A Dream Stanley Cup Finals

It happened. It actually happened. My two favorite teams in the world are facing each other for the right to lift Lord Stanley's Cup. Once upon a time, the Blackhawks were never shown on television, leaving a young HBJ without a team to enjoy watching on TV from time to time (the rare times hockey was shown). Enter the Philadelphia Flyers, the team that maintained my interest in hockey whenever I could catch a game. That and I always liked the team name and logo. After all the hardships the team went through during the regular season, they wholeheartedly deserve to be in the Stanley Cup Finals.

However, the Blackhawks are still my team, and after all the hardships they went through for the past FIFTY YEARS, they most definitely deserve a shot at the Cup. Combine the two, and you're looking at one of the best potential Stanley Cup matchups in years. There are a few reasons why this is the best possible matchup the NHL could have had out of the sixteen teams that made the playoffs.

1. The Battle for the Cup this year is fresh. No Penguins, no Red Wings. The Flyers have not made the Finals since 1997, the Hawks since 1992. Both teams have not won the Cup in decades (Flyers since 1975, Hawks since 1961). I know some people were hoping for a Original Six Finals with the Hawks and Habs but this is the better matchup (Fun Fact: The Flyers were the first non-Original Six team to win the Cup). The Cup is going to a city that hasn't seen it in forever, isn't that exciting!?

2. With the NHL trying hard to bring in American viewers, Flyers/Hawks is an excellent selling point. Montreal would not have drawn in nearly as many American viewers, and Canada already has the entire population watching the sport, so they don't need the help. In addition, Philly and Chicago both have huge fanbases, with the Chicago having one of the best and Philly having one of the worst (I say this in a good way. Their fanbase consists of the biggest assholes in the country, and honestly that is one of the reasons I still like the Flyers). You can say this is a battle of good vs. evil (and of course the good guys always come out on top right?).

3. Both teams play an extremely exciting style. They both use a good combination of physicality and skill, with a slight emphasis on one of those (physical play for Philly, skill for Chicago). This is what makes hockey fun to watch, and both teams are sure to put on a good show.

4. Goaltending. Honestly, who expected the starting goalies in the Stanley Cup Finals to be ANTTI NIEMI and MICHAEL LEIGHTON? Hell, at the beginning of the playoffs, both teams were predicted to not do well because of the "shaky" goaltending. Many people predicted Devils over Flyers in the 1st round and Canucks over Hawks in the 2nd because of the goaltending. Niemi is no Marc Andre-Fleury, Leighton is no Ryan Miller. Where are they at now? On the golf course. I wonder if this is the first time that both goalies in the Finals were not even starters at the start of the season. Niemi and Leighton (also Brian Boucher, another "backup scrub" who only owned the Devils and kept Philly from getting swept by Boston) are sending a message to all the mid to low level goalies: Everyone has the potential to be great if you put your heart into it. Niemi and Leighton, along with the rest of their teams, did just that. The Hawks and Flyers really really want to win the Cup, and you could see that when Philly made history in Boston and Chicago got out the brooms against San Jose.


So now that you know that the Finals are going to be amazing, who is going to win the Stanley Cup? I'm predicting every game except one will be close, but the Chicago Blackhawks win in 6 games. And I'll be in Chicago for the parade!

