Playoff Hockey - Best Time of the Year

There is a transformation in April seen by hockey fans all over North America, and this transformation is fueled by passion. Passion, one of the most natural emotions, can almost be grasped during the months of April, May and June while watching the greatest athletes in the world compete for Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Take for example, the 2010 second round series of Eastern Conference rivals Philadelphia and Boston. With the Bruins one game away from sweeping the Flyers, the season seemed over for the gritty Flyers. But with an emotional overtime win in Game 4, the Flyers stopped the Bruins train in its tracks, winning the next 3 games. This four games to three come from behind win, was the first in the history of professional sports, an unthinkable accomplishment.  Without passion, the Flyers would have been sent home to play golf in game four.  The Broad Street Bullies played an old brand of hockey to finish off the Bruins, a style of hockey that excites even the smallest of hockey fans.

Thunderous hits, ferocious forechecking, and unbeatable defense, all fueled by passion are what make playoff hockey the phenomenon that sweeps over the hockey world. Hockey is an incredible sport to watch, the talent and athleticism seen in players like Ovechkin, Mike Richards, Toews, and new star Steven Stamkos is unmatchable. When teams enter the playoffs, watching the sport takes on a whole new meaning. We’ve all had nights glued to the television, literally on the edge of our seats, with our hearts racing while our team battles conference foes for the right to play for Lord Stanleys Cup. The playoffs to anyone with a heartbeat means endless nights of screaming at the television, while wearing our prized jersey. The 2011 playoffs will be no different.

With opening round matchups like Bruins/Habs, and Canucks/Blackhawks we are bound to see the excitement that we wait somewhat patiently throughout the year to watch. Players put bumps and bruises on the back burner, and leave everything they have on the ice. This formula creates five star entertainment. We’re all in this to see the hits, saves, and goals that are bound to come during the next two months.  As teams look to shift into high gear, and ride whatever momentum they carry from the end of the regular season, the hockey world is in for a treat.

- Matt Gamelin

Philadelphia Flyers vs Buffalo Sabres - Philly on Top !!!

Philadelphia won the season series by going 2-1-1. The teams split the 4 games, but technically because of an extra point for an overtime loss. Combine that with the fact that the Flyers finished ahead of the Sabres by 10 points, and it should be clear that the Flyers are the clear favorites. So you would assume that Philly should have the advantage going into the series, however, that is not the case in my eyes. The Flyers started off the season series great; however, they lost both of the last 2 games against the Sabres towards the end of the year. It gets even worse for the Flyers though, because not only did they play poorly in the last 2 games vs the Sabres, they also played horrible against the rest of the league to finish off the year. The Flyers finished off the year by going 8-8-7 in the last 23 games of the season. If you think about it that means they lost 15 out of 23 games!! 8 wins in 23 games is completely unacceptable for a team that finished 1 point behind 1^st place in the Eastern conference.  What makes this series even more interesting is that while the Flyers were dropping games, the Sabres did the complete opposite. The Buffalo Sabres since Pegula took over, have been unstoppable. In fact they ended the year, on a 28-11-6 run, including points in 20 of the last 24 games!!!

These 2 teams are definitely heading in different directions. The Sabres have been on fire lately, in large part due to Thomas Vanek. Fresh off winning 1^st star of the week, after 2 incredible performances in 2 clutch games, first getting a hat trick, and then 2 assists and the game-winner the next game. Vanek has had a tremendous year, 32 G’s, 73 Pts. He also had 7 points in the 4 games vs the Flyers.  He has been the driving force for this team offensively, and shows no signs of slowing down. The other key reason why Buffalo could upset in this series is Ryan Miller. Miller is the x-factor in this series, and any game he could steal a game or two vs Philly. Philadelphia will need to put a lot of bodies in front of Miller if they want to beat him.  

However, despite all of that, I still think Philadelphia’s offensive depth is just too strong. If they could get any sort of goaltending, I think the combination of Richards, Carter, Giroux, Briere, Pronger and company, will be enough to advance the Flyers. But goaltending is always important, you can’t underestimate it. I think if there will be any upset in the East in the 1^st round, it will be this one. But I still have to go with Philly, playoffs are a different game, and they are built for it!

Flyers in 7.

