Tag: NHL

NHL Stanley Cup Quarterfinals Predictions – Round One

Here’s the thing about the NHL this season. I didn’t watch a single game outside of the East Division. There are 12 teams in the playoffs this year that I know literally nothing about. Here’s how I am going to handle it, predictions wise. For the East it is business as usual. For the other three divisions, I am going to make a gut feeling pick based mostly on the standings, but I am also going to make a coin flip pick. After the first round is over, I’ll compare the two and see how it went.

First, though, the East Division…

No. 1 Pittsburgh Penguins vs No. 4 New York Islanders: The Islanders have two strikes against them and the Penguins only have one. The Islanders are from New York (BOO!) and I have no faith in them at all. Two strikes. The Penguins’ only strike is that they are the friggin’ Penguins and I really hate the friggin’ Penguins. Still, I gotta pick them for this round. Pittsburgh will win.

No. 2 Washington Capitals vs No. 3 Boston Bruins: So there I was, at the trade deadline thinking, Taylor Hall? Really? He’s not going to put us over the top. He’s no winner. Well… I might have to stand here corrected. I am standing here beside myself corrected. I hope. My heroic, triumphant Boston Bruins have had a few clunkers of late, but I see them steam rolling the Caps in the first round. Please please please please please don’t make me eat those word too. Boston will win.

Next, the Central Division…

No. 1 Carolina Hurricanes vs No. 4 Nashville Predators: Not much doubt about this one, even without knowing anything about the two teams. I say Carolina wins this one. The coin flip (heads for the higher seed) says Carolina wins too.

No. 2 Florida Panthers vs No. 3 Tampa Bay Lightning: I’m picking the upset here. Probably because I am still thinking of the Lightning in terms of last season. I say Tampa Bay wins. The coin flip also says Tampa Bay wins. Weird.

On to the North Division…

No. 1 Toronto Maple Leafs vs No. 4 Montreal Canadiens: I hate the Montreal Canadiens with every fiber of my being. I hate them I hate them I hate them. Also, Toronto doesn’t have to play Boston in the first round so they won’t automatically lose again. I say Toronto wins, and probably wins the next round too. The coin flip says Toronto wins too. Is the coin like, reading my mind? Spooky.

No. 2 Edmonton Oilers vs. No. 3 Winnipeg Jets: I could maybe try a spoiler here too but I won’t. I say Edmonton wins (and probably pretty easily too). The coin says Edmonton wins too. Okay, this is starting to creep me out now.

Finally, the West Division where I will once again just pick the higher seed.

No. 1 Colorado Avalanche vs. No. 4 St. Louis Blues: Hey St. Louis, I got your Stanley Cup right here! (imagine me making a very rude hand gesture) You buncha jerkies. I’m not picking the Blues because I’m still pissed off about the last time. Also because I have a sneaking suspicion that the Avs are going to have a parade this year. They might get to do some on ice celebrating, possibly in Toronto. Hashtag foreshadowing. I say Colorado wins. The coin says St. Louis wins because the coin is an asshole. At least we finally have one where we didn’t pick the same team. Hey coin, I got your randomness right here! (imagine me making a very rude hand gesture)

No. 2 Vegas Golden Knights vs. No. 3 Minnesota Wild: Did you know that Minneapolis, MN is the only city outside of Boston, MA where I’ve attended an NHL game? Think that will lead me to pick them to win this series? Think again. I say Vegas wins. The coin, however, says that Minnesota wins. We shall see, Mr. Coin… we shall see.

There you have it, my first round playoff predictions for this the second 2021 playoff season which is also the second Covid-19 playoff season.

Go Bruins.

Bruins First Round Matchup

The Bruins still have one more game in their regular season, but with their win over the Islanders last night they locked up their final spot in the standings. They will go into the playoffs as #3 in the division, and their first round matchup is already set.

They will play Washington, starting Saturday night.

Washington scares me a lot, but really so do all of the teams in the division. Except Buffalo, I guess. The sad part of the series is that they have to play against former captain Zdeno Chara. That’s kinda sad. Not that sad though. He was our captain last year, this year he’s the enemy. I hope they mop the ice with the ancient bastard.

Go Bruins.

Thoughts on a Tuesday

I spent my whole afternoon so far looking through a customer’s database for an example of a piece of data that I am now pretty convinced does not exist. Le Sigh, as the French (don’t) say.

The Bruins moved into third place in the division with a win over New Jersey last night. The win also clinched a playoff spot. There will be a post season for the Bruins in this Covid Season #2. There are still a few more games to play but if it ended today they’d be matched with Pittsburgh in the first round. Le Yikes, as the French (don’t) say.

I tore the cellar storage apart twice and that little purple knock off uni-vibe pedal is still MIA. Before the great cellar disaster clean up (I’ll give the details someday, but the wound is too fresh for now) it was in a cardboard box on top of the table next to the bulkhead door under one of the last remaining functional fluorescent lights. All of that stuff was packed up and moved into the storage area just to the left of the washer/dryer. Everything else is there, but the little purple knock off uni-vibe pedal with Jimi Hendrix painted on it is not there. (It’s a Moen Shaky Jimi, if you’re curious). I did have a thought as to one place it could be… it could be over Mike the Bass players house. I have an amp (my beloved Fender Deluxe Reverb) and a small board there that have been off limits to me since Covid. I know my Wampler Tumnus is on that board as well as an MXR Phase 95 and a Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail. I have no memory of putting the Shaky Jimi on that board, but there is a chance that it’s there. Waiting for me. Taunting me. Le Lame, as the French (don’t) say.

