David Perron (Matthieu Masquelet, Wikimedia Commons)
Round Two of the Stanley Cup Playoffs gets underway this weekend with the Conference Semi-Finals about to begin.
The series I will be most interested in is the St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings. Can Darryl Sutter incorporate a similar game plan to shock the Blues like he did the Vancouver Canucks? The Blues looked great in beating the San Jose Sharks in five games and look even more dangerous in the playoffs than they did in the regular season because they are very healthy. Andy McDonald, Alexander Steen and David Perron, who all missed considerable time during the regular season, combined for 14 playoff points in five games.
As for the Kings, captain Dustin Brown was their best player against the Canucks. He led the team with five points and was very physical along the way.
Game one is Saturday night at 5:30pm on TSN. My pick is Blues in five. Here are the other events I’ll be watching:
Saturday–ATP–Barcelona Open Semi-Finals–(3) David Ferrer–ESP vs. (11) Milos Raonic–CAN–5:30am–Sportsnet One–Milos Raonic won the match of his career on Friday, defeating Andy Murray of Great Britain in straight sets in the Barcelona Open quarterfinals. On Saturday, he will try and defeat another elite player in Spain’s David Ferrer. The Spaniard is 3-0 against Raonic including a victory in the fourth round of the Australian Open in 2011. Spaniards Fernando Verdasco is playing Rafael Nadal in the other semi-final.
Milos Raonic defeated a big boy on the world tennis stage Friday in Barcelona.
In defeating Andy Murray, the fourth ranked tennis player of the world in the quarterfinals of the Barcelona Open, Raonic, of Thornhill, Ontario, has now made his mark and is a definite threat to be reckoned with.
Raonic beat Murray 6-4, 7-6, and was the more overpowering player of the two. Raonic delivered 14 aces to Murray’s two. The turning point in the match came in the first set when Raonic was able to break Murray’s service game.
In the second set, Raonic once again broke Murray’s serve, but Murray came back to break Raonic’s serve when he was serving for the match. Then in the tiebreaker, Raonic overpowered Muray 7-3, putting a string of points together.
We’ve all seen what a Gongshow the first round of the NHL playoffs has been, but there is some crazy stuff happening in the ranks of the CHL these days as well!
First off, let’s give a shout out to the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings. Not only have they won every game they’ve played so far in this year’s playoffs, but they’re also the only unbeaten playoff team left in the entire Canadian Hockey League!
If you think 11-0 is impressive, I’ve got another one for you – the Oil Kings are now riding a 22-game win streak into game four against the Moose Jaw Warriors, with their last loss coming over two months ago. Not bad, eh?
Not to be outdone, the OHL’s East Final has had a couple of noteworthy moments so far as well… (more…)
For the second consecutive playoff game, the Edmonton Oil Kings won by a score of 6-1.
Last night at Rexall Place, the Oil Kings defeated the Moose Jaw Warriors to take a 2-0 series lead in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference Championship.
Jordan Peddle of Elbow, Saskatchewan scored two goals and Henrik Samuelsson scored a goal and two assists.
But even though the 6-1 scores of games one and two were a mirror image of each other, the games were actually completely different. The Warriors actually outshot the Oil Kings last night 49-32 as Laurent Brossoit made 48 saves. The two teams had 30 shots each in game one.
Ironically, there has been identical scores in the Western Conference Final as well. The Portland Winterhawks have defeated the Tri-City Americans 5-4 in games one and two of their series as well.
The Edmonton/Moose Jaw series now shifts to Moose Jaw for game three and a 7pm start time.
This week on the show we’re talking NHL playoffs & suspensions, along with some of the first teams to move on to the next round and another clock controversy from last week’s action. Also: we discuss a perfect game in the MLB and a legend leaving women’s basketball.
In the GABBYs: Martin Brodeur, Jamie Moyer, Washington Capitals fans, an Alabama parent, the Charlotte Bobcats and the Orlando Magic. The Punchline this week is high school baseball player Jameson Painter.
The city of Edmonton has a great chance of winning a championship in 2012. It’s just the Memorial Cup, not the Stanley Cup.
On Friday night, the Edmonton Oil Kings hammered the Moose Jaw Warriors 6-1 to take a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Championship of the Western Hockey League playoffs.
Hometown product Stephane Legault led the Oil Kings in scoring with two goals and an assist. Other Oil Kings that stepped up offensively were Klarc Wilson of Edmonton with a goal and two assists, Henrik Samuelsson (the son of former NHL defenceman Ulf Samuelsson) with three assists, Rhett Rachinski with a goal and an assist, and assistant captain Curtis Lazar with a goal and an assist. Laurent Brossoit made 29 saves.
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame – lots of overtime and lots of fighting to kick off the NHL playoffs, the Oilers win the draft lottery & discuss the future of their coach, the Maple Leafs apologize and a number of top players head to the World Championships. Also – the head of the MLB players union talks steroids and the Hall of Fame.