The cup chronicles: vol. II: media day

Today was media day, and i do commend the NHL network for their extensive coverage. I'm still trying to get to know the enemy a bit more so it was helpful to see these interviews and such. Not only that, but they are replaying the game we had against them in Philly back in March. Much to my surprise Michael Leighton started in this game, and faced off against that one goalie we used to have play...what was his name again?
I'm trying to get a feel for how this is going to go by simply watching this game, but I know that's impossible. The biggest difference is obviously that we will have Niemi start instead, so as much as they had a bit of trouble with Huet in this game, i can only imagine Niemi will come out of this eating them for breakfast. Or Brunch if you prefer. In the media day interviews, the great Hossa story was addressed, and it made me think of what my Pokedex entry would be for him:
Marian Hossa was a Penguin. Then, he was a Redwing. And he lost the Stanley cup with both! Until one day, he signed with the Blackhawks. And he's about to find out, being on the Blackhawks, is the only one that isn't really lame.
(inspired by this)
They talked to Captain and told him how awesome he was and how he reminds everyone of Stevie Y and all kinds of other awesomeness. Kaner told some crazy story about how the Dallas Stars beat the Sabres in the Stanley Cup once and he was bitter, and Buff was just, well huge and awesome as always.
The enemy was weary as they were in the UC for media day, I could just tell. Jack Daniels - I mean - Mike Richards talked about how crazy their playoff ride was, which I still think was amazing too. That's why it's such a shame that their magical playoff run will end at the hands of the Captain.
oh yeah, and i'll probably have periodic reasons why Tazer is better than Mike Richards. Reason #25 that Tazer is better: i'm no math whiz, but last time I checked, the number 18 is one less than the number 19. ^_~
Aside from that, the other interviews on media day were pretty generic. The enemy knows what their up against, and we know this won't just be a walk in the park. I was just glad to have more hockey talk all day as now the countdown of days till the battle begins is down to just 2. And as it draws closer, I will probably become crazier. Be ready. <3

The cup chronicles: volume I: Captain vs Captain

I decided to create a mini-series of blogs to follow what could possibly be one of the most memorable times of my life. in the next week, as i await the beginning of this incredible series between my beloved Blackhawks and the Flyers, I'm not really sure what else to do with myself to pass the time (watch the Sox...?). But today, now that we officially know who we are playing and when, i've decided to do a little bit of reconnaissance work to get to know my newest rivals, and my newest sworn enemy: Mike Richards. So I present to you, a few Pokedex entries on the Whales trophy winners, the Philadelphia Flyers.
first of all, if anyone says "team of destiny" one more time, i might have to jack them in the face. I am very proud of the Flyers and the way they showed resiliency in this post season, especially coming back from being down 3-0 to Boston in the series, and in game 7. I wanted this matchup from the beginning, and i'm really glad it turned out that way, mostly because it'd be super fun for HBJ.
That being said, I hope the Hawks destroy them ^_~
General Pokedex entry for Philedelphia Flyers: the physical type team. Their main strategy against these other teams has been to stop their "big guns", as they did with the Canadiens and Camalleri. but let's think about the depth of the Hawks here, and how even if they TRY to stop the Captain (which is impossible), the Hawks go alot deeper than their first or even second line, of offense and defense. So the "Captain" Mike Richards will have his work cut out for him if he wants to try and stop everybody.
Mike Richards: I can't really classify him as a type yet, but I did find this picture of what appears to be him chugging a bottle of whiskey with jeff Carter and random hot chicks. Can't you have more class than that, "Captain?" I mean this is obviously a better way to drink. Real Captains drink Labatt Blue. But all drinking jokes aside, Mike Richards was Tazer's teammate on good old team Canada, and they do have pretty similar styles of play. I think Tazer is a bit more serious, as his nickname would suggest, especially since that picture of him was back in the North Dakota days and that Mike Richards one was pretty recent. So my Pokedex deduction of Mike Richards is that on the ice he is like Tazer, and off the ice he's like Kaner. ^_~
I will continue my research throughout the week and have more Pokedex entries for you. This is going to be sooo much fun!!! ^_^

SWEEEEEP!!!!

After winning the first 2 games at the not-so-intimidating shark tank, I was a little nervous about coming back home because of how much better we had been playing on the road previously. But after winning Friday night's game in awesome fashion as always, I just got overwhelmed by the feeling that Sunday would be the day. And I was right.
After being down 2-0, I, along with everyone else was a little bit nervous, but I knew that this team was more than capable of coming back. After the Seabrook 4 on 4 goal that almost wasn't (and I loved Captain's reaction to his cross checking penalty just before that too hehe), I knew not only were we back in this game, but we would probably win. The Sharks just can't seem to get their momentum back when it seems to be going our way, and the result was an epic sweep, and the Shark's realization of who the top team in the Western conference really is. ^_^
When I watched the Captain get presented with the Campbell trophy, I almost lost it. To be in a championship in this town is really is something special, and it takes a special kind of team (not to mention a special kind of leader on the team ^_~) to make it happen. This team is something special, and it just melts my little fangirl heart to see them get to the championship. I love these boys, and now that they got there, they just have to seal the deal. As of tonight we could know who our opponent will be, and I believe that either team will give us a really good series. I love this feeling that I have right now, I haven't had this kind of intense rush since...well...let's just say around 5 years ago. ^_~
My manager at the UC told me that even if this series finishes up tonight, the earliest we would still start is Saturday, for TV purposes. I hate that I have to wait that long, but in the meantime I at least know the boys will keep themselves occupied. ^_^ (being a sports fangirl and a video game nerd, this pretty much makes my life)
So let this crazy ride continue. This promises to be a very very fun next couple of weeks. The Chicago Blackhawks.

