[New (Old) Game!] Around the Arena - New Game signups under way!

Well, I had to motivate her somehow...

One more person! You know you want to, R...J! Though, if anyone wants to beat him to the punch, go for it!

 

1. MarcusP2
2. Jedi_Johnson
3. Trikes
4. Trim

 

Sounds good! Thanks for playing again, Trim!

I'll get the topic started tomorrow.

 

Well, here we go for round two of Around the Arena!


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Well, we have two days of the NHL playoffs in the books. Crosby and the Pens are just one of the favorites who are tied or down 0-1 early on in this post-season. I've got a couple questions for you.

Does loosing on home ice doom these teams?
Is there as much parity in the Western Conferences as people claim?


Alright, let's hear what ya got!

 

This is not a good time for my jackass brother to have used all our download quota and crippled our internet.

 

Do you think that you'd be able to post an answer in the next day or two? I can give you the time if you'd need it, with your special circumstance.

 

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Efff... DMC, you just had to start with dern hockey! Ah, well, at least it's not golf, amirite? lol

Playoff games are a different monster altogether from the regular season doldrums ... playoff hockey fits this bill and so much more. Teams with the finesse of smooth victory after smooth victory during the regular season can soon find that a team with a little bit of luck and a little bit of orneriness can shock the hell out of them unexpectedly. Losing on home ice doesn't necessarily doom these teams, but it certainly should serve as a wake-up call for those who forgot to mark Game 1 of the playoffs on their calendars. Imagine being caught surprised the first game and losing a more honest game on Game 2. No matter if we're talking basketball, baseball, or hockey, being down 0-2 in a series is nearly equivalent to climbing out of a bottomless pit in the realm of the playoffs.

Recall that in the case of the Western Conference, we're talking about seven out of eight playoff teams that reached one hundred points... would it really be a shock if one of these teams overcomes their lower seed one of these rounds? Watch your backs, certainly... I'd say that fact alone is reason to credit those who talk about parity in the West. In a league developing to a point where even teams who didn't make the playoffs might have warranted consideration for victory under fortunate conditions, it's become harder for everyone to make the playoffs in the first place, making any team in the line-up a danger to any other team. Blame or credit the salary cap, anyone? It's not entirely surprising that these series are wide open.

Preds coach Barry Trotz alluded to the potential danger when speaking about the fluke-like goal that started the Preds on the right track toward their surprising win over the Blackhawks in Game 1. "It gave us some belief... It energizes you."

Sometimes, in the unpredictable world of the playoffs, that's all a team needs.

 

Within the next 24 hours, at worst.

 

No problems at all.

 

Doom them? Absolutely not. Even a 2-0 deficit isn't a bottomless pit in hockey. Look at the Capitals last year- they lost the first two games to the Rangers at home then won the series anyway. And then won the first 2 against the Pens but lost the series. That said, if you're a lower seed you're pretty happy right now. Splitting the home games is usually a good start; lower teams that won at least one of the first two were 4-2 last year, and 5-2 in 2008. You never want to be on the back foot in the playoffs. Since every series is split, we could be looking at some upsets in the opening round. I hope so, always more interesting when that happens. My pick for an upset is Montreal - they split the series 2-2, with a win in Washington and a shootout loss at home. The Caps better watch themselves- they could be a 2009 Sharks repeat.

And I don't think the Western conference is a special case of 'parity'. The entire NHL is on a very even keel, but the Western Conference scores more points in interconference play, leading to higher point totals for all those teams. (9th and 10th place in both conferences were 5 points out of the playoffs). Like pitching in baseball, a great day from a hockey goalie can turn an underdog into a winner, and all the goalies in the playoffs are good. Hence, the potential for an upset in any series, Western or Eastern. So perhaps, in the end, I agree- there's parity in the Western Conference. But there's parity in th Eastern Conference as well. (Philly/NJ and Ottawa/Pittsburgh are both tied up right now.)

 

sorry, if you can give me til tomorrow evening i'll have something.

 

Sure. J_J was away for the weekend as well, but please have your answers in by midnight PST time at the very latest.

 

Sorry for my late response. I was out of town and just got back late last night... just in time to go to work today.

There is no way that losing on home ice will doom these teams, especially the Pens. Firstly, its best of 7 and that fact alone leave a bit of room to correct for an early loss. If this were a 5 game series I'd be a bit more worried, but coming back from being down 1-0 is no big deal nowadays. There are 2 things to realize for the Pens, 1st Sidney Crosby is a beast and will continue to be one. 2nd and perhaps most important is that Marc-Andre Fleury won't have another game as weak as game 1. If I were a Pens fan I'd feel pretty safe right now.

