NHL Playoffs Round II!

Well alot of teams let me down cough *pens*, cough *bruins* but that's behind us and now we are onto the second round...I think my picks were better than the teams played and many of the games I think went 6 or 7 so it really could have gone either way. (At least the devils saved me <-- irony anyone?) But anyways onto the next round of picks....read 'em and weep:

2nd Round Picks:

East: Rangers (in 7); Flyers (in 6)
West: Blues (in 7); Preds (in 6)

The pens really disappointed, no defense, weak goal tending, and the stars didnt show up until game 4. And the Bruins weren't much better, I will miss you T.T!. The Rangers were on the brink and the Devils barely kept my upset special alive.  So in this round, I think the devils can't keep the magic going against the Flyers, not enough to win 4 games, so I have to pick Philly for the sake of my pride. And now the Flyers, excuse me while I puke, are the hottest team right now, so I'll give them one more round.And now for NY...c'mon Rangers, do me this one favor and I'll pick you the rest of the way.  If Philly doesnt lose, then I at least want Ovetchkin (sp?) out of the playoffs. The Caps are just not physical enough and I question their goal tending as well.

Out West I love ALL these teams! And while I am an East Coast boy, I dont care who, I just want the West to win. I am not just jumping but leaping on the Nashville Bandwagon! Let's Go Preds! They just seem so sound and well coached, so Preds over Coyotes. No dumb hits or suspensions boys!! Play nice, but play hard! As for the Blues/Kings I could go either way. Outside of the Pens, I loved both these teams growing up mostly because they were so bad for so long, it just appealed to me. Both teams have tremendous talent, Quick and Elliott are playing on another level...it will be by far the best hockey played this round. Its such a tough pick but pick rhymes with Quick and that spells Kings! haha isnt that part of a song? anyone? Oh well, go LA! Best of luck to you all, and goodnight!

2012 NHL Playoffs! Let's Go!

This playoff season will mark my 2nd year participating in the annual Aaron Reinard Hockey-Blog Spectacular!

Opening Round Picks:

East: Rangers (in 6); Bruins (in 6); Devils (in 7) Pens (in 7)
West: Canucks (in 6); Blues (in 7); Hawks (in 6); Preds (in 7)

This year's opening round is really hard to gauge, least for me. All four lower seeded Eastern Conference teams won their season series against their higher seed opponents, so it's hard to be super confident, and so i have each match-up going 6 or 7 games. Out West its even crazier. The Canucks have never won the President's Trophy and Stanley Cup in the same year. So are they really the favorites? As you can tell I am by no means confident in my picks, but I will throw my inhibitions to the wind and we'll see how it shakes out.

Rangers have looked pretty steady all season, but 1994 is a long time ago, so they will have to stay strong if they are going all the way, plus the Sens just don't seem like they are on the same level. Equally hard to go against last year's champs, so I have the Bruins (and my boy Timmy Thomas) beating the Crapitals. Sorry Ovechkin, still don't like you. Now for my Eastern Conf. upset I'll take the Devils over the Panthers. First time in team history Florida has won their division? - hard to believe, so I'll take experience over the upstarts. As for the Pens/Flyers, yes I am a homer but its also because I share Aaron's hatred for the Flyers. Pens need to step up the D and sure up Fleury's miscues over the last month. Only reason I have it going 7 games is due to Sid's health. But c'mon Line 1 - Malkin, Line 2- Crosby, and Line 3- Staal? What is not to like?

As for out West, I cannot express how much I really want to pick the Kings over the Canucks....but I'm not. Vancouver's in the same situation as last year, best team, great weapons, but as good as Luango was last year, he's been inconsistent down the stretch and it might hurt them to go back and forth with their goalies. Next I like the Blues over the Sharks. Again inconsistent play from San Jose worries me, but they are scrappy so it should be a good series, maybe 7 games. Coyotes/Hawks should be a good series too, even though they won their last 5 games and 11 of their last 12, having never won a playoff series, Phoenix still has to show me something. Lastly, I am loving the Preds and if Rinne can duplicate his play from last year's playoffs they can beat Detroit in a slug-fest and get to the conference finals.