Round Two

So I haven’t been paying as much attention as I should to round two of the series. More often then not I have gone to bed before a game has ended, or let Grey’s Anatomy take precedence over a hockey game. However, I have been throughly aware of the status of the Vancouver Canucks, if not anyone else. Oh and Tampa Bay, because they won it in four games so it was on the radio in the morning.

But here’s where we are at right now:

In the West…

The Vancouver Canucks won their series against The Nashville Predators in 6 games (so 4 games for Vacouver and 2 games for Nashville), they actually won it in Nashville, fun times 😛

The San Jose Sharks and The Detroit Red Wings are still playing their series (they’ve each won 3 games), game 7 is played tonight, May 12th. The winner will play the Vancouver Canucks for the Western Conference championship.

In the East…

As I have mentioned The Tampa Bay Lightning won their series after 4 games against the Washington Capitals.

They will be playing The Boston Bruins who also won their series against the Phildelphia Flyers in 4 games.

The NHL website has the schedule for the East posted already, the first three games will be played the 14th, 17th and 19th. 

The schedule for the West will likely be released tomorrow when the result of tonight’s game is known.

I will try and pay more attention during series three…

Here’s hoping that the finals are played earlier in the evening 😛

Goals and Glitter,

Colleen

How Cute Are You!?!?!: Toronto Maple Leafs Edition

Tim Brent of the Toronto Maple Leafs is visiting my hospital today! Which is so very cute! Here’s a picture from twitter:

I’m pretty sure that is in the cardiac wing as well! Players that give back are super cute!

Hockey Slash

So I read slash fanfiction…I especially read fanfiction when I am bored or stressed or both. Today I am both, the election has me nervous and Hazeldean Wind has me bored. So I rely on the internet to fufill my desire to read about hockey players having sex with each other.

By the way…that is what slash is, writing sex, more specifically non-heterosexual sex.

BUT THERE IS NO HOCKEY SLASH TO BE FOUND!!!

More specifically there is no Canucks slash to be found!!

The internet has failed me 😦

I have petitioned my facebook friends to help me find some, but so far, it has been to no avail.

So I petition you all…please, if you are aware of hockey slash, let me know where I can find it!

VOTE!!!

Hey…

Just checkin’ if you voted yet…

You haven’t? You really should…

Now you have! YAY!!! You just participated in democracy!!! And that’s a big WIN!

(photos from canucks.com and the vancouver sun)

Ice Hockey World Championships

There is more than one hockey tournament going on right now. The International Ice Hockey Federation holds the World Hockey Championships every year around the same time as the NHL Playoffs. The first tournament occured during the 1920 Summer Olympic games, and was held alongside the Olympics until 1930 when the first tournament not associated with the Olympics was held. Until 1968 the Olympic tournaments were considered to replace the World Championships for that year.

If these games were broadcast on TV then I would watch them because one of my favorite things about national sports is the very clear alliegance that I have to a team. I support Team Canada. Actually, Team Canada was the first hockey team I ever cared about as part of the Olympics and the World Under-20 Championships also known as The World Juniors.

So Go Team Canada!

So how do the World Championships work?

For simplicity I will be going from the Preliminary Round.

16 Teams play in the preliminary round and they are divided into four groups. In each group the four teams will all play each other.

Group A: Russia, Slovakia, Germany, Slovenia

Group B: Canada, Switzerland, Belarus, France

Group C: Sweden, USA, Norway, Austria

Group D: Finland, Czech Republic, Latvia, Denmark

So using Group B as an example:

• Switzerland plays France (April 29th)
• Canada plays Belarus (April 29th)
• Canada plays France (May 1st)
• Switzerland plays Belarus (May 1st)
• Canada plays Switzerland (May 3rd)
• France plays Belarus (May 3rd)

The Qualifying Round

The top three teams from the round-robin advance to the qualifying round. The qualifying round features two groups of six teams. It is a round robin round once again. In this round teams that have already played each other will not play each other again. They maintain the result from the preliminary round.

For example: Canada and France both move on to the qualifying round and are in the same group they do not need to play each other in the qualifying round. If Canada won in the preliminary round that result would be held over for the qualifying round. So Canada is considered to have won against France in this round even though they did not play each other.

