I have to admit, the Montreal Canadiens defeating the mighty Washington Capitals did not appear in my crystal ball. The Caps dominated play for virtually the entire series, and never in modern hockey history has an 8th seed overcome a 3 games to 1 deficit against a first place team. 8 seeds only beat 1 seeds about 10% of the time, so for one to go down 3-1 and rally back is an astronomically improbable event. My friend had 6 Capitals in his playoff pool and he isn't taking this very well. The irony being that during overtime (before Montreal scored) in game one I sent him a text message; "Habs much better than I thought they were. Montreal in 6". I was kidding about them winning the series, but my friend ain't laughing.
I am of course very pleased to see my own favourite team, the Detroit Red Wings advance. For those of you wondering how I became a Red Wings fan living in Northern Ontario. As a young child, I loathed the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was the mid 80's, both the Wings and Leafs sucked, but they were in the same division and chief rivals. I also had a really cool uncle who was a Red Wings fan. I should have become a Boston Bruins fan, since my dad attended a Bruins training camp before the days of Don Cherry when they were winning Cups. My dad played on the same ice surface with Bobby Orr. I should have been a Bruins fan.
Bobby Orr is the greatest hockey player ever.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am a Bruins fan.
Let's hope the Bruins meet the Habs in the third round.
Overlooked in the Bobby Orr history is that Carol Vadnais was his defence partner. And that guy must have been twice as good as any other stay at home defenceman because he had to cover for the times that Orr left his position for an end to end and didn't score.
Funny about this year's playoffs is that there is no overriding sentimental story like Ray Bourque or Teemu Selanne.
It's wide open