NHL Picks for January 31,2013

If Derek Morris doesn't get suspended for his post game tomfoolery then something is clearly out of sink with Brendan Shanahan's disciplinary system. Aside from that, 3-1 day puts my overall record at 52-40.

Buffalo @ Boston
Washington @ Toronto
New York I @ New Jersey
Pittsburgh @ New York R
St.Louis @ Columbus
Winnipeg @ Florida
Colorado @ Calgary
Nashville @ Los Angeles
Edmonton @ San Jose

NHL Picks for January 30,2013

Note to self. When publishing entries, make sure uou actually select publish before turning off your computer. After yesterday's mishap, I'm back stronger then ever. On monday, I had a disappointing two and three outcome despite it being a relatively easy slate of games to pick. Tuesday`s result was marginally better as I ended up going seven and three improving my overall record to 49-39

Montreal at Ottawa
Chicago at Minnesota
Edmonton at Phoenix
Colorado at Vancouver

NHL Picks for January 28,2013

A quality 6-2 Sunday elevates me to 40-33 on the year.

Boston @ Carolina
Dallas @ Columbus
Nashville @ Phoenix
Colorado @ Edmonton
Vancouver @ Los Angeles

A Predictably Unpredictable WHL Season thusfar,,,,

The Western Hockey League is ¾ of the way through their 2012/2013 regular season schedule. Throughout this particular campaign, the league has been mirrored in controversy (see the Portland Winterhawks recruiting violation post from about two months ago) ,poor attendance in markets like Regina and the ever prospering Prince George among others, but through thick and thin it has been another quality year in terms of the on ice product. Entailed in this post will be a few thoughts I have picked up throughout the season.

 

Ryan McGill, if not the favourite, has to be on a short list of about two to three for the WHL’s coach of the year. The head coach of the Kootenay Ice has done a remarkable job turning around this team from it’s dismal start to being on the cusp of a playoff position. At one point from late October to mid November,  the Ice found themselves clinging to a seven game skid. To make matters worse, shortly before Christmas, respected captain and Rockglen, Saskatchewan native Drew Czerwonka decided to leave the pastures of Cranbrook to explore educational opportunities. The post Czerwonka era has been one of puzzlement. Sam Reinhart has now started to show the ability that most scouts knew he had which has made him a top candidate for the first overall pick in the 2014 National Hockey League draft and has taken complete reigns of the hockey team and led them to circumstance where NO team will want to draw the Ice in the first round if they so happen to make the dance. The Ice play a stifling brand of defence led by overager Joey Leach and Mackenzie Skapski has finally debuted himself as a capable goalie In this league.

 

Will the real Kamloops Blazers please stand up? This team, solely based on performance can be labelled as team of multiple personalities. Which team from the Loops will we see next? The team that in September and October that literally every time they touched the puck it found the back of the net, or the team in November and December that appeared to be more along the lines of a middle of the pack Western conference contender?  There are some theories to why they have had such a rollercoaster year. At the time of their skid, they had just lost forward J.C Lipon to a World Junior Hockey Championship assignment and it’s possible that the chemistry that was formed between the aforementioned Lipon and Colorado Avalanche prospect Colin Smith was thrown out the window. When J.C came back, for whatever reason the swagger was gone and all of a sudden this team looked very ordinary which is surprising because they made a couple of nice pre deadline pickups. Those pickups were defenceman Joel Edmundson from the Moose Jaw Warriors and Kale Kessy from the Medicine Hat Tigers.  The pre-cursor to all of this is that the Blazers have recently started to “Blaze” the competition once again and ironically enough in the last two weeks or so Lipon and Smith have once again started to run haywire. The interesting thing to observe will be if Kamloops can truly compete with Western Conference powerhouses Kelowna and Portland.

 

So earlier this year there were some unprofounded rumours that if the Saskatoon Blades continued to play inconsistently that they would lose the rights as the host team in the upcoming Memorial cup. As evidenced by no future substantiating reports, all of this chatter was, as the great Sheldon Cooper would say were” largely hokum”. The Blades no doubt have some holes that will probably prevent them from being serious players when it comes time to battling in the Western playoffs, but by no means is it not possible from them  to get scorching hot in May and win the whole damn thing. The one perplexing thing about the Blades plan of attack at the trade deadline was their inability to land that marquee player that most host teams are able to secure. You look at the acquisitions that GM Lorne Molleken was able to lock-down and aside from maybe former Brandon Wheat King Michael Ferland, who I would label a ‘B’ prospect, they didn’t get anything that would blow your socks off. Evaluation of assets for the Blades has also been an issue as giving up first round picks for perennial third line players such as Collin Valcourt and Nathan Burns were questionable overpayments. In Valcourt’s personal instance, is someone who’s career high in goals is 16 first round pick worthy? Don’t completely rule out the Blades, but in all honesty I think the Houston Astros have a better chance winning the 2013 World Series than Toon Town does of winning the Western Hockey League.