The Quarterfinals

 The quarterfinals are played in a crossover format. This format will be understandable to those who have read and understood the NHL Playoffs format post. The first place team from the each qualification group plays the fourth place team from the other group. The second place team from each qualification group plays the third place team from the other group.

It looks like this:

• 1st Place Team Group E vs. 4th Place Team Group F 
• 1st Place Team Group F vs. 4th Place Team Group F  (X)
• 2nd Place Team Group E vs. 3rd Place Team Group F (Y)
• 2nd Place Team Group F vs. 3rd Place Team Group E  (Z)

The Semi-Finals

The winning teams from the quarterfinals advance to the semi-finals. For simplicity I have labelled the semi-final games W, X, Y and Z though this is not done by the International Ice Hockey Federation.  The winner of W plays the winner of Z, and the winner of X plays the winner of Y.

The Finals

The winning teams of the semi-final games play each other for gold and silver. The losing teams from the semi-final games play for bronze.

It’s a little harder to pay attention to what is going on with these games if you rely on the CBC for your sports but if you have sports networks I’m sure you can find them. With luck the CBC will show the gold medal game, and with even more luck (and skill) Canada will be in it. Speaking of Canada…here’s the Team Canada roster for The World Championship

TEAM CANADA

Goaltenders:

• #34 James Reimer (Toronto Maples Leafs)
• #40 Devin Dubnyk (Edmonton Oilers)
• #45 Johnathan Bernier (LA Kings)

Defense:

• #2 Luke Schenn (Toronto Maple Leafs)
• #3 Dion Phaneuf (Toronto Maple Leafs)
• #7 Mario Scalzo (Manheim Eagles DEL Germany)
• #8 Brent Burns (Minnesota Wild)
• #17 Marc-André Gragnani (Buffalo Sabres)
• #27 Alex Pietrangelo (St. Louis Blues)
• #28 Carlo Colaiacovo (St. Louis Blues)
• #33 Marc Methot (Columbus Blue Jackets)

 

Forwards:

• #9 Evader Kane (Atlanta Thrashers)
• #14 Jordan Eberle (Edmonton Oilers)
• #15 Travis Zajac (New Jersey Devils)
• #16 Andrew Ladd (Atlanta Thrashers)
• #17 James Neal (Pittsburgh Penguins)
• #19 Jason Spezza (Ottawa Senators)
• #20 John Tavares (NY Islanders)
• #22 Cal Clutterbuck (Minnesota Wild)
• #25 Chris Stewart (St. Louis Blues)
• #50 Antoine Vermette (Columbus Blue Jackets)
• #53 Jeff Skinner (Carolina Hurricanes)
• #61 Rick Nash (Columbus Blue Jackets)
• #92 Matthew Duchene (Colorado Avalanche)

Coaches:

• Head Coach: Ken Hitchcock (Columbus Blue Jackets)
• Associate Coach: Scott Arniel (Columbus Blue Jackets)
• Associate Coach: Peter DeBoer

Coffee Trivia

So I missed my bus this morning on the way to work, by 5 minutes, I forgot it was Saturday and that the 118 only comes every half hour on Saturdays, so I had 25 minutes to wait for the next bus. I spotted a coffee shop nearby and decided that I would use that time to have a before work decaf.

The coffee place has daily trivia! (And really nice staff) The question today was: In his last NHL Playoffs which team did Bobby Orr play with?

I didn’t know the answer and don’t know enough about hockey history to have even guessed, but I have since looked it up. I’ll leave the question open, and people are welcome to answer it in the comments. If no one answers it by the start of my shift at work tomorrow I’ll publish the answer.

An iconic image of Bobby Orr flying across the ice

And the answer is: The Chicago Blackhawks

Even though Bobby Orr played most of his career with the Boston Bruins he played his last two seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks in one of which the team made the playoffs!

Quick Thoughts: Sportmanship

Sportmanship means not using terms like Predophile.

Seriously people, I know that we the Canucks fans aren’t fond of the Predators but there are much more tasteful ways to express that…take my tag Smash Nash or the Canucksgame Twitter Feed Nash Clash as examples.

The League gives out awards for sportmanship in their players, let’s see those standards apply to fans too!

