HNIC Playoff Pool 2012

[naum]

http://hockeypool.cbc.ca/cbc/hnicp12/standings?active_interval=1|7806&sort_by=swing&start=1&group_id=935904&highlight_personal=1&facebook=0

Group name: fthirteen
Password: cherry

The Round 1 deadline is 7:30 PM ET on Wednesday, April 11

[naum]

No interest in this? Only 1 other has signed up… …deadline is Wednesday, 7:30 EDT.

[HaemishM]

Submitted.

[ghost]

I suppose I could play if you need someone to beat up on.  I know nothing about hockey.

[Bunk]

Takes random picks to win this kind of pool usually anyways.

[ghost]

Then apparently I'll have the upper hand.   

Watch out, people. 

[Ceryse]

Joined. Went with a few different picks than I'm using in my other leagues (mainly because money is on the line in them) so doubt I'll do real well, as too many of my picks here are common ones (except no Canucks.. god I hate that team).

[Bunk]

Come now, you have to put things like that aside for a pool. I even picked one of the neanderthals Bruins.

Also, everything you have heard about the Canucks to make you hate them is a cold dirty lie, spread by evil East Coast media. Except the part about rioting - yes, we did that, but we as in a bunch of spoiled brat kids that drank too much and didn't know one end of a hockey stick from the other. The real fans in the city got up the next morning and cleaned the place up.

Also, they changed the rules to benefit Bruins, Tampa was jobbed out to them by the refs, and 28 members of the Canucks were playing in the finals with at least three boken bones.

Ok, there, got that off my chest. Yay Playoffs!

[Hoax]

Fuck the Canucks.

[Fordel]

Play...offs?


I'm from Toronto and do not understand the concept.

[Ceryse]

I know how you feel Fordel; I'm an Oiler fan and hope aside there just isn't much there.

And Hoax has the right of it. The Canucks are the primary team I don't want to win the cup. Just can't stand them. Penguins a close second, though.

[ghost]

Do people generally not like the Canucks or is there a rivalry thing here that I don't know about?

My brother-in-law is a huge Redwings fans.

[Ceryse]

Do people generally not like the Canucks or is there a rivalry thing here that I don't know about?

My brother-in-law is a huge Redwings fans.

People generally don't like the Canucks. Reasons vary, but it usually boils down to; whiny, self entitled, dirty (to varying degrees) players, general arrogance associated with the players, franchise and fans (despite the fact they've never won the Stanley) and both the team and the fans tend to get pissy at the refs for not calling things despite the fact they get away with bloody murder themselves -- most notably in the offensive zone (if the games were called to the rulebook they'd get a penalty almost every time they were in the offensive zone due to how they work the pick -- albeit they tend to get away with it more due to how well they perform picks and less because of any kind of ref bias).

Oh, and they love to dive and that's a quick way to annoy fans from other teams given the penalty is almost never called.

Personally, its mostly the first and last reasons.

They're a very good team that is exceptionally easy to hate.

[Bunk]

Canuck fans are whiney, because we feel victimized. I was tempted to give a deep analysis of the refing in the playoffs, but I'll keep it simple: (trust me, I was tempted to go with charts and graphs - what follows is simple for me)

In the same number of games in the playoffs,Vancouver was penalized more than Boston.
Regular Season, Boston was 4th in Penalties in the league, Vancouver was 24th.

It was the inconsistency based on which ref pair you got that really bugged me though. That series had multiple games that had 10+ powerplays, yet game 7 had 3 between both teams. Putting the whistle away to that extent does not make the game "fair", it gives advantage to the team that plays better even strength. Powerplays are an inherent part of the game, without them you get the reincarnation of the Broad Street Bullies as your Stanley Cup champs.

And Bostson should have never made the finals anyway. There was exactly one game in the playoffs last year where NO penalties were called. Game seven Boston vs. Tampa Bay. Boston had the third worst powerplay in the playoffs. Tampa had the third best.

