2012 Playoffs: Stanley Cup Finals Game One

#6 New Jersey Devils / #8 Los Angeles Kings

Kings lead series 1-0 after a 2-1 OT win


The Devils held most of the play in the beginning of the game, the energy from their crowd giving them the extra oomph they needed out of the gate. But the Kings were not to be out-played for long.

The game was also pretty clean until the end when the score was 1-1 and then things started getting a little chippy. Especially around the two goaltenders. And especially after Zach Parise thought it would be cool to just throw the puck into the net because he could.


But of course the game went into overtime. Because that's how it's been this playoffs. And we all called who we thought would win it. Henrik said it would be Dustin Brown because he's impossible to stop and LeTude picked Anze Kopitar because he'd been quiet lately and Noodles went with Adam Henrique because he was the sexy pick.

When Kopitar scored on the breakaway we were speechless. What a defensive breakdown by the Devils and what a pass by Justin Williams to catch him right on the blueline.

It was a really nice goal, right?

2012 Playoffs: Stanley Cup Finals Preview

So, the Kings and the Devils? That's who made it to the Finals this year.

We can say that we are surprised.

The Kings started out the year slow, not winning and not scoring. And then their coach, Terry Murray, was fired and replaced by Mr. Sourface himself, Darryl Sutter. And that seemed to turn things around for the Kings.

But they still had trouble scoring. Defensively, the Kings were spectacular. Jonathan Quick had a Vezina-worthy year with thirty-five wins and ten shutouts. Ten shutouts. Pretty impressive for a team that has a very unheralded defense.

Then there was the trade that brought Jeff Carter to the team. And scoring became a little easier. But still, seeing them in the SCF is still a little surprising. It is important how and when a team gets hot. Obviously.

And the Devils. Man, where do we even start?

The Devils are led by Zach Parise who sometimes seems to just score through sheer will and work ethic. He is an awesome leader and someone that the team can follow and believe in. He is the emotional and offensive center of the team.

Martin Brodeur is absolutely unstoppable at times. He is ageless and still can stack the pads with the best of them. We think the Stanley Cup Finals makes him young or something because he's playing like a youngster, not a forty-year-old.

You can't count them out of course because it's the Devils and Parise and they have a couple of guys on their team that know what overtime is and how to score big goals (ex. Henrique, Adam and Sykora, Petr.)


Everyone's been asking us who we think will win and for some reason, we just can't give a straight answer.

It's like, we can see each team winning the Cup this year. They both have strong goaltenders, a defensive system and big-game scorers.

But if you really pressed us, we would go with the Los Angeles Kings because of so many things. Such as Drew Doughty being a beast and Jonathan Quick making a lot of saves and the heart n soul leadership of Dustin Brown.

Kings in seven. That's our story and we're sticking to it.

2012 Playoffs: Media Day Recaps

aka Playoff Beard Takeover.

Or something like that.

Media Day starts out with an extremely dramatic montage of Devils and Kings highlights of how they got to the Stanley Cup Finals. That's probably top three biggest goals of Adam Henrique's life. Ditto for Dustin Penner.

Kathryn Tappen looked very summery in pink and white. Barry Melrose is an idiot. And Kevin Weekes is biased, everyone knows he loves the Devils. Kidding.

First up is Peter DeBoer, the head coach of the New Jersey Devils.

Honestly, coaching ages people. When these guys first come to an NHL team, they always look so young and spry but by the time the Finals roll around, they look like a million years old.

Adam Henrique.

How is someone so attractive with an obviously-sculpted beard? And of course NHL Network teases us with his pretty face but no audio. They hate us. They fail us all the time. We need to make our own channel and sneak into media events to film what we want to see.


TOO MUCH ANALYSIS, WE WANNA SEE PLAYER INTERVIEWS COME ON!!!


The first appearance of Sweet Lou Lamoriello. Oh how we missed his aged face.

At the same time, doesn't it seem like he never ages? Like he's looked the same for years. Probably eats the souls of young players to stay so young.

Okay, here we go now.

Martin Brodeur. Looks like he's twelve.

Also, we always forget that he's French-Canadian.

If you think the Devils don't need Travis Zajac then you're freaking high. Seriously, he could be the most important player for their team. Zach Parise needs him. Ilya Kovalchuk needs him. The whole team needs his skills.

