First Round Prediction Standings

With the first round in the books, it's time to take a look at where the three hosts of CIA Radio ultimately stand. Needless to say, many of the gigantic upsets took us all by surprise, as you'll see in just a moment.

Now, the way I'm doing this scoring system is simple: each of us gets 1 point for getting the winning team right, and then another point if we also got the amount of games it took right. In each round the stakes will go up: in the conference semis, it will still be 1 point for the winner but now it will be 2 points for getting the game number, 2 points for the winner & 2 points for the game # in the conference finals, and finally 3 points for the winner & the game # in the Stanley Cup final.


Eastern Conference

(1) Washington Capitals vs. (8) Montreal Canadiens
Actual Result: Habs in 7
John: Caps in 4 (+0)
Emily: Caps in 4 (+0)
Quinlan: Caps in 4 (+0)
Thoughts: The only series where we were all in complete agreement in both the winning team & the number of games, and of course we were all 100% incorrect. To say this came as a shocker would be an understatement; even before Game 6, I remember remarking to both of them that all of us would pick up 1 point here. No one saw the Caps' epic collapse coming, but considering it was a record-setting collapse at that, I don't think anyone can really blame us.

(2) New Jersey Devils vs. (7) Philadelphia Flyers
Actual Result: Flyers in 5
John: Devils in 5 (+0)
Emily: Devils in 5 (+0)
Quinlan: Devils in 6 (+0)
Thoughts: We're off to a fantastic start, aren't we? Again all three of us got this one wrong, too, as we all put too much stock in the goaltending and not even stock in the Flyers' 5-1-0 regular season record against the Devils. At this point, I think I'm going to have to adopt a rule for the Devils- don't pick them to get out of the first round until they actually manage to do it again, no matter how good their regular season was.

(3) Buffalo Sabres vs. (6) Boston Bruins
Actual Result: Bruins in 6
John: Buffalo in 5 (+0)
Emily: Buffalo in 7 (+0)
Quinlan: Buffalo in 5 (+0)
Thoughts: In another series where we were all wrong, I suppose you can say Emily was the closest to being right; on the podcast when we were discussing this series, she kept insisting it would be a very, very close series while Quinlan & I thought it would be a cakewalk for the Sabres. The fact is, Boston found some goal-scoring at the best possible time, and considering how good defenesively they were already that makes them pretty scary.

(4) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (5) Ottawa Senators
Actual Result: Penguins in 6
John: Ottawa in 7 (+0)
Emily: Pittsburgh in 7 (+1)
Quinlan: Pittsburgh in 6 (+2)
Thoughts: Leave it to me to pick my only upset in the only Eastern conference series that DOESN'T HAVE AN UPSET. Of course, Emily & Quinlan played it safe and picked the favorite again, and they finally have a correct prediction as a result. Crosby turned up his play by about seven-million times and Fleury & the defense seemed to get better as time goes on, which was enough to squeak by a fired-up Ottawa squad.

Western Conference

(1) San Jose Sharks vs. (8) Colorado Avalanche
Actual Result: Sharks in 6
John: San Jose in 4 (+1)
Emily: San Jose in 4 (+1)
Quinlan: Colorado in 7 (+0)
Thoughts: Even though Emily & I both pick up a point and Quinlan gets nothing, in a way his prediction was probably closer to being right than ours was! We thought it would be a four-and-done situation, while Quinlan thought it would be a very close series, and he turned out to be right. Unfortunately, Colorado didn't have what it took to take advantage of some very, very good bounces and finish off the Sharks, who managed to get that monkey off their back somewhat with a huge win.

(2) Chicago Blackhawks vs. (7) Nashville Predators
Actual Result: Blackhawks in 6
John: Chicago in 6 (+2)
Emily: Chicago in 5 (+1)
Quinlan: Chicago in 5 (+1)
Actual Thoughts: Yeah, my first two-pointer! I had a feeling this series was going to be a close one and it certainly was, and the Predators have nothing to be ashamed of when they were oh-so-close to a 3-1 lead. The Blackhawks simply had too much talent in the end, but they can't afford to not show up for a game in the next round like they did against the Preds in Game 3.

(3) Vancouver Canucks vs. (6) Los Angeles Kings
Actual Result: Canucks in 6
John: Vancouver in 7 (+1)
Emily: Vancouver in 6 (+2)
Quinlan: Vancouver in 7 (+1)
Thoughts: Speaking of teams who were very, very close to a 3-1 lead, my poor Kings almost pulled off the upset, but they simply did not have the goaltending in the end to get it done, despite a great start from Jonathan Quick. The third-period collapse in Game 4 was obviously the turning point, and it all went downhill for the Kings from there.