The way the Portland Winterhawks have been rolling, specifically seventeen year old Nicholas Petan, he is most certainly in Most Valuable player discussion, looking to become the first seventeen to win the award since Joe Sakic was awarded co MVP in 1986-1987. To join Sakic in that class would be quite the achievement for the draft eligible Petan who going into this season wasn’t even Portland’s most talked about prospect…..who I am kidding, he still isn’t but he’s having a great year and has been Portland’s most effective sniper through and through. Though it would be a great story for the young Petan to be recognized for such a prestigious honour but he actually isn’t my prediction for the award. My pick belongs to Swift Current Bronco Adam Lowry. The son of former NHL’er and current Victoria Royal head coach Dave Lowry has been the heart and soul of Speedy Creek and for a team that I wasn’t sold on going into this campaign, he has worn the superman cape and carried this team on his back. It’ll be interesting to see what decision making process the voters take on this because by no means will Lowry end up with the most points but the award in it’s definition is given to the player that is most valuable to his team. Lowry doesn’t have the supporting cast of a Ty Rattie, Brendan Leipsic, Seth Jones and Tyler Wotherspoon like Petan does, and because of this he’s been solely instrumental in helping the Bronco’s become the feel good story of this season. In my pre-season projections, I had the Broncos anywhere from 9^th-12^th in the east, but now they are in position to take over top spot over the slumping Prince Albert Raiders in the eastern division. So just to confirm this for you readers, even though my praise for Petan was obvious in the opening of this paragraph, I’m speculating barring anything crazy that Petan will be named a finalist eventually bowing down to big #17 from SC.

NHL Picks for January 27,2013

5-3 day increases my record to 34-31. Always room for improvement.....

Buffalo @ Washington
Pittsburgh @ Ottawa
New Jersey @ Montreal
Philadelphia @ Tampa Bay
Detroit @ Chicago
Minnesota @ St.Louis
New York I @ Winnipeg
Vancouver @ San Jose

NHL Picks for January 26,2013

Better day at the plate for myself on friday compiling a 5-2 record continuing to see-saw over the .500 plateau because as it stands I sit at 29-28

Colorado @ San Jose
Toronto @ New York R
Chicago @ Columbus
Philadelphia @ Florida
St.Louis @ Dallas
Los Angeles @ Phoenix
Edmonton @ Calgary
Nashville @ Anaheim

NHL Picks for January 25,2013

The San Jose Sharks continue to defy the hockey mind of TSN insider Bob McKenzie, who in the pre-season, declared the Sharks as his "disappointment" projection in their preview show. The only disappointment aside from my abysmal start to this prediction campaign is Bobby Mac having to eat crow in terms of his distain of the Sharks. A six and four outing on the 24th has again dropped me below .500 with my overall record slipping to 24-26.

Picks for today(tomorrow).,,,really depends on what part of the globe you're situated in.

New York I @ Boston
Carolina @ Buffalo
Washington @ New Jersey
Ottawa @ Tampa Bay
Minnesota @ Detroit
Pittsburgh @ Winnipeg
Vancouver @ Anaheim

Geroy Gonzo/NHL Picks for January 24,2013

 What an incredibly busy day, not so much in hockey,but in other sporting related news. For example, the B.C Lions intend to either trade or release arguably .the greatest receiver in CFL history, that being Geroy Simon. Watching Simon play in 2012, he definitely still has some gas in the tank and watch for the revamping Edmonton Eskimos to be major players for #81.

To tomorrow's hockey picks.....3-1 on Wednesday putting me over the .500 mark at 20-19


New York I @ Toronto
New York R @ Philadelphia
Montreal @ Washington
Buffalo @ Carolina
Ottawa @ Florida
Nashville @ St.Louis
Chicago @ Dallas
Columbus @ Colorado
Los Angeles @ Edmonton
Phoenix @ San Jose

NHL Picks for January 23,2013

After a mediocre 22nd of January totalling a 5-4 mark, my record only slightly improves to 17-18.