Sarcasm on: Obviously the fairest way to decide a seven game series is to play the last game without refs, 'cause special teams play has no place in an important hockey game.

[HaemishM]

NHL Reffing has been shittastic for years now. The playoffs are reffed completely differently than the regular season.

[ghost]

So they're the Duke University Blue Devils mens' basketball team.   

[MuffinMan]

I just nod my head slowly when someone complains about officiating in any sport. Everyone thinks their team is treated unfairly by refs. Upon telling them this I see them thinking in their head "you're right but only my team really is."

[Paelos]

I just nod my head slowly when someone complains about officiating in any sport. Everyone thinks their team is treated unfairly by refs.

Except in the NBA, where there were firings over officials actually proven to be on the take.

[ghost]

There were several suspicious runs in the NCAA tournament that seemed to get teams to or near the spread.......

[Ceryse]

Bunk, I don't disagree with you that the reffing was shitty last year in the playoffs. This is not new, however. Reffing in the NHL has been atrocious for 5 years now (it was merely bad prior to that). Not only has reffing gotten to the point of no one knows what will be called, but when it will be called. The Oilers (my team) suffered badly this year due to the reffing (we finally got a top 3 powerplay going and they stop giving us powerplays!), but having followed 11 teams through the season the Oilers fared a bit better than a couple teams (poor Colorado), but there was a very clear trend; penalties were not called by the rulebook. The amount of slashing, hits from behind, interference and cross checking that went un-called was amazing. Even watching games between teams I didn't like or despised and seeing them get screwed mad me angry.

Worst of all; there was no rhyme or reason to it all. Outside of certain teams that don't get penalized much (for various reasons, some understandable, some not) it was a coin flip what would or would not be called to either team.

Even the media got into it with how few powerplays were being given out and how every year since the lock out you've seen less powerplays given out compared to the year prior, and this season was worse than normal as it saw a marked difference in what was called and what wasn't only a third of the way through.

I could rant endlessly about reffing (and suspensions -- or lack thereof, for that matter). The really grating thing? The league then complains scoring is down and how players are either putting themselves into dangerous positions or not adjusting well enough to the new "rules" to enhance player safety -- and its because no one has a clue what is and isn't a penalty, which sees players diving more, embellishing more and putting themselves into more and more dangerous circumstances in the hopes of drawing a penalty.

But the Canucks are hardly alone in getting fewer powerplays than they deserve -- and tend to be one of the teams that gets away with more than who they play against (Detroit being one of the exceptions).

[naum]

I just nod my head slowly when someone complains about officiating in any sport. Everyone thinks their team is treated unfairly by refs. Upon telling them this I see them thinking in their head "you're right but only my team really is."

Hockey officiating is particularly egregious because (a) the game moves a lot faster than other sports, thus it is inherently more difficult to adjudicate by default in real time and (b) for whatever reason (insert $yourPreferredTheory) NHL referees are wildly inconsistent in making calls -- hacking, slashing, vicious cross checks in front of the net will not get called but yet a ticky tacky interference or a "phantom" tripping will elicit an infraction call -- and this state of affairs is even more pronounced the later the game goes into the third period.

[naum]

I just nod my head slowly when someone complains about officiating in any sport. Everyone thinks their team is treated unfairly by refs.

Except in the NBA, where there were firings over officials actually proven to be on the take.

Oh, I don't know, Phoenix Suns fans are still sore about Tim Donaghy (and he alleges the rest of the officiating crew were set on screwing the Suns) handing the series to the Spurs. Donaghy, if you recall, went to prison for betting and fixing games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvkKdXLwt0U

[Bunk]

OK, an Oilers fan, I see... 

Actually, I could honestly understand the hatred coming from an Oilers fan, as the games between our teams have been "less than polite" for the last few years. There's been some nasty cheapshots gotten away with on both sides.

And yes Muffin, I know my team isn't a special snowflake when it comes to officiating issues. The real complaint from last years playoffs was that so many things regarding the officiating just seemed to benefit the team who had the shitiest powerplay (Boston) - which, if I may put my tinfoil hat on here - was also the team that had the son of the VP of Officiating for the NHL playing on it. And was the big Eastern Market "Cinderella" team that the league was pushing un-biasedly cheering for to win.

