Tonight the Vancouver Canucks will find out who their opposition will be for the Stanley Cup. Game Seven of the Bruins/Lightning series goes tonight in Beantown, following Wednesday's 5 - 4 Lightning victory in Florida.
How clutch is Martin St. Louis???? He simply added to his reputation as being 'money' in the post season with a two goals and one assist performance in Game Six. That on top of scoring a series clinching OT goal in 2003 against the Caps, as well as the OT winner in Game Six of the Finals against Calgary. That was easily his biggest goal as the we all know the Bolts went on to win the holy grail of hockey two nights later.
For the Lightning to win tonight, Dwayne Roloson will have to be better than he was a couple of nights ago. Aside from earning the win, Rolli was less than impressive, particularly on David Krejci's third of the night. However, Rolli does have the record on his side as he is yet to lose an elimination game in his entire career, including a 4 - 0 mark this year. While I think the Bruins stand a better chance of beating the Canucks, I think a Canucks/Lightning final would be more entertaining.
Speaking of the Canucks, have you noticed anything differnet from their run to the Final's that is in contrast to the route taken by the Flames and Oilers in 2005 and 2006 respectively? EVERYONE was cheering for those two, regardless of their allegiances. As a life long Oiler fan, not only did I cheer for the Flames, I found myself cheering for them with an exuberance similar to what I feel for the Oilers. Regardless, not ALL of western Canada is cheering for the Canucks. I think a lot of it has to do with the number of imports on their team. I mean they have very little in terms of Canadian players on the team, and those that are Canadian, like Alexandre Burrows, make me sick to my stomach. Just once I would like to see Burrows put his money where his mouth is. Throw in Kesler, and his cocky American attitude, evidenced by his 'I can play better' comment after the Nashville series in which it would have been humanly impossible to play any better, and I just don't like them. In the words of my good buddy, Bryan Fleck, the Canucks make me physically ill. I think this may be the feelings of a lot of hockey fans as evidenced by the lack of Canucks fever sweeping across western Canada. In saying that, my preference to win the Cup is the winner of tonight's game.
Sticking with hockey, the Kootenay Ice looked dead in the water just four days ago. They had just lost a 2 - 1 decision to the Mississauga Majors to drop to 0 - 2 at the Mastercard Memorial Cup, and were set to take on the top ranked team in Canada, the St. John's SeaDogs in their final round robin game. Their response? They overcame a 2 - 0 deficit against the QMJHL representative to earn a 5 - 4 victory and buy themselves a spot in yesterday's tiebreaker against the Owen Sound Attack, a team that had beaten them 5 - 0 earlier in the week. Once again the Ice fell behind by a pair only to storm back and stomp the Attack 7 - 3. That will put them in tomorrow's Semi - Final against the hosts Majors.
Don't get me wrong, the Ice were full value for that victory but they may have been aided by what I consider an absolutely brutal coaching decision on the part of the Attack. In the biggest game of the season, the Attack started Scott Stajcer, a guy who HADN't played since Game Five of the OHL Final on May 10, more than two weeks prior. While I understand their starter had played a lot of hockey lately, and Memorial Cup week is a grind, why do you not go with the guy who for the most part, got you there??? It is also worth noting that their starter had blanked the Ice only five days earlier. That would be like the Bruins running out Tukka Rask tonight. If I have anything to do with the management team of the OHL Champions, their Head Coach would have A LOT of explaining to do, with the emphasis on A LOT!
The Saskatchewan Roughriders announced yesterday that Gary Etcheverry had stepped down as an Assistant to Defensive Coordinator Richie Hall. I have heard a lot of complaints about this, but the plain and simple truth is this....Etch's defense blew a sixteen point lead with eight minutes to go in the 2009 Grey Cup. Omarr Morgan, a part of Etch's defence in last year's Grey Cup got LIT UP by Jamel Richardson all day. Richie Hall's defense created chaos and turnovers in the Riders 2007 Grey Cup victory. Take it for what it's worth.
Tiger Woods is out of the Top 10 in World Rankings for the first time in a long time (initiate sinister laughing). He is also in a cast and on crutches, saying that he is trying to ready himself for the U.S. Open which goes in Mid June. Tiger...crutches???? I didn't know he and Elin were back together.
And on another quick golf note, Mike Weir has officially gone from Canada's best golfer to our greatest embarrasement. Weir again failed to break par in the first round of the Byron Nelson yesterday. I don't think he has broken par in a competitive round yet this year. This guy couldn't even win the Crystal Lake Men's Open at this point. Mike, quit embarrasing yourself.
The San Francisco Giants are dealing with the loss of the ultra talented Buster Posey. He was left with a broken ankle and ligament damage after a collision at the plate earlier this week. The injury has some talking about the need to eliminate these types of plays at the plate. I know some talk about how devastating these collisions can be (see Buck Martinez in the early 80's) but this is a part of the game. It is like those trying to eliminate fighting from hockey. I personally think collisions at the plate are as much a part of baseball as Peanuts, the late great Harry Caray and Barry Bonds trying to convince people that he never took performance enhancing drugs. Yeah it sucks the kid got hurt but that it's just a part of sports.
Have a great weekend...
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