Some Hockey Thoughts.

I don't write enough about hockey on the blog, but know that I LOVE the greatest sport on earth! That's hockey for those who don't get it. This year more than any other in recent memory has been marred with controversy with player concussions, blows to the head and injuries.

I love the physicality of hockey; the checking, the hitting and the fighting. I also love the speed and skill that gets displayed on the ice every night. What I don't love is dirty players, injury's and those who detest the violence in hockey.

On March 8th there was an unfortunate hit on a player that resulted in a serious injury. The two players involved are not dirty, the hit wasn't dirty, but the location of the hit along the boards turned a routine interference and check into a very real and scary situation.

The result of the play is very unfortunate, no one wants to see someone injured and I do hope that Pacioretty is able to make a speedy recovery and return to the ice next year. The fallout from this hit is amazing. You have those who believe Chara should be suspended and those who don't. The Montreal police are now involved and a sponsor is trying to flex some muscle by threatening to pull out of the NHL.

Regardless of how one feels about the play and the injury, this was not an intentional blow to the head which has been the hot button in the NHL this year. Let me give you an example of what is an intentional blow to the head. Warning: video is not of good quality.

This my friends is a blatant hit to the head. The Hawks-Lightening game was on VS. across the US, and no penalty was called and no one seems to be talking about the play at all. The Chara hit and injury was unfortunate, but it's hits like the one Bolland took last night that need to be addressed. I truly hope that the NHL spends some time this off season to address this issue, but please don't take out the physicality from my favorite sport.

UPDATE: I just read that Pavel Kubina was suspended for three games for his hit to the head of Dave Bolland. I am glad that justice has been served but I do believe it's not long enough. His hit was intentional to the head, three games is not enough to send a message to the NHL players.

The WAR is over, for now.

A few weeks ago the unruly folks over at Multiplaying.Net started playing Warhammer Online again and talking about it on their podcast. I have always felt that on paper WAR is the MMO I should love the most: multiple races with differing starting areas, lots of PvE, and varied PvP gameplay that I can participate at my discretion. I think the main sticking point for me is the PvE content; the quests are really well written, seem pretty varied at times, but there is so much running around and the level grind was tough to stomach after playing WoW so much.

But I decided to use my Call to Arms 10 day free play, and I have been reminded of why I both like and dislike the game. I will say that leveling seems to be going much faster now, primarily due to the huge amounts of rest xp I have, so that was a pleasant surprise, but there is still a lot of running around at my level. In the short amount of time I did play that was really the only complaint that I had with the game, it's been a lot of fun doing scenarios and running around doing oRvR in T2.

But my free play ends today and with all the hockey going on right now I will not be reactivating my account. At least not yet. I figure that once the first round of the NHL playoffs are over there will be more time to play games, but right now I am DVR-ing everthing and watching games before and after work, I love it.

Dub's NHL Playoff Prognostication, Western Conference Style.

Yesterday I gave my predictions for Eastern Conference matchups, today I want to give my predictions for the Western Conference. As much as I love the Sabres, I do think that the Stanley Cup winner will come from the west, it's just that strong of a Conference. So without delay, let's get started:

San Jose Sharks (1) vs Colorado Avalanche (8) My prediction: Sharks in four.

Living in San Jose I am very much interested in the Sharks, and working one block form the Tank I am not looking forward to the traffic. Sharks should win this series and I would be surprised if they lose more than one game. But, this is the Sharks we are talking about and their playoff record as of late is not very good, so I will throw this out there; if the Sharks lose game one then they are done.

Chicago Blackhawks (2) vs Nashville Predators (7) My prediction: Blackhawks in six.

Yes Chicago has a great offense, but the big question is in net for them. The Preds had a great season and they finally get to play a team in the playoffs not located in Detroit or San Jose. This series features two teams with goaltenders with no playoff experience, but I think Chicago's potent offense is going to overwhelm the Preds.

Vancouver Canucks (3) vs Los Angeles Kings (6) My predictions: Canucks in five.

This is another tough game to predict. Vancouver has the playoff experience, a gold medal winning goalie and the league's top scorer, and LA may have a decent mix of young and vet players, but the big question for them is in net. Of all the series in the west, I feel this could be the one big upset.

Phoenix Coyotes (4) vs Detroit Redwings (5) My prediction: Coyotes in seven.

For me this is probably the most interesting series in the first round. Phoenix is this years cinderella team and Detroit is trying to make the finals for a third straight time. Detroit has the experience, they are the hottest team in the NHL since the Olympic break, and no one thinks Phoenix has a chance to win this. And should rookie goalie Jimmy Howard not be up to task, Detroit can turn to Chris Osgood who has won a couple of cups for the Wings. Here is what I think; Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov is going to play like there is no tomorrow and take the Wings to a game seven and win it in Phoenix, at least that's what I hope.


Well there you have it, i'm sorry if this isn't as informative as yesterday's Eastern Conference preview, but I really wanted to get this out before the puck dropped tonight. Let's go Sabers!