The Detroit Red Wings have had a stranglehold on the Western Conference until this year. However, this season the Red Wings are not the same team as in the past. This opens the door for another team to break through to the Stanley Cup Finals. How can you hate the Western Conference this year? There's a great deal of parity, but there are teams 8th seeded Edmonton made the finals back in 2006. Not to mention the surprise that both Phoenix and Los Angeles have made it back to the playoff picture after being out of it for years. Too much parity? No way, its a competitive conference that has fielded some strong looking teams. This parity is a great thing for fans!

 

my apologies as well. school and life have just not been kind to me of late.

on to the topic at hand...

losing the first game doesn't ever doom anyone, home stadium, court, field, ice, whatever. it's one game in a series, and you know what they say, the best team wins a series about 9 times out of 10 in the first set. does it hurt? sure, but that never, ever dooms you. if you earned home court, ice, etc then you EARNED it. that is a lot of stuff from the season that is going to carry over for a single game to doom the favored team. the only places that a home loss in the first game dooms is when it's the ONLY game that's going to be played, see the NFL playoffs. one also has to remember who is on the teams. typically the favored teams have some of the best players in the league, and that will come in to play as the series go forward. losing the first game can be a wakeup call. if you want that then look at the NBA playoffs for the last decade. some teams that were heavily favored lose the first game then bang, it's like a slap in the face and that's it. lights out.

as to the parity issue, given that there were teams that are playoff caliber that aren't even IN the playoffs, that kinda suggests that there is a lot of parity out there. odds are there will be a couple teams from this years playoffs that won't be back next year because of how close it is out there. any team that comes out and wins there, higher rated team or not, i don't know if you could really and truly call it an upset. surprising? maybe, but not an upset.

 

Thanks for your expert opinions and analysis! Let's do some scoring...



Trikes: I agree, it's not doom and certainly a wake up call (+ 3). Loosing the first two is a lot more problematic, that's for sure (+ 2). Good call with all but the Avs having 100 + regular season points (+ 3). I like the link between competitiveness and (generally) tight series (+ 1).

Marcus: I'm loving the references to last year's playoffs (+ 4). Great references with the Caps being down 0-2 and winning and being up 2-0 and loosing. Interesting stats (+ 3), but the Caps seem to be in full control...for now (- 1). Good goalkeeping is very important (+ 2), and there is certainly parity in the East as well (+ 2).

J_J: Yep, it's a long way to Game 7 (+ 3). Crosby has been tearing it up so far (+ 2), and (I hope) Fleury shouldn't have another terrible game like Game 1 (+ 1). What about the other teams, though? (- 1). I agree, parity is great for the fans (+ 3) and it's not Detroit's Conference to loose this year (+ 2).

Trimaj: Yep, the upper seeds earned their home court etc advantage (+ 3) I like the idea of the wake up call (+ 3) and the comparison to the NBA (+ 2). There are some teams that could've been in the playoffs and had been playing quite well in the regular season (+ 2). But who are they? (- 1).


Total scores:
Trikes: 9
Marcus: 10
J_J: 10
Trimaj: 9


Next topic will be up later today!

 

Time for our second topic in Around the Arena!

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Time to go back to the Champions League. Inter have dispatched Barca by a score of 3-1 tonight. Here are your questions, panelists.

Are Inter the favorites to win the Champions League right now?
Did the Italian side benefit from Barca's travel complications regarding the volcanic ash?
Will José Mourinho still be the Inter coach next season?


Let's see what ya got!

 

Surely all of our contestants don't want to be muted, do they?

 

I don't think they like your topic

 

Tough.

 

Well, if you have to mute them all, it doesn't really hurt any of them relative to their earlier standings

 

i'll try to come up with something, but i don't know much about soccer.

 

True enough.

Columnists, you have until midnight Friday PST to get your responses in, or else I will bust out the mute button.

 

Yah, whatever, Nate. You. Fire. Now.

 

That's okay if you don't know much about soccer. I don't think that anyone does except for Marcus. I don't expect perfection, just though out answers.

And Trikes, this isn't The Nest. Don't tempt me to mute you.

Edit: Trimaj, I wasn't making fun of your lack of soccer knowledge in my last post...I was loling at R...J, not you. Sorry, I should have checked the thread earlier and addressed that.

 

no worries. i figured that out. my reading skillz be l33t.