The Quote Sheet & Iain’s Playoff Picks

I follow @NHLFlames on Twitter. If you don’t, you should. Apart from anything else, they tweet all games. It’s not quite play-by-play, but it’s close. Handy if you’re at a restaurant or a mall or something with no access to a TV or radio. Anyways…they sent out the link to the quote sheet on flames.nhl.com. Nothing surprising, but it’s somewhat interesting to see which cliches are trotted out as the players leave the ‘dome on green garbage bag day.

Not like anyone would care, but here’s my first round predictions…

In the West

• Colorado over San Jose in 6 – San Jose suffers another playoff implosion and the Avs prove that the “hockey experts” employed by many media outlets aren’t any better than the rest of us when it comes to predicting the success and/or heart of a team.
• Chicago sweeps Nashville – The  Blackhawks are ridiculous. They are my pick to win the Western Conference.
• Vancouver over LA in 7 – The ‘nucks finished with only two more points than LA. Two. That aside, I friggin’ HATE the Canucks and their obnoxious fans. They can’t be eliminated too soon for me. Rooting for a Kings sweep, but have to be realistic.
• Phoenix over Detroit in 7 – With the Flames out, I’m rooting for the ‘yotes. They’re like the Bad News Bears. Detroit is dangerous, but I have confidence in Phoenix (like Colorado) to defy all odds and at least get to the second round.

In the East

• Washington takes Montreal in 5 – I’ll concede one Habs win based strictly on team pride, but Montreal is in tough against the team I’m picking to win the Cup this year. I can’t wait to how The Gr8 One celebrates when that happens…
• Philly over New Jersey in 6 – A toss up that I’m giving to my boyhood team. The Flames were still in Atlanta when I was in elementary school, so the Flyers get my support in the east every year.
• Boston takes Buffalo in 7 – This looks like a tough series to me. When in doubt, go Original Six…that’s my motto.
• Pittsburgh over Ottawa in 5 – Of the three Canadian teams in the post season, Ottawa is the only one I could actually root for. Too bad they drew Crosby and Company. As with Montreal, I’ll give them a win based on team pride, but they’re gonna get killed.