It’s time for Music City to bring home a cup named Stanley. They made the great offseason move to trade Shea Weber to the Montréal Canadiens for P.K. Subban. The Nashville Predators are now down two games to one to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals. Why, not only will the Preds win the championship series, but why do they deserve it?
It’s not necessarily that Nashville is predestined to win the 2017 Cup, but it’s just that the Penguins shouldn’t. There are several teams that have won too much in the NHL: the Pens, Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings, etc. Any of the remaining teams could deserve to win, but why is Nashville most deserving? That’s a good question, I mean, why not Sergei Bobrovsky’s Columbus Blue Jackets who had that insane winning streak at the beginning of this 2016-17 season? Why not Brad Marchand’s Boston Bruins who scraped their way into the postseason by beating powerhouses at the end of the year? Why Pekka Rinne’s Nashville Predators? Well, to begin with, they fought off the rallying St. Louis Blues and Anaheim Ducks in the last two rounds. The Blues were the second round matchup and the Ducks were their opponents in the Western Conference Finals. What’s more remarkable is their victory in the first round: The top seed Chicago Blackhawks laughed in the face of the bottom seed Predators before Game 1. How could Roman Josi, P.K. Subban, and Pekka Rinne’s feeble Nashville Predators, who had barely nudged their way past the Winnipeg Jets take on Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Corey Crawford’s Blackhawks? Well, in the Game 1 Smashville shutout on the road, the Preds’ Viktor Arvidsson scored the only goal in the first period. Game 2 saw another Rinne shutout with a 5-0 victory which brought the series to Tennessee. Game 3 started out with two Chicago goals from Dennis Rasmussen and Patrick Kane in the second period. In the third, Filip Forsberg took the game into his own hands and fired two goals, one early in the period and one late, past Crawford to tie the game 2-2 and bring us to overtime. It wasn’t until 16:44 in OT that the tie was broken by the Preds’ Kevin Fiala. The current score in the series worried the now horror stricken Hawks fans as they trailed three games to none to the eight seed. Despite the third period goal from Jonathan Toews, the two goals from Josi, one goal from Colton Sissons, and final goal from Arvidsson brought the final score to 4-1 Predators, just confirming the Windy City’s worst fear: they’d, not only lost to, but been swept by the last seed in the Western Conference, Nashville Predators. With 94 season points, Smashville would have missed the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, yet Chicago had been knocked off by them. Now, we move past the implications for who deserves what more, and to who has more skill. In this series, the defending champ Penguins are favored by 145 points to win. Now, that does not mean they’ll win Games 4 and 5 276-131; it means that if you bet $100 on the Predators winning, and they do, you win $145. Pittsburgh is clearly heavily favored to take this series, which would be their third since 2000 and their fifth total. This year is Nashville’s first appearance in the NHL Finals. Despite the previously presented information, Pittsburgh gave up more goals than Nashville. The Preds also have won a higher percentage of faceoffs than the Pens, which, when combined with the apparent lacking defense of Pittsburgh, does not come out with a Pittsburgh victory. Now, Rinne, after yesterday’s game is 1-9 against the Pens; and his newfound momentum and complete steely-eyed nature in front of the net will almost assuredly carry Music City to their first NHL parade. The Predators have given up very few goals this postseason and are neck and neck with Pittsburgh for goals scored. That combination does not add up for the Pennsylvania side of the coin. The Predators have faced great adversity this season and they have really excelled of late. No team is more deserving of this Stanley Cup victory than the Predators of Nashville, Tennessee. Sidney Crosby and the Penguins of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania have had their fun, but like LeBron James in the NBA with his Cavaliers of Cleveland, Ohio, they will most likely lose on their quest to defend their title. Jesse A. Cook “P.K., Pekka, Preds” June 4, 2017
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Ever since the Cleveland Cavaliers knocked off the Boston Celtics, there has been a whole ordeal about how Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant’s Golden State Warriors will have the City’s third thriller with Lebron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love’s Cavs. Here’s why that shouldn’t have happened:
The Celtics had a shot to beat the Cleveland Crew, but their fans were so obsessed with how they were facing the “King,” himself that they didn’t realize how real their chance was. Sure, the Cavs played possibly the best offensive game for one team in NBA history in Game 2. In Space Jam, the Monstars led at the half 66-18, which was thought of an impossible score for one game, but the Cavs led Game 2 at the half with a score of 72-31. Sure, the deficit was slightly more in the Michael Jordan and Looney Tunes film, but it’s still a pretty incredible (or pathetic) achievement. The Cavs took that game 130-86, but believe it or not, the Cs had a shot to win the series. Game 1 was another example of Boston winning the second half, but unfortunately, that was not enough to overcome their fantastic halftime deficit. You know the story with Game 2, but Beantown took Game 3 111-108 in Cleveland to become the only team to have beaten Cleveland in the playoffs. Game 4 was a story of heartbreak for Celtics nation: Without Isaiah Thomas, due to a hip injury, and leading 57-47 at halftime, the Green team looked forward to tying the series and becoming the first team to even up the Cavs. Unfortunately, Kyrie Irving had other plans… In the third quarter, Boston scored an as per