Avalanche have re-hired Tony Granato as their Head Coach. Tony was the Av's head coach from 2002-2004 and "compiled a record of 72-33-17-11, giving him the top coaching mark in franchise history based on points percentage (.647)." -TSN.ca

After firing coach Quenneville due to his inability to carry the team to the Chapionship, they apparently feel this is the right way to go. It didn't work for the Oakland Raiders in their bringing back Art Shell as head coach, perhaps things will be different for Colorado and Granato.

We'll see how it goes...

We Interrupt This Marriage...

A fellow poster on the Florida Panthers message board posted this from ebay. It's a wedding cake topper. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you'll see that they have all the teams.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.com/Bridal-Garter-Set-Wedding-Cake-Topper-Florida-Panthers_W0QQitemZ290218919642QQcategoryZ0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3913.m87QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DDLS1%26its%3DK%26itu%3DMBMS%252BSS%252BFS%252BUCK%26otn%3D15%26po%3DOp2%26ps%3D26"]eBay[/url]

Lidstrom and the Cup

If the Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup, Nicklas Lidstrom will be the first European captain in the NHL to lead his team to Finals victory. Through the history of the NHL, no Stanley Cup Champion has had a European captain.

Stanley Cup Final: Detroit vs. Pittsburgh

In a dream matchup for the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins will face the Detroit Red Wings in the Finals. Detroit has drawn big television crowds for over a decade and Pittsburgh has the NHL's golden boy Sidney Crosby who himself draws big television crowds. Neither team is short of stars as Detroit has the best defenseman in the league in Niklas Lidstrom, John Franzen, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, and unsung heros Kris Draper and Tomas Holmstrom. Pittsburgh has of course Sid the Kid, Evgeni Malkin, Marian Hossa, Marc Andre Fluery, and an up and comer in Jordan Staal. Gary Roberts could be playing his last year and is obviously looking to go out on top, hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup.

Both teams have proven to be very tough opposition. Detroit roared through the Western Conference playoffs, but had trouble closing the deal in their series against the Stars. If they do that against the hungry Penguins they won't know what's hit them. Pittsburgh has proven to be a very tough opponent in the playoffs as they've gone 12-2 throughout and are a perfect 8-0 at home. Very impressive records that few teams troughout history have been able to accomplish.

This should be a tough, hard fought series that should have huge hockey fans and the casual viewer alike revved up for some great hockey. If the NHL were smart, and when it comes to marketing they unfortunately are not, they'll market this series all over the place. From billboards, to commercials, to an internet blitz, they need to jump on the marketing wagon and finally promote the sport. In fact, they should go out and find NASCAR's marketing team and way overpay these guys to market this great game.

Some amazing hockey should be ahead. While I'd love to see Roberts hoist the Cup, I don't think Pittsburgh has enough to combat Detroit's overall game. I'm calling Detroit in 6.

Detroit Rolls Over Dallas to Advance

The Detroit Red Wings charged to a 4-0 lead in their Eastern Conference Finals game against the Dallas Stars. The Stars came roaring back in the 3rd period but fell one goal short in the end. Detroit clinched their series against the Stars and will face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final that starts on Saturday.

I called both these teams, but the series finished faster than I thought. I figured the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia series would to to seven games based on Philly's play against Montreal, but the Pens made pretty short work of the Flyers. I called the Detroit-Dallas series, though. Took 5 games for Detroit to finish off Dallas.

More on the upcoming Stanley Cup Final Series to come...

Penguins In Waiting

The Pittsburgh Penguins put a pretty solid exclamation point on their Eastern Conference Finals series yesterday, making short work of the Philadelphia Flyers in their 6-0 win.

They now await the winner of the Detroit-Dallas series to meet them in the Stanley Cup Final. Detroit leads the series 3-2. After charging ahead to a 3-0 series lead, Detroit has fallen twice to Dallas. I imagine Detroit will take the series and meet Pittsburgh, but they need to learn to put teams away when they're sitting vulnerable. Pittsburgh is a very tough team that will quickly capitalize on any mistake made by their opposition.

Almost ready to raise the Cup!

Deja Vous In the Conference Finals...?

Pittsburgh and Detroit raced out to 3-0 leads in their Conference Final series. Both teams looked poised for the sweep as they seemed nearly impossible to beat. Dallas and Philly had no intention of gettting swept, however, and each of them won game 4 with the Flyers holding off a 3rd period surge by the Penguins.

Few teams in sports history have marched back from 3-0 deries deficits, though, and I don't see either Dallas or Philadelphia having it in them to do so. Detroit and Pittsburgh don't have it in them to suddenly lose the next three in a row, either.