Ghost - we aren't Duke - we are hated despite not ever winning anything. Hell, I cheered for this team through 20 years of finishing .500 being considered something worth celebrating. We deserve to have a good team now.

[ghost]

I refuse to acknowledge any of Duke's wins. 

They are, however, the masters of flop. 

[Fordel]

I don't want Vancouver to win, not because of anything Vancouver has or hasn't done as a fan-base or organization.


Because them not having a cup yet is the only thing I can hold over them as a leafs fan still, it's all I got dammit 

[murdoc]

Fuck the Canucks.

[Hoax]

They are dirty whiney shitheads. Also gingers. Fuck them. No fucking Canadian team in hockey should ever have the fucking audacity to cry about reffing in the playoffs that's fucking crazytalk.

The Canucks versus Kings series will for sure prove my point momentarily.


Here are my picks since I'm too lazy to sign up for a site that tricks me into linking to facebook then asks for twenty pieces of information beyond login/pw to register. We used to just post picks in threads, simpler times...

Van > Kings in 5
SJS > Blues in 7
Chi > Phx in 7
Det > Nsh in 6

NYR > Ott in 6
Bos > Caps in 5
Devils > Fla in 6
Pitt > Phi in 7

[ghost]

Okay.  To support Bunk they are going to be my playoff team.  He needs somebody in his corner, it seems.   

[Paelos]

I'm in.

I haven't watched hockey since 2003. Is Kerry Frasier still reffing? I hate that cocksucker and his dumb hair.

[Ceryse]

I'm in.

I haven't watched hockey since 2003. Is Kerry Frasier still reffing? I hate that cocksucker and his dumb hair.

Fraser retired and has a column on tsn.ca now. Most of it is just about how hard reffing is and how awesome it is when players and refs communicate after a ref screws a call and somesuch.

And not all Canadian teams get good reffing, Hoax. Oilers tend to get screwed. Albeit, part (at times a very, very large part) of that is their own damn fault for being so bad at getting away with things and whining to the refs and, in general, being irrelevant outside of draft day. Oh, wait.. you said in the playoffs. Yeah.. see irrelevancy.

My picks, team wise (since this league is just a round by round player pool);

Canucks > Kings in 6
Blues > Sharks in 5
Hawks > Coyotes in 6
Predators > Wings in 5

Rangers > Senators in 5
Bruins > Capitals in 6
Devils > Panthers in 5
Flyers > Penguins in 7

[Bunk]

Van > Kings in 5
SJS > Blues in 7
Chi > Phx in 7
Det > Nsh in 6

NYR > Ott in 6
Bos > Caps in 5
Devils > Fla in 6
Pitt > Phi in 7

I will be shocked beyond belief if you have more than two of those correct.


Edit: my mistake - I missread all those as the opposite of what you actually meant. Those picks make sense.

[Bunk]

Fuck the Canucks.

U Mad?

(really wanted a gif of McClean on Reichel just before that, but haven't found one yet)

[Bunk]

Van > Kings in 5
Blues > SJS in 6
Phx > Chi in 7
Det > Nsh in 7

NYR > Ott in 5
Bos > Caps in 6
Devils > Fla in 6
Pitt > Phi in 6

[naum]

Canucks over Kings in 5
Sharks over Blues in 7
Blackhawks over Coyotes in 7
Red Wings over Predators in 6

Rangers over Senators in 5
Bruins over Capitals in 5
Panthers over Devils in 7
Penguins over Flyers in 6

[murdoc]

Fuck the Canucks.

U Mad?

(really wanted a gif of McClean on Reichel just before that, but haven't found one yet)

Not really ;)

This made me laugh a LOT last night:

https://twitter.com/#!/LAKings/status/190309931210113025

Kings played about as good as they can last night, Vancouver not so much.