« March 2008 | Main | May 2008 »
April 29, 2008
And now for Part 2
Philadelphia scored at :22 and at 58:33 to eliminate Albany in seven games. Tip o'cap to Albany, a scrappy, battling team. The Phantoms move on to battle the Penguins, beginning Thursday.
After some funky first-round schedules, three of the four second-round series are traditional 2-2-1-1-1s. The only oddball is Providence-Portland, which is at least a 2-3-2. So there are two intrastate division finals (Rockford-Chicago, WBS-Philly), plus two relatively close-by series (Toronto-Syracuse is four hours, but consider the Manitoba or, this year, San Antonio option). By Mapquest, the four distances sum to 606 miles -- by cities, not by arenas. There was a better one in the four-division era, though: 2004. Philly-WBS again, plus Worcester-Hartford, Hamilton-Rochester and Chicago-Milwaukee. Just 397 miles, total.
Well, on the brighter side in NEPA, Connor James got a hole-in-one, Jonathan reports. The fallout for Nathan Smith -- one of his foursome, incidentally, and that seems to be a better off-day activity -- includes a one-game suspension. No word on the fate of the letter.
Kevin Allen thinks the Americans can medal at the Worlds, which begin Friday in Halifax and Quebec. From the preliminary lists, Sean Bergenheim is up for Finland's roster, but I think that's it for current BST/NYI -types. Frans Nielsen is on the list for Denmark, but I thought the shoulder was keeping him out. We'll see; the rosters are finalized Thursday. Several former BST-types are listed, though: Former teammates (multiple times) Juraj Kolnik and Branislav Mezei are on Slovakia's list. Robert Nilsson and Mattias Weinhandl are on for Sweden. Denis Grebeshkov is on for Russia.
Former Sacred Heart goalie Eddy Ferhi is on France's list. Herbert Vasiljevs, onetime Beast of New Haven, is playing for Latvia; onetime Beast from another season, Marcus Nilson, is on for Sweden. And it goes without saying that New Haven Nighthawk Mario Chitar(r)oni is on the Italian roster. His old assistant coach, John Tortorella, is coaching Team USA.
As usual, once they get going, we'll keep an occasional eye on it.
Some interesting 'Hawks pix on eBay.
Posted by mike on 10:42 PM | Comments (3)
April 28, 2008
Don't bet on it
Ever wonder what players do when their playoff series end early? Thanks to Jonathan and the authorities in the Wyoming Valley, wonder no more. That kind of gambling is not suggested, I'd imagine.
Anyway, one Game 7 is in the books, and there's a local angle: Beast of New Haven star Bates Battaglia scored the winner with 58.1 seconds to go, and Toronto survived the Rampage with a 2-1 victory.
We dodge another Game 7 as Trevor Frischmon's overtime goal wins it for Syracuse. The goal came 8:35 into overtime in the fifth OT game of the six-game series.
The North Division Final, thus set on both sides within a few minutes, opens Friday. Albany-Philly is Tuesday.
(Edit was in the time on Battaglia's goal, if you're RSSing. Don't go looking for anything deep.)
Posted by mike on 11:03 PM | Comments (0)
April 27, 2008
Superfection?
The 1988 Hershey Bears went 12-0 in the playoffs, sweeping Binghamton, Adirondack and Fredericton in four games apiece, to win the Calder Cup.
The 1964 Cleveland Barons went 9-0 in the playoffs, beating Rochester in two, Hershey in three and Quebec in four, to win the Calder Cup.
The 1961 Springfield Indians went 8-0 in the playoffs and swept Cleveland and Hershey to win the Calder Cup.
The 1950 Indianapolis Capitals went 8-0 in the playoffs, beating St. Louis in two, Providence in two and Cleveland in four, to win the Calder Cup.
The 2008 Providence Bruins just may be a third of the way to joining them. With J-S Aubin on the shelf -- when your stud goalie is "in a maintenance stage" at this point of the playoffs, it's scary -- the Bruins pounded Portland again to take a 2-0 lead; Petteri Nokelainen scored two of the seven. Yeah, they needed OT three times against Manchester. But they're 6-0 right now.
Since the '88 Bears swept the playoffs, only four teams have swept their first two rounds: the 1996 Amerks, the 1998 River Rats, the 2000 Bruins and the 2006 Bears. (The first three of those only needed three games to sweep their first-round series.) Hershey went 10-0 to start the 2006 playoffs on the way to the Cup, and that's the recent history the Bruins are chasing right now. It'll be interesting to see if they take it further.
San Antonio scored two early ones, then another one late, to force a Monday Game 7. Josh Tordjman made 38 saves. It'll be the first Game 7 for both franchises.
EDIT: A loss for Utah. Haskins scored on a short-handed penalty shot, and then Victoria lit up the Grizzlies for six goals in the third. The former Sound Tiger scored two of them -- no, not Billy, who didn't even play.
Missed the sale at the barn, but it was like a BST reunion at Quinnipiac, hanging out with Kimber's interns Pat Salvas (who's the Bobcats' sports-information contact for women's lacrosse) and Justin Cohen (who was broadcasting the game). Sacred Heart won a wild one for its first NEC women's lax title.
Just for fun: Praise for the irregular verb (as seen on A.Word.A.Day).
Posted by mike on 6:48 PM | Comments (5)
Third-Annual Public Service Announcement
Fasten your seat belts, would ya?
(So, obviously, it has been two years since Bridgeport last won a playoff game...)
Posted by mike on 12:47 AM | Comments (4)
Rolling seven
Another OT game, another 70 minutes without a goal... and this time an Albany win. Game 7 is Tuesday night at the Wachovia Center; it'll be at least the eighth Game 7 in the AHL in three years. Boyd Kane went and cross-checks Bryan Rodney after Kirk MacDonald scored, and Patrick Williams wonders if he'll be the next player suspended. (Tom Sestito of Syracuse got three games Saturday for slugging a goaltender.)
Speaking of, out in Winterpeg, Derek MacKenzie scored 10:54 into OT, giving Syracuse its third lead of the series. The Crunch have two chances at home to win one game and wreck my bracket. Meanwhile, Providence started the Atlantic Division final in fine form, a 4-0 win over Portland. Sobotka and Nokelainen were both in.
Chicago finished off Milwaukee with a 30-save Ondrej Pavelec shutout; the division final begins Thursday.
Luch Aquino and Fort Wayne are going to the U-Haul Final.
Reminder, if it's up your alley: Bridgeport has its equipment/collectable sale in the morning at the barn. (Can't show up myself: driving in the other direction for a little women's lax game...)
Posted by mike on 12:41 AM | Comments (0)