Quick Thoughts: The Royal Wedding

Princes are great, but I would rather a goaltender any day…

Or a goaltending Prince?
Or Carey Price…that’s almost like Prince

Awards

So I only ever thought there was one award, THE award, The Stanley Cup. Apparently I am wrong. There are a whole slew of other awards that can be won by teams and individual players. So, because a lot of the nominations are being released around now, here is an intro to NHL Awards.

Team Awards

The Stanley Cup: Awarded to the Playoff Champion Team. In 2009-2010 the Stanley Cup was awarded to the Chicago Blackhawks. Still waiting to figure out who will win it for this year 😛

Prince of Wales Trophy: Awarded to the Playoff Eastern Conference Champion Team. In 2009-2010 it was awarded to The Philadelphia Flyers.

Clarence S. Campbell Bowl:  Awarded to the Playoff Western Conference Champion Team. In 2009-2010 it was awarded to The Chicago Blawkhawks.

Presidents’ Trophy: Awarded to the team with the best overall record in the regular season based on points. As the regular season is over, this award goes to The Vancouver Canucks for 2010-2011.

Individual Awards

Hart Memorial Trophy: Awarded to the League’s Most Valuable Player. In 2009-2010 the trophy went to Henrick Sedin of The Vancouver Canucks. This year’s finalists are: Daniel Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks, Corey Perry of the Anahiem Ducks and Martin St. Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: Awarded to the player who demonstrates the most sportmanship, gentlemanly conduct, and a high standard of playing ability. Was awarded to Martin St. Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2009-2010. This year’s finalists are: Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Redwings, Martin St. Louis, and Loui Eriksson of the Dallas Stars.

Vezina Trophy: Awarded to the League’s top goaltender. In 2009-2010 it was awarded to Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres. The finalists for 2010-2011 are: Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks, Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators and Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins.

Calder Memorial Trophy:  Awarded to the outstanding Rookie of the year. In 2009-2010 it went to Tyler Myers of the Buffalo Sabres. The finalists in 2010-2011 are: Michael Grabner of the New York Islanders, Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks and Jeff Skinner of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Art Ross Trophy:   Awarded to the the player who leads to the League in total points at the end of the regular season. As the regular season has ended, we know that this Trophy goes to Daniel Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks.

James Norris Memorial Trophy: Awarded to defenceman who throughout the season shows the greatest all-around ability in the position. Awarded to Duncan Keith in 2009-2010. The Finalists in 2010-2011 are: Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins, Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Redwings and Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators.

Conn Smythe Trophy:  Awarded to the Most Valuable Player for his team in the Playoffs. Awarded to Jonathan Toews in 2009-2010. As the playoffs are still in progress there are no finalists for this trophy yet. Though there is a lot of speculation!

Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy: Awarded to the player who best demonstrates the qualities of sportmanship, perserverance and dedication to the game. In 2009-2010 it was awarded to Jose Theodore of the Washington Capitals. For 2010-2011 the Finalists are: Ray Emery of the Anaheim Ducks, Daymond Langkow of the Calgary Flames and Ian Laperriere of the Philadelphia Flyers.    

Ted Lindsay Award (formerly the Lester B. Pearson Award): Awarded to the most outstanding player as determined by the NHL Player’s Association. In 2009-2010 it was won by Alexander Ovechkin. The 2010-2011 Finalists for this award will be announced on May 2nd, so I will make sure to post them then.

Jack Adams Award: Awarded to the coach ajudged to have contributed the most to a team’s success. Awarded to Dave Tippett of the Phoenix Coyotes in 2009-2010. Finalists for this award in 2010-2011 are Alain Vigneault of the Vancouver Canucks, Barry Trotz of the Nashville Predators and Dan Bylsma of the Pittsburgh Penguins. (I was talking to ridiculous fan last night (while watching the Canucks game) about this and he picked these guys as his picks for Finalists, seriously that is talent!)

Frank J. Selke Trophy: Awarded to forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game. In 2009-2010 it was awarded to Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Redwings. The Finalists for 2010-2011 are Pavel Datsyuk, Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks and Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks.

William M. Jennings Award: Awarded to the goaltender(s) having played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it in the regular season. Awarded to Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider of the Vancouver Canucks for 2010-2011.   

