Dr. Dap's 2012 NHL Playoff Predictions

It all comes down to this. A four-round, best-of-seven, free-for-all in the postseason of the NHL. All these teams who worked tirelessly all year to get their seeding finally get to show their real grit on the biggest stage this side of the Olympics.

Two Conferences. Eight Teams. One Winner. Here's the Clinics personal predictions of the entire 2012 NHL postseason.

10/18/11 Rangers vs. Vancouver Canucks

I'm back on the horse.

Rangers against the Vancouver Canucks.

First off, I would like to apologize for my lack of posts the past two games. I work now, and I am rather busy and don't have time to write the posts on weekends. I will begin doing a "Weekend Roundup" Every week to go over the games I'll have to miss because of my job. But during the week, I'll be on my game doing every single game that comes up.

Now, onto the game. The Rangers are off to a very rocky start. Despite having two points, they have yet to win this year. They are currently 0-1-2, and need a jump in order to gain some ground out of the starting gate this year. The Rangers have only managed 5 goals in their first 3 games, and are depleted on defense with Michael Sauer and Marc Staal sitting with injuries. It's quite a bit of turmoil to start the season with, but keep in mind that the Rangers lost Marian Gaborik on the third game of the season last year, and managed to bond together to string together some wins. That is not out of the question that that can happen here and now. With a new offensive weapon in Brad Richards, the Rangers can finally get some good setups for Gaborik, and will be able to convert more. What they need right now is secondary scoring. Brandon Dubinsky, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Artem Anisimov have yet to score this year, and in order for the Rangers to succeed, they will need them to chip in occasionally to get the Rangers over this hump.

The Canucks are, well, the Canucks. They're a great team. They are currently 2-2-1, and are off to a fairly decent start. With reports coming in that Ryan Kesler will be making his return tonight, that only makes the Canucks that much better. They are a solid team, but that does not mean they are unbeatable. The Presidents Trophy winning team a year ago, the Canucks and Rangers faced on January 23rd last season (a game I proudly attended) and the Rangers shut out the best team in the NHL to the score of 1-0. It will be harder this time around, but I do believe that the Rangers have what it takes in order to make that come true.

The Diagnosis


Despite my optimism, I believe it's going to be too much of a task asking the Rangers to take on this powerhouse of a team at this stage. They are too depleted by injuries, are fatigued from travel, and just don't seem to be on the same page play-wise. I see the Canucks taking this game tonight.

The Prediction


Canucks win 3-1

Brad Richards will have the first goal of the game early on in the 1st.
Henrik Sedin will get the first goal for the Canucks half way through the 1st.
Daniel Sedin will score the second for the Canucks.
And the empty netter will be scored by Kevin Bieksa.

Enjoy the game!

EA's NHL: What Your Team Selection Says About You

Like any other hockey fan, I like to enjoy some leisure time by playing some of EA's NHL series on my coveted gaming system. I normally like to just play a quick game between another person, and like most online communities, a majority of player I face are huge jerkoffs. Having played NHL 11 over and over again against multiple douches, I've noticed a trend among the type of players, and their playing style coincides with what team they choose when selecting the match up. Some people are fun to play as, and pick their favorite team like me (a majority of the time I play as the Rangers), or they choose a random team regardless of stats (is this a good time to mention my 7-game win-streak with the Thrashers?). However, others you can pinpoint their personality by the team they select/their lobby mannerisms. Here's a full breakdown of the social phylum of the EA's NHL franchises online community:

If a Person Selects The Team in First Place In Real Life At the Time


Chances are they suck, and are looking to compensate for their lack of skill by selecting the best team. A majority of my time this season went into playing the same three teams because people don't have enough faith in their own skill. Here's a pro-tip for all those people: the teams good stats does not make up for the lack of skill and motor functions you fail to possess. Any player can select the real-life first place team and win, selecting them on a consistent basis shows that you admit you suck at the game.

If a Person Shuffles the Preset Lines to Put the Best Players on the Top Line


This one pretty much goes with the first one; the person sucks at the game and wants to compensate for their suckage. Again, this is not real-life, and shuffling the lines will only marginally help you if you are bad at the game, like most people who do this are. Anybody who has a competent understanding of the basics of the game can score a hat-trick with Donald Brashear if they tried hard enough.

If a Person Plays as the Pittsburgh Penguins


Something about choosing the Penguins makes everyone who plays as them become like them. The Penguins are widely regarded by NHL fans as being one of the most whimpy teams in the league, thanks in majority to their centerpiece Sidney Croscussion...er... Crosby.

Press "Y" to be a bitch.

The people who choose the Penguins are some of the holiest of the assholes you'll find online. The Penguins are the team that the guys who will spend more time diving to get the puck from you then actually on their feet will choose to play as.  These are the people who will do nearly anything (diving, spamming the hook button) to win, no matter how womanly their play style is.