Western. Conference. Champions.

So many contributions to a 2-0 lead!!

I am pretty much praising Niemi right now. after the 44 saves the other night and his wonderful performance again tonight, I am all about our rookie goalie. This was another amazing hockey game, and while both teams played well, the Hawks had a definite advantage just as they did in game 1. the phrase "track meet game" kept getting thrown around during the broadcast, and I was trying to figure out what they meant by that, and I came up with a general idea.

The track meet game means it became a game of closer distances to the net, like a 200m dash or something like that compared to taking shots from far away. this in my opinion was a reference to the fact the Buff has been right by the net, because of the fact that him being on the line with Captain and Kaner allows him to do so. I really like this line, because it works very well strategically. Everyone focuses on Kane and Toews, and in the meantime Buff goes in front of the net and can get a good poke in, because nobody sees it happening. On the contrary, if the Sharks are on to the placement of Buff, they might pay more attention to him and let the young stars own Nabokov. So basically that line is a win-win situation, and I really like how it's turning out for us.

Captain continued to play tough tonight. I love the fact that he took the most shots. It felt like he wanted Nabokov to know that he was in deep trouble. Going up to the net and taking these shots was a sign of leadership, conveying the message: "Look, just go up and shoot. They are playing so desperately, not wanting to lose the first 2 games, let alone at home. We can get past these guys." And they did.
Byfuglien is definitely a key to our success, as i saw a stat that said that we are some kind of crazy record like 17-1-3 when Buff scored at least 1 goal in the regular season. I also think that Hossa's performance has been overlooked, as although he hasn't been the scoring machine, he has helped his line out alot by making the plays needed. The pregame guy on VS said that Campbell has been overlooked, and while that may be true for the rest of the country, it is not true in Chicago. Ever since he got owned by Ovechkin (another big name not in the playoffs hehehe), Hawks fans have realized what an asset he is to this team. I really think he helps out alot too. Amoung all of the things I just mentioned, plus Niemi being a goalie god, I am feeling very good about this series.

I know not to get "too cocky", however, because I know how we play at home. Sucks for me since those are the games I actually get to see live, but I don't care where they win, really, as long as they just win. I'm hoping for a good game on Friday, and maybe they can take the intensity they have on the road and bring it home. All I know is, I hate that we have to have 2 days in between games. Hopefully it will go by fast. ^_^

History Has Been Made (FLYERSFLYERSFLYERS Edition)

I was ready to post this yesterday, but due to unforeseen circumstances was unable to do so. As of this writing the Hawks defeated the Sharks in Game 1 and Philly/Montreal is playing right now.


The playoffs are only getting better and better. The 2nd round was much more entertaining than the 1st as things have really started to heat up. So just like before I will analyze and rank the games from the second round followed by previews/predictions for the Conference Finals.

4. Sharks over Red Wings in 5 - Not to say this was a bad series, because it was awesome especially given the result, but it's fourth solely because it only went five games. Every game was very close other than the total beatdown from the Wings in Game 4, but the Sharks had a mission this year, and they finally achieved it. What a team to get over that hump that is the 2nd round too, the Wings are never easy to beat. However, Jimmy Howard showed his inexperience in the series, and combined with Thornton finally making some noise in the postseason, the Sharks were destined for the conference finals.