usual 23 points, yet Irving scored 21 by himself. The 40-23 third quarter put the score at the Cavaliers leading the Celtics 87-80. Now, Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart, and Al Horford’s Celtics, without their all-star point guard Thomas, had to climb back in the fourth quarter after leading all game. The Celts kept closing in, but losing it at the last moment. Finally, Cleveland broke free and became the first team to go up three games to one on Boston. If Boston could’ve strengthened their defense in the paint, they would have tied the series and headed back to Boston with some major momentum. Game 5 was barely a trifle for Cleveland: scoring 43, 37, 34, and 26 points in each quarter to total 135 points to Boston’s mere 102 ended the Eastern Conference Finals. Now, it was the Golden State Warriors’ daunting task to take LeBron back off his throne, but it may not be so daunting for the higher seeded Warriors. In Game 1, Kevin Durant unleashed a monstrous 38 point game; not only did he collect 8 rebounds, but his shots drained from every corner of the court. The thing that shut Boston down was how Kevin Love could defend Al Horford in the paint and from three-point range, the same for Kelly Olynyk; but the Cs excelled when they had both men on the court because Love could not guard both of them simultaneously. Love doesn’t have such problems against Golden State’s Durant (I mean, he’s just one guy), but KD still took the Cavs down. If Steph Curry and his fellow Warriors can continue to relax while Durant drives, this will be the easiest sweep in NBA history! One of Boston’s tactic throughout the season was having the point guard (either Thomas or Terry Rozier) drive to the hoop, but dish the ball outside the three point line at the last moment. Having drawn all the defenders in towards the paint, the shooters were usually open for a easy shot. It was extremely helpful and beneficial to the Celtics that they could have a good shooting big man, such as Olynyk or Horford, ready outside. What this would do is bring their lumbering opponent outside, and unable to play defense at the top of the key and around there, the defender would have trouble keeping up Beantown’s athletic big men. At this point, there would be no hulking shotblocker to snatch the ball away from Thomas or Rozier and no hotshot forward to keep up with Horford or Olynyk. This made scoring extremely easy for the top seed Celtics. Unfortunately, Kevin Love, unlike the Washington Wizards’ Marcin Gortat and Chicago Bulls’ Robin Lopez of the first two serieses, is just as athletic as Horford and Olynyk, which ultimately made that go-to tactic of Brad Steven’s team moot. Boston might have had a chance if Horford and Olynyk could have driven or hit outside shots against Love, although they would have had a better chance if IT had stayed healthy. Anyways, despite Boston’s getting trounced by the LeBron Squad, Golden State has one of the easiest jobs in the world. Jesse A. Cook June 2, 2017 “How Boston Could've Won And Why The City Will” Under the new management of Bruce Cassidy, the Boston Bruins have an astonishing 7-1 record. Longtime head coach, Claude Julien was fired and then went off to the B’s rival, the Montréal Canadiens a week later, yet he only has had a 3-3 record. Why has Cassidy worked so well and why is Julien on what looks like what might be the tail end of his career?
Cassidy spent years at the helm of the Providence Bruins, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Boston Bruins, so he’s worked with a good amount of the current NHL roster for Boston and they’re familiar with him. Star David Pastrnak, despite having only one year of minor league experience, has been with Bruce Cassidy longer than Claude Julien. Ryan Spooner, Brandon Carlo, and Frank Vatrano have better chemistry with their new head coach because they spent a year or more of their careers with Cassidy, and a couple months under Julien. Julien has led a team to the playoffs since the 2013-14 season when Boston lost a 7 game bout with the Canadiens in the second round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Now, his former team is primarily made up of new faces, players like the minor leaguers or players like David Backes, who were signed or traded for. It is tough to try to appeal to the new guys while keeping your veterans happy, but Claude just simply had too much trouble with it, so Montréal made him the new guys that the team had to acclimate themselves to. As an added bonus, he has to impress everyone in the Habs’ organization. That’s some odds against him, but if he’s really only hit a slump, southern Québec will have another Stanley Cup contender team. Familiarity is tremendously important to the success of an organization, but that moral boost really contributes to a boost in play level and skill. Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin have really stepped up their play in net and the offensive attack has really been far more powerful. Brad Marchand, Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron, and David Krejci have all been incredible of late; scoring off the charts and having masterful passing abilities. Nevertheless, there is always the possibility of Cassidy being a mere flavor of the month. He is only the interim leader, so there is always the possibility that his coaching could decrease in value and Boston will ultimately fail in their Stanley Cup goal. Is the Cassidy Craze nothing more than Lin-Sanity, the Tebow-Pocalypse, or Boston’s own Morgan Magic? Who can say, but currently, the Killer B’s are on on what looks like the fast track to their seventh championship victory. Jesse A. Cook March 1, 2017 “Bruce Cassidy And The Stanley Cup Bid” |
AuthorJesse Cook: High school junior. Does play-by-play for the Sharon Varsity Eagles softball, soccer, volleyball, basketball, and football teams. Fanatic of the Boston and Cincinnati teams in the Big Four sports. Designs graphics of athletes, politicians, and musicians at Picsart.com. Archives
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