Greetings... who turned down the frigging heat???
Well, let's see what I missed. For a detailed list of outlandish crap I predicted a couple weeks back, go here.
- The Commandos proved me wrong (losing the appeal against Patrick Bryne as well as their regular season finale in Miramichi), right (unfortunately, losing game 1 of the Meek Division semis in Woodstock 6-0) and undecided (predicting this series to do the distance).
On Wednesday night, the Commandos host the Slammers in Game 2. Which Dieppe team shows up? The one that fought tooth and nail with the Slammers virtually the entire regular season or the one that fell off the rails at the Carleton County Civic Center this past weekend? History says it should be the former before it's the latter.
Another question worth throwing out there is if Conor Wilkinson starts (which I can't see him not doing... dance with who brung you), how long will his leash be? I'm a big Wilkinson fan... great kid, right attitude, has helped win a number of games during the season. However, Alex St-Arnaud recovered from a couple of rocky outings after coming back from the Q to string together a handful of quality starts going down the stretch. He was also solid in relief in Game 1. If it appears that Wilkinson (who I might point out was far from the only person at fault for the Commandos opening game stumbles) is headed for another rough night (either by his own doing or the team as a whole), does St-Arnaud enter the fray as a way to stem the tide and try to shake things up for Jeff Leblanc and company? Again, I don't expect this to come into play as Wilkinson has an entire season of bounce back games to his credit. The team as a whole has done the same. However, having a guy like St-Arnaud on the bench gives the Commandos not only goaltending depth, but a potential momentum shift if needed in what will be a very tough series where every decision - no matter how big or small - could make a difference.
7:30PM start at the AJL. Be there. Seriously, what else do you have to do? That day pass is only good for 24 hours, remember.
- The Wildcats basically did nothing as I expected... oh wait, they defeated Saint John and Bathurst (and lost to Halifax) and otherwise did nothing as I expected. Injuries notwithstanding, it was still ugly at times, with tough losses against Cape Breton and PEI (twice) forcing the Cats into sixth place overall to end the regular season and a date with the Victoriaville Tigres. Why am I not looking forward to facing Victo? Revisit this post... it pretty much sums up why the Tigres concern me as a first round opponent for Moncton. And if you've been reading this blog and following the team all season, you probably know why the Cats concern me as well. If the "circa November or January" Cats show up, this series could end in a sweep. If the "October/December" edition makes an appearance, all bets are off. If Dimitrij Jaskin gets hurt again, I will officially refuse to watch the remainder of the series without a drink in my hand. I'll save an official prediction of any kind for my playoff preview post sometime later this week.
As for the rest of my "fearless" predictions from earlier this month (I use the term "fearless" since I knew at least half would be wrong).
- Truro did indeed defeat Woodstock in their final regular season game, clinching first in the Eastlink Division and facing off against mini-series winners Pictou County. What may not have been so expected was Pictou's opening game victory at the Rath Eastlink Center. Although I'm sure Truro will rebound, the game was certainly food for thought for Shaun Evans' Bearcats.
- Jaskin came within four goals of 50 and one point of the century mark. Had injuries not robbed him of a number of games the past two weeks, I may have been onto something here. I was dead on with my point prediction for Drouin and three off for Peter Trainor (100 instead of 103) and did not in any way expect Ben Duffy to go all Bruce Banner on the season's last day to outdistance everyone else and finish with an outstanding 110 points.
- The Transcript hasn't hired a proofreader... this is simply an educated assumption. God speed, Neil.
- The Bruins are not in first place in the East... but it probably still is PK Subban's fault... or maybe Joe Vitale's.
- Bang on for the first regulation loss for the Blackhawks prediction, right here! They're still my favorite for the Cup as well. Plus, they were the subject of this great little article a couple months back which I plucked off the twitter feed of Dieppe head coach Jeff Leblanc but had overlooked. Pretty crazy when you put it all together, really.
No comments:
Post a Comment