Round 1 Finally Finished!

Now normally, Ogie isn't one to be turned to when you want bold predictions. To be truthful, you shouldn't turn to anyone for betting advice. But that said, Ogie did pretty good on his first rounders, going 7 for 8 in the win column.

But now, shit gets serious.

In the East

Boston Bruins vs. Montreal Canadiens

                vs     

You probably don't know this as you've lived in a ditch in Louisiana your whole life but Boston and Montreal have one of the most storied rivalries in hockey. At one time a Boston/Montreal game was received with the same passion and fervor as Canada vs. USSR or Common Sense vs. the NRA. It's cooled somewhat over the years as Boston has won 9 of the last 11 match ups since the infamous Don Cherry Too Many Men Incident That He Doesn't Like To Bring Up More Than Four Times A Year.

On one side you have a perennial Stanley Cup contending team. On the other side you also have a perennial Stanley Cup contending team (if someone were to invent a time machine and go back to the seventies). Boston is loaded with Tukka Rask, Zdeno Chara and Milan Lucic. Montreal is loaded with Carey Price, P.K. Subban and a lot of Montreal Medical Men on standby.

Ogie's Pick...

In nature, you come across a 7 ft tall Bear, you shoot at it and run away. This is probably going to be the game plan for the Canadians. While the Montreal Riot Police are already in the planning stages on where to direct the upcoming end of year riot, Boston might make nice and finish them off on their own rink.

Boston in 6.

Bear.

Pacioretty

The Other Guys

Pittsburgh Penguins vs New York Rangers

vs 

In this day and age of lock-outs and team parity, the idea of having the usual assortment of contenders wasn't really expected in terms of team life cycles. Pittsburgh however, has always managed to be that team that along with Boston, Chicago, and The Kings expected to make the Big Party. With two future Hall of Famers still in their prime, a strong supporting cast of wingers, a reasonable defense and ...well, Marc Andre Fleury, the Roberto Luongo of the East Coast, in goal which makes them a 'slightly above average' team. Nobody will ever accuse them of playing a defense-first game which makes for good fantasy pool points. 

On the other side you have a team that loves the run and gun offense, has the most photogenic goalie in the league, some seasoned ex-Tampa Bay Stanley Cup winning players (yes, that sentence still looks wrong 10 years later), but a supposed superstar in Rick Nash that is more used to fishing and golfing in May. While it may be hard to believe, a certain segment of Canucknuckle heads may cheer on the Rangers (and Alain Vigneault's) success while trying to block out last year's debacle in Vancouver.

Ogie's Pick...

In nature, it's all about the environment. The Penguins would eat the desecrated corpses of the Rangers in one of their giant feeding frenzies if the games were all played in Antarctica. However, they're not. So look to the Rangers to win on their home turf. This is going to be hopefully a run and gun battle with the biggest casualties being the timekeepers' carpal tunnel syndrome acting up and points staticians orgasming over all the goals being scored. But then again, it will come down to goaltending.

Photogenic Goalie Advantage; Rangers in six.

This...

vs this...

In The West;

How could you not want to win for this guy?

While we barely have time to bask in the glow that is Patrick Roy's handiwork in returning the Colorado Avalanche to it's former glory and gloating/despairing in the usual post-season tears and disappointment if you are a San Jose fan we will have to do our best and soldier on. Neither team was likely going to make it past the 2nd round anyways so let's just cut to the chase and get to the Blackhawks just becoming Conference champions.

Chicago Blackhawks vs. the Minnesota Wild

The Patented Chicago Screen

On one side you have the Blackhawks, Stanley Cup champions, 3-6 certifiable all-stars and a kick-ass goal horn and song. On the other side you have the Cinderella Minnesota Wild who beat the Cinderella Avalanche by coming back 4x in game 7 and winning it in overtime. Sure it was exciting as shit if you are a Wild fan but they are up against the big boys now. The state of Minnesota will barely have time to sober up to find out who their starting goaltender is this week before Chicago comes at them. Best to stay drinking Minny as Chicago will make it quick and relatively painless. 

Ogie's Pick...

Hawks in Three cuz...seriously.    

the face of Chicago

The face of Minnesota

Anaheim Ducks and LA Kings

   vs

When Anaheim found out they were
playing the Kings instead of San Jose...

On one side you have one of the highest scoring teams in the league. On the other side is Jonathon Quick. The LA/San Jose series was the only series I got wrong so it's throwing everything else off in the west. 

LA's game plan is simple, keep Quick in net and eventually their team will score. The question is will Getzlaf, Perry, Selanne and all let the Kings do a Sharks number on them? It's going to be a tough, hard-hitting series, no travel time and pretty much every home game is a home game for both teams. One side is coached by Stanley-cup winning Darryl Sutter, the other coached by Alex Ovechkin's favourite coach Bruce Boudreau. One side has Quick and ...someone. The other side has break-out young gun Fredrick Andersen and Jonas Hiller. Forward lines are pretty evenly matched, the Kings have Ogie's fav Olympian Defenceman in Drew Doughty on their back end. Lastly, let's compare eye candy...

In a street brawl, always go with the side with the most variety

Um...let's go with Anaheim for the win in the individual category

Don't look at her eyes! No matter what you do, don't look at her eyes!

I think we know what happens to ex-Disney Princesses when they age out of the Theme Park.

Ogie's Overall

Goalies - even

Defence - adv Kings

Forwards - adv Ducks

Coaching - adv Kings

Home Ice Advantage even

Eye Candy - adv Ducks

My brain says Kings in seven. My penis says Ducks in a cheerleader-led orgy. Either way, the winner has to face a pretty well-rested and probably injury-free Blackhawks team. Neither team should think about that.