Now we know the real reason behind the Wings' success--soft smooth silky skin (and Don Saleski '70s style haircuts).
Think I'll shine this up with some DoveFriday, April 15, 2011
OK, Boys, Smooth and Silky Passes
If any of you caught the excellent Detroit Red Wings vs. Phoenix Coyotes Game 1, you may have caught this ad.
Now we know the real reason behind the Wings' success--soft smooth silky skin (and Don Saleski '70s style haircuts).
Think I'll shine this up with some Dove
Now we know the real reason behind the Wings' success--soft smooth silky skin (and Don Saleski '70s style haircuts).
Think I'll shine this up with some Dove
Game 1 Deju Vu All Over Again
Canucks win Game 1! The team dominates! Our third liners (Chris Higgins and Jannik Hansen) come through! Luongo is a potential Conn Smythe winner! The goalposts are our friends!
Sound familiar?
Well, Game 1 in 2010 vs. the Chicago Blackhawks went much the same way. The Vancouver Canucks won 5-1. Michael Grabner and Kyle Wellwood got two of those five goals. They were also outshot 37-25 so Luongo pretty much repeated his Game 1 performance of 2010 in 2011.
Strip this down and it came down to the Canucks getting out of the gate fast, but if they think they can take the Stanley Cup by only playing one excellent period per game, well, good luck with that.
The bottom line is for once Roberto Luongo did what he has supposed to have been doing the past two seasons--stealing games with his goaltending (and friendly goalposts). Given Chicago dominated the last two periods the Canucks are not exactly sitting any prettier than in 2010 or 2009 when they took Game 1s vs. the Hawks.
Worrying is the virtual no-show by the Sedin line which had all of six shots on goal. Yes, they had less ice time, but if the play of Ryan Kesler does not prove once and for all who the real MVP of the team is, then I suggest you return your Volvo to the dealership.
Then apparently there is much ado over how much ice time the Hawks players had especially in comparison to Vancouver's skaters.
Newsflash, hockey fans: When a team is losing, coaches tend to play their top players more. It's not like they weren't fairly fresh going into Game 1 that they couldn't handle it.
The ploy actually worked as the Hawks outshot the Nux 25-20 over the last two periods.
Sure, they didn't score but sometimes Luongo shuts teams out.
Good game all around from an entertainment standpoint but wait till Game 4 before we see where the Canucks stand.
It's Game 4 in both 2009 and 2010 where the Blackhawks took control of both series.
In 2009 Vancouver had a shot at going up 3-1 on Chicago in the series. They took a 1-0 lead and went to the rope-a-dope move (they generated just 15 shots the entire game) only to see Chicago score with less than three minutes left and win it in overtime.
In 2010, Chicago was up 2-1 in the series and Luongo melted down giving up 6 goals on 33 shots in the 7-4 loss before the final meltdown in Game 6 (a 5-1 loss and a trip to the golf course).
Sound familiar?
Well, Game 1 in 2010 vs. the Chicago Blackhawks went much the same way. The Vancouver Canucks won 5-1. Michael Grabner and Kyle Wellwood got two of those five goals. They were also outshot 37-25 so Luongo pretty much repeated his Game 1 performance of 2010 in 2011.
Strip this down and it came down to the Canucks getting out of the gate fast, but if they think they can take the Stanley Cup by only playing one excellent period per game, well, good luck with that.
The bottom line is for once Roberto Luongo did what he has supposed to have been doing the past two seasons--stealing games with his goaltending (and friendly goalposts). Given Chicago dominated the last two periods the Canucks are not exactly sitting any prettier than in 2010 or 2009 when they took Game 1s vs. the Hawks.
Worrying is the virtual no-show by the Sedin line which had all of six shots on goal. Yes, they had less ice time, but if the play of Ryan Kesler does not prove once and for all who the real MVP of the team is, then I suggest you return your Volvo to the dealership.
Then apparently there is much ado over how much ice time the Hawks players had especially in comparison to Vancouver's skaters.
Newsflash, hockey fans: When a team is losing, coaches tend to play their top players more. It's not like they weren't fairly fresh going into Game 1 that they couldn't handle it.
The ploy actually worked as the Hawks outshot the Nux 25-20 over the last two periods.
Sure, they didn't score but sometimes Luongo shuts teams out.
Good game all around from an entertainment standpoint but wait till Game 4 before we see where the Canucks stand.
It's Game 4 in both 2009 and 2010 where the Blackhawks took control of both series.
In 2009 Vancouver had a shot at going up 3-1 on Chicago in the series. They took a 1-0 lead and went to the rope-a-dope move (they generated just 15 shots the entire game) only to see Chicago score with less than three minutes left and win it in overtime.
