My 2010/11 NHL Playoff Predictions For The 1st Round (plus Cup Winner)

Well here they are folks. My bold predictions for this years 1st round of the 2010/11 Stanley Cup playoffs. Lets see how I do this year.

WEST

Blackhawks will win in 7 games over the Canucks

Sharks will win in 6 games over the Kings

Detroit will win in 6 games over the Coyotes

Ducks will win in 6 games over the Predators

EAST

Capitals will win in 6 games over the Rangers

Penguins will win in 7 games over the Lightning

Bruins will win in 6 games over the Canadiens

Flyers will win in 6 games over the Sabres

The team that will win the Stanley Cup.... Washington Capitals

What are your picks?

- WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY -

Oklahoma City Sports Media in a Nutshell

When the Barons clinched their playoff berth on Saturday against the Texas Stars, very little mention was given to the team. The KFOR newscast had extensive Thunder coverage, University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State sports coverage, high school sports coverage and at the very end of the newscast, a mention of the Barons clinching their berth. Even on the nights that the Tier-2 Arena Football team, the Bricktown Brawlers, plays, they'll show highlights of their games before the Barons. A concerned viewer expressed their thoughts through the KFOR website and received this response from their sports director, Bob Barry Jr.

From: "Barry JR, Bob"
To: [Name rescinded]
Subject: Barons Coverage

Didn't really understand your rant [name rescinded]...but it sounds like you want more coverage of the Barons when the playoffs begin. We'll try to provide that but while you suggest no one cares about the Thunder, OU or OSU[Viewer did not suggest "no one cares" -ER] - our expensive audience research shows hockey doesn't even register on the viewers list of what they want to see.

We have shown highlights of probably 60-70% of the Barons home games this year and we had previews of the Barons playoff trip to Hamilton today on our 5-6pm Sportscasts. We'll continue coverage for as long as they remain alive - but we'll also provide a heavy dose of Thunder, OU and OSU sports because - quite frankly - that's what the majority of the audience wants to see the most. And, as I said, it's not even close. ALL high school sports draw more interest than hockey among our viewers too. In fact, even though we carry several regular season NHL games on NBC, those ratings are among the lowest of ANY program the network carries in the OKC television market. Sad, but true.

bbj/

And it sucks to say that if you were to ask any of the other 3 major news stations in OKC, you'd probably get pretty close to the same answer. Ryan Aber of The Oklahoman has been the only person in the city to give the team any type of extensive media coverage, and it's been well appreciated among the fans here. I'm going to give the team as much coverage as I'm able to, because it deserves a lot more than they're getting right now, especially with the playoff run.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Edmonton Oilers Will Pick 1st Again

WoOoOoOooOO! The Edmonton Oilers will select 1st overall at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

Exciting times for this team. Last year the Oilers took Taylor Hall with that elusive 1st overall pick. Who will they pick this year? Nugent-Hopkins? Larsson? Landeskog?

Either way, the Oilers are set for years to come. This really is it. The Future Begins... Now!

GOILERS!

- WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY -

Oklahoma City Barons Possible Lines

As the first playoff game in Oklahoma City Barons history moves closer, one mystery still remains. How are the lines going to look for the team, now that they have their complete Clear Day roster? While the call ups were in Edmonton, many players stepped up and showed that they would be an integral part of the postseason line up. So here's my guess on the lines for Thursday night.

Line 1: Alexandre Giroux - Brad Moran - Colin McDonald

This line has been together since the 2nd weekend of the season, when the original line of Giroux-Moran-Omark didn't click. After a slump in the middle of the season, and being broken up when Giroux was called up to the Oilers, this line ended the season strong. Giroux ended the season as the Barons leading scorer(32G, 46A) and finishing as the league's 2nd leading scorer, Moran as the team's 2nd leading scorer(20G, 52A) and finishing tied for 5th in the league, and McDonald as the team's 3rd leading scorer(42G, 16A) winning the league's goal scoring title in the process. This line has worked all season, and there's no way they can break this one up now.

Line 2: Teemu Hartikainen - Chris VandeVelde - Linus Omark

As the call ups slowly started making their way to Edmonton, Hartikainen and VandeVelde did well to step up and fill in the void. Hartikainen has worked well with both VandeVelde and Omark seperately, but it would remain to be seen how Omark would work with VandeVelde as Omark had O'Marra as his center for the majority of his time in OKC. After a very successful rookie campaign, Hartikainen finished as the 4th highest scorer on the team(17G, 25A). Linus Omark only played 28 games with the Barons this season, but he still comes into the postseason as the team's 6th highest scorer(14G, 17A). VandeVelde only had 12G and 4A, but 5 of those goals came in the last 15 games of the season, and he is extremely successful on faceoffs, which is all the other two players would need.

Line 3: Mark Arcobello - Milan Kytnar - Ben Ondrus

Arcobello was called up to the team from Stockton as the injured list in Edmonton grew a lot and he made the most of his time with the Barons. In 26 games, he scored 11 goals, added 11 assists and finished at +7, tied for 2nd behind O'Marra. Arcobello performed well enough to earn himself an upgrade from his AHL deal to the Oilers signing him to a 2 way NHL deal. The Captain, Ondrus, has done well in adding a physical presence to his lines. Kytnar has been on a tear the last few games, with a 7 game point streak scoring 6 goals and adding 4 assists. Kytnar and Arcobello's scoring with Ondrus' physicality would be a solid third line.