And Thus Ends the 2011 NHL Season

The Bruins have won the Cup, and Vancouver is rioting again.

As a mainly New York sports fan, it's normally taboo for us to root for a Boston team. But today, I don't feel that same animosity that I do toward Boston with the Bruins. The Bruins battled, and battled, and hit, and checked, and stayed composed through the toughest times, having to win three Game 7's to win the Stanley Cup. They played their game, and never wavered in the face of adversity.

I didn't end up watching the game, but I'm looking at the replays and there are a few things I wish to comment on.

Numero Uno: Canucks; what happened? Sedins; where were you? What happened to this team that won the Presidents Trophy, and one of the goalies who was nominated for the Vezina in Roberto Luongo? Was Aaron Rome really a pivotal point in this teams performance, or was shutting down Nathan Horton the only game plan they had going into this series? Either way, one fact is certain in my mind: The Canucks got scared. The Bruins were noticeably tough and bigger than most of the Canucks, and they got intimidated. After seeing Dan Hamhuis go down early in the series, the players like the Sedins didn't want to risk personal injury and played conservative hockey. Had they showed some testicular fortitude and played with a reckless abandon, they would be the ones holding the Cup right now.

Numero Dos: Canucks fans need to chill, and quickly. After rioting after the 1994 series, it's now become a custom in the NHL that if your team loses, we expect you to act like savage neanderthals and break everything in sight. Is that really the reputation you want in this league? Also, during the Cup presentation, it upset me to hear as many boo's as I did. Yes, I understand the frustration of losing on home-ice, and having to watch the team who just beat you celebrate and spray champagne right in-front of you, but show a little class for Christ's sake. Not even Flyers fans were as disrespectful last year when the Blackhawks won the Cup on Philadelphia ice. The Flyers fans sat there and gave a gallant golf-clap to their team, and the team that won, and that's exactly what should be done. Now, whenever someone goes back and watches the replays of the Game 7, they're going to remember two things: how much the Canucks choked, and how sore the fans were afterwards.

In all, the playoffs this year were pretty good, but my attention sort of faded once it got deeper. There were no heavy underdog teams that came up through the ranks, and no team that overcame a miraculous deficit (although we had two teams come close). The Championship round also lost most of my attention. It was either I sat down and watched a 1-0 snoozefest, or a 4+ goal blowout. Game 2 was the only interesting game for me, but again, that's just my opinion.

Now, we wait on summer activities, like the Draft, and free-agency to open up. Congratulations to the Bruins, from The Clinic!

Can The Blackhawks Pull Off The Comeback?

Hello, if you are stumbling across this, this is typically a New York Rangers blog. In the off-season, many different topics are discussed on this blog that may or may not pertain to the Rangers. This site will continue to keep the Rangers as its top priority, but will post content about other hockey news while the post-season goes on.

If you aren't in-tune with the hockey world, or any sports for that matter, I would like to pose a single question to you: If a team is up three game to zero in a "best-of 7" series, the chances of a comeback are nearly impossible, right?

Well, as fate would have it, the Chicago Blackhawks have erased the three-game lead on the President's Trophy winning Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the playoffs. Tonight is the final game of the series, and everyone is feeling the tension.

Just one year after the Philadelphia Flyers overcame a 3-0 deficit against to the Boston Bruins in the semifinal round of the playoffs, the Blackhawks are looking to follow in their footsteps this year, and continue their streak of eliminating the Canucks from the playoffs for the third straight year. Only this year feels like it will sting just a bit more if they manage to pull it off.

It's been said around the hockey world that much of the blame for the Canucks' collapse falls on the shoulders of goaltender Roberto Luongo. Truth be told, Luongo hasn't been absolutely stellar for the past three games. In fact, head-coach Alain Vigneault decided to give Luongo a chance to gather himself just in-case of the inevitable (thus being Game 7), by starting backup goaltender Corey Schneider in Game 6. However, fate would have it that Schneider would eventually let in the tying goal of Game 6 on a penalty-shot by Michael Frolik, and in the process, injured himself. The Blackhawks had no choice but to send Luongo back into net, where he allowed the final goal of the night in during the overtime period from Ben Smith.

It's also been said that the Blackhawks are "inside Roberto Luongo's head." This statement could in fact hold some water. I mean, if you had to face the same team three-years in a row in the playoffs, after they've beaten you twice, and now you've given up a lead that if you potentially lose it, it will be remembered in the memories of sports-lore for the rest of time, you would probably be a little psyched out too. Not to say Luongo is not capable of winning the game tonight, but the thought of him being tormented by the Blackhawks.

I for one, will be rooting for the Blackhawks because I want to see a miraculous comeback once again. And since it's not the Flyers doing it, it'll be a lot easier to cheer for the team coming back. No offense to the Canucks or anything, I just love me a good underdog-Cinderella story.