It isn't a coincidence that the Devils get crazy good as soon as he returns.

Also, the Parise-Zajac bromance is seriously underrated. Like, no one knows or cares about it but it's there and it's epic.

Hey, Patrik Elias. He still plays for the Devils.

We find it humorous that he is wearing dress pants with the red hooded sweatshirt. Interesting combination, must be a European thing.

Seriously, NHL Network has to get their audio shit together.

Anton Volchenkov sighting! He still looks like a little boy, aw.

Zach.

Zach Parise.

That face. That hair. The skillz. The smile. An American. The Captain. So many reasons to love him and so many reasons why we would be okay with him winning the Stanley Cup and raising it. So many reasons.

Ilya Kovalchuk. What are those black pinstripe pants? Did Mr. Weekes pick those our for you? Holy rusted metal, they're bad.

Also his hair, it's very Howdy Doody in this picture.

Onto the Kings!

Oh jeez, Jonathan Quick.

Who do you think you are? Eminem? What's with the hood and the hat? Is it cold in the Prudential Center?

We will say it again, goalies are weird.

(PS- NHL.com totally stole our joke.

We are not amused by it at all.)

Dustin Brown looks like he would rather be anywhere but where he is at Media Day. Also, he looks a lot like Captain Quint from 'Jaws'. Don't deny it, he does.

*Fun fact - first time in NHL history that two American captains will be facing off against each other...America, hell yeah.*

Drew Doughty.

Noodles needs a minute. Or eight. (Oh, see what we did there...)

There is so much about him that is perfect. Like the beard. And the dominance he's displayed in the playoffs so far. He's definitely a huge part of the Kings success so far.

Anze Kopitar is up next. He has no accent, how is that possible?

But he has extremely unfortunate hair. Very, very unfortunate. And a monotone voice that rivals Captain Toews. Jeez, maybe Kopitar really is a zombie...

Drew Doughty again? He makes a joke about people thinking the LA Kings are the Sacramento Kings and no one laughs. It's okay, Drew. We laughed. We truly did.

Aw, Luc Robitaille is an adorable silver fox.

And then they go to Jeff Carter.

Holy meat and potatoes, he looks like a blonde lumberjack with that beard. We don't remember it being that powerful when he was with the Flyers. Also, doesn't he look less orange? Maybe Mikey won't let him near the tanning salons now that they live in LA.

We might not have mentioned it yet but seeing Doug Weight on NHL Network gets our eyelashes a-batting. He is another sexy silver fox that we appreciate looking at as he sits next to dapper Kevin Weekes.

Ohhh speaking of the devil, here's Mike Richards.

His voice just, is awful. It sounds like he's whining the whole time and it's hard to get past that. But then he talks about the trade and we can feel Jeffy cringing from here.

And then he mentions that he and Jeff are living together. Unprompted. Of course. And it's adorable.

OMG Darryl Sutter's shirt...he looks like a farmer.

Also, his voice is gonna put us to sleep.

The End.

-&-

And as always, there are a ton of photos of the guys from both teams that the NHL Network decided were not worth the time to show on their THREE HOUR SHOW! Seriously, we have to look at a bloated and red-faced Barry Melrose incorrectly predict everything instead of listening to the players that were not interviewed.

There were rookies/sort of rookies crammed at a table and no one talked to them? Jeeeeeeeeesus people. We should be running the NHL Network.

Anyway, here are the pictures of the guys that were not interviewed and we have the questions that we think should have been asked of them.

How does it feel to be the only thirty-goal scored from the 2011-2012 season that no one knows about?
Who is the better American: Zach Parise or Patrick Kane? Try not to be biased.
PS, you are definitely rocking a ginger beard.

So, we can like you now that you're not a Flyer anymore. How do you feel about that?
Are you excited to be reunited with the BROMANCE OF THE CENTURY in Richards and Carter? Are there a lot of long-suffering sighs and looks of love between them in the locker room? How does that make you feel?

And you are?
We don't think we've ever seen you play a game as a Devil? Do not lie to us.

You're Swedish? You're lying.
How are you a brunette and allowed to say that you're Swedish? Isn't that illegal? Did your mother keep you in a basement until you escaped to America where no one would know you were the black sheep of the family?

