posted 21 February 2010 17:48
Once again playoff time is upon us. It looks like the first round will feature a couple of duds and a couple of barn burners. After pounding through the numbers for whatever it's worth here is my take.
Helena(43-5) vs Billings(20-28); Billings claims to have something up their sleeve for the Horns but I didn't see Ovechkin added at the deadline so I doubt it. The Bulls are only 6-7 since the showcaseand 4-6 in their last 10. The bulls PK of 85.89 and PP of 15.20 won't get it done. Did I mention that they are 0-9 vs Helena this season? I won't even go into the Horns numbers...... Helena wins 3-0
Yellowstone(34-14) vs Missoula(33-15): Miss is 6-4 in their last 10 games, 8-6 since the showcase and 0-3 to end it. Missoula won the season series 5-4 and has Astalos back. Neither one of these two have good special teams but Missoula gets the edge in the pipes. It should be a good series that I am sure at least 5,000 folks a night will watch in Mizzou but I like the Quakes style of play, they can wreck the Maulers on the first night...... Yellowstone 3-1
Seattle(40-8) vs River City(15-33) This years version of the Totems that most all counted out at the beginning of the season when they lost 3 of their first 4 is on a 13 game winning streak, 14-1 since an embarrassing showcase. The Jags mucked their way in winning 2 over Puget last weekend. No numbers required here..... Seattle in 3
Eugene(38-10) vs Tri Cities(23-25): While it seems that the showcase woke the Totems up the Generals are only 12-5 since. It looks like the beatdown thet Yellowstone gave them really busted their confidence then Seattle, River and Tri all beat them down the stretch. This team has been searching for an identity all season and I am not convinced that they know what style of game that they want to play. Sponny in Tri worked his tail off down the stretch with some great adds but they are still a 2 line team with a 12.46 pct. PP. Amatto was an upgrade in net but his history isn't strong in big games. Woodring has become average in net for Eugene, just a shadow of himself 2 years ago. Lots to ponder here, Sponny has produced some big upsets over the years and Eugene has a lot of skeletons in the closet from playoffs past but with the condensed schedule in playoffs...... Eugene 3-1
Enough said
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"We are all watching the same game, we're just not seeing the same game"
posted 23 February 2010 17:18
Welcome back old timer, did you throw all of those softballs out there just for me AJ????? Lets just see here.
The Mighty Horns vs Da Bullllls. No matter what Hass and his boy Tessin can conjure up they are no match for what the long reigning "Coach of the Year" Cunningham will throw at them. The Horns are packing way to much heat right now. Lights out Mike, 3 straight.
The Quakoneers vs the Michael Burks 20, also known as "He who pays the most usually gets beat by the Bighorns". I really really liked the showcase game when Ft. Cody reminded me of prior Totems teams with the 8-1 drubbing of the Bath House Boys, it made me feel warm and fuzzy. If they come out in game one with this same attitude they will put the MB20 on their heals, if not then Ol Miss will pick them apart. As much as I don't like it I will have to pick the Bawlers in 4. I don't want Hogans right hand but I have said it all along.... This ain't the ACHA anymore Toto.