Line 4: Andrew Lord/Greg Stewart - Ryan O'Marra - Zack Stortini

Lord and Stortini have been an extremely effective shutdown pair and add the strong men to the lineup. O'Marra's faceoff success would help that out even more. Stewart's the odd man out for me, as he hasn't really done much, but he's a strong body on the ice.

Photo © Candace Riley

D-Pair 1: Colten Teubert - Alex Plante

During the long road trip, Todd Nelson paired these two together and it's been a solid pairing. Plante beforehand looked like he was floundering around on the ice, not being able to do a lot. Since getting paired with Teubert, he looks like he gained some confidence and isn't afraid to hit people. Teubert's been a beast since getting traded to the Barons. His cannon of a shot has helped a lot on the PP and hits like a wall.

D-Pair 2: Jake Taylor - Richard Petiot

This pair has been together for most of the season, barring the time that Petiot was injured early on in the season. Petiot's checking is tremendous and both do well to break up the other team's play. Both guys lead the team in +/- with +14.

D-Pair 3: Bryan Helmer - Jeff Petry

Helmer's experience and Petry's scoring along with the experience he gained in Edmonton, this is going to be a tough pair.

Kevin Montgomery is the last one out, but should there be any type of injury, he's definitely a great defenseman to have waiting in the wings.

Goalies:

Jeff Deslauriers has stepped it up tremendously in the last couple weeks. After a tough weekend in Houston for their 3 game series, JDD has 3 shutouts in 4 games and only letting 2 goals in San Antonio past him. Hopefully it isn't a short peak, they're going to need all the goaltending they can get.

Martin Gerber has been injured for the last almost-month after suffering a neck injury in Grand Rapids. He returned last weekend in Houston, letting in 6 goals but it was with a roster full of players not getting regular starts. It still remains to be seen how well he does after coming back, but hopefully it'll be at the same level or above where he was at before the injury.

On the reserve list, the Barons also have Matt Marquardt, Jesse Gimblett, and Philippe Cornet, as well as Tanner House, Martin Marincin, Hunter Tremblay, and Brandon Davidson on Amateur Tryouts who would be eligible to play should there be any number of injuries. I wouldn't be surprised either if Bryan Pitton joins the team, just in case.

Game 1 is Thursday at 6:30 CDT. There hasn't been any indication of a free internet stream or anyone showing the game on television. AHL Live released their playoff packages. A single game is $9.99 and if you order the 1st and 2nd rounds together for a single team, it'll be $39.99(a potential $10 a game to a potential $3 a game).

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Stockton Thunder Silenced for the Season

The Stockton Thunder's playoff season came to an abrupt end tonight in Game 4 of the ECHL Kelly Cup Quarterfinals against the Utah Grizzlies. The Grizzlies were up 2-1 games leading up to today's game in a best of 5 series.

After the 2010 Kelly Cup run all the way up to the Western Conference Finals-the deepest the Thunder has been into the playoffs so far, most fans probably weren't expecting this game to be the last of the post-season.

Bryan Pitton, who had just flown in to town the day before after being sent down by the Oklahoma City Barons, was the starting goalie in net, but not for long. After giving up 3 goals in the first period, Coach Thomas replaced him with Tyson Sexsmith in the second period. It wouldn't make a difference.

The Thunder didn't look good on the ice. They couldn't settle the puck. They were either slow to make a play, or sporadic with their passing when they had any potential scoring chances around Utah's goalie J.P. Lamoureaux.

The hard-hitting, tough Thunder team that we were used to seeing didn't show up. And if the guys aren't hitting anyone, the games usually don't go very well.

What should have been a momentum-boosting moment for the Thunder turned into one of the low-lights of the night. Near the end of the 2nd period, the Thunder had a 5 on 3 power play advantage over the Grizzlies. Their night long troubles handling the puck led to Utah being able to clear their defensive zone even while short handed two players. The home crowd began to "boo" their home team.

Thunder captain Craig Valette stood on the ice for the second intermission interview with announcer "Jungle Jim" amidst a sea of booing. I don't remember the exact words that Valette said, but I got-and agreed-with the message. Which was basically, the booing isn't helping, what we need now is to stick together as a team. And in frustration he slammed his stick against the glass before heading to the locker room.

The crowd calmed down in the third period and most were trying to cheer the team back to life. But a Utah goal near the beginning of the period put the game even more out of reach. A Utah power play goal near the end of the period was just insult to injury. The Grizzlies shut out the Thunder 5-0 in the Kelly Cup quarterfinals.

As terrible an ending as this was, we should be proud of this year's Stockton Thunder. Several of our players got the opportunity to play in the American Hockey League. They were gracious to the fans. They helped others around the community, volunteered their time, and raised a lot of money and awareness for local charities.

Remember that awesome goalie fight between Tyson Sexsmith and Bakersfield Condors' Josh Tjordman? Sexsmith has won ECHL's "Goaltender of the Week" award twice this season, Bryan Pitton was awarded once.

Left-winger Bretton Cameron and defenseman Steve Vanoosten have each been honored this season as ECHL's "Player of the Week".

Garet Hunt has accumulated 248 penalty minutes over the 2010-11 regular season. He was also voted in the Stockton Thunder Fan Favorite awards as "Unsung Hero" and most popular player.

The other winners of the team awards: Fraser Clair as "Most Valuable Player", Jordan Fulton was "Rookie of the Year", Chris Lawrence with the most offense, and Ryan Constant was the best defensive player.

We've been blessed with having an awesome team to be proud of. Next season will be full of more surprises, game rushes and excitement. Let's keep the good memories of this season going while we await the new.