Canucks and Bruins Pool Preview

It's here!  It's here!  We can finally start talking about the Stanley Cup Finals, as the long-standing break between the end of the Bruins and Lightning series and Game One has almost passed.

In the East corner, we have the number three seed, Boston Bruins.  The Bruins edged their way past the Canadiens in seven games in the first round, swept the Flyers in the Conference Semi-Finals and outscored the Lightning in six games in the Conference Finals, to get where they are today.

In the West corner, the President's Trophy winner and number one seed, Vancouver Canucks.  Te Canucks exorcised some demons in seven games against the Blackhawks, rallied past the Predators in six games in the Conference Semi-Finals and worked over the Sharks in the Conference Finals for their third trip to the finals, ever.

The match-up is a good one, as both teams were tabbed as early favourites at the beginning of the regular season and again at the beginning of the playoffs, as both tooled up well in the off-season and again at the trade deadline to really make a splash in the playoffs.  Possibly, the right word to use now is... cannonball!

The Bruins will be coming with their relentless physical play and runs to the net, while the Canucks will continue to work with their puck possession game, mixed with a dump-and-chase forecheck attack.  The goaltending match-up looks to be about even, the scoring throughout the pool looks to be about even and their momentum going into Game One will collide like a pair of runaway trains at high speeds.  This has the makings of being one legendary series.

	Langdon River Dogs	Tryst'n'Grant	All She Wrote	Pucking Luck	seaherwet	Kalenab	Superstar	Granny Smith	Thieves on the Cheechoo Express	Hollywoods Heroes
	280 points	-1 point	-16	-25	-25	-27	-28	-28	-28	-29
Daniel Sedin (1)	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Henrik Sedin (2)	x	x	x	x	x	x		x	x	x
Ryan Kesler (3)					x		x
Roberto Luongo (12)	x	x	x			x	x	x	x	x
Patrice Bergeron (13)					x			x
David Krejci (14)	x				x			x
Nathan Horton (16)	x					x			x
Michael Ryder (18)				x		x	x
Brad Marchand (19)							x		x	x
Tomas Kaberle (20)			x
Zdeno Chara (21)		x	x	x		x	x			x
Johnny Boychuk (23)		x
Tim Thomas (24)	x	x	x	x	x			x	x	x

So, how will it all play out in the hockey pool?  In the four previous years, there has only been one come from behind victory going into the Cup Finals and that was in 2009, when the winner came back from 5 points down to take the first place money.

In 2011, I have a hard time seeing a major comeback this year, since the Langdon River Dogs have a better scoring team on the Boston side of the ledger than Tryst'n'Grant or even All She Wrote, so from here on in, it looks like it will take a miracle to dethrone the Dogs.

All She Wrote is counting on Tomas Kaberle to outscore Johnny Boychuk by 16 points in the Finals for 2nd place, which seems highly unlikely.

Pucking Luck holds down the 4th place money position, but comparing their team to most teams down the line in the top 10, if Roberto Luongo dominates this series, they'll be out of the money and likely out of the top 10.  Pucking Luck would need a Bruins sweep and a major series from Michael Ryder to stay in the money.

Seaherwet has an excellent chance of staying in the money, provided Ryan Kesler can outscore Luongo and/or the Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci combination go to town.

Outside of the money, I like the chances of Kalenab, Granny Smith and the Thieves on the Cheechoo Express to make a run for the money, they have the right combination of Bruins, which could separate each other, especially if this series goes deep.  It looks like we'll have a great finish to this year's edition of the pool.

Previous Stanley Cup Final previews in the hockey pool, for your amusement... 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2007.

Game-Winning Goals
The record for GWGs in one playoff year by a team is 22, which would mean that the record could be tied if this series went at least five games, broken if it went six or more games.  The Langdon River Dogs and The Kings Don't Pay Their Bills both lead the pool with 17 winners, but they are a long way off of the overall record, which was set back in 2009.  If the Sedin twins were to make a big leap and win every game for the Canucks, most teams would come very close to the record, but there is only a faint possibility that it would be the case.

David Krejci leads the pool with four GWGs, Nathan Horton has three, Ryan Kesler, Michael Ryder and Daniel Sedin all have two winners, outlining the leaders that are still in these playoffs.

The biggest news going into the series is that the Canucks will be two bodies healthier than when they won the Western Conference Finals over a week ago, as the team is likely going to see the return of Box 8 forward Manny Malhotra and Box 9 defenseman Christian Ehrhoff. Malhotra is returning from a major eye injury, which forced him out of the last few weeks of the regular season and the first three rounds of the playoffs, while Ehrhoff has been nursing an undisclosed injury, missing out on the last couple games of the series against the Sharks.  The biggest impact these two players can have on the hockey pool is helping Roberto Luongo get to his four wins in this series.

Well, I'm ready for this series to get going, I don't know about you... can it be Wednesday already, please?