Totems vs the kittens of River City. Seattle in 3, Seattle in 3, Seattle in 3.... If the Jags have any dream of repeating their 1st round win last season they need to put down the pipe(if they can). This Totems team is well coached and they won't make the same ACHA mistake as Miller did last season(see ACHA comment above)in the Eugene vs Jags series. Such a foolish rookie move. Murphy won't let that happen. All of RC's late season adds of 20yo washed up NorPaccers and a Ruskie just aren't enough, no way, no how. Save the money, concede the series. Totems in 3
"Your Eugene Generals" vs Sponny's Spartans. This will be fun to watch. Kool Aid chuggers of Tri taking on The Steam Room Sally's. Heck ya!!! While the BHB's have been wandering aimlessly trying to just put together "60 minutes of Generals hockey"(No one really knows what that is) Tri has been wheeling and dealing. They picked up a 1 way player from Minn (and I mean 1 way, blue line in), a D man from the Dub who apparently was cut when they found out he lacked testicles and skating ability, the absolute headcase of a goalie(who got lit up last weekend for 6) and a couple other stragglers. Meanwhile in the land of treehuggers they did nothing. Eugene has depth but no coaching, Woodring could have been the answer but he isn't. This team has no scheme, easily broke systems that they only adhere to some of the time and no confidence, only false arrogance. Tri only has 2 lines and some schetchy D but they do have a coach(and a heck of a trainer) so who do you pick???? Hmmmmm...... Just can't do it, this one's for you Bruno, Tri in 4
"I'm just sayin"
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NewFan
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posted 23 February 2010 18:57
Helena will beat Billings Missoula will play 30 or more games – the problem is guessing whether the Maulers of the 8-0 drubbing of Yellowstone or the Mauers of the 4-3 letdown in Bozeman will show. If they can put on their good team for at least 3 games – they will win it. But did they lose 3 in a row all year (before the last 3 games of the season)? I said before that the home team would win this series. Nothing has happened to cause a change of heart.
Out west, as was said, Seattle in 3. Eugene has more talent and the home ice advantage. I predicted them to win in 4, but it might take all 5. Then again, ghosts of Jaguars past may come rattling the chains. The game is on --
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Them boys shore do chase them little rubber blobs around, don't they?
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madmax
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posted 23 February 2010 22:40
Man, I love all the posts, such GREAT READS! My junior madmax, after last weeks practice puck to the mouth had a great game in game one. Go HORNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted 24 February 2010 13:39
All is serene in hockeyland, as the expected winners did. Helena didn't exactly swamp Billings, as the Bull brought out their secret weapon - 10-minute penalties. Their average penalty levied was just short of 6 minutes. Didn't work out for them.
Yellowstone and Missoula played 2 periods pretty much straight up, but the third was yellowstone's, for a win.
Seattle pretty much had their way with RC, as expected.
Eugene and Tri played even for quite a while, then the Generals took over and won it. Watching them on net showed that the talent of Eugene prevailed. Frankly, neither of the two teams looked all tht great for the first two stanzas, and I got bored with it and quit.
US V. Swiss is now 0-0 at the end of two. US is controlling the puck most of the time, substantially out shooting the Swiss - just can't get anything into the net.
This condensed schedule in the Pac playoffs is interesting. We'll see how it plays out in the end, with 5 games in 6 days on schedule for those that go the distance.
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Them boys shore do chase them little rubber blobs around, don't they?
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S.R. Love
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posted 24 February 2010 22:06
Billings @ Helena on Friday should end the series. Billings has played a great series to date, but Helena has too much depth, Then again I am biased. SR
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Shooter16
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posted 25 February 2010 14:25
So lets see here. Two games down in all of the series and things seem almost right on track for the Pac.
The announcer in Billings got pitched for talking smack about the ref along with the trainer. Funny thing is that this crew put the Horns short 13 times compared to 5 times for Da Bulls. If my memory serves me correctly this was 2/3 of the ref crew that gave ol AJ the gate 10 seconds into last years Final series. Now thats Funny.
Quote of the week goes to the coach of "Your Eugene Generals" who was obviously giddy over his first playoff win ever...."Ryan McDonald can score at will out there". Are you kidding me Miller? This must be why he was tied for 10th in league scoring this season and was over 40 points behind the leaders. Thats why he is still in the Pac and can't even get a sniff from up above. You really have an eye for talent.
The Quakoneers are frustrating the Bawlers with their 2 man forecheck. They are much the best team in this series. I can't wait til they close out Missoula in their own barn.
Oh yeah, almost forgot...... Seattle in 3, Seattle in 3
"I'm Just Sayin"
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S.R. Love
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posted 25 February 2010 15:42
That is funny Shooter. You are correct about the 2/3 crew. Williams was the referee and Lochtin the linesman in the Helena/Seattle tilt last year. The Billings/Helena crew, Lochtin was the referee and Williams the linesman.