How does it feel to be another cog in the Devils defense system?
How does it feel to have no one know your name? Except your teammates, of course.
But really...

Bob. Bobby. We were going to talk to you about hockey but then changed our minds.
How's Courtney? We miss our den mother. Will you let her know that we still want her in Pittsburgh if she will have us?

What are you looking at?
You're adorable, you know that? We like everything about your face, sir. It's a very nice face.

You're a Devil? Really? Huh. Completely forgot that.

Oh, Willie.
How long is your stick really? We don't need someone else accusing you of having an illegal stick.
We're just wondering...for science.

-&-

We hope you enjoyed our recap of this spectacular day and also our hard-hitting questions as journalists. Or something like that.

Memorial Day News & A Call To Poll

Like the terrible Americans we are, we completely forgot that today was in fact a holiday. We still worked so it was like any other normal day. Or something like that.

Before we get to the news, we would like to make a little public service announcement. If you follow the blog on Twitter then you would know that Curtis is currently running a poll to see who men would 'make an exception for' if you know what we mean...

We are asking that you poll the men in your life and you can either email us the answers at thehockeyjunkies@gmail.com or comment here or even respond to Curtis on the Twitter machine.

As always, we appreciate your participation and hope that you help us out with this (not so) serious question.


Now, onto the news!

- Hockey Canada chose Todd Gill, coach of the Kingston Frontenacs, to coach the Ivan Hlinka tournament that will be held in August.

- Just as a reminder, the Stanley Cup Finals will begin on Wednesday May 30th at 8pm.

- The Canucks signed Alain Vigneault to a two-year contract extension.

- The Wild signed Mikael Granlund to a three-year entry-level contract.

- The Blue Jackets signed Derek Dorsett to a three-year contract extension.

- Luke Richardson was named the new head coach of the Binghamton Senators, the Ottawa Senators's farm team.

- The players for the scouting combine have been named and they're now getting ready to be poked, prodded, sweated and the interviewed. It's a tough life.

- Ruck Dudley was hired as the assistant GM for the Montreal Canadiens.

- And the Habs have been busy, busy lately after they hired Scott Mellanby to be their new director of player personnel.

- Apparently, Dominik Hasek is looking to make a comeback to the NHL as a goaltender. At the age of 47. Who does he think he is, Nick Lidstrom? Jeez, buddy.

- The Bruins and Capitals traded forwards with Chris Bourque going to the Bruins and Zach Hamill going to the Capitals. Sounds fair enough, right?

- Remember the last eighth seed to make it to the SCF before the Kings this season? Yeah, Jarret Stoll and Matt Greene were a part of that 2006 Oilers team and they're grateful for a chance to contend for the Cup again.

- Travis Zajac missed most of this season after injuring his achilles tendon but he is now tearing it up for the Devils in their playoff run. He's a big part of why the Devils have been so successful this postseason.

Memorial Cup Update #3

Hey guys, Curtis here with the last installment in my series of updates on the 2012 Mastercard Memorial Cup from Shawinigan, Quebec. If you need to catch up, the previous posts can be found here and here.

Last time we left off with the host Shawinigan Cataractes upsetting the WHL Champion Edmonton Oil Kings in the 3rd place tie breaker, sending them off to the Semi-Finals against the QMJHL Champions, the St. John Sea Dogs. Coming in, the Sea Dogs were the heavy favourites as defending Memorial Cup champions, and having gone 16-1 in their QMJHL playoff run. The Cataractes were expected to challenge for the Championship as well, but had a disappointing second round exit, leaving them with a month off to prepare for the Memorial Cup, which some people thought they didn't even deserve to host.

Hmm, that's awfully expository, let's see what happened.

Semi-Final:


