HNIC Playoff Pool 2012

[Bunk]

Heh, cute.

Hell, even I was embarrassed at the antics Kessler was pulling last night.

[Speedy Cerviche]

Hmm missed this. I'll enter next round.

I don't think hockey officiating is getting worse, it's just always been kind of bad, because as others have mentioned, it's a tough sport to ref. It's easy to dissects plays in slow motion after, but it's a lot tougher live at full speed, then factor  in all the embellishment that goes on too.

The canucks are pretty easy to hate, you have a combination of pricks (Burrows, Kesler), and then add in arrogant swedes (arrogant or not, swedes always seem to manage to look arrogant), Luongo has a pretty unlikeable look, guy is straight outta the most Italian neighbourhood of Montreal and has the greaseball look down to perfection. Canucks fans seem to be arrogant man-children too, I mean who the fuck riots when they LOSE??? Here in Montreal, we only riot when we WIN, adds to the fun.

[ghost]

You'll notice that I'm kicking everyone's ass, so far.   

[MuffinMan]

I was expecting at least a one game suspension for this. Nope, $2500 fine.

[ghost]

Hell, that's just a cost of doing business. 

[Hoax]

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.

  All the Canucks fans are responding by complaining about the lack of class shown by the tweet. Must be the same fans chanting bullshit at the refs after that Canuck dickbag got tossed for obvious head hunting hit.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2012/04/12/byron_bitz_game_1_misconduct/


Who are the fans in that gif that are sitting down through that whole sequence? Wtf.

[Bunk]

Bitz deserves a suspension for the hit, it was an idiotic move. I'll forgive the bullshit chant at the arena, due to the lack of instant replay the fans would have had access to. We were losing, and we'd already had a couple "odd" calls on clean looking hits earlier in the game - so the fans did what fans do.

[Strazos]

So, spotting Pittsburgh goals and then still winning is kind of funny...though I hope the Flyers stop with it and just win from the start. 

[Paelos]

Shocking no one, I'm in last.

[ghost]

I'm pretty damned close to you, brother.   

[Paelos]

Are the Wings not good anymore?

[Paelos]

My pick of Roberto Luongo seems to have backfired.

[Ceryse]

I made a lot of bad picks for this (I was trying to strike it rich with less guaranteed forwards to separate me from the pack..) but I'm glad in my other leagues I've had some very good picks (Couterier, Giroux and Brier as examples).

Still, I'm more pleased with the prospect of the Canucks and Penguins getting swept in the first round that I no longer care how badly I do in any leagues.

And its nice to see Crosby's team headhunting Flyers. No room to bitch when someone ends Crosby's career.

[Speedy Cerviche]

Love seeing upstart teams beat established ones, show's how competitive the league is.

Also the tears from all the bandwagon fans of Chicago, Detroit, Vancouver, Pittsburgh, are delicious. Another extra bonus is the all the hack media types who get embarrassed because they are shown to only know popular conceptions, and nothing about less well known teams (despite being paid to be supposed experts about them).

I dunno why Flyers fans are so obsessed/butthurt about Crosby...He's just playing hockey, he's not doing anything really dangerous.

[WayAbvPar]

Probably because he runs his mouth constantly, and is chippy/dirty as fuck on the ice.

[Speedy Cerviche]

Fine, but lots of players do that including high profile Philly players like Briere, Pronger, and ex-captain M. Richards. Of all 29 teams, only Flyers fans seem to be so singularly obsessessed with him. At the end of the day, 1) he's not being reckless or dangerous to otherplayers, 2) he is amazing to watch play, a treasure of the sport.

[WayAbvPar]

Flyers fans aren't the only ones that hate him, trust me. They may be more vocal about it due to their nature and the close proximity of the teams, but very few fans of other teams like him at all. They appreciate that he is a great player, but his personality and on ice actions just grate.

[Ceryse]

Here in Edmonton, Crosby exists in this odd state few other players have ever been in. There's absolute admiration and respect for his clear talent and domination of the game skill-wise. He's seen as teh best player to be in the NHL since Lemieux and Gretzky. However, he's reviled for his whiny spoiled brat attitude and for being a massive hypocrite. He's a dirty player who whines if the slightest wrong is done unto him, and if it weren't for the fact that the refs punished him severely for his mid-game whines and hissy fits they'd still be going on. He hasn't matured at all, he's just gotten better at keeping his mouth shut to the refs.

He's an extremely easy person to dislike. I will never cheer for a team he is on. He may be the best player in the game right now, but I'd rather watch Ovechkin in a slump than Crosby at his best, and Ovechkin is hardly wart-free attitude wise.

[Bunk]

Woot, top 1000. 

[Speedy Cerviche]

Flyers fans aren't the only ones that hate him, trust me. They may be more vocal about it due to their nature and the close proximity of the teams, but very few fans of other teams like him at all. They appreciate that he is a great player, but his personality and on ice actions just grate.

I rarely hear anyone talking like that about Crosby here in Montreal... And there's plenty of teams/players that are.

[naum]

Entry Deadline: 9:00 PM ET on Friday, Apr. 27, 2012

Enter now!

Here are the match-ups and seedings for the second round:

EASTERN CONFERENCE
New York R. (1) vs Washington (7)
Philadelphia (5) vs New Jersey (6)

WESTERN CONFERENCE
St. Louis (2) vs. Los Angeles (8)
Phoenix (3) vs. Nashville (4)

[naum]

Quick turnaround on Round 3 entry:

Make your picks!

The final entry deadline is 8:00 PM ET on Sunday, May 13. Here are the match-ups and seedings for the third round:

EASTERN CONFERENCE
New Jersey (6) vs. TBD - NYR (1) or WAS (7)

WESTERN CONFERENCE
Phoenix (3) vs. Los Angeles (8)

http://hockeypool.cbc.ca/cbc/hnicp12/enter_picks

Latest standings:

[Fordel]

I kinda hope Phoenix wins it all. Just Because.

[WayAbvPar]

I kinda hope Phoenix wins it all. Just Because.

And then they will move to Seattle and never win another goddamned thing. Because that is how we roll in the PNW.

[Strazos]

The Flyers' second round collapse was just...depressing. 

Can't even blame goaltending really - they just didn't put enough pucks in the net.

[Zetleft]

Ah hockey thread, had to find out who was the HNIC   

[Raguel]

Ah hockey thread, had to find out who was the HNIC   

Thanks. I was trying real hard not to be the one who said it. 

[naum]

[Bunk]

That's a pretty good finish for not having changed my players after the first round.