Stanley Cup Dreams

     The final stage is set for the 2014 Stanley Cup Final. The New York Rangers will face off against the Los Angeles Kings for the right to raise Lord Stanley's Cup after a long, arduous season all culminating in this final series.
      For the Kings this is their second trip to the Cup Finals in the last three years and their third ever Stanley Cup Finals appearance. In 2012 the Kings run to the Stanley Cup was improbable as they entered the playoffs as the 8 seed in the West and defeated  top seeded Vancouver, second seeded St. Louis, and third seeded Phoenix before dispatching of the New Jersey Devils in 6 games.

Kings banner celebration 2012

      This years' run has been similar in that they have had to face off against all teams with better seedings' including their come back from 3-0 in their initial series with San Jose followed by erasing a 3-2 series deficit against the top seeded Ducks.
      The Western Conference Finals saw a matchup of the last two Cup Champions with the Chicago Blackhawks taking on the LA Kings. The series was one for the ages and was one of the best playoff series of the entire playoffs, including Game 7 which went into overtime where the Kings Alec Martinez scored just over 5 minutes into the period to send the Kings to a matchup with the waiting Rangers.
      The Rangers route to the Stanley Cup has been one of an underdog story this Playoff season. Their opening series went the distance as the Rangers exchanged wins and losses with the Philadelphia Flyers, in a hard fought series that the Rangers took in 7. The Kings aren't the only team who have faced adversity in these playoffs. The Rangers Conference Seminfinal matchup pitted them against the mighty Pittsburgh Penguins and the Penguins seemed poised to take the series jumping out to a 3-1 series lead. However, the Rangers battled with resiliency and convincingly took Game 5, 5-1 before winning the next two to lead them to a Eastern Conference matchup with the Canadiens, who as we all know had just upset the top seeded Bruins and seemed to be the favorites coming into the series.
      After an incredible 7-2 win in Game 1 for the Blueshirts, there was no one doubting the abilities of the Rangers to come out on top. Five games later and it was the Rangers taking the series 4-2 after Dominic Moore scored in the second period of Game 6 for the first and only goal of the game to send the Rangers to the Stanley Cup Finals for the 11th time and first since they won the cup 20 years ago on the heels of Captain Mark Messier.

 

 

 

 

Dominic Moore, Game 6 hero, adds the 12th piece to the Rangers Championship puzzle

      The final series of the season is shaping up to be a great one as the Rangers and Kings get underway Wednesday June 4th at 8PM in LA. Whoever wins this series deserves it as both teams have faced many trials and tribulations en route to the Cup Finals and this series will be worth the price of admission.

      My bold prediction for the outcome of this Rangers v. Kings series is that the New York Rangers continue to take the world by storm lifting the cup at home after Game 6.

Atlanta Errors Lead to Walk Off for Sox

       Jake Peavy provided the framework for the W Thursday night going eight strong innings (season-high), allowing three runs on eight hits, and throwing 111 pitches. Peavy allowed a solo HR to Jason Heyward in the 3rd, and a balk in the 4th inning led to a run after Braves Catcher Evan Gattis singled. However, Peavy seemed to calm down and retired a stretch of seven consecutive batters at one point during the game. It was Peavy's quality start that put the Red Sox in position to have any chance at winning, but it was Atlanta's mistakes in the field that gave the Red Sox the win.

       Heading into the bottom half of the eighth inning the Braves held a 3-1 lead with Atlanta SP Mike Minor in position for his third win of the season. Brock Holt led off the inning with a bloop single into left field where Braves LF Justin Upton was waiting to field the ball, only to look away and misplay the ball allowing it to get behind him and allowing Holt to move to second. Xander Bogaerts followed up with an RBI single to pull the Red Sox to within a run and Dustin Pedroia safely reached on a slow roller up the middle.

       A third consecutive single by Sox DH A.J. Pierzynski (Ortiz was scratched before the game with Calf Soreness) got by CF B.J. Upton and the score was knotted up at 3-3 entering the ninth.

       Who else but Koji Uehara came in for the Sox ninth inning and shut down the Braves offense allowing one hit and striking out one in collecting his first win of the season.

        In the bottom of the ninth it was another Atlanta error that proved to be the game winner for the Red Sox. Jackie Bradley Jr. and Holt recorded back to back walks off of Braves closer Craig Kimbrel to start off the Sox half of the ninth. Bogaerts hit a hard grounder to Braves 3B Chris Johnson who made the throw to 2B Tommy La Stella who couldn't make the catch and the ball rolled away from him. Bradley smartly took off for home and scored the game winning run in walk off fashion as the Sox completed a four game sweep of the Braves, after coming off a 10 game losing streak before.

Xander Bogaerts (2) congratulated by teammates in the dugout (ESPN)

        The win puts the Red Sox record at 24-29 for the season as they look toward their upcoming series with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Sox go right back to work Friday, May 30 at 7:10PM as they send RHP Brandon Workman (0-0) to the mound for his second start against Tampa ace David Price (4-4).

         Workman went five innings allowing three ER on five hits in his last outing in Tampa Bay picking up the no decision as the Sox fell late to the Rays 8-5.

The Biggest Snub of Them All

        Coming into Selection Sunday every member of the Colorado Buffaloes Men's Basketball team was 100% confident they would be joining in on the Big Dance in the Round of 64, and they had every right to believe that. The Buffaloes had impressive wins over Texas, seeded number 5 at the time, as well as 3 over Kansas State. They did everything in their power to earn a respectable berth in the tournament, if not at least a final seed.