Toronto @ Pittsburgh
Boston @ New York R
Calgary @ Vancouver
Columbus @ Phoenix

NHL Picks for January 22,2013

On this first Monday of the new National Hockey season, this fearless predictor isn`t feeling so hot after a torrentially bad day, Better luck on Tuesday, A 1-6 day turns my record upside down to 12-14 overall.

 

Winnipeg at Washington
Tampa Bay at Carolina
Florida at Montreal
Philadelphia at New Jersey
Dallas at Detroit
Nashville at Minnesota
St.Louis at Chicago
Los Angeles at Colorado
San Jose at Edmonton

First weekend observations....

So we are now through three days of the 2013 National Hockey League season. Unpredictably(cue the pun towards the ultimate theme of this blog, that being predictably unpredictable) has been the common denominator thus far. Who would’ve ever expected the powerhouses out east like the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers to crawl to 0-2 starts, or the supposedly goaltending rich Vancouver Canucks to struggle out of the gate. Even more astonishing is that we have seen a wide flux of scoring stars. The ageless wonder Teemu Selanne had a memorable debut along with fellow caveman Jaromir Jagr. Someone must explain to these two that we are no longer in 1995! So in this entry, I will examine some observations that I have stumbled across from this opening weekend.

Luke Schenn-NHL or AHL Calibre?

In the old NHL, where clutching and grabbing was prevalent, Luke Schenn would have been the ideal defender. However, with skating skills reminiscent of the great  Ken Daneyko, he’s always a step behind and early indications are pointing to the trade that sent James Van Riemsdyk to Toronto in exchange for Schenn was completely one sided favouring Toronto. Philadelphia’s team defence as a whole concerns me. Along with the aforementioned Schenn, Swede Nik Grossman and Brayden Coburn have struggled to adapt to the rampant pace in the early going, and from the games that I’ve witnessed, they have been the weakest unit out there generally speaking. General Manager Paul Holmgren surely will  not let this year go by the wayside and I’m sure as fellow GM’s scout their own respective teams, defenceman who are sure on foot will become available, and Holmgren will pounce quicker then Eagles fans give up on quarterbacks.

Best player on the planet? Best player in Pennsylvania?

This is an opinion I have had that begun prior to this year. Who exactly is the best player on the Pittsburgh Penguins. For years, the Canadian media has painted Sidney Crosby as this larger than life character pinning him as the next Wayne Gretzky, but in my humble opinion he’s nowhere came close to matching that, in what I believe was an unrealistic moniker to match. What Crosby is known for is his tremendous vision on the ice, which he’s lived upto, but his speed and aggressiveness has taken a quantum step back which is understandable after he has suffered through multiple blows to the head. The most complete player on the Penguins is #71 himself, Evgeni Malkin.  Malkin is the big bruising skillful stalwart that stirs the drink upfront, and it’s due to Malkin that has allowed Crosby to open space and weaker defensive assignments due to the fact that opposing coaches have matched their top defenders against Malkin.

 

A Young man’s league

Purely from a fan’s perspective, it is an absolute treat to see these youngens, most being teenagers making significant contributions at such an early age. Going back not so long ago to the mid to late nineties, it was an abnormality to see a nineteen year old crack a NHL lineup, let alone play in a top six role. In this current era, that has practically become common place. The confidence coaches are starting to show in the rookies/sophomores is a real telling sign that the way the game is now played has drastically changed. Over the weekend, to see such things take place like Calgary Flame rookie and former Portland Wintehawk Sven Baertschl kill penalties would’ve never happened years ago. Or, on the other side of Alberta seeing the rumbustious 2012 first overall pick Nail Yakupov get ice time in the four and four overtime was incredible to view. The saying that the coach has some major guts for employing these kind of strategical decisions can now be reversed by saying that if a coach does NOT attempt this, in many ways that could be construed as more controversial because the Monday morning quarterbacks would be all over the coach screaming why the best players weren`t given the optimal roles regardless of how old the player is. Opening weekend was a peach because like every other professional sport, the young men have taken the reigns and the vets will continually get weeded out at the hands of the faster, more mature new stars of the National Hockey League.

NHL Picks for January 21,2013

After a stellar 5-1 sunday, my prediction record improves to 11-8.

As always, winners in bold.

