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Monday 28 April 2014

Monday Mornings with Mitchy

In a season that has been unpredictable, the predictable has happened.

They have been on a collision course all season and now the Bruins and Canadiens will meet in round two of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The regular season meetings haven't produced the animosity that we've seen in years past but a playoff series will definite ignite the best in everyone. Both teams are relatively healthy, both teams are coming off easy first round series and both teams desperately want to get at each others throats.

The positives: 
- The Habs beat the Bruins 3/4 this season, including twice in Boston.
- Montreal is getting balanced scoring from all four lines, every forward who dressed in the first round scored with the exceptions of Brandon Prust and Micheal Bournival.
- The Canadiens best players weren't their best in round one. Expect more from: Carey Price, PK Subban, Max Pacioretty and Thomas Vanek
- Tuukka Rask is mentally soft when it comes to playing against Montreal.

The concerns: 
- Boston has the physical edge.
- Bruins have home ice advantage
- Bruins have the better PP(3rd)
- If the game was played on paper, Boston is the better team.

Anyways, here's to just being excited that the circus is coming to town. And even with the other great match-ups that the second round will have to offer and the tremendous hockey that we've seen so far this playoff, it will be Boston against Montreal that will draw the most attention from hockey fans everywhere.
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Upsets are never easy to pick. And I was wrong.

I thought the Ducks would be in tough against the Stars. And surprising to some, Dallas actually pushed the series to six games. But you have to impressed with the way Anaheim was able to overcome a two-goal third period deficit on the road in game six.

Maybe, they truly did learn a lesson in their loss a year ago to the Red Wings.

That said, I don't know what Bruce Boudreau is going to do with his goaltending. No confidence in Jonas Hiller and Frederik Anderson simply isn't good enough. Put in the kid, it's time for John Gibson to sink or swim.

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It amazes me how so many ignorant people have the mental capacities to become wealthy.

Caught on tape making a slew of racist comments, Clippers owner Donald Sterling is an utter embarrassment to the NBA.

Saying things so ridiculous that one would think they were listening to a new Dave Chappelle satire sketch, these are the real life views of one of the powerful voices in the NBA.

Good luck signing free agents.

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The Slick Awards:

American Idiot: Donald Sterling
Veins of Ice: Jonathan Toews
Deserving of more credit: Corey Crawford
Media Master: Darryl Sutter
Must watch: Nathan Mackinnon


Monday 14 April 2014

Monday Mornings with Mitchy

Sometimes the season concludes with a storybook ending.

On the night that captain of the Canadiens Brian Gionta was presented with the Jacques Beauchamps Trophy awarded to the "Unsung Hero" hero of the team, Gionta played hero.

A penalty shot in overtime, beating Cam Talbot of the Rangers with a backhand move to win the final regular season game of 2013-2014.

"We can't finish a regular season on a better note than Brian did," said Canadiens' coach Michel Therrien. "Same for his teammates and the fans as well."

Having voted on the award, I was quite content with the outcome. Media members are given a ballot with three selections and Gionta was my first. The other two players I voted for were Alexei Emelin and Francis Bouillon (who also showed his worth for the award in the game, dropping the mitts with Derek Dorsett who went knee-on-knee with David Desharnais)


Final break down for trophy: 
Brian Gionta: 66 
Brendan Gallagher: 64 
Tomas Plekanec: 51 
Josh Gorges: 45 
David Desharnais: 33 


Nobody is going to suggest that Gionta should come back next season at the same cap number. But 18-goals is nothing to snicker at and the Canadiens should undoubtedly bring back their captain. There's no weakness to his game and he still remains a rock-steady player. If  he's willing to take a small pay cut to move forward as this team continues to grow, Gionta will be back next season. 

It's character guys like Gionta that are the difference between finishing the season like this, or like the Leafs did. 

And when the moment is big and you haven't really noticed the Canadiens captain, he'll step up and deliver. 

