Monday, March 20, 2006

 

Wow

The Western Conference playoff race, with roughly 15 games to go, is simply remarkable (at the left is the 5th to 10th place teams, and # of games behind the Wings).

The glass-half-empty perspective for fans of the Oilers, or any of these 6 teams, is that there's really no room for a slump. (To wit: Vancouver was in an OK spot after beating the Flames the 1st game out of the break; they're 2-6-1 since and are outside looking in).

The glass-half-full perspective is that 4 of 6 teams will qualify, and it's statistically likely that one of them will play very poorly down the stretch and take themselves out of it. That means, probably, that your team only has to be better than one more team.

If I had to guess, I'd pick Anaheim for the 5-spot: they've been consistently good for 40+ games now. I'd also pick L.A. for 10th; they had a few good games bookending the Olympic break, but they've basically been mediocre to weak for 40-ish games (since Game 20, they have 52 points in 49 games).

Clearly the Canucks look terrible right now, but I'm not ready to count them out. San Jose's 9-2-2 stretch has put them in a great position, although their back-to-back losses to CGY and EDM last weekend still gives me pause as to just how good they are. Colorado picked up an Alex Tanguay knee-sprain last night, to go with Svatos' broken shoulder: they could easily be worse than Vancouver over the remainder of the schedule (and let's not forget that their new #1 goalie is still hurt; may not be any good anyway; and their acting #1 let in 6 last night and was apparently dismal).

All in all, there's still cause for optimism up in the 'Chuk. I don't care what ups and downs we've seen in the past two weeks -- Roloson is an upgrade in goal, and that's probably all they needed to assure themselves of a playoff spot.

Does that mean a 6-seed is in the cards for the Oil, c/w a 1st-round Battle of Alberta playoff? Good God, let's hope so. Neither Sacamano nor I have made much mention of this, but this site is most likely a one-and-done effort. He's moving off the continent in the summer, and I never want it to feel like work, so there's a decent chance we're going dark at season's end. A head-to-head playoff series seems like a great way for it to end (for the Oilers, with 6 weeks of Flames-only content to follow). Get 'er done, Mac-T.

Comments:

Wrong answer. You two bubbas take the summer off then figure out a way to come back strong in the Fall. This place is too good to let it go after just one year.
 


What he said ^^^

Also, if Sac can't do it, I'm sure you can find someone on the site to take over for him. The site is just too good to drop after the year!
 


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO f-ing way you guys are ditching after one season!

Can't do it. Can't.
 


I would be sad if this site was one and done. I think it's the best site in the whole world.

Unless the Oilers win your hypothetical playoff series. Then I could probably never come back and would not care if you shut it down.
 


You guys need to start looking for replacements now.
 


Thank God you guys are leaving. This site sucks.

It had to be said. The circle jerk was getting to be too much.
 


Another possibility you guys might want to consider is bringing aboard some other bloggers. You know, have maybe 3 bloggers from each side of the BoA. For Edmonton at least, there doesn't seem to be any shortage of available candidates.
 


I'm with Grabia.
 


I say Cosh takes his hockey stuff off his blog, and move it to BoA exclusively, and limit most his posts to oiler apologia.
 


All I know is that when Fenwick invokes the Lord's name (in bold no less) to get the Oilers into playoffs, he's getting too soft for this place.

I don't want a 1st-round Battle of Alberta. I want Calgary on the outside of playoffs looking in. That way Matt can experience all those cars cruising down Crowchild Trail with Oilers flags hanging out the window, and Calgarians saying, "I'm cheering for the Oilers because at least they are from Alberta."
 


Still hurts, doesn't it Sac.
 


Great. Sac stole my thunder. I have been saving a post for playoff time called The Scarlet Letter, a diatribe against those tools in Edmonton who jumped on the Flames bandwagon in 2003. They should be forced to keep those flags on their cars, or have giant, gay "Cs" tatooed on their flesh for eternity.

Just great Sac. From my own side, no less. I can't wait for you guys to go away. Cosh and I can start a site called, "From the Nosebleeds: Statler & Waldorf Do The Battle of Alberta."
 

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