Winnipeg @ Boston
Tampa Bay @ New York I
St.Louis @ Nashville
Buffalo @ Toronto
Florida @ Ottawa
Detroit @ Columbus
Anaheim @ Calgary

NHL Picks for January 20,2013

After a disappointing start to my predictions,going 6-7 on day one, let's see if I can improve upon my totals for day two.

Winners in bold.

Philadelphia @ Buffalo
San Jose @ Calgary
Pittsburgh@ New York R
Dallas @ Minnesota
Edmonton @Vancouver
Chicago @ Phoenix

NHL Picks for January 19,2013

Winners in bold

Pittsburgh @ Philadelphia
Ottawa @ Winnipeg
Chicago @ Los Angeles
New York R @ Boston
Toronto @ Montreal
Washington @ Tampa Bay
Carolina @ Florida
New Jersey @ New York I
Detroit @ St.Louis
Columbus @ Nashville
Phoenix @ Dallas
Colorado @ Minnesota
Anaheim @ Vancouver

The Golden Road to becoming a NFL Head Coach

It’s been a while since I published a comprehensive entry. I thought tonight was just the night to get this blog back on the right foot. What I wanted to discuss tonight is the growing direct correlation between being a head coach in NCAA division 1 football ultimately leading to promotion to a National Football League coach and whether this natural progression has permanently started to exceed the notion that football people had for years, that being that the best way to become a head coach in the NFL was to serve time as a coordinator.

In America, College Football has never been bigger and according to many bloggers and experts out there, it’s popularity in the deep south has exceeded that of professional football. Why is that you ask? Is  it because of the offensive schemes that are employed compared to the everly dull schemes that professional coordinators seem to tackle opposing defences with? You watch a Saturday afternoon college game and you’ll more often than not be witness to a 45-42 score unless of course Alabama is on the tube, which in that case you’ll expect to see a 42-0 game in Bama’s favor because Alabama always possesses as close to a NFL defence as humanly possible without actually being one. Sporting fans like to see points racked up, and as I mentioned earlier when patrons consistently see close to one hundred points a game tallied up, it’ll reel  more viewers in because high scores and offensive creativity go hand in hand with higher ratings.  I raise these points to make a case for why you’re seeing more and more coaches hired on straight from the NCAA.

The NFL is ultimately a business. The objective from team owners and management aside from winning football games is to create high revenue. Over the years what team owners have begun to realize is that although winning 6-3 accomplishes a main goal, nine point games aren’t going to pack their barn. By bringing offensive minded, creative coaching staffs what has happened is that it has captivated there fan bases and sparked more attention across there market. There’s no doubt that such hirings as Rutgers Greg Schiano going to Tampa Bay prior to the 2012 season, or Marrone from Syracuse being flocked up to the city that American hockey prospect Emerson Etem once dubbed America’s most boring city, that being Buffalo and the most recent hire the Eagles made, bringing in Chip Kelly have offence written all over it. Kelly for example was the recipient of employing the most prolific offence in college ball with the Oregon Ducks. What do all of these coaches have in common? It’s sure not having a defensive wizard moniker, it’s offensive students of the game who owners have brought in to sell tickets.  Do you honestly believe the Buffalo Bills have a shot to make the playoffs under Marrone? Frankly the Jamaicans have a better shot of winning Ice hockey Olympic gold then that happening. 

To you use an example of where a coach may have taken the backwards approach in the evolutionary coaching tree is close to home in our Country, Kent Austin now with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Prior to being named General Manager and Head Coach in Hamilton, Austin was the head coach at Cornell University. Potential monetary increases aside, I ‘m of the theory that this lateral move has hurt Austin’s chances of landing his coveted NFL gig. I know the audience is reading this scratching their head(I’m used to it) proclaiming that someone from the CFL JUST got hired to be  a NFL head coach in Marc Trestman. Apples and Oranges. The average fan will not know that prior to his Alouettes post, he had a multitude of experience south of the border having done some admirable with the likes of Hall of Famer Steve Young and future Hall of famer Cam Newton. Back to Austin, he doesn’t hold the same NFL cards that Trestman had which is why he would’ve been better served staying at Cornell, biting the bullet for a few more years and I’m sure at that point the NFL would of came calling.

To summarize, any young prospective coaches out there who have NFL head coaching aspirations, when debating on whether to accept a position as a NFL coordinator or a NCAA head coach, take the latter option as the long term gain will certainly be on display for the minimal term pain.