In 2010, Chicago was up 2-1 in the series and Luongo melted down giving up 6 goals on 33 shots in the 7-4 loss before the final meltdown in Game 6 (a 5-1 loss and a trip to the golf course).
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
A Lameduck President's Trophy
Woo hoo, the Vancouver Canucks finish first overall!
Thank you, Northwest Division for making this feat possible and after the clinching the Canucks racked up a scary 16 wins and 4 losses vs. the four non-playoff teams in "our" division.
The Detroit Red Wings, on the other hand, could only manage a 10 win 11 loss record up to that point vs. its division. The San Jose Sharks were a tad better at 11 wins and 8 losses vs. their own division through April Fools' Day.
Insert your own counter argument here in either the Wings' or Sharks' odds of finishing first overall, if they were able to feast on arguably the four weakest teams in the Western Conference a la the Canucks did.
Finishing first overall is great, if you want to...lose in the first round. Maybe it's because the pressure is cranked up and especially for newcomers like the Canucks it's hard to handle being top dog. We'll find out.
The record of President's Trophy winners is very sketchy since 2000. Have a look at the highest seeds' glorious records:
'00 St. Louis Blues lost in 1st rd. to the San Jose Sharks
'01 Colorado Avalanche won the Cup
'02 Detroit Red Wings won the Cup
'03 Ottawa Senators went to the semi-finals
'04 Detroit Red Wings lost in the quarter-finals to the Calgary Flames
'06 Detroit Red Wings lost in the first rd. to the Edmonton Oilers
'07 Buffalo Sabres went to the semi-finals
'08 Detroit Red Wings won the Cup
'09 San Jose Sharks lost in 1st rd. to the Anaheim Ducks
'10 Washington Capitals lost in 1st rd. to the Montreal Canadiens
Now the cup is half full people will argue that the Wings (twice) and the Avs all won Cups as President's Trophy holders. That is a good argument, if you have a track record of playoff success. The Avs in the years from its '96 Cup went to three semi-finals and got CuJo-ed by the Oilers in the first rd. over those prior four seasons.
The Wings since their '97 & '98 Cup years subsequently got to the quarter-finals twice and lost in rd. 1 to the Los Angeles Kings (what?) in '01. So their record was indifferent yet they also had plenty of Cup pedigree in that '01/02 Cup year with ten players who hung around since '98. Adding Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille, Chris Chelios, Pavel Datsyuk, Steve Duchesne, Fredrik Olausson and especially Dominik Hasek in the intervening seasons did obviously help in that '02 Cup run.
The Wings after '02 through to their next Cup lost twice in the first rd., went to a quarter-final and got to the semi-finals in '07. Again a bit of a mixed bag of playoff success but we are talking the Red Wings after all. They somehow managed to retool and not let their playoff failings derail their Cup plans. Hence in '08 they won it all and with eight guys still on the roster from the '02 Cup team as well as a returning Chris Osgood.
Where does that leave the Canucks then?
Will they fold like San Jose and Washington did the past two seasons or can they parlay a mediocre playoff resume into a long run to at least the semi-finals a la the Sabres or the Sens did?
The Sens may be the model as prior to its first ever deep playoff run in '03 to the semi-finals, they lost four times in rd. 1 and twice in the quarter-finals. The Canucks have almost as middling a record--a first rd. loss in '05, three times out in the quarter-finals . . . and even twice missing the playoffs in the past six seasons.
Probably the key for the Canucks is similar to the Sens' key--avoid at all cost your nemesis.
In '03 the Sens dodged a huge bullet as the Toronto Maple Leafs (the team that knocked the Sens out of the playoffs in three straight seasons) lost a Game 7 to the Philadelphia Flyers. That cleared the track for the Sens' deep Cup run that fell short in a Game 7 vs. the New Jersey Devils.
Ominously, the Canucks' current doppelganger, the Chicago Blackhawks, lie waiting for Vancouver in the 8th spot. If ever Marc Crawford owed the Canucks a favor, he needs his Stars to come through and snag that last spot and knock Chicago out. The Canucks went 4W-0L vs. the Stars this season. Outscoring the Stars 20-5, by the way, in those four games.
Now we could argue the Hawks are weaker this season with all the changes but they are still the defending Cup champions. They seem to have easily replaced Antti Niemi with Corey Crawford in net, and they have been pretty red hot since the All-Star break. This is not a normal 8th seed.
Having said that some Cup champs (notably the '04 New Jersey Devils, '06 Tampa Bay Lightning. '07 Carolina Hurricanes and '08 Anaheim Ducks) who slump in the season following have flamed out losing in the first rd. or completely missing the playoffs as the Canes did in '07.