Expect at least one more storybook ending from this guy. 
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The hires of Brendan Shanahan by the Leafs and Trevor Linden of the Canucks leaves me dumbfounded. I realize that nobody in the mainstream media will throw either under the bus. But please, just tell me what qualifies these guys to be good front office personnel. 

It's one think to jump into a city like Tampa Bay and make good hockey decisions. It's another to be the head figure of a Canadian franchise where expectations are sky-high and the margin for error is razor thin. 

Maybe the Leafs make a few acquisitions on defense, change the coach and add a couple character guys. And maybe that's enough to get them into the playoffs. The Canucks meanwhile are in no man's land and are going to be bad for a very long time. 

But eventually, hires are going to work out as well as Wayne Gretzky as the head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes. Oh yeah... didn't the Leafs want to bring in The Great One at one point? 
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Who's not looking forward to the playoffs. Especially the first round. It looks like it's shaping up to be a tremendous post season, where almost every series seems like a pickem'. 

I'm most excited however for the LA Kings vs. the San Jose Sharks. But unfortunately for San Jose, they might empty the tank and have nothing left once the seven games are over. 

SLICK AWARDS

Unsung Hero: Brian Gionta
Doomed to fail: Brendan Shanahan,Trevor Linden
Jack Adams: Patrick Roy, Mike Babcock, Jon Cooper
On the hot seat: Randy Carlyle, Barry Trotz, Adam Oates, Paul Maclean, Kirk Muller, 



Monday 7 April 2014

Monday Morning with Mitchy


"You're too small."

“You’ll never make it.”

“We just want someone bigger and stronger.”

Those are probably the nicest things anyone has ever said to David Desharnais.

How many times do you figure he’s been called a midget, gnome, dwarf, little person, shrimp, umpa lumpa or troll? 

I’ll venture an educated guess, many. 

Desharnais is above and beyond the Canadiens best candidate for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. 

Never drafted to the NHL, despite posting back-to-back season of more than 100 points in the QMJHL. 

One season in the ECHL with 78 points in 60 games. And an impressive stint in the American Hockey League. 

But when he performs well at the NHL level, there’s always a reason and it’s never his good play.

The naysayers will say, he benefited from playing with Max Pacioretty and Erik Cole when he posted 60 points in his first full NHL season.

The same would apply for his career year, this season, except substitute Thomas Vanek for Cole. 

So when he performs, everyone else given the credit. 

And when he doesn’t perform, bring out the pitchforks. 

After a horrid start to the season, everyone was questioning GM Marc Bergervin’s decision to resign Desharnais. Things got so bad that Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre demanded via twitter that Desharnais be given “a one-way ticket to Hamilton.” But certainly, his wingers weren’t to blame, right…?

Even with the name calling, the doubters, the hatred and vitriol he faces… all he does is persevere. That’s something that should be celebrated and it is in true spirit of the Masterton Trophy. 

The fan base believes the team is too small and that it has been for a long time. And they aren’t wrong. But sometimes, you have to sit back and enjoy the talents that you have because bigger isn’t always better. 

He’s not too small.

He has made it 

Bigger and stronger isn’t always better. 

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are the laughing stock of the NHL. 

The epic game 7 collapse to Boston last spring. 

This time, an epic 8-game March losing streak taking them from a home ice advantage team in the first round, to not making it to the dance all together. 

And maybe the most frustrating thing to Leaf fans should be that what plagues the team couldn’t be more evident, yet management chooses to ignore it. 

Dion Phaneuf isn’t a number one, Carl Gunnarsson isn’t a number two, Cody Franson and Jake Gardiner can’t play in their own end, Tim Gleason can’t skate and Paul Ranger shouldn’t be in the NHL. 

Their defense is awful. 

Until they fix that glaring issue, they’ll continue to be heavily outshot, have to rely on their goaltender to steal games and will go through stretches of games where nothing seems to be going right. 


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The Slick Awards: 

Size doesn’t matter: David Desharnais, Theo Fleury, Marty St Louis, Martin Gerbe, Brian Gionta, Cam Atkinson.