The first round was amazing…i always love the regular-season games, and then always pout, once the playoffs start, that they haven’t been playing this hard all year 😉 im such hockey brat!!
Anywho…here’s our first round results…
Eastern Conference
Montreal (1) over Boston in 7
Pittsburgh (2) swept Ottawa
Rangers (5) over NJ in 5.
Philly (6) over Washington in 7
Western Conference
Detroit (1) bested Nashville in 6
San Jose (2) beats Calgary in 7
Dallas (5) beat Anaheim in 6
Colorado (6) over Minnesota in 6
Dharmafan 1st round results:
| who picked whom? | H2D | fortschreitend | Night Owl | undercovercalico | 73v |
| Habs/ |
Habs-5 | Habs-4 | Habs-5 | Habs-6 | Habs-6 |
| Pens/ |
Pens-6 | Pens-5 | Pens-6 | Pens-6 | Pens-6/7 |
| Flyers-7 | Flyers-6 | ||||
| NY-7 | NY-6 | NY-7 | |||
| Wings/ |
Wings-6 | Wings-4 | Wings-5 | Wings-5 | Wings-4 |
| Sharks/ |
SJ-5 | SJ-6 | SJ-6 | SJ-5 | |
| Avs-7 | Avs-6 | ||||
| Stars-7 | |||||
| # correct | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 |
(i tried to work out a mathematical formula whereby i could give some sort of ‘advantage’ to H2D and forts, who each called a series in the correct # of games…i rolled out my chalkboard on wheels, paced professorially in front of it, used many, many squiggles and intersecting arrows….and i got NOTHIN!!! if you have any ideas, please, feel free to interject…ill be outside clapping my erasers…)
Which leaves us with the following 2nd round matchups:
(the lower-numbered seed has the home-ice advantage)Eastern Conference
Montreal (1) vs. Philly (6)
Pittsburgh (2) vs. NY (5)
Western Conference
Detroit (1) vs. Colorado (6)
San Jose (2) vs. Dallas (5)
With only 4 series to pick, the margin for error is a lot smaller….but at least the punishments are lighter 😉 (in case youre just joining us, there are NO punishments…i was kidding). Feel free to post your picks in the comments, whether you’ve played along so far or not….the more the merrier.
My picks, with one disclaimer: If it were at all possible for me to ever pick against the flyers, i might just do so here. but i cant. my fingers woulndt let me even if my heart would 😉
Philly over Habs in 6
Pens over Rangers in 7
Detroit over Colorado in 5…maybe 6
San Jose over Dallas in 6, probably 7
Thanks to everyone who’s played, is still playing, or would like to join in. Keep your heads up and your elbows down 😉
~73v
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but this mornings pony was already auto-pub’d, and round 2 starts tomorrow!!!!
so i threw it up as a regular essay….sorry for the lack of substance 😉
i’ll be out for most of the morning, back later…
You could measure the average of the differences between actual number of games and number predicted in series where the correct winner was indeed predicted and multiply by some penalty amount like, for instance .5.
H2D – 7/5 = 1.4
fort – 8/6 = 1.33
Night Owl – 8/6 = 1.33
ucc – 6/4 = 1.5
73v – 10/6 = 1.67
Sopenalties would be:
H2D = .70
fort = .67
Night Owl = .67
ucc – .75
73v – .83
Score would become:
h2D = 4.30
fort = 5.33
Night Owl = 5.33
ucc = 3.25
73v = 5.17
But really, don’t get me started inventing games. OCD is a harsh temptress.
He was hoping the Wings would get to play Colorado this round.
Wow for all my hockey talk I sucked wind.
So…..
Philly over Habs in 6
Rangers over Pens in 7 ( I won’t be upset if the Pens take the series )
Detroit over Colorado in 6
Dallas over San Jose in 6 ( Dallas has a history of bonking but the Flames gave San Jose trouble, San Jose might be a bit tired and Dallas is feeling confident )
Montreal v. Philadelphia
1 seed Montreal got a real scare from 8 seed Boston, and Philly is coming off a big time high from its crazy OT packed series with the the Caps.