        Led by phenomenal sophomore guard Alec Burks (above), the Buffaloes looked poised to be a low-end tournament seed who could potentially make some noise in the early rounds. However as the selection process wound down on the Southeast bracket, there was one team who hadn't been included in the festivities. Colorado will be playing in a tournament all right, and they do have a number one seed, but it's the bitterness that comes with that seed that will linger with the Colorado team. The selection committee decided against including Colorado into the field of 68 teams for who knows what reason. Maybe the losses against San Francisco, Harvard, and New Mexico explain it. Whatever the reason, the Buffaloes will be dancing in the NIT tournament instead of as a feel good story of March Madness. This may go down as one of the top snubs of the decade because it surely doesn't make any sense at the moment.
         The head coach as well as his 5 seniors and a host of other people gathered in hopes that they would see the Buffaloes name come up on Selection Sunday, only to be let down by devastating news.
         The only thing I can give to the 5 Colorado seniors who will never make it to the Big Dance is my condolences, and good luck in the NIT tournament, as much of a Boston College fan I am, it would just make me feel better to know these guys win the NIT tournament.

Bruins Moves Make Them A Contender

      This past week has been a busy one for the men high up in management for the Boston Bruins. Peter Chiarelli has finally started to put together the pieces of a championship contender in Beantown. The Bruins front office started earlier this week making moves when the Bruins acquired Chris Kelly, 12 goals 11 assists 23 points, from the Ottawa Senators for a second-round draft pick in the upcoming 2011 NHL Draft. Kelly was well liked in Ottawa and was known as a high character player whom is very skilled in the faceoff circle. Kelly is also a player who has a lot of playoff experience including a cup finals appearance for the Sens in which Kelly had 5 points in the playoff run.

      Back at it again as if to signify the front office's drive to win now, the Bruins traded away disappointing young forward Blake Wheeler along with fan favorite defenseman Mark Stuart in exchange for center Rich Peverley and defenseman Boris Valabik. Peverley has had a solid season this year with 14 goals 20 assists 34 points after career highs in all 3 categories last season (22G 33A 55PTS). Peverley gives the Bruins more of an offensive punch than did the struggling Wheeler who has slid downhill after setting the bar high during his rookie season. Valabik has struggled to stay in the NHL as he has played his season with Atlanta's AHL affiliate. Valabik as some may remember was involved with his boyhood idol, fellow Slovakian Zdeno Chara, in an in-game tussle after Valabik laid a big hit on former Bruin Phil Kessel, where Chara came charging in to beat on his stunned opponent. Overall the Bruins are coming away as winners in the deal with the Thrashers, that's because as hard as it is to see Stuart leave, Wheeler is a welcome departure as Bruins fans will soon learn Peverley's offense will more than make up for the waste of space Wheeler was creating.

                                           (Valabik vs. Chara)
           Lastly is the most important trade in terms of short term contender chances go. After initial talks over 20 months ago didn't have Tomas Kaberle arriving in Boston, the recent talks have him playing in tonight's game against Ottawa in the black and gold. Some experts are saying that the price that the Bruins paid for Kaberle is too high as they traded away 2008 1st round draft pick Joe Colborne, and two future draft picks (2011 first-round pick and 2011 conditional pick). However, the reason that this trade was perfect for the Bruins is because they are playing for the here and now, as well as the fact that the lineup is stacked with young players currently and the draft picks were expendable. The knock on Kabs is that he doesn't play well in his own defensive zone and he doesn't play physical enough. Yet, the reason the Bruins brought him in wasn't to be the big bruising defenseman or to be a stay at home defender. Kaberle's offensive skill outweighs his defensive struggles, as so brought up by the experts. Kaberle is a 4 time all-star who played his entire career, until now, with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He is the #2 all-time leading defenseman in terms of points in Leafs history and the #11 all-time player in terms of points. Kaberle is a fantastic puck moving d-man as highlighted by his 35 assists so far this season.

       The piece that has been lacking the Bruins for so long may finally be in place and this years team seems that it can make a deep run into the playoffs. This may be the year that the Bruins break the 38 year Stanley Cup drought and finally bring the hardware back to Boston.

Celtics - Heat Showdown

There are HUGE playoff implications lurking in this regular season game between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics, which will have the air of a playoff game from the get-go. Bragging rights and playoff seeding are both up for grabs in the East, well after the 2 slot that is. Sure both the Bulls and Magic may have legitimate chances to be a top two team in the East by season's end, but in reality, it seems almost crystal clear that the two best teams in the East will finish 1 and 2.

The only question remaining is which team, the Celtics or the heat will sit atop the conference standings and hold homecourt advantage.

The game on February 13th may be a huge telling point in whether the Celtics can reign supreme in the East or if the tide has turned with a younger Heat team. Age and health is a huge factor that will most likely come into the outcome of the season, and both will easily factor into this game. With the Celtics banged up and wounded, the Heat stand a very good chance of waltzing into Boston and escaping with a win. however, Boston has something called pride and determination and even with the health an issue on the bench as much as anywhere, the Celtics are able to win in a variety of ways.

Now that Ray Allen has his 3pointer record out of the way, the team can get back to focusing to the game itself and rid themselves of the distractions that occurred with the record. The Big 3 will have to step up in a big way starting with KG. Garnett is going to have to shut down Chris Bosh, maybe the most important piece of the Miami big 3. Pierce and Allen have to shoot the ball the way they can and Pierce needs to drive to the hoop and look to kick the ball out to Ray to find him open looks at the 3. Lastly, the Celtics need Rondo to just be himself, if he can dish out 15 assists the W should come easily for the Celtics.

The biggest question of the game for the Celtics may be: Who do you stop, Lebron or DWade? Personally, I believe that stopping DWade will be more of a key factor to a Celtics win than Lebron, however, I'm also just the one writing the blog and there's a reason I'm not behind the bench with Doc.

Whoever wins this game, the best team of the East will take one step closer to securing their spot atop the conference.