In the GABBYs: Martin Brodeur, Thierry Henry, the NFL, Lamar Odom, Lingerie Football and Dwyane Wade. The Punchline this week involves Augusta and an attempted cup of sand!
This week on the show we start out with the topic that’s on everyone’s mind – the feud between the Pittsburgh Penguins & the Philadelphia Flyers (and to a lesser extent, the Pens & the Rangers). We also look at a couple of fines handed down to coaches this week (including Edmonton’s Tom Renney) and we run down the upcoming match-ups in the first round of the NHL playoffs.
In the GABBYs: Mike Smith, Ray Whitney, Joey Votto, Alistair Overeem, the Orlando Magic & fans of the University of Kentucky. The Punchline this week is the Baltimore Orioles!
The Masters will obviously headline my television viewing this weekend with the very first major of the PGA Season. Currently Peter Hanson of Sweden (-5) leads U.S. Open Champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, Ben Crane of the United States and day one leader Lee Westwood of England by a stroke.
Other players in contention are Major winners Zach Johnson, Jim Furyk and Paul Lawrie.
The television coverage for the tournament is Friday at 1pm on TSN, Saturday at 1:30pm on CBS, and Sunday at noon on CBS.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Friday–NLL–Rochester Knighthawks @ Calgary Roughnecks–7pm–I’m heading down to the Scotiabank Saddledome this evening to see the Roughnecks in National Lacrosse League action. At 10-3, the Roughnecks are tied for first place in the West Division with the Colorado Mammoth. The Roughnecks lead the NLL with 180 goals scored, are led by former Knighthawk Shawn Evans, who leads the team in scoring with 58 points.
Remember when “you hit like a girl!” was an insult? But with more mens’ roller derby teams cropping up across the world, it has become less of a slur and more of a compliment! Check it out at Flat Track Fever, the largest roller derby tournament this side of the rockies! Roller boyz from Canada and the US will take to the track to show derby fans that they can indeed hit like girls! Come watch the Vancouver Murder, the Glenmore Reservoir Dogs (Calgary), the Red Deer Dreadnaughts, and the Puget Sound Outcast (USA) Saturday, April 14th at the Olympic Oval in Calgary as they battle it out, mens’ derby style!
And just to prove roller boyz and girls can compete on an even playing field, there are also co-ed scrimmages happening throughout the weekend…
See? Betcha didn’t know roller derby was all about equal opportunity…:)
With 11 days remaining until the kick off of Alberta’s largest roller derby tournament, teams from around the province and beyond its borders are getting all fired up for Flat Track Fever! Fishnets, tattoos, and quirky derby names, combined with finesse, strategy, and speed on eight wheels promise to make next weekend historically awesome!
Especially since it is an all ages show, both on and off the track. That’s right; hot on the heels of the Hunger Games, Calgary’s own Youthanizers, with some other kids refusing to eat their dinners, are showing their mad derby skillz Friday night at 6 pm in some kid on kid scrimmages – to the death! More murderous minor action takes place on Saturday at 2:15 pm as the Greater Edmonton Rot’n Rollers take on the GTown Derby Bratz.
If you can’t bring yourself to beat your children, come watch them beat each other!!!
Check out the Youthanizers and other Flat Track Fever participants at:
This week on 15MOF we discuss the latest news surrounding Oilers forward Taylor Hall, as well as another story that has left the team a bit red in the face. Also on the show – we discuss whether the Toronto Maple Leafs will be the next NHL team to fire a GM and we look at the latest “bounty” news from the NFL.
In the GABBYs: the Norfolk Admirals, Jamie Moyer, Sidney Crosby, Colin Clark, Reebok & March Madness. The Punchline this week is Beach Volleyball!
Patrick Chan (David Carmichael, Wikimedia Commons)
2011 Lionel Conacher Award winner Patrick Chan of Ottawa, Ontario is one step closer to defending his title at the World Figure Skating Championships in Nice, France.
Today, Chan put down a solid short program, and leads the Czech Republic’s Michal Brezina by 1.74 points. Due to the fact the television coverage on CBC is absolutely lousy, the event can be seen live on www.cbcsports.ca or if you have Bold. The final flight of skaters in the men’s event is at 8am and the final flight of skaters in the women’s event is at 1:30pm on Saturday with Alena Leonova of Russia in the lead. In the pairs competition today, Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov hammered the strong German pair of Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy by 8.04 points, but only hung onto the silver medal behind the Germans after a poor short program.
There’s playoff hockey in Edmonton right now, just not of the National Hockey League variety.
The Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League and the Spruce Grove Saints of the Alberta Junior Hockey League are playing at a very elite level, but is the Edmonton sports fan taking significant notice.
We’ve all seen what a Gongshow the first round of the NHL playoffs has been, but there is some crazy stuff happening in the ranks of the CHL these days as well!
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