- Grant Robinson

Boston Bruins vs Montreal Canadiens - This is Going to be Crazy !!!

If there is any 1^st round matchup that you will want to keep your eyes on, it is definitely this one! This series might lack the offensive stars of some other matchups, but outside of that there is plenty to love about this series. 2 of the best goaltenders in the league this year will be going head to head in each crease, and the rest of the ice is bound to be full of fireworks! There might not be a lot of goals in this series, but there will be no lack of hitting, fighting, and battling, as these 2 teams just flat out cannot stand each other. They are one of, if not THE biggest rivalry in hockey, and this year did nothing but add fuel to the fire! There was the “Massacre in Boston” where there was so many fights, that at one point the penalty boxes looked like clown cars they were so packed! And then the next time they played involved the whole Chara/Pacioretty incident. So trust me when I say that there will be some activity after the whistles in this series. I really do believe this will be a physical and hard fought series, which is why I think the Bruins will win, despite the Habs winning the season series 4-2.

The Bruins have won 2 of the last 3 matchups between these teams, but it’s the way that they have won them that has me picking them to win this series. The 1^st game was the “Massacre”, the Bruins won 8-6 over the Habs, but absolutely dominated them physically. The Bruins showed that Montreal simply could not compete with them physically, and that was no more evident then on one shift. 3 Bruins paired off with 3 Habs players, and the result was definitely one-sided. While Thornton and Campbell were handling Hamrlik and Pyatt; Boychuk gave Spacek one of the worst beatings I saw all year. It was just evident that the Habs when it comes to toughness can’t match the Bruins. Then after the whole Chara incident, you would think the Habs would be fired up to put a beating on the Bruins, but instead they came out flat and Boston gave them a beatdown this time on the scoreboard 7-0! Those two games make it very tough for me to think that the Habs will win this series.

However, having said that the Habs did win the season series, and this is also the same team that nobody thought had a chance last year vs the Caps or Pens, and they upset both of them. Carey Price is definitely capable of stealing some games, but will need Cammalleri & company to step it up offensively.

But combine Thomas in nets, with the fact that I think  Kaberle/Chara will finally get it going on the powerplay. The Bruins will be a very scary team, and very hard to stop!

Bruins in 6.

- Gant Robinson 

Old Time Hockey - I Love it and So Should You !!!

There is no question that the number of concussions in the NHL has risen at an alarming rate in the past few years. Players are retiring early and missing significant time due to high and harmful hits. One can’t help but wonder why now? Why is this becoming such an issue now with all of the advances in technology and safety in the game? Sure, players are bigger and stronger than they ever have been before and the game is played at a speed that is like nothing we have seen in the past. There is definitely some correlation between concussions and the reasons I just listed.

Something else that has surfaced in the last couple of years to add to the number of concussions is the fact that the NHL has gone soft. There are virtually no fighters left in the NHL and the game has lost that physicality that made our sport so great in the first place and separated us from the rest. Players are hitting opponents in more compromising positions because they can. There aren’t the Stu Grimson’s or Tony Twist’s on a team anymore to police the ice when things like this happen. I’m the last person that is for “gooning” a game up, but I do believe that players have to be responsible for what they do on the ice. The game has to police itself just as much as the refs police it. When a player throws a hit on someone and get their elbows up, they need to answer the bell. Sure, the power-play is nice.  After all, you would always rather hurt the opposing team on the scoreboard. Tough guys cannot make it in this league anymore unless they can play. Rick Rypien and Chris Neil are two great examples of players that can hold their own in both aspects of the game, but guys like that are few and far between.






The Instigator Rule has really changed a lot of things in the NHL today, some for the better and some for the worse. The Instigator Rule is a good thing when you see guys throw solid perfectly clean shoulder checks and someone tries to fight him for it. When games get out of control on the scoreboard resulting in heightened tempers like we saw with the Penguins and Islanders;  the Instigator Rule comes in handy to calm things down.