Shawinigan Cataractes vs St. John Sea Dogs, May 25th 2012
The Cataractes were on their third game in three days, and after two physical matchups, including a penalty-filled affair on the 23rd against the Sea Dogs themselves in which their QMJHL rivals dominated the scoreboard, they were not expected to have a fighting shot in this one. Minnesota Wild 1st round pick (28th, 2011) Zack Phillips opened the scoring less than five minutes into the game with his third of the tournament, and it didn't look good for the Cataractes, but only a few minutes later, Shawinigan struck back with two goals less than 3 minutes apart from 2012 World Juniors teammates Brandon Gormley (Phoenix, 13th, 2011) and Captain Michael Bournival (Colorado, 71st, 2010- Now a Canadiens prospect) to put them up 2-1. The Sea Dogs were able to score again to tie it up 2-2 to end the first. The second seemed to be back to the chippiness of their first game, but Shawinigan broke through mid-way through the period with two quick goals to put them back on top. The period ended 4-3 with a goal by Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida, 3rd, 2011, but you know that by now). The Sea Dogs tied it up once again halfway through the third, and it looked like it could be anyone's game, but there was no quit in the Cataractes as they went ahead once again a few minutes later and never looked back. Shawinigan would add an empty netter and one more before the game was over to take this one and earn a berth in the 2012 Mastercard Memorial Cup Final.



The Cataractes really were the surprise of the tournament, and were at this point the only team that had successfully defeated the rest of the teams in the tournament, including the team they would face in the final, the London Knights.

2012 MASTERCARD MEMORIAL CUP FINAL:


Shawinigan Cataractes vs London Knights, May 27th 2012
I'm just going to throw this one out there to start it off: The Cataractes were playing their fourth game in five days. That's rough for any team, not to mention one that's been off for a month, with all of those games coming against CHL league champions. No one would expect them to have any sort of jump in their step- remember, these are just kids. No one would have been surprised to see them come out flat and get dominated by the Knights- the only team they were able to beat in the round robin. And it sort of started out that way. Ryan Rupert (one of a pair of twins along with brother/teammate Matt, both draft eligible this year) scored 5:42 into the game, but, the Cats proved a lot of things this tournament, and one was that early goals against don't necessarily mean a thing to them. This game was different than the rest of this tournament, and especially in the sense that there were only three penalties taken and no powerplay goals scored. Another draft eligible player, Russian Anton Zlobin, scored for the Cataractes to start the third and tie up the game. This one stayed like that until the end of regulation, adding another facet to this one- the first Memorial Cup final to go to Overtime in over a decade. The guys were just gassed, especially the Cataractes' defense, but the teams managed to keep the intensity up on the biggest stage in junior hockey. It took a while to get there, but near the end of the first overtime period, Zlobin managed to get another one past CHL Goaltender of the Year (who has now gone undrafted twice) Michael Houser with a great shot off a great pass from Shawinigan native and Captain Michael Bournival.



The host Cataractes completed their miracle run through the tiebreaker (Only the second team to win after needing the tiebreaker, after the Windsor Spitfires in the first of back-to-back championship runs in 2009) to win their first Memorial Cup in their 43 year history.



Michael Chaput (Columbus) was named MVP.

-&-


Another incredible Memorial Cup tournament in the books. It'll be back next year in Saskatoon where the host Blades will have a chance to end their CHL-leading Championship drought. Annnd I'm sure I'll be doing these posts then, too.

2012 Playoffs: Eastern Conference Final Game Six

#1 New York Rangers / #6 New Jersey Devils

Devils win series 4-2 after a stunning 3-2 OT win


Adam Henrique, sitting to the left of Lundqvist with no Rangers around him, just bangs the puck home barely three minutes into overtime.


Rookie comes up big for the Devils and this face just says it all.

After scoring the OT goal that sent the Panthers home, Henrique said "Well somebody's got to be the hero, right? Why not me?" Yeah, we see what you mean, kid. He can score all the OT goals he wants because apparently no one can stop him.

Not gonna lie, we thought the Rangers had this game. But the third period was led by the Devils and they just had the momentum going into OT. Still, we never thought this series would end so soon or like it did. We don't think anyone did.

Also, Captain Parise did not touch the trophy.

Memorial Cup Update #2

Hey guys! Curtis back again with the second update on the Mastercard memorial Cup.

Last time I checked in, all teams were tied at 1-1 heading into the final game of the round robin, which was, well, kind of crazy. Now those games are over, the semi-final is decided, we know one team who will be competing for the Cup, and we're one day away from knowing who they'll be playing.

-&-

Game Threes:

London Knights vs Edmonton Oil Kings, May 22nd 2012

The Knights jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in this one and the Oil Kings never recovered. A goal from Keegan Lowe with only seconds left in the first period put them in good position to gain some momentum, but goals from Ryan Rupert (playing with identical twin brother Matt), Bo Horvat, Greg McKegg, and an empty-netter from Predators prospect (18th overall, 2010), shot-blocking stud, and former Memorial Cup Champion (Windsor, 2009) Austin Watson were too much for the WHL representatives. The Oil Kings spent a lot of time on the man advantage, including a lengthy 5-on-3 and a double minor for high-sticking, but their tournament-worst power play squandered their opportunities to get back in the game.