(4) Phoenix Coyotes vs. (5) Detroit Red Wings
Actual Result: Red Wings in 7
John: Detroit in 5 (+1)
Emily: Detroit in 4 (+1)
Quinlan: Phoenix in 7 (+0)
Thoughts: Here's yet another series where we get a point each and Quinlan gets nothing, but Quinlan was probably closer to being right than we were. We both thought this would be an easy out for the Wings, but Quinlan had this as a very close series and he turned out to be right. The Red Wings had way too much talent to go out in the first round, but the 'Yotes put up a hell of a fight.


Standings After First Round
1. Emily - 6 points
2. John - 5 points
3. Quinlan - 4 points

Alright folks, there's your standings after one round. For now Ms. Emily Gee is our leader, but there's still plenty of hockey left to be played, and thus plenty of more bad predictions to be made too. Tonight we'll be back on the air with CIA Radio, where all three of us will make our picks for the second round! You can join in on the fun by clicking here starting at around 7:00 pm EST to join our live chat. There's a number on there where you can call in and talk to us on the show as well. We'll be starting at 7:30 pm EST. Hope to see some of you there!

Welcome to my little corner of the web

I won't go into a great deal of detail, since I'm assuming you're more than capable of reading the About Me section, but I figured a little introduction was in order, so here goes.

I'm as devoted of a hockey lunatic as you'll find here on the wonderful world called the intrawebs. My love for hockey started as a small child, and can all be traced back to my grandfather. He was a noted insomniac (which passed down to me, hence why I'm writing this at 3:48 am EST) and, among other things, a huge fan of the New York Rangers. Hence why, at the tender age of 8, he snuck into my room after my mother had already put me to bed and woke me up just in time to see those aforementioned Rangers win the '94 Stanley Cup. And with that, a lifetime hockey fan was born.

Though the infamous Dead Puck Era of the late '90s-'early 00s drove my teenage interest away for a while, the rule changes in the post-lockout era brought me back fairly quickly. This year is my third straight season with the Center Ice Package, thus allowing me to watch more hockey than any human being should probably watch. I've made it my mission in life to turn as many people on to the world's greatest (and America's m0st under-appreciated) sport in the world, and view it as a badge of honor that my girlfriend has gone from barely knowing the sport existed to falling asleep to NHL on the Fly every night.

Briefly last year I had a podcast that shared the title of this blog, but increasingly insane work hours forced me to discontinue that. Thanks to the joys of unemployment, my free time is back (just in time for the stretch run, oh yeah baby!), and I figured it would be the perfect time to get a blog going again. The podcast may yet return as well, so if you're interested in that sort of thing let me know. And hell, if you're interested in being a co-host, definitely leave me a comment, because I could use one of those.

Anyway. Let's get down to a little bit of meat here. People often ask me "Hey, John, why in god's name do you have THREE favorite teams?". I know it is looked down upon in many sports circles to have more than one favorite, and I want to get into how I think I ended up like that before I get a million questions on the subject. So let's get to it:

Reason #1: There's no other sport out there I even like, let only love like hockey. Most people who are loyal to only one hockey team probably have a favorite baseball, football, basketball, or even soccer team they follow too. To be quite frank, I couldn't care less about any other sport. They all look slow, boring, and/or soft when put up next to my beloved hockey, and given the insane amount of it I watch (and podcasts I listen to, blogs and articles I read, and so on and so on) it leaves little time to follow anything else.

Reason #2: As I mentioned already, I watch a lot more hockey than most people. I find it a lot more fun to watch when I have a rooting interest, so the end result ends up with me rooting for more teams than the average person. Some people, like the Puck Podcast guys for interest, have noted that they enjoy games where they have no rooting interest. That's never been my thing.

Reason #3: It's easy to tell why I love the Rangers (geographical location + pre-programmed family love), so let me just get into why I love my Kings & Hawks. The Kings were the team that the Great One played for when I was a kid, which is why I took notice of them in the first place. My love for them just kind of stuck, and it's been so much fun over the past few seasons watching them rebuild through the draft, the way they're supposed to. All of that basically applies to the Blackhawks too; Ed Belfour was my favorite goalie, and everyone knows he started out as a Blackhawk. Patrick Kane is probably my favorite player nowadays, and I probably wear his jersey more than any sane human being should wear any piece of clothing. Plus, to get REALLY superficial, both teams have my favorite jerseys in the entire NHL.

Okay, we've got all that introduction crap out of the way now. My next post will be both more interesting and less self-centered, I promise. Welcome to the blog and thanks if you took time out to read it!