3. Hawks over Canucks in 6 - Honestly Sharks/Wings was technically the better series, but I'm being biased here because Chicago won it. We had two very ugly games at home this series, which is something we need to fix in the next round, but on the bright side we absolutely owned Vancouver on the road, which is a good sign considering we have potentially four road games next round.

2. Canadiens over Penguins in 7 - Of course any series that goes the distance has to be great, and this series was. Every game was close except Game 7, but that's okay because the result was great. This victory by the Habs is even more amazing when you consider that Pittsburgh had been getting healthier as the series progress whereas the Habs were losing key players to injury. Most of all, LOL Crosby. Losing Game 7 is completely his fault. He got called for boarding ten seconds into the game and completely sucked all the energy out of Mellon Arena. Montreal was relentless the whole game and it showed. Just a great performance, but it didn't make history

1. Flyers over Bruins in 7 - They're not kidding when they say history will be made. This is only the 4th time in sports history that a team came back from a 3-0 deficit to win the series. Now, make that even more epic by having Game 7 end the same way the series did, with Boston taking a 3-0 lead and Philly coming back to win 4-3. Does it get any better than that!? Also, Philly did this with two goalies who were primarily backups in their careers. They won this series with heart and soul, and that's why hockey is the best.


So, the conference finals features a 1 vs 2 and a 7 vs 8. Pretty neat right? Let's preview and predict those games:

Hawks over Sharks in 6 - The Quest for the Cup continues for the Chicago Blackhawks, and even with this new surge from the Sharks nothing is going to stop them. Niemi will need quality goaltending to prevent any momentum going to San Jose, and we'll need to our top players to continue playing well (I'm confident about this, our #19 is better than theirs). Now, I know we won Game 1 today, but there was no way I wasn't picking against Chicago anyway, so no big deal.

Flyers over Habs in 7 - This is the first time a 7th seed faced the 8th seed in the conference finals. For a conference that has both Crosby and Ovechkin, this is a very nice thing to see. Two teams, I should emphasize TEAMS, played their hearts out and rightfully earned their place in the conference finals. However, I think Philly has just a bit more heart, which will net them one more win than Montreal will get.


Four teams, all with something to prove. All with the desire to win the Cup, and it shows more than maybe any other postseason I have seen. This is desire. This is passion. This is heart.

This is hockey.

One victory down!

Well the Hawks have done something they haven't done yet in these playoffs, and that is win the first game of the series. The difference is, that this game was on the road, where we have been playing extremely well, and if you take into account the regular season games we played at the HP-Shark-Pavilion-Tank, there is really no reason to be surprised at all that we won there in this first game. The stats they showed before the game were interesting though, as the Hawks had been 5-1 thus far on the road and the Sharks had been 5-1 at home thus far. So winning the first game on the road and evening up the ice advantage should help, but in these playoffs where home games aren't exactly what they seem, the point is no matter where you are just go out there and win.
Both teams played awesome today, but the entire game I could see that at least as far as 5 on 5 hockey goes, we have a bit of an edge over this Sharks team. The Sharks do not want to play at our pace, but we are good enough to set the pace no matter what. It was nice to see an outstanding performance from Mr. Niemi, and some nice penalty killing as well, considering how many power play chances the Sharks actually ended up having. I really liked the energy we had coming out in this game even after being down 1-0 after the first period, and after watching awesome hockey from both teams, i'm really really excited for the rest of this series.
I also really liked Niemi's press conference, especially because I hardly ever hear him talk, and he was giving very short, very ambiguous answers because you can tell he doesn't want to think about it, he just wants to go do his Niemi no-no thing. I must praise him for that insane glove save too. Wow! ^_^
Meanwhile, i'm still keeping a close eye on the other series between the 7 and 8 seeds on the other side of things. Either team can really win, but I hope the Flyers win for HBJ Dubs. ^_^ I'm watching it as we speak and they are up 2-0 so we shall see!
Tuesday's game between us and the Sharks will be epic, and if the entire series is as insane as this first game was I might need to buy a few more bottles of jager...=P

I prefer Shark meat to Octopus

bring it on, Nabokov!!