The reality of it all is that everything in life is a give and take and the NHL is no exception. If you are going to try and phase out fighting and goons in Hockey, guys like Matt Cooke and Cal Clutterbuck are going to run around and take shots at players in compromising positions. The way they are handling it now is with disciplinary action and I think it’s making our game too soft. The other night, Raffi Torres threw a high hit on Jordan Eberle and I don’t think he was trying to give him a blow to the head. A guy like Raffi plays the game with reckless abandonment and has to finish every check on every shift to earn a paycheck. When you play the game at this speed, your hands are going to get up occasionally and a player is going to take a head shot occasionally. What makes our sport so great is the ability to make a player be responsible for his actions by dropping the gloves. Players will be a lot more likely to keep their hands down after going toe to toe with Bob Probert than having a conference call with the league office.

By:  Nick Dreyer

Washington Capitals vs New York Rangers

If you just look at the standings, this is without a doubt an extremely lopsided series. 1st vs 8th place, and the Capitals are ahead of the Rangers by a total of 14 points. However, despite clearly being the underdogs in this seasons, the New York Rangers will not just lie down for the Washington Capitals. In fact the Rangers actually won the season series going 3-1 in the 4 meetings between the 2 teams. However, why people should not sleep on the Rangers in this series, isn’t only the fact that they won the season series. But what was more impressive is how they won it. The Rangers gave the Capitals 2 of the worst beatings of the year, first a 7-0 shutout, and then they blanked them yet another time winning 6-0! So over a 2 game span the Rangers outscored the Capitals 13-0, so they know that it is possible to upset the 1st place team! However, that 6-0 game is also very important for another reason; that game was without a doubt the turning point of the Capitals season. In fact, after that blowout loss to the Rangers, Washington went on an absolute tear, finishing off the year going 16-3-1, collecting 33 of the last 40 possible points! In my opinion, the Rangers awoke a sleeping giant, and I’m sure the rest of the Eastern Conference isn’t too happy about that. Washington has quite simply been incredible, Ovechkin and company are finally firing on all cylinders! Ovi admittedly had a down year, however, that is in large part due to Washington’s commitment to defense this year. After being beat by Montreal despite having a very potent offensive team, they realized that a more balanced approach would be more conducive to success in the playoffs. We will find out if that strategy worked this week, as they will put the newly more “balanced” team to the test!

The Rangers advantage is without a doubt the goaltending. Henrik Lundqvist led the league in shutouts, and is one of the NHL’s best, while Washington is going to have to pick between 2 inexperienced and most unproven goalies in Varlamov & Neuvirth. So if the Rangers win this series But up front, it isn’t even close, the Capitals are simply on a different level. And the loss of Ryan Callahan cannot be understated, he was the heart & soul of that team, and without a doubt the MVP along with Lundqvist. Not only was he great offensively, but he was a tremendous shot-blocker for them. Huge loss for the Rangers!

In my opinion, Washington is just too strong to lose this. I truly believe the fact that they are a more balanced team this year will translate into a deep playoff run for the Capitals.

Capitals in 5. I Just don’t think the Rangers have the offense.

Grant Robinson

2011 Playoff Hockey Pool Draft

Format: The draft is 12 teams for 10 rounds using a serpentine system.
Point System: 1 pt for each goal and 1 pt for each assist, regardless of position. No bonus points. No goalies.

Strategy: Here is the system I have used to be successful when picking a standard hockey pool where the point system is the same regardless of position.

1. Rank all players in a list for each team. Remember to check injury updates and go over each teams complete list. DO NOT be the one that misses the player than had a low point total because he missed half of the season due to injury.
2. Make yourself a bracket of how you think the playoffs will fair. Predict each round matchup and how many games each series will go. REMEMBER… the NHL reseeds teams after each round, so the highest remaining seed will always play the lowest remaining seed.
3. Add up each teams total games played in the playoffs. Rank the teams by order Create a MASTER LIST, ranking each team in order with your rankings of all of the players from each team.
4. Follow your list for the whole draft. DO NOT pick players that will knock each other out in the first round, but DO NOT be afraid of potential second round matchups.
5. DO NOT take players just because they are on the team you believe will make it to the Stanley Cup final. A 3rd line player like Chris Higgins on Vancouver will not be worth a selection over Ryan Getzlaf of Anaheim if you believe Anaheim will make it to Round 2 of the playoffs.
6. Adapt to the draft. If you are picking near players that are loading up on one team, take advantage of that. Once a team has 4 or 5 players from one team, they are completely locked into that team and will or will not have success regardless. Leave players on that team for them to take and get the best available player from another team.
7. Have a few beers and enjoy it! Watch the playoffs and root for your favourite team first!

