Edmonton's Race For The Memorial Cup Begins Tonight

            Tonight the quest for the Memorial Cup Begins tonight. Its the Edmonton Oil Kings vs the Shawinigan Cataractes and the London Knights vs the Saint John Sea Dogs. Edmonton won their first WHL Championship since rejoining the league 5 years ago. The win marked the Oil Kings first WHL Championship title since 1972. Lead by captain Mark Pysyk (Prospect in the Buffalo Sabres organization) the Oil Kings were able to dominate the Portland Winterhawks with a 4-1 lead.''We know Shawinigan is a good team,'' Laxdal Coach of the ,Oil Kings, said Thursday as the coaches from the four teams in the 10-day tournament met with the media. "They've got a deep back end and a lot of speed up front.'I know they didn't have the playoffs they wanted, but they had a good season. And they'll have the crowd behind them. It'll be an outstanding game.'' Coach Laxdal also said, "We’re very proud of the kids,to bring back the Oil Kings name from the ’60s and ’70s and start it all up again and to be going to the Memorial Cup and having the league championship is outstanding.”

       "Chances are it will be the last year,” Pysyk said as the team prepared to head to Shawinigan, Que., for the four-team tournament.“I’ll probably end up in the American Hockey League next year, so to finish off with the WHL championship and maybe a Memorial Cup coming up, that’s definitely pretty special.” Pysyk knows this is a huge task ahead of them and is ready to lead his team all the way to the Cup.

Besides Pysyk, the Oil Kings defence is anchored by players such as 6-foot-5 Edmonton Oilers prospect Martin Gernat and 6-foot-4 draft eligible Griffin Reinhart, the son of former Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks defenceman Paul Reinhart (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/oil-kings-dig-deep-aim-for-the-top/article2435105/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Home&utm_content=2435105).

          The Memorial Cup is something that gives players a great feeling, what it'll feel like to eventually play in the NHL. This is the final chance for the remaining players in this years draft class to show what they got. However the Oil Kings will most likely lose Key Players like Pysyk, Kristians Pelss, and Keegan Lowe to the NHL this season. After this year, the Oil Kings will need to find new leadership to fill those loses. However the team isn't worried about that right now. All they have on their mind is to win the Memorial Cup. The Oil Kings have not played the Shawinigan Cataractes this season so this might lead to a very interesting series to see how these two teams play against each other.

          “We don’t know a whole lot about the other teams, other than Saint John won it last year, London is always a good hockey team and Shawinigan must have a pretty good framework if they’re hosting a Memorial Cup,” said defenceman Keegan Lowe. "They’re all going to be good teams, but we all play in different leagues, so whether we’re the underdog or the favourites, I couldn’t answer that. There’s no way of telling until we play the games.”Goaltender Laurent Brossoit said “You have to have a little (swagger), but you can’t have too much, We know how good we are, but we know how good they are, too.”

           As the players are very excited about their return to the Memorial Cup, they are ready to face-off tonight and attempt the run and the Cup. If they win this series, they'll move on to face ether the Knights, after the return of head coach Dale Hunter, or the Saint John Sea Dogs. This is set up to be another great series of hockey for the young guns.

Capitals Force Game Seven

         Well Alex Ovechkin and his Washington Capitals have pulled it off again. The Capitals forced game 7 for the 2nd straight series with Wednesday's 2-1 win in the nation's capital. The Capitals shocked the Rangers with a quick 1st period power play goal by Captain Alex Ovechkin. That goal was followed by Jason Chimera's mid-second period tally to give the Caps the 2-0 lead over the Rangers. However, Holtby's shut out was spoiled by a late Marian Gaborik goal. However, this was not enough for the Rangers to post a win against the red hot Capitals.

          The players took the lose very rough however no one took it as badly as Rangers head coach John Tortorella. Tortorella did not want to hear anything from reporters as he pretty much blew up on them as a result to almost any question he was asked. He definitely let his anger out during the post game however would not show it in the locker room or on the ice until the next day. As you can see by Tortorella's post game interview (watch video on side for full interview), he was not happy at all. He continuously stated that he though they sucked. He also refused to comment on individual players. After less then 2 minutes of frustration, Tortorella got up and left. He was not in the mood to be interviewed. Period.   

            The players also thought they played poorly. "We can't let it," Rangers captain Ryan Callahan said. "We have to put this one behind us. We have to go in Saturday ready to play." Callahan realizes that game 7 is do or die. He hopes to lead his team past the Caps in game 7 Saturday when the take home ice at MSG.

"I'm probably a little more nervous the older I get because I was kind of young and stupid at that time," Richards said Friday after practice. "It's a fun day. You cherish the chances you get to be in them. You treat it like a great day in your life. You don't get many chances to do something like that at Madison Square Garden; Game 7 on a Saturday night. Where else would you want to be?"

            From the Caps point of view, they are so happy and relieved they forced game 7. They also do realize this could be the end of the road though if they take 7 too lightly. "It was tough, but we thought about it in the room the next day, watched some film in the locker room and we thought 'we played a good game,'" Hendricks told NBC. "Great job by 'Holtsie', he stood on his head tonight, and now we look forward to Game 7." It was planned to be the least amount of a distraction to the team as possible," Holtby said Friday after practice. "It was a great day. Mom and baby are doing great, but now the focus is on hockey." "We know what we have to do," Backstrom said. "If we can win in Boston, we can do it up at Madison (Square Garden), too. We're looking forward to it."