School is finally over, so I will have much more time to blog about all of this craziness that is the Blackhawks postseason. After a very shaky game Sunday to say the least, it was good to see the Hawks finally got back into that (expletive) Luongo's head and showed those Canucks who the better team really is.
Don't get me wrong, Vancouver is a very good team and I give them credit, it's just so easy to make fun of Luongo and his crybaby ways. And let's not forget the Sedin sisters. After the teams seemed to switch off nights of bad discipline and embarrassing themselves in front of their respective home crowds, it was only fitting that for the second time this postseason the Hawks clinched the series on the road. Captain had an amazing series, and now leads in points in the playoffs (even above that other Captain that everyone seems to think is a stud in the playoffs that has to play a game 7 against the Habs...)so obviously that is a good thing for me. I love how Buff stepped up too, and Bolland with the shorty today was also awesome, as we have been owning the shorthanded goal situation all year especially in the postseason. All in all, it was a great series and it's always good to see a team I love destroy a team I hate. ^_^
Speaking of teams I hate, I have had a Sharks/Wings paradox of late until the Sharks clinched (and nearly swept) the series against those pesky Redwings. As much as I have been known to be a "meatball-ette" and it would only make sense for me to want a Wings/Hawks rematch in the conference finals, I obviously would not and will never root for the Wings. But if the Sharks win they get home ice and that wouldn't be good right? Wrong. As the postseason goes on I feel like starting a series on the road would almost be better for obvious reasons. The home crowd at the UC is always intense (well, I should say almost always, as at times i feel like it's a tomb in there when the hawks are down...)but for some reason the Hawks can't find their place there. I hope that changes in the next round, especially because we can play very well in the HP pavilion (which happened to be the name of my old computer which is now very very dead). So if we can get ahead by the time the series comes back to the madhouse, i'd say we can be in very very good shape. Overall, although a rematch with the Wings would have been kinda sweet, i'm glad we're gonna play the Sharks. it will be a challenge, but also be very very fun.
So now we await the beginning of the conference finals for the second year in a row. I'm just glad I don't have to see Luongo's ugly face anymore. =P

Captain hat trick!!!

WOW!!!!

Obviously I am hopelessly in love with the Captain, so this was extra special for me. Back to back hat tricks for the Hawks, and the latter being from none other than Jonathan Toews. <3 I knew we had Luongo's number, and as I have been pretty busy lately I havent even been able to write about any of the games in this series.
Game 1 was on my birthday, so my boyfriend and I went to the game. I was sure they'd win, and once again I must have gotten "too cocky" and we ended up getting owned. The defining moment in that game was the beginning of the third period, when I saw that the new goalie was none other than our old friend Cristobol Huet. I really couldn't believe my eyes. If we had to resort to Huet, did I have any reason for hope? good thing the hawks proved to me that I did.

Game 2 was another awesome night at work for me, as Versteeg did indeed make the make the madhouse go mad, as the commercial says. Game 3 I watched while working at the Sox game, which was kinda weird, but more people were inside watching the Hawks than there were in the seats, despite the 9-2 victory for the Southsiders. It is always fun sharing these moments with other fans, and I really love every minute of it.
One thing I noticed while watching game 3 was how Hossa played. I really feel like the reason we got Hossa in the first place is for the month between May 5th and June 5th. He was good during the regular season, don't get me wrong, but I think we are paying him the big bucks to be a leader in the playoffs.

Tonight's game was just incredible. We really got into Luongo's head last game, and I truly believe that it carried over to this game tonight. Captain was absolutely spectacular in every way, being responsible for 5 out of the 6 goals that we scored. If he continues to play this way the rest of the team will feed off of him and be just as awesome, taking care of Vancouver and carrying it over to the next series (potentially against the Sharks somehow?) and then who knows beyond that...and that is why he is the Captain. He is doing what he said he would do in his "one goal" commercial and is leading by example. ^_^

Now with the potential clinching game on Sunday, I am ready for anything, and i'm sure the Hawks are too. I know the crowd will be very very intense and if we come out victorious, it will be a busy night of work for me, and that's the way i like it ^_^

Congratulations, Captain, on your amazing game tonight. You are truly my hero.