Saturday, January 07, 2006

 

Hockey Day in Canada

Man, don't you know it's just a holiday invented out of thin air by a corporation, man, to sell stuff for a bunch of other corporations?

My strong anti-capitalist sentiments* aside, it should be a good day. Sens-Habs at noon MST. Then the usual Leafs game at 5:00, although this week it happens to be in Edmonton against the Oilers. And finally at 8:00, Flames at Canucks.

The Canucks have gained a total of one point against the Flames this season in 4 games (2 in each city). I know the Flames are better - I watched all four games - but the Canucks shouldn't be that submissive, should they? The Flames still have a chance to sweep 3 of their 14 conference rivals**:
I like it. It's pretty much quieted any Canucks fans who were still saying that with Bertuzzi, they definitely would have beat the Flames in the playoffs. But at the same time, I can't get my head around the idea of beating them all 8 times (and if they should happen to meet in the playoffs, that's the last thing you want).

For a prediction, I'll just say "tied after 60 minutes". All good things must come to an end, but you never want that end to be now. Go Flames.

----------
*Yes that's sarcasm
**Dallas (2 of 4), Anaheim (1 of 4), Nashville (2 of 4), and St. Louis still have the chance to sweep the Flames.

Comments:

There are some weird parallels between the Oiler and Flame records this year, as pointed out in a slightly earlier thread, but surely their combined 8-0 record against the Canucks is the very weirdest. I wouldn't expect these teams to combine for an 8-0 run against Columbus in more than one trial out of twenty.

It's even stranger that Vancouver is still in range of overhauling both teams despite the eight losses. Maybe these interdivisional games don't mean so much after all?
 


I'd say they're plenty important, they're just not critical, in that sense that a bad showing can't be overcome.

The Canucks are a craptastic 5-14 against the NW division (or 5-10-4 if you prefer). Besides their 0-8 v. Alberta, they're 2-4 v. Colorado and 3-2 v. the Wild.

In their favour, they're a sweet 11-1 against teams east of Minneapolis, and a decent 6-3-1 against the Pacific Division.

Hard to say since it's the first year of the format, but I'd guess the Canucks are a statistical aberration, and will be years before we see another team with a 5-14 intradivisional record holding down a playoff position.

(Furthermore, I'd expect their Win% v. NW at the end of the season to be better than the current 0.263, and their Win% v. everyone else to be worse than the current 0.773).
 


Or, you know, we could complain about being in the best division in the league. Only three western-conference* teams outside the NW division have winning records against the NW: Nashville (6-5-0), LA (8-2-0) and Dallas (6-4-0). That's compared to eight against the Central division (everyone except Colorado and SJ, the latter of which is .500) and six against the Pacific (Everyone in the NW except Calgary, plus Detroit and Nashville).

The Canucks' atrocious NW record is more than helped by their 7-1-0 record against the pathetic Central division, and their 6-3-1 against the Pacific. It also sort of makes me sick to think of how much worse Detroit would be if they couldn't just walk all over their own conference (13-1-0 , though they've only played Nashville once). Or how much better we would be if we could. Sigh.

(*I didn't count Eastern teams since the fact not everyone plays everyone else skew the stats, and it's a much smaller sample.)
 


Damn you and your quick fingers, matt.

Further, damn your goaltender.
 


Sorry Dave. Although 'atrocious' is probably a better word than 'craptastic' -- that's why you're the pro!
 


uggh. stupid conklin. how is it that everyone BESIDES the coaching staff can see how atrocious he is?
 


For a prediction, I'll just say "tied after 60 minutes". All good things must come to an end, but you never want that end to be now. Go Flames.

Good prediction, as it turns out. Another entertaining game, and I like seeing the Canucks actually pick a the "w" for once. Though I can understand how Flames fans are gonna be upset by the reffing.

On a separate note regarding the disallowed goal to Salo: Why have they started calling off goals when a player is in the crease, if he hasn't interfered with the goalie?
 


In the case of Conklin, I think craptastic is more appropriate than atrocious.
 

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