Musings after two

Well, I will say that this has been an interesting Stanley Cup Finals series so far. Chicago's up 2-0 at this point, and Philadelphia is going to have to work at it to get back in it, I think.

First off, Game 1 was so absolutely amazing. If you missed it, I feel really sorry for you because that was some exciting hockey. I mean, assuming, of course, that you like offense. If you like goaltender-based or defensive hockey (hello readers from New Jersey!), you must have absolutely hated this game.

5 goals after the first period, 11 overall - man, it was like every time you blinked someone else was scoring a goal. And the weirdest part was that neither of the teams' top lines contributed to the scoring!

Game 2 was low-key, comparatively, the teams only scoring 3 goals during the game. Toews and Kane still didn't contribute to the scoring.

After two games, I think, obviously, that the Blackhawks are in a very strong position to win it. And, yes, I am a fickle fan with this series. I was somewhat on the Flyers side when the series began, probably because I think it's hilarious that Marian Hossa can't win a Cup, and that I always liked Peter Laviolette. But then, after watching these games I remembered how much I hate Chris Pronger and how much of a punk Dan Carcillo is. So I think I'm not going to be too upset if the Blackhawks win.

But even still, I can't give the Blackhawks a certain victory. Philadelphia has obviously come back in these playoffs before, and tonight they come back to their home building. Antti Niemi is playing well, but as we saw in Game 1, he can obviously let in goals. However, on the flip side, can the Flyers continue to shut down the Blackhawk's big name players?

Unfortunately tonight is my last sure bet at seeing the games on TV... my family vacations to the backwoods of PA never have any respect for the hockey blogging schedule. Don't expect a post until days after Game 5... so I suppose I'm no longer cheering for a team, but at least a six game series. Although, more hockey before the offseason can't be a bad thing, can it?

Well, that was a quick round

After an action-packed first and second rounds, I do believe the Conference Final didn't quite live up to billing - who would have thought that we'd have our Stanley Cup Finalists after only nine games?

I mean, the Sharks once again lived up to being the definition of "choke". Granted, they did manage to get out of the first two rounds, but I think being swept out still places them in that category.

Although, I must say that the series was rather good hockey. All of the games were decided by two goals or less, Game 3 going into overtime. The Sharks played well, but they couldn't get it done in any of the games. And, really, that's all that counts at this point in the season.

Then there was the Montreal-Philadelphia series which was, in my opinion, despite going one more game than the Western Conference Final, much more lopsided. The Flyers shut out the Canadiens in 3 of the four games that they won, giving the Canadiens almost no chance in the series.

So this sets up a Chicago-Philadelphia final, both cities going through quite a drought since their last Stanley Cup. I can't decide which team I want to cheer for, and I can't decide which team I think will win. Chicago seems to have all the weapons to win, but Philadelphia has proven themselves capable in these playoffs, not to mention featuring Peter Laviolette behind the bench. As for cheering, I hate this iteration of Philadelphia goons, but I really don't want to root for Marian Hossa to finally get a Cup either.

The conclusion? Well, we'll have to go through a best-of-seven to find out... First game is on Saturday.

Paul Maurice. The name seems oddly familiar...

A surprise move by the Canes today: Coach Peter Laviolette has been fired.

Well, that's actually not the surprising part. Considering the lackluster play the Canes had been putting out recently, and the impatience of, well, a lot of people, primarily the fanbase, I'm not that surprised to see Laviolette relieved of his duties. It's not like his seat was ice-cold or anything.

But, (Surprise! Surprise!) guess who the Canes hired in place of him?

Paul Maurice.

*facepalm*

Yes, the Canes re-hired someone they fired, hm... back in the 03-04 season? Yes, it was the season before the lockout.

Let me state that again: The Canes fired Lavi to re-hire the guy Lavi was hired to replace.^†

Not to mention - Maurice was removed from his duties as Maple Leafs coach a year ago. Do we really want to be coached by a Toronto Maple Leafs cast-off?

The only thing about this move that is in anyway redeeming, or, to be honest, that makes any amount of sense is the move of Ron Francis to Associate Head Coach. Having a guy like Ronnie on your side is a plus in any situation where hockey knowledge is required.

The rest of the coaching staff remains the same - which begs the question, why not just promote one of those guys? You can't tell me that we couldn't have just gone in-house for this one. (Although, I realize that this pretty much is "in-house").

I don't get it. I just don't get why we're re-hiring someone who didn't work out for us in the past. If anyone can shed any sort of light on this, please try and help me understand this move.

Maurice's first game is tomorrow against the Pens. Oh dear...

^† Doesn't this sentence just blow your mind?

Canes get Capped

Yes, I stole that headline from the Canes' website, and, yes, I took a screenshot of it, because I feel it is such a headline that should be saved for our posterity's sake.


Actually, I find it hilarious. And I need a laugh after the turn this season has taken...

I believe the "Laviolette Watch" has begun. I wouldn't be surprised if we have a new coach soon. I'm not advocating this - I like Laviolette, don't think he's done anything wrong, necessarily - but something has to get the Canes going in the right direction again.

*sigh*

Two crappy losses against two division rivals. What more can I say?

The Canes just appeared to implode on Sunday against the Thrashers: Luckily, I wasn't watching it, as the game wasn't televised. Listening to it was no walk in the part, though.