MY TEAM OVERVIEW

Having the first pick overall made life much easier for me. It was just a matter of which Sedin to take. Since Daniel is having the better year, I went with him. My list featured Vancouver and Boston meeting in the final and playing a total of 25 games each.

Coming back to me for my 2nd and 3rd picks, it was easy to jump on the Boston bandwagon. I figured Milan Lucic will be too much for the Habs to handle, so his playoffs will get off to a very good start. Zdeno Chara plays so many minutes and in every situation, this was an easy pick. Both guys figure to be more valuable than the next best Vancouver player (Samuelsson).

My 4th and 5th round picks were also very easy for me to make. The Ducks are going to win their first round series. With two solid lines, they have a chance to make some noise, and I have them getting to the conference final, eventually losing to Vancouver. Lubomir Visnovsky has been one of the best offensive defensemen all year, and Bobby Ryan will get his share of points playing on the top two lines. The only player I considered over Ryan was Tomas Kaberle of Boston, but I did not want 3 defensemen in my top 5 picks.

Picks 6 and 7 are where I believe I will win this draft. Saku Koivu is the #2 center for a Ducks team playing very well. Before the draft Anaheim was the team I had pinpointed to get players later in the draft. This worked out very well for me. Getting Jordan Staal with my 7th pick was a steal. Staal has been great after missing almost half of the season. He was ranked #1 on my Pittsburgh list. With no Crosby or Malkin, Staal will get the bulk of the minutes at center. Tampa Bay does not scare me. The Penguins have the decided advantage in goal. Getting two rounds from a top line guy this late is a bargain.

Getting Raffi Torres and Chris Higgins gives me great depth from the team I believe will play the most games in the playoffs. Neither guy will put up big numbers, but every team that makes it to the finals has one or two guys that dramatically over-achieve (think Ville Leino and Kris Versteeg last year).
The best pick of the last round gets a bonus. Picking last in the round didn’t give me many options. Torrey Mitchell has been very valuable to the Sharks down the stretch. He is not an offensive star by any stretch, but the Sharks have the potential to go all the way.

TRENDS AND NOTES FROM THE DRAFT

1. People as always, overvalue the Red Wings. It is ridiculous to think that Jiri Hudler went ahead of Kaberle, Hartnell, Versteeg or Timonen. A total of 14 Red Wings were drafted. They have the potential to be bounced in the first round.
2. Sidney Crosby – Someone was going to take a flyer on him. He wound up being taken with the last pick of the 5th round. That seems quite high for a guy who is not even going full contact in practice.
3. Faith in the Flyers – 12 Flyers in all went. Buffalo should have better goaltending, but obviously the league thought the Flyers will get by.
4. The Penguins are overlooked – There are no real high scoring players from the Penguins, but they are one of the best coached teams in the league, and they have a favorable first round match-up. Don’t take any Pens in the first two rounds, but if no-one is taking them, be the first to start the trend.
5. If you have a choice, pick high. The top 5 players are decidedly better than the rest for a playoff pool. Sure, the top 5 picked will not be the way the final playoff scoring goes, but your chances of winning are greatly increased when you have your top players getting out of the first round.
6. No repeat for the Hawks – Even as good as Jonathan Toews is, he did not get taken until the 8th round. That is very late, but the Hawks lack of depth will make them an easy out in the first round. They do not have the goaltending or the role players to beat the Canucks.