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NewFan
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posted 25 February 2010 21:23
I predicted that Tri would win at least one, and tonight was the night. They scored a 3-1 win while substantially out shooting the Gens. Jaguar-fold starting? We'll see.
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Them boys shore do chase them little rubber blobs around, don't they?
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posted 27 February 2010 22:05
Round 1 is now complete, as the Totems took one more game than I thought they would to put the Jags into summer vacation. Along the way, they may have set a record -- 178 penalty minutes. Give or take a minute or two, that's an average of 3 in the sin bin at all times. Many misconducts - whatever that means this year. The ref have been handing out a ton of them. Looks like the had a 'line misconduct' in the 3rd. Is that kind of like the north and south Koreans standing along the DMZ shouting that the other guys moms were combat boots?
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Them boys shore do chase them little rubber blobs around, don't they?
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posted 27 February 2010 22:06
make that 'wear' combat boots
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Them boys shore do chase them little rubber blobs around, don't they?
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Decider
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posted 02 March 2010 08:03
Given the circumstances I believe "were" was the right word.
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For a better outlook, clean your window !! Reality is an illusion brought on by lack of alcohol.
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NewFan
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posted 06 March 2010 12:00
My oh My! The playoffs in round 2 are interesting. Seattle has put the wraps on their series, taking it 3-0 – but it wasn’t easy. All 3 games were 1 goal differences (except for the one where it was 2-0 Seattle with an empty netter just before the buzzer). One went to OT. Seattle and Eugene must have taken up choir-boy duties, as in three games they had a total of only 66 penalty minutes between them. This just doesn’t seem like the Totems vs Generals we have come to know and love. SOG were fairly even though with Seattle having the edge by an average of 5 per game. Eugene scored 5 goals on 98 shots, meaning the Totem goalies combined for a .949 save percentage – pretty awesome! Eugene’s netminders had a 0.92save %, which isn’t too bad, either. In the end, Seattle had just a bit more and it translated into a 3-0 sweep on total goals of 9-5. This is not an awe-inspiring goal output by either team. The AW is a bit more of a surprise. Helena is in an unfamiliar territory, as they are one loss from elimination. They managed a split in the first 2 games on Quake ice, which should have given them the upper hand in having to take 2 out of 3 at home to secure yet another trip to the finals. Well, they still only need to take 2, but that would now be ‘in a row’, as they gave up their advantage by getting stuffed 5-0 at home last night – one of the biggest surprises of the entire season – at least to me. I am not surprised that this series is going to go 4 or 5 games – not in the least. I just never expected that the Horns would need to come from behind. Yellowstone should be full of confidence as they only need 1 out of 2; shut out the Horns at home (when was the last time that happened? If my memory serves, they have had suffered 3 shutouts in the last 4 years - all on the road); have outscored the Horns 13-9 in three games, and have their save percentage between the pipes running at 92.9%. As for penalties, they have 205 minutes between them in 3 games, pretty evenly split. That’s an average of 34+minutes per team per game – 3 X the rate of the Generals/Totems series. What happened??? The two sides swap officiating crews? The Horns have the talent to do what they have to do. The question is, do they have the heart? Tonight will finish the upset if the Quake gets it done.
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Them boys shore do chase them little rubber blobs around, don't they?
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fan1127
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posted 07 March 2010 19:17
BigHorns win 5-2 today! Yellowstone made it an exciting time though and they have a SOLID goalie, hats off to them boys too.
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Every story has three sides to it-yours, mine and the facts. Foster Russell
Posts: 14 | From: Helena MT | Registered: Mar 2007 | IP: Logged
posted 21 February 2010 17:48
posted 23 February 2010 18:57
posted 27 February 2010 22:05
posted 02 March 2010 08:03
