A day late and if I'm wrong a dollar short!

Well I had great plans for playoff previews, features, prognostications, fearless forecasting. But well Mama Health threw a curved stick at me and laid me low in the most critical time a Hockey fan could have, the pre playoff pandemonium.

So I’ll try and catch up over the next few days and refine a few of the things I thought of doing with more current fare. Like the kid that’s late for practice, I’ll skate a few laps and hope I’m not in the coach’s doghouse.

Here a day late (and yes I did write these up yesterday for those naysayers), is my Fearless bit of prognostication on the 2006 Quest for Stanley. While I benefited from some early viewing I saw nothing that swayed my original plans, so here they are.

OTTAWA/TAMPA BAY

Ok first off I didn’t give up faith after the first two periods tonight, thought the Sens should have put more than a few chances away, but Grahame was pretty amazing in the TB nets. Was relieved mind you to see Ottawa get back on track in the third and take charge of the game. I think Ottawa will be fine in this series most likely winning things in five games. This boo hoo stuff about Hasek, geez get over it, Emery was the guy down the stretch and should carry the freight for the rest of the playoffs.
OTTAWA IN FIVE


MONTREAL/CAROLINA

I think this could be an upset series, The Canes did not play particularly well down the stretch and Gerber was rather weak when the games were on the line. While Carolina has a pretty impressive offense I have a feeling Montreal will be able to take control of these games. I’ll say Les habitants in seven games. Cristobal Huet has been pretty good for the Habs since Theodore was exiled to Avalanche land. I also think his team mates will be particularly good on the back check to keep him out of any unexpected troubles.
MONTREAL IN SEVEN


BUFFALO/PHILADELPHIA

Bad match up for the Flyers, Buffalo is a quicker team, plays with more passion and have some solid goaltending. While I don’t think the Sabres are going to be going all the way they’ll be more than a match for the Flyers.
SABRES IN SIX

RANGERS/DEVILS

Such a good year for New Yawk, too bad it’s probably about to come to an end. The Devils have actually been the high achievers of the last six weeks, turning things around quite nicely since Lou took charge. New York had a great regular season run but I’m not sold on them going on in the playoffs. Lindqvist is a bit damaged and that doesn’t bode well for the Broadway guys.
DEVILS IN SEVEN

DETROIT/EDMONTON

The Maltby goal in the opener is going to take the steam out of the poor little Oil boyos, They scraped into the playoffs and had a pretty good first game against the Wings, but I don’t think they can topple the top team in the league. The two teams have played hard against each other all year, splitting their season series, but now the money is on the line. Roloson seems to be in the right place, but they’ll need more than that to beat the Wings.
DETROIT IN SIX


CALGARY/ANAHEIM

I think once Calgary gets back to their style of play they’ll be fine. The first game (currently into OT as I write this) will make them nervous as they’re not playing that in your face kind of hockey that makes Calgary famous. They have done it in spurts tonight but seem to get away from it at times and that’s when they get into trouble.
FLAMES IN SIX

SAN JOSE/NASHVILLE

Tonight was a surprise for me, I thought that the Sharks were the team to watch in the playoffs Thornton and Cheechoo have been on fire in the last month of the season. With Vokoun out for Nashville this was supposed to be a blow out, but hey every playoff round has it’s hero, guess this Mason kid wants to put his name in the hat for series spoiler. That being said, I figure the Sharks will figure him out soon, the Sharks were quite impressive the way they bounced the Canucks out of the playoff race in the back and back series, once they get that desperation back they’ll be back on track.
SHARKS IN SIX

DALLAS/COLORADO
Every team gets old and this time it’s Colorado’s turn, they’ve not had a great year and while you can’t count out Burnaby Joe, I think the Stars will be the dominating team in this one. Colorado has not played with much confidence of late and that will be murder going into Dallas.
STARS IN FIVE

MY ADVANCERS

OTTAWA
BUFFALO
NEW JERSEY
MONTREAL
DETROIT
DALLAS
CALGARY
SAN JOSE

OTTAWA will defeat LES HABS in FIVE maybe SIX GAMES
NEW JERSEY will overpower the SABRES in SIX
SAN JOSE surprises the RED WINGS in SEVEN GAMES
CALGARY will top the STARS in SIX GAMES

OTTAWA will move on to the Stanley Cup Final with a SIX GAME WIN over the DEVILS.

CALGARY will also get ready for the big dance with a seven game series against the SHARKS.

OTTAWA WINS THE STANLEY CUP IN SIX GAMES, AND THE PARADE HEADS DOWN BANK STREET JUST IN TIME FOR CANADA DAY!

There you have it the fearless forecast, one day late but still just as valid! Hope ya’ll check back from time to time to see what’s up at the HockeyNation! Enjoy the games. There have been some beauties already!

The above posting first appeared on my HockeyNation blog, check it out from time to time during the playoff run.