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George Zoran
Top Prospect
Canada
55 Posts |
 Posted - 01/09/2006 : 11:17:29
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We have hit the midway point of the season for most teams and thus far have seen some of the best hockey played in years. Maybe it was the year off, but I have not seen so much excitement around the game in a long time. We have seen some surprises with guys like Staal and Spezza finding their game, as well as a handful of great rookies lighting it up. What can we expect from the second half of the season? Here are my predictions:
Western Conference
Detroit should finish first, followed by Calgary and then Dallas as they will all win their respective divisions. The Kings will get home ice advantage by finishing fourth, followed by the Predators in fifth, the Oilers in sixth, the Canucks in seventh and the Avalanche squeaking into the playoff picture in eighth place.
Eastern Conference
I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that the Senators will continue its tear through the Eastern conference and will finish first. The Flyers and Hurricanes will win their respective divisions and finish second and third correspondingly. The Lightning will return to last season’s form and finish fourth followed by the Rangers in fifth, and Sabres in sixth. However unpopular this is with Toronto hockey fans, I believe the Thrashers and les Canadiens finish seventh and eighth leaving the Leafs out of the playoffs.
Stanley Cup
Not the boldest of predictions but it is tough not to pick to Senators to win the Cup. They will win and Dominik Hasek will take the Conn Smythe as MVP. Here is how it will all shake down:
Ottawa will sweep Montreal, and then beat Philly in seven to advance to the semifinals. There they will destroy Buffalo just as they have all season long and Dominik Hasek will dominate his old club. I am calling for an all Canadian Stanley Cup Final. It is too easy to pick Calgary and I think they will get knocked out of the playoffs early. The other team from Alberta will upset the West and take on Ottawa in the finals, but will lose in seven games.
Honors
• The NHL will make an unprecedented move and name Crosby and Ovechkin as co-rookies of the year and give them each their own Calder Memorial trophy.
• Ilya Kovalchuk will lead the NHL in goals and points and will take home the Maurice Richard and Art Ross trophies.
• Jaromir Jagr should come in second in scoring behind Kovalchuk and will win the Hart Memorial trophy as the League MVP. None is more valuable to his team than Jagr.
• Mikka Kiprusoff will take home his first Vezina trophy as the league’s best goalie.
• Lindy Ruff takes coach of the year honors with the fine work he has done with the Sabres.
Let us not forget the Olympic Games in Turin Italy. Canada is the favorite to win and will not disappoint. If it is anything close to the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, we will witness some of the greatest hockey ever played come this February. I predict Sweden will overcome its poor performance in ’02 and finally get the shot they deserve, but will still lose to Canada in the gold medal game.
So there are my predictions… what do you think you could do better?
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Second Half Predictions… 
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