Dub's NHL Playoff Prognostication, Eastern Conference Style.

The NHL playoffs start on the 14th, and being a huge hockey fan I thought I would give some thoughts to the matchups in the first round of the playoffs, commonly referred to as the Conference Quarterfinals. So let's get started with the Eastern Conference matchups shall we!



Washington Capitals (1) vs Montreal Canadians (8) My prediction: Caps in four.

The Capitals are an offensive machine, if Montreal is to have any chance they need to hope they can take advantage of the Caps poor PK and pray that Jaroslav Halak plays like the second coming of Patrick Roy.

New Jersey Devils (2) vs Philadelphia Flyers (7) My prediction: Flyers in seven

If there was one team the Devils did not want to play in the first round, it would have been the Flyers. Philadelphia went 5-1-0 against the Devils this season. The biggest question for the Flyers is their goaltending, is it going to be good enough.

Buffalo Sabres (3) vs Boston Bruins (6) My prediction: Sabres in seven.

Being a Sabres fan I couldn't be any less happier to see them facing the Bruins. Boston went 4-2-2 against the Sabres this year, and Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask shut down the Sabres for the most part. On the flip side, Ryan Miller was 2-0-2 against the Bruins and is arguably the best goaltender in the NHL right now. The problem for both teams will be offense. The Sabres may have finished in the top ten in goal scoring, but that was mostly due to a late season surge in scoring while their defense was not at impressive as it was in the first have of the season. The Bruins are the worst scoring team in the NHL and if it wasn't for the play of Rask they would not be in the playoffs. Look for this series to be a low scoring snooze fest.

Pittsburgh Penguins (4) vs Ottawa Senators (5) My prediction: Pens in six.

They split the season series and all game were decided by three goals or more. But, the playoffs have a way of evening things out so expect a much tighter game from both teams with less scoring. In the end Pittsburgh has better goaltending and are a much more balanced team and it will be too much for Ottawa.

Weekend Edition

What am I going to play this weekend, good question. For the first time since Mass Effect 2 came out I find myself in a transition type period. There are no new games I plan on buying and the ones I did buy I have finished, so where to go from here.

EVE Online continues to be my only paid sub at the moment. Because of a few other games, my time with EVE was relegated to just logging in and updating my skill training que. The other day I noticed that Steam has my play time listed for EVE in the last 14 days at just over 13hrs, that's not good. So these last few days I have been spending more time with EVE and trying to finish the Sister's of EVE epic story arc.

I did have a couple of milestones happen with EVE recently; I surpassed the 900k skill points mark which means now I had to get real insurance and not the noob insurance, and I lost my first ship while doing a mission. I was happy about the first skill points, not so much when I lost my ship. It would appear that no amount of passive shield tanking in a Merlin will hold against what I think was 16 drones when you are both webbed and tackled at the same time.

My goal this weekend with EVE is to work on the epic story missions and try my hand at some mining, I could use some ISK and I hear mining is the way to do it.

I did finish Chaos Rising about a week ago, so hopefully I will be able to get some coop campaign play time, and if not maybe try the multiplayer for the first time or just do some Last Stand mode which is a ton of fun. With the NHL playoffs just around the corner I find myself being drawn back into some NHL 10 for the Xbox. My hockey alter ego who plays defense for the New York Islanders just swept the Ottawa Senators 4-0 and took game one from the Boston Bruins this morning. I get the feeling I may be playing a lot of NHL 10 this weekend. Somewhere in there I'm sure I will be jumping into some action with Bad Company 2, and Champions Online has a free play weekend for everyong so I might jump in and see how that game has come along.

So to recap; there should be some EVE online, possibly Chaos Rising and hopefully a bit of Champions Online, most likely some BC2 and a crap load of NHL 10. If only the days were longer and I could live off less sleep!

Brendon Witt 1, Moving Vehicle 0!

Being a hockey fan I like the read hockey news, so it should be no surprise that this article caught my eye. The short version; Brendon Witt was struck by a SUV while going to Starbucks. He then claimed that he was ok and went on to play 17 minutes in a losing hockey game that night. There is a bit more to the story than that, but you get the idea. All I can say is Brendan Witt is all that is man, cause I would be looking to take a few days off of work if I was hit by a SUV.

Sid the Kid.

I have always been a fan of number 87 Sidney Crosby from the Pittsburgh Penguins, but I found this to be most impressive.

I honestly don't know how much of a fighter Zidlicky is, but I do know that superstars such as Crosby are not fighters and rarely if ever drop the gloves. Sometimes I wish the days of feuds would return, like back when the Redwings faced the Avalanche and it wasn't a matter of if but when the gloves would come off.

Just a bit of warning, this next video is long but you will get the idea pretty much right away, and there is a bit of foul language at the end from the song.

Can you say Knuckle Puck!

How would feel if you were this guy? Not good I would think.

Sabre Highlights

Here's some highlights of the Buffalo Sabres just smacking around the Detroit Redwings. Go Sabres!