Champs on the Brink

I think we can all agree that it’s only a matter of time before the Canucks finally do away with the defending Cup champion Blackhawks. Much of the media was fantasizing about a scenario where the Hawks’ weakened lineup would once again befuddle the mighty Canucks, but they’re just too good this year and Chicago has seemingly lost too much depth.

Tonight they will be facing elimination without Olympic defenseman Brent Seabrook, who is out with an “upper body injury” after the non suspendable hit from Raffi Torres. Good job NHL. If the Hawks were down 0-3 last season, I still think there would be a sense of hope within their locker room and fanbase. This year, their know losing this year is inevitable. In the dying minutes of Game 3, the normally rocking United Centre was eerily quiet.

The last time the Cup winner was swept in the first round was in 2003, when the Anaheim Mighty Ducks shocked the hockey world, sweeping the mighty Detroit Red Wings. The Ducks went on to the Stanley Cup Final that season.

2010 Finals

Last night, I ended up watching one of the mezmorizing games from last year’s Stanley Cup Finals. I thought that series was absolutely epic. It was definitely more exciting than the past two season, in which Detroit dominated Pittsburgh in ’08, then dominated them again in ’09 before losing four of five games at the hands of the trap.

The skill and storylines in this series were unreal. Skill players in the series (aka player who would probably be on the top line in Toronto):

For Philly: Briere, Richards, Carter, Gagne, Pronger, Timonen, Leino, Hartnell, Giroux and van Riemsdyk.

For Chicago: Toews, Kane, Keith, Hossa, Sharp, Bolland, Campbell, Seabrook, Versteeg and Byfuglien.

Not to mention other storylines like the awesome play of Hartnell-Briere-Leino,  Hossa’s Cup curse, Pronger vs Byfuglien, Niemi vs Leighton, Richards vs Toews, Bolland vs everyone and definitely not the least, Cup drought vs even longer Cup drought.

All in all it was a great Final and one can only hope we get something half as good in 2010-11. My prediction coming early next week.

NHL 11?

Where the heck is all of the NHL 11 hype. The game comes out Wednesday and I have barely seen any news on it on the gaming websites that I frequent. Commercials? Fuck that. The last article that IGN released on the game was on August 12….almost a month before the games’ release. This is a franchise that they have rated higher than their beloved Madden for the past two years; and it will likely turn into three after Madden 11’s 8.0 rating.

Cup Goes Hollywood

Yes, that is Patrick Kane bringing the Stanley Cup out for a night in Hollywood. Here is the video from TMZ:

http://bit.ly/bkV4kt

Stanley Cup Preview – Chicago vs Philadelphia

I literally cannot wait for these Finals. I have proclaimed all year that the East is no match for the Western Conference, so this should be a cake-walk for Chicago right? The media seems to agree with me as Chicago is the overwhelming favorite to win. Just for the record, I did pick the Flyers to win the Stanley Cup in the preseason this year.