So there you have it, either the glass is half full or half empty but really it all comes down to matchups no matter what the Canucks record is. After all the '94 team was 14th overall in the regular season.
Thank you, Northwest Division for making this feat possible and after the clinching the Canucks racked up a scary 16 wins and 4 losses vs. the four non-playoff teams in "our" division.
The Detroit Red Wings, on the other hand, could only manage a 10 win 11 loss record up to that point vs. its division. The San Jose Sharks were a tad better at 11 wins and 8 losses vs. their own division through April Fools' Day.
Insert your own counter argument here in either the Wings' or Sharks' odds of finishing first overall, if they were able to feast on arguably the four weakest teams in the Western Conference a la the Canucks did.
Finishing first overall is great, if you want to...lose in the first round. Maybe it's because the pressure is cranked up and especially for newcomers like the Canucks it's hard to handle being top dog. We'll find out.
The record of President's Trophy winners is very sketchy since 2000. Have a look at the highest seeds' glorious records:
'00 St. Louis Blues lost in 1st rd. to the San Jose Sharks
'01 Colorado Avalanche won the Cup
'02 Detroit Red Wings won the Cup
'03 Ottawa Senators went to the semi-finals
'04 Detroit Red Wings lost in the quarter-finals to the Calgary Flames
'06 Detroit Red Wings lost in the first rd. to the Edmonton Oilers
'07 Buffalo Sabres went to the semi-finals
'08 Detroit Red Wings won the Cup
'09 San Jose Sharks lost in 1st rd. to the Anaheim Ducks
'10 Washington Capitals lost in 1st rd. to the Montreal Canadiens
Now the cup is half full people will argue that the Wings (twice) and the Avs all won Cups as President's Trophy holders. That is a good argument, if you have a track record of playoff success. The Avs in the years from its '96 Cup went to three semi-finals and got CuJo-ed by the Oilers in the first rd. over those prior four seasons.
The Wings since their '97 & '98 Cup years subsequently got to the quarter-finals twice and lost in rd. 1 to the Los Angeles Kings (what?) in '01. So their record was indifferent yet they also had plenty of Cup pedigree in that '01/02 Cup year with ten players who hung around since '98. Adding Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille, Chris Chelios, Pavel Datsyuk, Steve Duchesne, Fredrik Olausson and especially Dominik Hasek in the intervening seasons did obviously help in that '02 Cup run.
The Wings after '02 through to their next Cup lost twice in the first rd., went to a quarter-final and got to the semi-finals in '07. Again a bit of a mixed bag of playoff success but we are talking the Red Wings after all. They somehow managed to retool and not let their playoff failings derail their Cup plans. Hence in '08 they won it all and with eight guys still on the roster from the '02 Cup team as well as a returning Chris Osgood.
Where does that leave the Canucks then?
Will they fold like San Jose and Washington did the past two seasons or can they parlay a mediocre playoff resume into a long run to at least the semi-finals a la the Sabres or the Sens did?
The Sens may be the model as prior to its first ever deep playoff run in '03 to the semi-finals, they lost four times in rd. 1 and twice in the quarter-finals. The Canucks have almost as middling a record--a first rd. loss in '05, three times out in the quarter-finals . . . and even twice missing the playoffs in the past six seasons.
Probably the key for the Canucks is similar to the Sens' key--avoid at all cost your nemesis.
In '03 the Sens dodged a huge bullet as the Toronto Maple Leafs (the team that knocked the Sens out of the playoffs in three straight seasons) lost a Game 7 to the Philadelphia Flyers. That cleared the track for the Sens' deep Cup run that fell short in a Game 7 vs. the New Jersey Devils.
Ominously, the Canucks' current doppelganger, the Chicago Blackhawks, lie waiting for Vancouver in the 8th spot. If ever Marc Crawford owed the Canucks a favor, he needs his Stars to come through and snag that last spot and knock Chicago out. The Canucks went 4W-0L vs. the Stars this season. Outscoring the Stars 20-5, by the way, in those four games.
Now we could argue the Hawks are weaker this season with all the changes but they are still the defending Cup champions. They seem to have easily replaced Antti Niemi with Corey Crawford in net, and they have been pretty red hot since the All-Star break. This is not a normal 8th seed.
Having said that some Cup champs (notably the '04 New Jersey Devils, '06 Tampa Bay Lightning. '07 Carolina Hurricanes and '08 Anaheim Ducks) who slump in the season following have flamed out losing in the first rd. or completely missing the playoffs as the Canes did in '07.
So there you have it, either the glass is half full or half empty but really it all comes down to matchups no matter what the Canucks record is. After all the '94 team was 14th overall in the regular season.
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