2013 NHL Prognostications

Hello all, after a lengthy hiatus I have decided to reinvigorate this blog by posting my predictions for the upcoming 2013 shortened National Hockey League season. I will entail my predicted standings and projected playoff outcome. Enjoy

EASTERN CONFERENCE:

Northeast Division:

1.Boston Bruins(3)

2.Montreal Canadians(7)

3.Toronto Maple Leafs(9)

4.Ottawa Senators(12)

5.Buffalo Sabres(15)

 

Atlantic Division:

1.Pittsburgh Penguins(1)

2.Philadelphia Flyers(4)

3.New York Rangers(5)

4.New Jersey Devils(10)

5.New York Islanders(13)

 

Southeast Division:

1.Tampa Bay Lightning(2)

2.Washington Capitals(6)

3.Florida Panthers(8)

4.Winnipeg Jets(11)

5.Carolina Hurricanes(14)

 

WESTERN CONFERENCE:

Central Division:

1.Nashville Predators(3)

2.St.Louis Blues(5)

3.Detroit Red Wings(9)

4.Chicago Blackhawks(10)

5.Columbus Blue Jackets(13)

 

Northwest Division:

1.Edmonton Oilers(2)

2.Vancouver Canucks(4)

3.Colorado Avalanche(8)

4.Minnesota Wild(11)

5.Calgary Flames(14)

 

Pacific Division:

1.San Jose Sharks(1)

2.Los Angeles Kings(6)

3.Anaheim Ducks(7)

4.Dallas Stars(12)

5.Phoenix Coyotes(15)

Playoffs First Round:

 

(1)Pittsburgh Penguins v (8) Florida Panthers=Pitt in 6

(2)Tampa Bay Lightning v (7) Montreal Canadians=TB in 5

(3)Boston Bruins v (6)Washington Capitals=Boston in 7

(4)Philadelphia Flyers v (5) New York Rangers=NYR in 7

………………………………………………….

(1)San Jose Sharks v (8) Colorado Avalanche=SJ in 5

(2)Edmonton Oilers v (7) Anaheim Ducks=Ducks in 6

(3)Nashville Predators v (6) Los Angeles Kings=LA in 6

(4)Vancouver Canucks v (5) St.Louis Blues=Van in 6

Second Round:

(1)Pittsburgh Penguins v (5) New York Rangers=NYR in 7

(2)Tampa Bay Lightning v (3) Boston Bruins=TB in 7

…………………………………………………………………

(1)San Jose Sharks v (7) Anaheim Ducks=Ducks in 6

(4)Vancouver Canucks v (6) Los Angeles Kings=Vancouver in 7

Third Round:

(2)Tampa Bay Lightning v (5) New York Rangers=NYR in 7

……………………………………………….

(4)Vancouver Canucks v (7) Anaheim Ducks=Ducks in 6

Stanley Cup Final:

(5) New York Rangers v (7) Anaheim Ducks=

The Anaheim Ducks will knock off the New York Rangers in six games to win the 2013 Stanley Cup.

Canadian Gold Rush no more

After an incredibly long last couple of days, I finally have found some time to get back on this blog. Due to time constraints I was unable to publish a game report in the discouraging defeat to the Russians, but I will enlist my individual player rankings.

But.....before I do, after another failed chase for gold at this year's World Junior Hockey Championship, and after we go through months of anticipated roster questioning, the time has come to consider whether the selection team process is a fair one, and further yet, a right one. Should the ultimate evaluator which translates to the Head Coach in this scenario be in charged of selecting the troops when he may have hockey related or personal ties to a player. In my not so open eyes at this hour, I think the best course of action is to hire a head coach who resides in the Canadian Hockey League, but the selection staff completely impartial with no ties to any player invited to the camp.

That's my mjnor rant for this evening, as always shout-outs would be much appreciated as the only way to expand this "enterprise" is by word of mouth.

The Rankings.....

1.Jonathan Huberdeau
2.Jonathan Drouin
3.Ryan Murphy
4.Ryan Strome
5.Ty Rattie
6.Anthony Camara
7.Scott Harrington
8.Philip Danault
9.Morgan Rielly
10.Nathan MacKinnon
11.Dougie Hamilton
12.Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
13.Xavier Ouellet
14.Boone Jenner
15.J,C Lipon
16.Tyler Wotherspoon
17.Mark McNeill
18.Griffin Reinhart
19.Mark Scheifele
20.Brett Ritchie