Milton blog

Oh yeah, they’re still playing NHL hockey…. I don’t know if it was the quality of play in the first three rounds, or the almost week-long layoff since the Ducks barely dispatched the Red Wings, but holy crap, let’s get on with things here!

We all know my opinion on this year’s edition of the Stanley Cup playoff chase - somewhat less than exhilirating (understatement of the year). My favourite moment thus far was the look on my brother-in-law’s face (Red Wing fan), when out of nowhere, Scott Niedermayer floated one over the mighty Hasek’s shoulder in the dying seconds to tie game 5, followed by Lilja gift-wrapping the winner to Selanne in OT. As a Leaf fan, I was kind of impartial - of course I hate the Wings, but I have absolutely no love for the Ducks either…. Seeing my brother-in-law’s face as he rolled his eyes, shook his head in disappointment and made a beeline for the beer fridge to drown his sorrows gave me that little bit of a rooting interest in the series. Sure enough, Detroit couldn’t recover and Anaheim ‘gently nudged’ them out of the dance in game 6 (after almost coughing it up themselves).

So now we’re down to two teams left standing - two fairly dull teams from fairly dull markets with no rivalry, history or interest in one another. One from a large American market, drawing interest with the same formula as previous sun belt cup winners Tampa and Raleigh: decent fan support and interest whilst in the midst of an outstanding season and impressive charge to the finals, but for anything less than that, well, um… not so much. The other a Canadian city, looking to net Canada’s first cup since the ‘93 Habs. This will save the series, right? Just like the previous two bridesmaids: Calgary and Edmonton, the whole country will be backing them - the buzz will be tremendous! Uh, I don’t know about that… unlike the small-market, underdog, homey Western Canadian feel to the aforementioned teams’ playoff runs, we’re talking Ottawa: the nation’s capital. Where tax dollars go to die. Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to see a Canadian-based club hoist the big silver mug at centre ice at the end of it all, but I don’t see any really passionate support coming their way outside of the Ottawa Valley.

To avoid any additional negative discussion, let’s not even go there with regards to what kind of ratings Versus and NBC will attract with a California-based team (from Anaheim, definitely NOT Los Angeles) playing a Canadian team (not even one of the top 3 Canadian TV markets)…

Wake me up when this one is over.

Ottawa Senators vs. the Anaheim Ducks. In the words of Jerry Seinfeld, “oh yeah, that can’t miss.”

Okay, onto my prediction:

I’ve been hoping and wishing for an engaging series all playoffs long. I thought for sure I would get it from Ottawa and Buffalo, before the Sabres just mentally and physically checked out and allowed themselves to be slapped silly by the Sens…. I’m afraid I have to go the other way now and predict yet another lopsided chess match of a series, and one in which the best case scenario (Canadian team wins cup) won’t even occur…. (this is called blogger’s reverse psychology)

Anaheim over Ottawa 4-1
Yep. There you have it. On every sports site/blog/newspaper etc., everyone’s been quite quick to heap written felatio all over the Sens for what they’ve accomplished thus far. Yes, they just wiped out the President’s Trophy winners, so they may just keep humming along tickety-boo… BUT, let’s just remember they’re now playing the team with the most Canadian-born players, and I have to keep coming back to two names: Niedermayer and Pronger. Especially in the NHL’s ‘dead puck’ era (1995-present), solid, tough, defensive, puck-moving defencemen are invaluable, and Anaheim has arguably 2 of the top 3 in the league. This won’t be easy for Ottawa to overcome.

If you go over goaltending/team defence/team offence/coaching etc. - you might just give the Sens the advantage on all fronts…. but that’s why they play the games…. I like Anaheim’s toughness and intangibles - yes, they played most of the Detroit series half asleep, but they woke up just in time and I think they’re a more focussed group now with their eyes on the prize.

I’ve doubted Ottawa all along (not picking them to win any series thus far), and I guess I’m doing it again. I’ll give them their props: they have looked slick and composed throughout, Ray Emery has come of age in-between the pipes (remember a guy named ‘Martin Gerber?’) and the big line has been just that. What I’m predicting is that Anaheim’s mix of young talent, grit, depth and slug of a goalie will shut the Sens down, score enough to win every game 3-2 and bring the third cup in a row to a relatively new NHL franchise in a city where a cup of water won’t freeze if left outside in January.

Ok, so that’s what we think. Now what do you think??

This entry was posted on Monday, May 28th, 2007 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.