Stanley Cup Playoff Pick 'Em 2007 part 2

[Asher]

Sens-Anaheim final.

A final where I Don'tMindTheTeamThatWins(tm).

[Lord Avalon]

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Ninot
Has anyone else heard of this Sens-Mile?

I'm very annoyed. The Red Mile was original, and that's fine. The Whyte mile was exceedingly lame. Sens-mile just makes me want to cry. I will have to do something drastic if a lame Montreal equivalent ever happens.

Be mad at the media.

I highly doubt the people of Ottawa needed an example from Calgary to have a nightclub district. Edmonton didn't as Whyte was a place of partying, celebration, and mayhem long before the Red Mile.

If the Canadiens go deep during this fad of lame-ass naming of party districts, expect the media to gush about the Habs Mile.

Incidently, it's Whyte Ave and has been for many years. The morons were calling it the Blue Mile, or some other lame ****.

[Asher]

Plus Edmonton added rioting, assaults, and arson to the celebrations.

[KrazyHorse]

Nobody riots like Montreal riots.

When we go to the finals we're going to put you all to shame.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Asher
Plus Edmonton added rioting, assaults, and arson to the celebrations.

Whyte Ave has been the scene of riots before.

Got to have somewhere where the transients can gather.

[Asher]

What's wrong with the UofA?

[Lord Avalon]

Well, this is bloody stupid. I didn't see the game, so I didn't know about this till now.

NBC wanted to show the game Saturday afternoon, rather than Saturday night, but then they cut away from OT to show pre-Preakness coverage.

Way to go, Butthead

Pulling pucks for ponies
NBC's choice to abandon OT clincher embarrasses NHL

No joke. I get a call this afternoon from a buddy of mine, livid about NBC's decision to dump overtime of the elimination game between Buffalo and Ottawa onto Versus.

"I can't believe it," he moaned. "They cut off the strongman competition I was watching for a stinkin' hockey game!"

I had to laugh. After the kick to the gut American fans got today, it's nice to know there's at least one sport lower on the broadcast totem pole.

Even blessed with that perspective, Saturday afternoon's channel-hopping debacle caused by NBC choosing the Preakness pre-race show over playoff OT wasn't easy for the league or its fans to stomach. And it's not just that NBC made the decision to cut away at the end of regulation. If the race was coming up, you'd have to begrudgingly understand the move. But there were 20 minutes left in the broadcast window when they made the call. So while Buffalo's season was coming to a jarring end over on Versus, NBC was in the midst of more than an hour's worth of pre-race blather.

At least some of us had access to Versus when the switch was made. I spent most of the extra frame on the phone with a Sabres fan stuck in a hotel room in California who was left in the lurch. No doubt there were tens of thousands of viewers just like him across the country. We'll know for sure when the ratings come out this week.

The disparity between those two numbers should open some eyes at NHL headquarters.

There's no way around it. This was an epic embarrassment for the league. A conference final elimination game dropped for talk about a horse that died last year and the weather at Pimlico.

Not that we shouldn't have seen this coming. The real surprise, given how common overtime is in the postseason, is that it took this long.

Just don't make out NBC as the villain here. While they could have held out for the extra 20 minutes, their position is defensible. After all, the Peacock Network pays a hefty sum for the rights to the highly rated Preakness. They simply share ad revenue for the rights to NHL games, and since there are no TV timeouts in OT, that's not a tough decision to make.

No, this one falls squarely on the sagging shoulders of the NHL. Instead of saving Saturday nights for Hockey Night In Canada, they've bent over backwards to provide NBC with the games it wants at the times it wants. And in giving NBC this game at this time with the hard deadline of the Preakness staring them in the face, they made the wrong decision.

Of course, this whole thing reminds me of something the commissioner told me just a couple weeks ago. I asked Gary Bettman about overtime games on NBC, and if there was any concern voiced by the network about the potential length of games.

"That's a discussion I've had with them," Bettman said, "so that's not an issue for the Finals."

Well, Gary, safe to say it's an issue now.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/allan_muir/05/20/playoffs.preakness/index.html

[KrazyHorse]

Even better: I had to listen to the whole game on internet radio because I'm in Baltimore and pre-Preakness coverage extended from 2:00 on.

[Ninot]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Nobody riots like Montreal riots.

When we go to the finals we're going to put you all to shame.

Amen I can't wait.

[Cavalcadeus]

I don't think that there is a chance of the finals getting started before the weekend but just incase I'm going to lock in my prediction.
Ottawa vs Anaheim/Detroit: Ottawa in 6 to win the cup on home ice.

[Asher]

Anaheim.

[Lord Avalon]

Well, after 2 lousy periods, Detroit made a game of it in the 3rd, but came up short, 4-3.

Zetterberg and Datsyuk finally scored goals on the road. Need to do more of that, though.

The Wings made it farther than I thought they would, especially being down 2 of their top 4 defensemen.

[Asher]

Now this is going to be the hardest pick.

Going to say it goes to 7 games...anddddd....Ottawa.

[notyoueither]

If I'm not mistaken.

KrazyHorse  20
gjramsey    17
Asher       14
cinch       14
nye         14
Cavalcadeus 12
Flubber     11
Sparrowhawk 11
Guynemer    10
Tingkai     10
joncha       9
Ninot        9
Maggie       8
Ben Kenobi   2
OzzyKP       1