Get geared up for what should be a hard-fought Stanley Cup Final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings.

Another Coach Looking For Work.

San Jose has fired Head Coach Ron Wilson after failing to get deep into the playoffs again. Wilson was hired by the Sharks in 2002 and helped them be a contender year in and year out. Like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with Tony Dungy, San Jose felt they have the talent to go deep and win a Championship and were unhappy that Ron Wilson was unable to get them there. We'll see if the Sharks' next coach will be able to drive them to a championship like "Chucky" was able to with Tampa.

So far, the Atlanta Thrashers, Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalance, Ottawa Senators, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are also looking for new coaches. It's being rumoured that Peter Laviolette could be out in Carolina as well.

Jacques Lemaire, though, will be back for an 8th season behind Minessota's bench.

Don Waddell asked to step down as Atlanta Thrashers GM!

In a move that goes in the "very, very smart" drawer, the Atlanta Thrashers have reportedly asked General Manager Don Waddell to step down and take a differrent management position with the team.

Last season, Waddell ransomed the farm to get to the playoffs for the first time in team history. The team made it to the playoffs, and were then swept in the first round. He gave up a lot of team depth at the trade deadline to make it there and didn't re-sign any of those players.

Atlanta is already looking up.

Quenneville, Colorado Part Ways.

After meeting with Joel Quenneville today, Colorado General Manager Francois Giguere and head coach Joel Quenneville "mutually agreed that it was time to part ways."

This comes after a 2nd round, 4 game sweep of the Avs by the Detroit Red Wings. Colorado was running on a bit of a skeleton crew after having so many of it's star players out with injury.

This decision doesn't make a lot of sense to me as Colorado still got into the playoffs after having a lot of regular season injuries and still got into the second round. I guess with that lineup, they were expecting more.

Pat Quinn, Perry Pearn, Randy Cunneyworth, Doug MacLean, Paul Maurice, and the legendary Pat Quinn are a few of the big names out there looking for work who could come in for the Avalanche. Oh, and there's a rumour that former LA Kings coach and current ESPN analyst Barry Melrose-who still thinks it's cool to have a mullet-is up for the Colorado job. Call me one who'd be VERY surprised if that happened.

Maple Leafs Fire Their Coach!

The Toronto Maple Leafs today fired their coach after only 2 seasons. Paul Maurice, who was hired by former General Manager John Ferguson Jr., was supposed to get this current crop of players into the playoffs and be be perrenial competitors. He came in with a lot of plans and promise, but he never could get them over the hump.

I don't think this was totally Maurice's fault. Ferguson handed out bad contracts, most having "no movement clauses," to players who don't really fit in their system. The current GM, interim Cliff Fletcher-JFJ was fired due to the state of the Leafs, has been unable to start a real re-build process because he is unable to move those players with the "no movement clauses."

The Leafs now have no GM (since Fletcher is only there on an interim basis and according to him he's not involved in the process to hire a new one), no coach, and no captain since Mats Sundin is an unrestricted free agent looking for a home. While the captaincy issue isn't too big a deal and the coach process will be handled in time, they need to figure out who their new GM will be. They have a lot of people to re-sign and the draft is only 6 weeks away.

I understand why Maurice was fired, but Toronto is in a big hole looking a long way up.

My Panthers aren't much better, but I think they're closer to having their act together.

Incoming!

One of the best videos EVER! Had me on the floor. Good ole Ference.

2008 Playoffs Down to Four Teams!

Thanks TSN.ca (again!)

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL
Philadelphia vs PittsburghSeries starts Friday

WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL
Detroit vs Dallas Series starts Thursday

-Philadelphia surprisingly, to me anyway, stomped on the Canadiens to advance to the 3rd round. They'll face the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Eastern Conference crown. I'm calling a team from Pennsylvania advancing to the Finals...HAHA! Ok, I'm actually going to pick Pittsburgh here. They're young, incredibly talented, and hungry! The Flyers are a very tough team, though, and will be hard work for the Penguins.

Penguins advance with a game 7 win!

-Detroit stomped on Colorado in game 4 to advance to the Western Conference Finals. Dallas marched ahead to a 3-0 lead in their series against the San Jose Sharks. San Jose staved off Dallas for 2 straight games until finally losing in game 6 in the seventh period! They played over two games in one night before Brendan Morrow finally potted the winner to advance Dallas. It remains to be seen how going 7 periods, with the final 4 of them being shotgun periods in that there's no commercial interruptions so they can take a break, will affect their play against Detroit. They may be a bit sluggish against a lethal Red Wings team that allows no mercy. At least they have a few days before gametime.

I'm calling Detroit in 5!