*Round 1 GDT - Blades vs Hurricanes*

[O&C]

Alright, I know there are a ton of new threads but I figure we need to make an official thread for the first round. This way I don't have to look through 4 threads to discuss the same topic

Oh and just for the record, Canes in 7. Saskatoon is a fantastic team, but the only team who can beat the Hurricanes, imho, IS the Hurricanes. Problem is, they spent upwards of 30 games doing that exact thing this season...

[Hockey Watcher]

Go get em Canes! This is the time to show your stuff

[dagley]

Go Canes, and I wouldn't have said that last year, hehe.

[O&C]

Just finished the photoshop job. Hope it works for everyone.

[Bocephus]

Looks pretty sweet O&C.

[Tiger Trauma]

Nice job

[HURRICANE'S ROCK]

One of the very few really positive things going for the Canes right now is how good our PP has been since Sbisa has been back. Pre Luca it was 15th at 17.9%. Since then it has been second best only to Calgary by a hair. Calg for the year was a ridiculous 30.2% and the Canes have been 29.7% the last 18 games. We finished 7th overall.

[dondo]

nice photoshopping.. looks really good ... good luck to both teams have a good series

[Tidball]

Lethbridge was the last team i wanted the Blades to play in the 1st round. We are 3-1 against them this season. It should be good. If we can play disciplined hockey we should win it.

[HURRICANE'S ROCK]

Just some info on the 4 regular season games we played with Saskatoon. All the games were very close and the games we lost were played with the Canes usual mixed up and incomplete line-ups. The 3-0 game was closer than it seemed. We had a very depleted line-up and our number 3 goalie played. We recieved 7 penalties in row, thats right 7 in a row, and S'toon scored 2 late goals during them to put the game away.
This is not meant to make excuses but just to take a good look at the season series. We were without some very key players in the games we lost and when we had a full line-up we beat the Blades in S'toon. Boychuk, who can make the difference in a game by himself with key goals, missed 2 games as did Bancks. Sbisa only played in the game we won.

Games and players missing:

Oct 26 Blades 3 Leth 2
Sbisa
Beach

Jan 01 Blades 3 Leth 0
Sbisa
Beach
Boychuk
Bancks
Metsola (Anderson in goal)
Canes got 7 penalties in a row in the 3rd period!!

Jan 17 Blades 3 Leth 2 O/T
Sbisa
Boychuk
Bancks

Mar 7th Leth 4 Blades 3
Full line-up

I am predicting a close hard fought series with the Canes prevailing in 6 or 7 games. I feel the Blades have played to there absolute maximum potential all year and do not have another gear. The Canes on the other hand have not got out of second gear all year long. If, and thats a big if, the Canes find another gear we will take this series.