Still, the Habs have so much talent its hard to bet against them in this one, even if they are starting a rookie goaltender.
Player to watch: Canadiens’ goaltender Carey Price.
Habs in 7.
Pittsburgh v New York Rangers
The Rangers’ Henrik Lundquist turned in an phenomenal display of goaltending as he outdueled multi-Cup winner and future Hall of Famer Marty Broder.
With New York’s porous defense and the Pens’ high octane offense that swept pathetic Ottawa out in 4, Lundquist will have to be equal or better his first round performance if New York is going to have any chance.
Player to watch: Ranger forward Jaromir Jagr.
Pittsburgh in 5.
Detroit v. Colorado
Injury plagued Detroit looked shaky against a scrappy Nashville club, while Colorado’s talented squad of graying but well rested superstars (including Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, and Adam Foote) are skating like the Cup winners they were in 96.
Once again Colorado is my upset special.
Player to watch: Avalanche forward Peter Forsberg.
Colorado in 6.
San Jose v. Dallas
I should have know better than to pick the Ducks over the Stars in the first round, especially considering that in the last five seasons, no Stanley Cup winner from the previous year has ever made it past the first round.
Dallas possesses a dangerous mix of crafty veterans and hungry youngsters, while Marty Turco is once again showing that All Star goal tending form that led the league in save percentage in 2002.
The Sharks got worked over pretty well by Calgary, (as you would expect against a Mike Keenan coached team) and often looked like their old problems with playoff jitters would once again lead to a disappointing early exit.
Still the Sharks came out of the Flames a stronger and more resilient club that is now firing on all cylinders. With All World goalie Evgeny Nabokov in net, the Sharks are still my team to beat.
Player to watch: Sharks forward Jeremy Roenick.
San Jose in 7.
Good Job!
I’ll go with:
Habs in 6
Penguins in 6
Red Wings in 7
But the Sharks vs Stars? This is giving me trouble. I picked the Sharks to win it all, and after their first series I’m looking for an excuse to bail.
But it would be pretty wimpy to give up on the Sharks already.
But it would also be pretty wimpy to just take all the higher seeds.
Oh well . . . Sharks in 7.
I love the Rangers. As I grew older, my fanaticism for most sports waned, but not my devotion to the Rangers. Anyone here remember Gump? Ah, the cheap seats in the old Garden–remember Nedick’s?
Heart over brain–Rangers in 6.
Oh, Muzz must go!!
Montreal (1) vs. Philly (6): Habs in 6
Pittsburgh (2) vs. NY (5): Rangers in 7
Detroit (1) vs. Colorado (6): Wings in 6, maybe only 5
San Jose (2) vs. Dallas (5): Sharks in 5
I really haven’t looked at injury reports or anything that might make a difference – just going with gut feeling, based on the few playoff games I’ve seen so far.
Author
i know some others want to pick as well….when e-1’s picks are posted ill, of course, update…
I posted a hockey comment in the other thread before I saw this one, D’oh!
Sorry I didn’t get in on this for the first round, but I was stuck in Dutch friggin Harbor.
Flyers in 6 A pure heart pick. The team showed a lot of heart last night too.
Rangers in 7 Can’t go against Drury when the chips are down.
Red Wheel in 6 Even though I hate those bastards. I always wondered how you could but that many octopi in friggin Detroit, and how ripe would they get after a few scoreless games…?
Sharks in 5 Pure guess.
Wish I could have gotten my first round picks in. I got the right teams in the east, but picked Minn. and the Ducks in the west, but alas you only have my word for it, an I’m a recovering fisherman. How do you know when a fisherman is lying? Watch his mouth real close. If it moves…
The club is so far from where I expected them to be, and it’s a beautiful thing.