           From both sides, fans are excited for game 7. It's a battle of the best. Both teams want to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals to face the Devils. This game is the highest priced event at MSG in over a year at an average of $435 a ticket. MSG is sure to be rocking tomorrow night for Game 7. As a result, it will sure be a huge hit around the US and Canada. Both teams appear to be desperate as they face elimination. It'll be fight to the bitter and end and probably come down to win goal and who wants it more. After tomorrow we will know who will play the Devils. The Capitals have already thrown off the 2nd place Bruins in game 7 in the 1st round. Can they repeat and continue their hot streak, or will the 1st place Rangers move on. This year has been a very entertaining playoff year and I don't expect anything different from tomorrow's game.

Philly Flys Out of Playoffs After Game 5 loss to Devils

            The Philadelphia Flyers were eliminated yesterday from the Stanley Cup Playoffs at Wells Fargo Center in Philly. The Flyers struggled throughout the series to find strong goaltending from Ilya Bryzgalov. The Flyers were strong scorers, however when it came to stopping the puck at vital times, Bryzgalov was unable to be solid to lead the Flyers to victory. Yes, Bryzgalov was able to make some huge saves, however, he wasn't able to stop them when the Flyers needed him to the most."I wanted to put the puck in the corner for Kimmo (Timonen) to start back up," Bryzgalov said about the numbing pass he attempted that ended up behind him, "and the puck, I don't know, hit him in his stick and going in the net. A bad bounce, unfortunately. It could go anywhere — in the corner, higher, lower, but it goes straight between the legs." Bryzgalov was very disappointed in his play. The Flyers signed Bryzgalov to a 9-year, $51 million contract this past summer and fans now are starting to question "Was he worth the money?"

               Even with the key additions of Bryzgalov, Jaromir Jagr, Max Talbot, and Brayden Schenn, they still suffered many key losses. They traded Richards and Carter away during last off-season. Also, the Flyers were hit by the injury bug through out the entire season. The list included key players such as Danny Briere, James van Riemsdyk, and the long term injury to Chris Pronger. During the 2011/12 season, the Flyers suited up 14 different rookies. 

               Veteran forward Jaromir Jagr stated after the lose, "From the organization to the last player on the team, and the fans, they were so nice to me, I hate to finish it right now. That's the worst feeling. You finish the whole story, the whole year, that's a sad day.I want to cry right now."

            The Future of Jagr with the Flyers is uncertain. The 40 year old veteran has been in this league for many years and felt similar results in the past. The former 2-time Stanley Cup Champion, hopes he can win another cup sometime. However, does he have enough in him? He was third on the team with 54 points, but faded in the playoffs and was a non-factor against the Devils. Most teams would still be interested in Jagr, although the question is, where will he decide to play?

             Head Coach Peter Laviolette stated after the lose, "We could never seem to get down that road." Laviolette knew his team was struggling to get past the Devils, but was unsure how to shake up the struggling Flyers. Some fans may ask "Why didn't you give Sergei Bobrovsky a chance?" The Flyers had to much faith in Bryzgalov, that they didn't want to give up on him. Bobrovsky may have been the starter for most of last season and the playoffs, but if you remember, the Flyers had goalie trouble last season as well. The Flyers continually would switch between Bobrovsky and current Hurricanes back-up Brian Boucher. Is it a goalie problem in Philly or is it just poor defense? The answer is both. The Flyers have put a lot of effort in finding great goalies as they also have Michael Leighton playing for their minor league team the Adirondack Phantoms. The Flyers should look more into strengthen their defense and not as much their goaltending. They already have plenty of talent in the net even if it didn't show in the playoffs.

             Even though the Flyers played poorly, you can't  say that the Devils didn't have a strong series.They had a lot of success from veteran goalie Martin Brodeur. They also had strong scoring from players like Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise, and David Clarkson. Clarkson stated following the Game Five 3-1 victory, “I’ll take ’em any way I can get ’em,” referring to the goal he scored that was the go ahead winning goal after a bad play by Flyers goalie Bryzgalov. “I’ve never been this far,” said Zach Parise, the first-year captain. “It’s a good feeling. But we’re only halfway there. It’s only going to get harder.” The Devils know they have a long road ahead of them in the Eastern Conference Finals. Now, they need to get ready to face off against the winner of the Capitals-Rangers Series. They know it'll not be an easy road ahead as the continue their battle for the Cup. When asked if  he was excited for a break as they wait for the end of the Capitals-Rangers series, Kovalchuk responded, “I want to play as soon as I can.”

             No one on this Devils team wants to wait long as they are ready to make a run for the cup. The Devils have not won a Stanley Cup since 2003 and would love to add another banner to the rafters of the Prudential Center. "It seems forever for a lot of guys," Future hall of famer goaltender Marty Brodeur said following the win. "It's tough to do that. We're fortunate to have made it there so far." Brodeur is another veteran that many fans are unsure how many years he's got left. The Future Hall of Famer has been part of all 3 Devils Stanley Cup Championship teams and has been the solid backstop for the Devils since 1993. The Devils have a huge task in front of them and will have to play even better if they want to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.