NHL Plus-Minus Award: Awarded to the player with the highest plus/minus statistic (I will explain this at some point) in the regular season. The award goes to Zdeno Chara in 2010-2011 season.  

King Clancy Memorial Trophy: Awarded to the player who exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution to his community. In 2009-2010 it was awarded to Shane Doan of the Phoenix Coyotes. Unfortunately despite a lot of searching I have not been able to locate information for 2010-2011.

NHL Foundation Player Award: Awarded to the player who applies the core values of hockey to enrich the lives of those in his community. In 2009-2010 it was awarded to Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres. The Finalists for this award in 2010-2011 will be announced on May 2nd.

Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard Trophy: Awarded to the top goal scorer in the regular season. In 2010-2011 this was Corey Perry of the Anaheim Ducks with 50 goals. Just to note, the most goals scored ever by a player in the regular season was 92 by Wayne Gretzky in 1981-82.

Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award: Awarded to the goaltender who has played a minimum of 25 games in the regular season and has the highest save percentage (I promise I will do a post that explains all these statistics at some point!). Awarded to Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins in 2010-2011.

Mark Messier Leadership Award:   Awarded to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team on and off the ice during the regular season. In 2009-2010 this award went to Sidney Crosby (*swoon*) of the Pittsburgh Penguins. As to the 2010-2011 information…like the King Clancy Memorial Trophy I haven’t been able to track it down yet.  

NHL General Manager of the Year Award: Awarded to the General Manager considered by the League to be the best General Manager of the year (pretty self explainatory stuff). Awarded to Don Maloney of the Phoenix Coyotes in 2009-2010. The finalists for 2010-2011 award are: Mike Gillis of the Vancouver Canucks, David Poile of the Nashville Predators and Steve Yzerman of the Tampa Bay Lightning.  

All these awards (except the Stanley Cup which is awarded when you win the playoffs) will be awarded at the NHL Awards Ceremony on June 22 in LA. The awards will air on CBC as they did last year. Unlike last year, I will be watching them to catch glimpses of all my pretty pretty boys all dressed up. *Dreamy Sigh*

Goals and Glitter,

-Colleen

Guys…I’m bored…

From the Vancouver Canucks facebook feed…

Poor Roberto Luongo looks so bored. Vancouver certainly dominated the playing last night. How do I know? Most the night was spent on the Nashville end of the rink.

So if Luongo is goaltending on the left side that is Vancouver’s end zone, marked by the blue line. On the right side in net is Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators, making that Nashville’s end zone. The centre zone between the blue lines is considered neutral territory. Obviously players want to spend the most time in the other team’s end zone in order to dominate play and theoretically score more goals (or one goal, like last night) but dominating the neutral zone is also important. I am sure that there are strategical reasons behind this, besides the obvious then you are dominating more of the ice and keeping the opposing team out of your end but I haven’t figured them out yet. The reporters seem to think dominating the neutral zone is necessary as they always talk to players about whether or not they are doing so, and if they aren’t, why they think that is.

But back to Luongo…(please let us always come back to Luongo)

With Vancouver dominating the play for much of the game Luongo didn’t see too much action. Overall Vancouver made 30 shots on Nashville’s net. Nashville made 20 shots on Vancouver’s net. Breaking it down by period gives a statistical picture though.

 In the first period shots on goal were in favour of Vancouver 16-5

When Chris Higgins scored 12 min 14 secs into the 2nd period the shots were in favour of Vancouver 24-8

So the game evenutally picked up, and I am told that this is a good thing because a bored goaltender isn’t on their game as well as they necessairly could be and might let easy goals in because they are having trouble staying in the game. Certainly that makes sense to me, it’s like staying in as actor when you have no lines, its hard but you have to do it in order to keep the character and drama alive.

All in all it was a good game in that we won! Certainly not as tense and exciting as game 7 against the Blackhawks but I think my heart could use the rest. Seriously people, if/when Vancouver makes it to the finals I will require a cardiologist on hand at all times. The doctors told me that my heart condition would limit my playing ability when it comes to sports, what we didn’t factor in was how watching sports would affect it 😛

Goals and Glitter,

-Colleen