We finally have everybody back from injury - Pitkanen, Cullen, and Sutter returned - but they certainly didn't do anything to stop the 5-1 rout by the C[r]apitals. The only one who bothered to show up at all was Scott Walker - at least he has a goal to show for it.

I'm at a loss here. Something needs to happen - somebody needs to pull Staal's head out of his rear, specifically - but we can't go on like this. We have more talent than this - why can't we show it?

Next game is tomorrow against Atlanta. I predict the seat gets extremely hot for Lavi if the Canes have another blowout. Hopefully they won't...

Canes are annoying me right now...

The Canes are seriously disappointing me right now.

I did not watch Thursday's meltdown against the C[r]apitals - I chose to go instead to my school's play, an $8 that was worth it both for the quality of the production and the fact that it kept me from throwing something through the TV, as I surely would have done at home.

Yep, the Canes went from leading, to tied, to losing, all within a little under three minutes.

Over and over again, I have stressed that the Canes need to play a full sixty minutes. Here's a perfect case in point.

And my mom says that I should just be happy that the Canes won last night. Yes, they won. Good for them. Came back from a 1-0 deficit in the third period.

But what about the first two periods? They played like crap. That was an utterly lackluster hockey team on the ice last night. To be honest, I'm getting sick of it. I want to see well-executed hockey for the entire game, not just a one-period flurry and the other two periods being merely okay. That's not a way to win a championship, that's for sure.

Granted, the Canes are missing a lot of people due to injury. Hopefully when we get Cullen & Pitkanen back, our power play will finally connect. But Rod Brind'Amour seems completely non-existent on the ice (maybe after-effects of his knee surgeries?), and Eric Staal looked like he took some bad allergy medicine or something - he was not playing anywhere near his best, it just looked like he was going through the motions out there.

A positive thing I have to say today? Well, Peter Laviolette, with the unimpressive win by his hockey team last night, became the winningest American-born NHL hockey coach, surpassing John Tortorella Good for him!

The next game is Sunday against the Thrashers. Hopefully they'll be able to start opening up Lavi's lead on Tortorella...

I'm back!

Yes, after a three week absence your favorite teenaged Caniac blogger is back in action! (No thanks to those accursed College Board tests I've been subjected to in the past three weeks - all five of them lasting over 3 hours...)

And, I find that I haven't really missed anything over the past weeks... Laviolette's our coach without a doubt... Russia won the World Championships over Canada... Sean Avery busted his spleen (and even though it is a serious injury, I laughed...)... Penguins are the East Champions... and Dallas is staving off elimination by the Red Wings...

So, yeah... nothing really exciting happened. And it probably won't for a while.
But I'm least I'm back to post about the boring-ness! YaY?

Whatever.

*sigh* I just haven't wanted to write anything on here. I think I'm a little hockey-depressed right now...

But, I feel the only way to get over this feeling of abject loss is to power through it, so here goes:

First off - Rutherford's thinly veiled anti-Laviolette comments

My advice to you, Jim (because I know my blog is one of your number one reads...), is to power through the loss and DON'T FIRE LAVIOLETTE! Laviolette is awesome! I even wrote a post about his complete awesomeness here. (If you can call that coherent writing...)

Second - Offseason signings

Jeez... who's even up for free agency this year? Ah well, sign Samsonov, he wants to stay.

Third - The 2008 playoffs

Despite what I think should have happened, the NHL playoffs have continued to go on without the Canes present. No predictions for this season, I've decided (it's sort of too late for that, y'know?). And, who am I rooting for? Whoever is playing the C[r]apitals. Go Flyers! (Sorry, no cool graphics or Southeast Division loyalty this year...

Fourth - ...?

Yeah, no fourth. I guess three's the charm in this post.

Laviolette is awesome. That was my point. I think.

Well, the Canes lost their "must-win" last night 4-1.

So, now the C[r]apitals are tied for the division lead with the Canes. With two games left.

Is anyone else hyperventilating?

Now, granted, all the Canes have to do is win their next two, starting tonight against Tampa. But, I'm slightly worried because they did not impress me at all last night.

Well, actually, y'know who impressed me? Coach Laviolette. He wasn't taking none of that no-call crap from the referees last night (Are these guys blind? AO crosschecks Staal in the stomach a good five seconds after the play is called - I think there's some star-preference going on...). Seriously, if this had been a baseball game, second base would've been thrown across the field, and the rosin bag woulda been tossed like a hand grenade. Good for Lavi! He showed he's a man after my own heart screaming at the refs like that - because that's exactly what I was doing through the TV.

Anyways... I just lost my train of thought. Probably because I was looking for the clip of the aforementioned baseball manager... here's the post I posted it on (waaaay back in '06), but the clip's dead...
Hm... and I don't even think that was the one I was thinking of... maybe i didn't post it... oh well, here's a link.

Right. Train of thought left at station. Choo choo!

Hopefully the Canes will be better than this post tonight!

Choo choo!

Good stuff, I guess

Yeah... I was going to spare the blogging world of my meaningless drivel about the Canes-less playoffs today, until I saw that Coach Laviolette is going to be on the desk panel for the first two nights of the second round on Quondam-OLN.

A reason to watch, I suppose.

Otherwise, that is it. The only remaining first round series is the Vancouver-Dallas series, which will finish at 9 PM tonight...