Friday, June 02, 2006

Hurricanes to face off against the Oilers for the Cup

Those who saw the game know it. Those who didn't wish they had. Last night, we were treated to another great game of hockey. Unfortunately, hockey is not wrestling, it's not fixed, so Buffalo came out on the losing end of things (now, wrestling being fixed, why does John Cena keep winning? He sucks!). I do not like Carolina, so now the Oilers HAVE to win the Cup. Buffalo had enough "cool factor" to them so that a Buffalo win against the Oilers wouldn't have been that bad. Still, it was a great game, and if there is a silver lining to Carolina winning, it's that they did it on the strenght of a great game by Doug Weight, one of my favorite players of all time.

Now, before I get to my predictions about the Cup Finals, here is a list of things I hate about the Hurricanes: Rod Brind'Amour, Them being named after a disaster of nature that strikes FLORIDA every year not North Carolina, them getting away with slashing Koivu's eye in the first round, Mike Commodore's playoff beard (playoff beards are cool, looking like a bear isn't), their fans being there for them only when they reach the Cup Finals, their coach (Laviolette sounds gay, end of discussion... not that there's anything wrong with that), and Rod Brind'Amour again.

As for my prediction, well, Edmonton will win it all, in 7 games. I believe that the long layoff will probably hurt the Oilers a bit at the start, but once they get back in their building, with the best fans in the league, they will find their game back in a big way. But it will be hard. As much as I don't like them, the Hurricanes have a good team. They are very strong and very deep offensively, so they will get goals by Roloson. Pronger and Jason Smith will eliminate the Staal line, and Steve Staios and Jaro Spacek should be able to contain the Brind'Amour/Stillman line. But the Hurricanes constantly roll 4 pretty good lines, so they will be able to get their chances, and they work hard around the net, so they'll get their goals. The line of Weight/Whitney/Recchi could explode against Marc-Andre Bergeron and Matt Greene. But if the Oilers can find a way to match up against them in another way, let's say with the line of Peca, then they could be able to contain them. But it will be a great challenge for McTavish, as Carolina has the deepest offense that the Oilers have faced in the postseason (Detroit, San Jose and Anaheim all relied mostly on 2 lines for goal scoring).

But the Oilers have been the most opportunistic team of the postseason. They have constantly capitalized on their chances. Opposing goalies, hot coming in, have gone cold in a big way in all 3 series. Why? Because the Oilers have fought harder than anyone else around the net. Smyth, Torres, Moreau, Pisani, Peca, Horcoff and Samsonov have been battling for loose pucks around opposing nets all playoffs long. Cam Ward is a rookie, and Ryan Smyth will give him headaches all series long. Oh, and also, no one has been able to stop Pronger's slap shot from the point, and Ward won't be able either. Carolina's defense, while big, is a bit soft, and they'll be no match for the Oilers' gritty attack. Edmonton's offense has gotten timely goals all throughout the playoffs, and that trend will continue.

In the end, I see Carolina winning the first 2 games at home, and then the Oilers winning 4 or the last 5. If Edmonton can manage to win of the first 2 (or even both), this series will be over in 5 or 6 games. Mark my words: Carolina will not win 1 game in Edmonton. Oddly enough, the Oilers, who had a below-.500 winning record at home during the regular season, will turn out to be the team that will have played the best on home ice during the playoffs. And when it's all sai and done, Pronger will be called a 'winner', Jason Smith will be recognized as a real 'leader', Ryan Smyth will be the only player aside fromScott Niedermeyer to have won a Stanley Cup, an Olympic gold medal and a World Championship, and... oh yeah, Dwayne Roloson will be looking for the biggest payday of his life.

Golf is on tap for me tomorrow... but not much else during the weekend. So I'll be writing again tomorrow or Sunday. I don't know what about yet, but it doesn't really matter, cuz it's all about the Comments. Power to my peeps!

Dwarf Out

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