Shawinigan Cataractes vs St. John Sea Dogs, May 23rd 2012

I'm tempted to make some Cats vs Dogs comment, because this one will be mostly remembered for it's devolution into... well, let me just show you:

There was also a full-on Tortorella vs DeBoer standing-on-the-bench style showdown between Shawinigan coach Eric Veilleux and the St. John assistant coach to end the game. Both teams were fined for their actions. As for the actual game, the Sea Dogs had control from the beginning, taking the lead 4:19 into the game and never looking back. 2011 World Juniors standouts and first round picks Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida) and Nathan Beaulieu (Montreal) finished with 5 points between them, seeming to finally exert their dominance over the competition.

-&-

If you remember back to my first update post, those results mean that the London Knights get the bye into the final to compete for the Memorial Cup, having last won it in 2005 against Sidney Crosby's Rimouski Oceanic. St. John guaranteed their spot in the Semi-Final, while Edmonton and Shawinigan were left to fight in a tiebreaker for who would join them.

Tiebreaker:

Edmonton Oil Kings vs Shawinigan Cataractes, May 24th 2012

The Oil Kings have introduced a ritual to their pre-game, where each players takes a poker chip (each marked with the player's number) and places it it on the team logo in the centre of the locker room to symbolize that they're "All In". I wanted to give that a shout-out here because I think it's probably one of the best traditions I've ever heard of. They would need to be All In for this one or they'd be headed home.

The Oil Kings looked to have the jump for the first couple shifts of this one but an early penalty swung the momentum in Shawinigan's favour. The Oil Kings are the lowest scoring team in this tournament by far, with the worst powerplay by far (running at around 7% to start the game) and that isn't a great combination for success. The Cataractes were up 2-0 by the end of the first, and it only went downhill from there. It was a night to forget for the Oil Kings. The Cataractes managed to score on the powerplay, at even strength, and even shorthanded throughout the night. Five Cataractes finished with a multi-point game. An ugly ending to a disappointing tournament for Edmonton.

-&-


There you have it- The Cataractes will play their third game in three days tomorrow (Friday May 25th) in the Semi-Final, in a rematch against the Sea Dogs, to see who will play the London Knights in the 2012 Mastercard Memorial Cup final.

2012 Playoffs: Eastern Conference Final Game Five

#1 New York Rangers / #6 New Jersey Devils

Devils lead series 3-2 after a 5-3 win


This was just a brutal game for the Rangers, one that we are sure they would like to forget. But unfortunately this is the playoffs and games like this do not go away easily.

Henrik Lundqvist looked average. Brad Richards shot on his own goal.


It was one of those games and the Devils took advantage. Which is why they're ahead in the series. We said it would go to seven and it looks like it could happen.

2012 Playoffs: Western Conference Final Game Five

#3 Phoenix Coyotes / #8 Los Angeles Kings

Kings win series 4-1 after a thrilling 4-3 OT win



The Coyotes would not go softly into that good night, just like we thought they wouldn't. But the Kings were too much and too all over the place for the Coyotes to handle.

Dustin Penner, no seriously, decided that it would be best to score the game-winner. Of course it was a Dustin. But Dustin Brown was too busy being the center of attention after his hit on Michal Rozsival.

We're sorry for Shane Doan because someone who works as hard as him does deserve to raise the Stanley Cup. But it just wasn't to be this season.

And of course, we have the DID THE CAPTAIN TOUCH IT OR DID HE NOT TOUCH IT???

He doesn't.

2012 Playoffs: Eastern Conference Final Game Four

#1 New York Rangers / #6 New Jersey Devils

Series tied 2-2 after a 4-1 Devils win


Or the game where Mike Rupp murdered Martin Brodeur.


Or the game where Peter DeBoer and John Tortorella fought over Pierre McGuire.

Or the game where Zach Parise and Travis Zajac dominated everything about the Rangers defense. Bromance power!

Or the game where Adam Henrique shows himself to be a southpaw when he fights.