OK, the Flyers are off to a miserable start with the new crappy confusing format demonstrating the NFL-ization of hockey. Wild Cards? Who gives a crap. It was used to drag out baseball and football an additional month. The difference is that the NHL’s wild cards don’t expand anything. It remains 16 teams with just the chance of one division having five teams advance over a guarantee of four. Seems rather pointless and didn’t make much difference when six divisional winners with 10 point earners advancing.
At least it explained why my team had to face the Rangers. The traditional order would’ve had them facing the Lighting.
This season I got 20-to-1 odds on the Flyers going all the way. The pundits are predicting the Bruins. Really? Despite the bomb at the marathon in 2013, Boston had a dud in goal as they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Well, the Blackhawks had a good, abbreviated season which was the only way they could succeed. Playing 82 games would’ve exposed them to more injuries and their unbearable fans to reality, the ‘Hawks aren’t consistent.
So do my Flyers have a chance? Better than last year. They’re a clutch team in the final month. It wasn’t under the wire like Dallas though. Expectations are mediocre; the head coach was fired earlier in the season, their farm team is awful (makes depth questionable) and the media will hate them for lacking a big-name player they love.
Who may win it all? Probably a team I dislike. Boston, Anaheim, Pittsburgh and Colorado seem to be the smart money. I’ll stick with my team because winning $200 would make it sweeter. Then I can spend it on something to tell the ‘Hawks and Bruins fans to suck it. Winning doesn’t suit them. Titles force their residents to find something new to bitch all day about.