I'll counter that with:

Winner of President's Trophy vs defending SC champion has always gone on to win the SC - http://www.puckreport.com/2011/05/pr...nding-cup.html

And then one up you with the Canadian Olympic host stat:

Montreal - Olympic Host in 1976, SC champion in 1977
Calgary - Olympic Host in 1988, SC champion in 1989
Vancouver - Olympic Host in 2010...

Yeah, I just saw the same thing, so that solves the riddle of what was happening with tickets for this round. And with starting prices at $197, LOL @ me for ever thinking I might find tickets for $500-600 for a pair. I think the tickets that were available for $500 each on Craigslist right after the Canucks finished the Sharks would be quite a deal now.

That's OK, already sent the email out to all our friends that the party is at our house for every game. I'd rather be there in person, but we'll have to settle for 60" HD with our best friends.

And no question $320 each sounds extremely fishy - that's probably below face value.

If by solid you mean around 10th best in the league, than ya I guess.

Anyway, they made it this far so they have to be playing pretty well.

The exciting thing I see is that both teams take pride in how physical they can play, so if the series goes that route it will be a war. Hard on the players, but damn fun to watch.

One of the problems teams have had with the Nucks is if you don't have a deep d, we will torch your 2nd and 3rd pairing with the Kesler line. I don't see a deep D in Boston so look for 17 to have a big series.

10th best would be pretty solid

Right, that's what I meant about depends what he means by solid.

Better than average? Likely. Elite? Clearly not.

the contention that boston has 1 2nd line and 3 3rd lines is ridiculous - that's mostly what was being argued against. bergeron is a 1st line by himself, then there's lucic-krejci-horton. the reason why points among boston's top players are aids is because their power play isn't very good.

Not that we are going to see this anytime soon. I think rule of thumb is.
If you pay say 300 for your seat per game as a season ticket holder.
First round and second round would be about 450.
Third Round 600
Final would be somewhere in the neighborhood of a grand.

Lower bowl seats would easily catch 3 or 4 K from a scalper. More if the Leafs and Habs were playing in the finals.
A lot depends on what teams are playing. Habs Van final would probably fetch some extra for a scalper.
League sets the prices for the playoffs too I do believe.

potential matchups

i'm thinking that the Canucks will try to get:

Higgins-Kesler-Raymond
Hamhuis-Bieksa
vs
Lucic-Krejci-Horton

or would they want to see if the Sedins could cycle on those big wingers? but i definitely think that's the assignment for Hamhuis-Bieksa in this series, to deal with those two Bruins powerforwards.

Bruins will likely want:

Seidenberg-Chara (and possibly Marchand-Bergeron-Recchi)
vs
Sedin-Sedin-Burrows
Edler-Ehrhoff (or Salo)

which will leave 3rd vs 3rd and 4th vs 4th in a lot of cases. except on O-zone draws where the 3rd or 4th are out there, then that means the Sedin line, ldo (and even against the 1st & 2nd lines too when they're rested). and most times when any pairing other than Seidenberg-Chara are out there for a draw in the Boston end, that'll be the Sedins, when possible.

i feel like this could be like the Nashville series for Kesler, if he doesn't have a huge defensive responsibility (i mean Bergeron is good, but no Toews/Jumbo), and if the Bruins don't use the top pairing against him, he could run wild again. i could see the Bruins possibly neutralizing the Sedins at even strength with the best 5-man unit, but i don't know if they can stop all of the Canucks' weapons, as the rest of their D isn't strong. Kaberle might well get killed yet again in this series, kind feels like any of the Canucks' first 3 lines would give him headaches, what with the way the 3rd line hits and forechecks.

the 3rd/4th line battles could be key as well, as the Bruins have good forward depth through the entire lineup, and with the Canucks' 3rd line playing as well as they have all year, not to mention the possible return of Malhotra to the lineup.

and special teams will obviously be huge. the Canucks' PP has been as good as Boston's has been bad, that will have to change for Boston to have any chance. and the Canucks' PK was good for most of the year, but has struggled at times in the playoffs (most notably giving up 5 in a row to SJ). the Bruins PK has been so-so as well, so they will have to step that up.

other key will be faceoffs, and how that all plays out. both teams seem pretty solid in the circle, Canucks being #1 and the Bruins #5 in the regular season. which will probably be a lot of:

H.Sedin (52%) vs Krejci (48.7%)
Kesler (57.4%) vs Bergeron (56.6%)
Lapierre (49.7%)/Malhotra (61.7%) vs Peverley (55.9%)/Campbell (51.7%)/Kelly (50.9%)

Agree. I get bashed by my buddies because I hate the nucks and have cheered against them in every series. Its purely because I dislike their players but its made out to be that I hate Canada lol.

It's hyperbole like this, contained in a serious post, that makes me discount your entire post altogether.

i think he meant to say "Kesler".

no worse than blinded by scoring statistics people like you thinking the Bruins 1st line is a 2nd line.

If that happens in the next few years, we know the fix is in.

right of course it's hyperbole.

bergeron this year:

faced the highest corsi rel of any boston forward
had the second lowest zone start
had the third highest corsi rel among boston forwards

he moves the play forward to a ******ed degree.

Wait, you're claiming that wasn't hyperbole?

except i never said that or believe it, but ya don't let facts get in your way.

Bergeron is Boston's Kesler. He goes up against the toughs every night and does a great job, despite what a casualfan.jpg might think.

Of course it isn't. Triumph is never wrong, just ask him.

He wanted someone to call him on it so he could spout a bunch of metrics to prove that Bergeron and two Jody Shelly's could be a first line all by themselves.

I'm not saying he isn't. I'm saying Bergeron [or Kesler] and Oreskovich and Campell are not a 1st line.

lol canucks fans.

lol Flames/Arsenal.

ok, so i guess the matchups Boston will be looking for are:

Marchand-Bergeron-Recchi
Chara-Seidenberg
vs
Sedin-Sedin-Burrows

and

Lucic-Krejci-Horton
whoever their 2nd best pairing is (Ference/Boychuk?)
vs
Higgins-Kesler-Raymond

yah, thankfully i made all the metrics and the explanations up for them myself. bergeron sucks.

okay you caught me. no, that's not what i meant. but bergeron and marchand and recchi are, even though marchand and recchi don't appear to do much more than tread water. so yes, if you were randomly making lines by pulling names out of a hat, which nobody does, the line that bergeron ends up on *may* not be a 1st line. are you happy now?

grunch another thread 1800 posts early?

Is Marchand/Bergeron/Ryder a first line?

If so, please rank that first line vs the others in the league. 28th?

Pretty sure there's a fair bit of room between Bergeron is a line by himself and Bergeron sucks.