Coming up for some air as the real season pauses briefly between rounds one and two.

I know it's mean spirited, but gloating over fallen life-long enemy teams is part of my sporting psyche. Nestled somewhere between conscious intent and subconscious habit. Especially just after your own team fizzled (legitimately but not entirely due to injuries) in the playoffs after a nice regular season. But ....

Ha, ha, ha!!! Nice going Maple Laffs! First team in the history of the NHL to blow a three goal third period lead in a deciding seventh game. Giving up a pair of goals in the last minute and a half and then enduring the final losing goal in overtime.  Unfortunately, the team that beat them is the equally contemptuous Boston Bruins, But choosing one's more despised rival is a finely nuanced balancing act of contextual ju jitsu. No matter how the hordes of the sniveling national fan boy media try to spin their season into a successful turnaround campaign, I hope the trauma of tonight becomes a haunting impediment to near future endeavors. Take that, Hap Day, Connie Smythe, Punch Imlach, King Clancy. Your successors have failed you. 1967 makes it now 46 years and still counting. And CBC TV. Nothing finer than watching Cherry and McLean forced to absorb the shock and try to stay calm. Interesting how the CBC never showed the crowd gathered in downtown Toronto  once they lost. After every goal they scored, the live cameras were instantly glued to the celebratory moments. But not a single scene of post-game reaction after the losing tally. Didn't fit the feel-good journalistic  'narrative' I guess.

Best series so far was the Kings and Blues. Amazing intensity and a fever pitch of tough (relatively) clean two way play. Easily could have gone either way. I have no favorites at all anymore, but there are some intriguing matchups in round two. A couple of 'original six' series between Chicago and Detroit and Boston and the Rangers. It will be interesting to see if the Kings can maintain their momentum against the Sharks, who looked very good when they summarily swept the local franchise. Ottawa has the biggest shmuck in the league as coach, but I think they can give Pittsburgh a real battle. And as always, it most likely will come down to which goalie is playing the best.

A weird season that won't matter much in the annals of history because of the lockout shortened and distorted schedule. But the playoffs themselves every year are some of the most compelling spectator viewing.






Last Edited By: Arnold49 05/14/13 03:20 AM. Edited 1 times.