I’m going to see my father in the rehab hospital tomorrow. I haven’t been there yet, you need an appointment to visit patients, but my brother has. I talked to him a little today. He said I am going to have to take a Covid test before I can see my dad. He suggested I bring my vaccination card with me. Well, I bring that little cardboard bastard with me everywhere I go. I am willing to pull it out and flash it for all the world to see at the slightest moment’s notice. Hell, most times I leave the house I have to stop myself from stapling it to my forehead on the way out the door. I want everyone to see that little guy. I am vaccinated. Two shots plus two weeks, babie. I am up-to-date. Le Groovy, as the French (don’t) say.

Zombie Double Feature

Why did I watch two zombie movies today? I don’t know. I’m staying at my parent’s house for a couple of days and I’ve had some time to spend with ye olde streaming services.

First choice was Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and I don’t know why. No idea. It was really stupid and I am never getting that hour and a half of my life back again.

Second choice was The Girl With All the Gifts. I read the book a while ago. The movie was very faithful and very good. The kids were creepy AF, but any zombie movie with kid zombies is going to be creepy AF.

Now I have to decide what to watch next. It probably won’t be until tomorrow, but there will be time. Tarantino movies? Marvel movies? Star Wars movies?

On an unrelated note, Taylor Hall had two goals with Buffalo this season. In three games with the Bruins he has… two goals. Now we’re talking, Taylor.

Fans in the Stands

The Boston Bruins are coming out of their week or so long Covid-19 shut down tonight. They are playing the Islanders at the Garden and for the first time since last March there will be fans in the stands. Not a lot of them, in terms of the building’s capacity, but some.

This was actually supposed to be the second game with fans in the stands but the first one was postponed when the team was shut down due to their little Covid-19 outbreak. I’m just going to leave this sentence right there and give you a second to allow the irony to sink in.

All set? Okay, ignoring the irony for a moment, I was thinking about this earlier today and I started to wonder how the team would handle possible outbreaks in the stands. I envisioned a message displaying on the jumbotron at regular intervals saying something like:

If within the next week or so you should develop Covid-19 symptoms and receive a positive result on a Covid-19 test, please call the Bruins at 617-555-IRONY and let us know so that we can commence with contact tracing for your fellow ticketholders.

You know, something simple like that.

On a completely unrelated note, we had a meeting today with all of the groups under our Senior Manager. We did a little team building exercise that required everyone to log into the same website. Sort of like a Jackbox thing without the possibility of NSFW content cropping up. The site gave each participant a randomly generated user name. What was my randomly generated user name, you ask?

EpicGiraffe

I’m pretty sure that when I someday punch my ticket and see my whole life flash before my eyes, being referred to anonymously as EpicGiraffe is probably going to end up being the high water mark for all things.

He Said the Quiet Part Out Loud

The NHL fired a referee. After calling a penalty on a play that probably didn’t deserve it, he was caught on a mic saying that he wanted to give that team a penalty.

He wanted to give a make up call for whatever reason. Everyone who has ever watched hockey knows that refs occasionally give make up calls when one team is getting whistled more than the other. It’s a thing that everyone knows happens, but referees never talk about. This guy was fired for saying the quiet part out loud.

Do I agree with the firing? Hell yes. The league is correct when it says that it needs to protect the integrity of the game and all that.

Do I think the league is being completely hypocritical? Hell yes. If the integrity of the game is this important, why haven’t they investigated the seemingly infinite number of calls that were clearly make up calls over the course of the last 100 years or so? He wasn’t fired for his actions, he was fired for talking about the obvious thing while standing too close to an open microphone.

The refs have a union, don’t they? I’m curious to hear what they have to say about this.

Two Bruins Loses? Inconceivable!

I’ve been so wrapped up in music this week that I didn’t notice until just now that the Bruins were blown out in each of their last two games. Worse, they were both against New York teams. Inconceivable*!

They lost to the Rangers 6-2 on Friday, and the day before they lost to the Islanders 7-2. How could this happen? Two bad loses against two New York teams?

They play the Rangers again tomorrow at noon. Let’s hope they put a stop to these shenanigans toot sweet!

*You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means

Postponed

I’ve been so out of touch with humanity the last week that I missed that the Bruins had two games postponed due to Covid-19. Saturday and Monday vs Buffalo are both postponed. I did the absolute minimum of research possible this morning and found that the blame lies with New Jersey. The Devils and the Sabers played a game this week while the Devils had positive cases. I don’t know the background. Did they know and play anyway? I hope not. That game lead to a couple of Buffalo players catching the coronavirus so they have a week’s worth of games pushed off. That means that after tonight’s game, the Bruins are off until Wednesday the 10th. Good for them to have a little extra rest. Bad for me who needs hockey, Bruins hockey.