- Mark Chyz

Round	Team-MC	Team-RG	Team-CM	Team-BC	Team-MD	Team-DM	Team-BD	Team-RK	Team-DD	Team-CS	Team-GM	Team-GF
1	D.Sedin - VAN	P.Datsyuk - DET	A.Ovechkin - WAS	H.Sedin - VAN	R.Kesler - VAN	C.Giroux - PHI	P.Marleau - SJ	D.Briere - PHI	M.Richards - PHI	H.Zetterberg - DET	N.Lidstrom - DET	N.Backstrom - WAS
2	M.Lucic- BOS	B.Rafalski - DET	A.Semin - WAS	S.Stamkos- TB	D.Krejci - BOS	J.Carter - PHI	J.Pavelski - SJ	D.Heatley - SJ	C.Ehrhoff - VAN	C.Perry - ANA	J.Franzen - DET	J.Thornton - SJ
3	Z.Chara- BOS	T.Holmstrom - DET	M.Green - WAS	M.St.Louis - TB	M.Sameulsson - VAN	V.Lecavalier - TB	D.Boyle - SJ	C.Pronger - PHI	A.Burrows - VAN	R.Getzlaf - ANA	D.Cleary - DET	J.Carlson - WAS
4	L.Visnovsky - ANA	V.Fillipula - DET	N.Horton - BOS	M.Erat - NAS	P.Bergeron - BOS	A.Edler - VAN	R.Clowe - SJ	L.Couture - SJ	V.Leino - PHI	T.Selanne - ANA	T.Bertuzzi - DET	B.Laich - WAS
5	B.Ryan - ANA	J.Hudler - DET	T.Kaberle - BOS	S.Weber - NAS	M.Johansson - WAS	S.Hartnell - PHI	D.Setogucchi - SJ	C.Versteeg - PHI	K.Timonen - PHI	M.Recchi - BOS	N.Kronwall - DET	S.Crosby - PIT
6	S.Koivu -ANA	M.Cammalleri- MON	M.Knuble - WAS	S.Salo - Van	B.Marchand - BOS	C.Hansen - VAN	T.Plekanec - MON	J.Van Riemsdyk - PHI	M.Raymond - VAN	M.Ryder - BOS	D.Helm - DET	K.Letang - PIT
7	J.Staal - PIT	B.Gionta - MON	J.Arnott - WAS	M.Gaborik - NYR	S.Doan - PHO	S.Gagne - TB	T.Vanek - BUF	D.Brown - LA	R.Malone - TB	R.Peverley - BOS	M.Modano - DET	C.Kunitz - PIT
8	R.Torres - VAN	P.K. Subban -MON	C.Fowler - ANA	T.Purcell - TB	K.Yandle - PHO	M.Carle - PHI	B.Dubinsky -MON	J.Toews - CHI	P.Hornqvist - NAS	T.Connolly - BUF	B.Boyes - BUF	A.Kovalev - PIT
9	C.Higgins - VAN	J. Wisniewski - MON	J.Blake - ANA	S.Downie - TB	R.Whitney - PHO	C.Hodgson - VAN	J.Pominville - BUF	P.Kane - CHI	A.Meszaros - PHI	T.Ennis - BUF	B.Stuart - DET	P.Sharp - CHI
10	T.Mitchell - SJ	S.Gomez - MON	D.Seidenberg - BOS	A.Kostitsyn - MON	J.Neal - PIT	M.Boedker - PHO	P.Dupuis - PIT	D.Keith - CHI	K.Turris - PHO	D.Bolland - CHI	N.Gerbe - BUF	M.Hossa - CHI

GET REAL IS LOOKING FOR THE COOLEST BLOGGERS ON THE INTERNET

Welcome back to GetRealHockey !!!!!!!!!!!!



We have recently changed management @ Get Real.  The team is getting ready to brand the "Get Real" attitude .

We have locked down 400 plus URLs with the Get Real theme.

Get Real had a dry run in late 2010 and we are finally ready for re-launch .

You can catch some of the blogs under the Get Real name @

http://www.getrealhoops.blogspot.com/

getrealbasketball@gmail.com

http://www.getrealhockey.blogspot.com/

getrealhockey@gmail.com

http://www.getrealbaseball.blogspot.com/

getrealbaseball@gmail.com

http://www.getrealfootball.blogspot.com/

getrealfootball@gmail.com

and

http://www.getrealtickets.blogspot.com/

getrealtickets@gmail.com

The "Get Real" concept will be in your face and be cutting edge.

Get Real is going to be all over the place:

You can catch our theme song @ http://soundcloud.com/getrealtickets/get-real .

Daybi has also put down a really cool Get Real track @ http://soundcloud.com/getreal/preview .

We are looking for bloggers to join our family.   Every author will be given credit. Get Real is working on a monetization strategy for Get Real.  Once we assemble a team and they show the commitment to stick around, we will be in a position to pay writers.

This is your chance to get in on the ground floor of something big.  Email us as soon as you can and we can have a call to see if there is a fit.