Wednesday, April 25, 2007

All is Quiet.....

I call this the "transition" period.

Not much going on in the local sports world just based on the transition from hockey to the spring and summer sports. Safe to say I'm scrounging for material right now.

We're still about a month away from Rider coverage and the Swift Current Indians won't open up defense of their WMBL Championship until late May. The WHL's bantam draft is two weeks away. I am planning to check out the Tigers/Hitmen Friday night in the 'Hat. Maybe I can round up a few angles from the Arena.
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It's looking more and more like a great championship series between the Tigers and the Vancouver Giants could shake down. Tigers Head Coach and G.M. Will Desjardins would just cringe if he read that statement. Most people around the WHL would know what I'm talking about. I don't think he ever let's his guard down. Even if the Tigers went on to win the championship, I think he would still down-play the event for fear of giving another team ammunition for next season. Whatever he's doing, it's working.

I look forward to seeing Will this off-season at Cypress Hills Park. You can usually find him at the golf course. Last time I saw him he was helping out his dad at the golf course - picking range balls.
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I was helped out today from a sports tip. Apparently, local 10 year-old Mathew Shaver is a free-throw shooting machine. The St. Pats student recently won the Knights of Columbus provincial free-throw competition. The young phenom was 23/25 at the charity stripe at the provincial championship. I talked to him today to get his secret to calming the nerves, " I imagine myself in a good place". Maybe I should try that on the golf course.
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How smart is Lyris Cappelle (pictured left) when it comes to fitness training? The local gym guru can turn almost anyone into an Adonis. Her workout techniques and diet plan post results!

I saw her working out yesterday at the Training Zone. Her list is full and is now not taking clients 'till August. Check out her website at http://www.lyriscappelle.com/ . I told her yesterday, "as soon as I get sick of getting no results, I'll give you a call!". She's nothing short of a miracle worker IMO.

She has told me in the past she'd love to put me on her program. I'm not sure why I haven't taken her up on it. I just think the diet would be too tough for me. Switzer has transformed himself under the program. He has nothing but good things to say too.


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I hope Big Ern has snapped out of his Dallas depression. I've barely thought about the game seven loss since Monday night. Sure it was a tough way to lose, but now I can actually relax and enjoy the playoffs.

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2nd round NHL playoff predictions?


Vancouver/Anaheim - I wanna say Ducks sweep but I know Luongo will steal at least a game - Ducks in 5


Detroit/San Jose - Detroit in 6, maybe 7. A great series on paper.


Buffalo / New York Rangers - Buff in 5. Go Sabres Go, my playoff pool depends on it.


Ottawa / New Jersey - Broduer will be the difference over Razor...Devils in 6


**Disclaimer** I was only 5-3 in round one, don't take my word on it.



Quick Lanigan shout-out! Here's a pic of a road trip I missed out on... regrettablly. It was November (the height of Bronco season) and I had to give my ticket up. The boys all went down to the Vikings/Packers game. The pictures have surfaced. Sadly, this is the only one I could post due to the nature of content! Good job guys, atta represent. Sorry I couldn't make it.



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Have a good one!


Jon

2 comments:

Regan Bartel said...

That pic of Lyris is amazing. Ok, before you call me a dirty old man, my wife used to workout with her years ago in Swifty.
She didn't look as 'cut' back then, but she knew her stuff. My wife saw her picture and said 'that's not her'! The amazing thing is Lyris has had a kid - or maybe two by now? Cool photo and it's not even hockey related. Good stuff Keener.

Anonymous said...

Annahiem in 6 - Same logic as you, but Loungo steals a second game.

San Jose in 5 - San Jose is way bigger, and every bit as fast as Detroit. This series won't even be close. Detroit's over-inflated regular season points standings is due to a weak devision where they got to beat up on Chicago, St. Louis, and Columbus for 24 games a year. Detroit was 17-2-5 in these 24 games, and a pretty modest 28-15-7 (6 games over .500) against teams outside of the division. Verdict: Sharks in a walk.

Buffalo in 4. Quite simply, Buffalo's secondary scoring will be way to much for the Ranger's to handle. Avery won't have the same impact on this series as Briere and Drury aren't emotional infants like Kovalchuk is. Having said this, watch Afinogenov get mad at Avery and do something absolutely ridiculous and possibly pick up a suspension.

Ottawa in 6 games. Try to find a weakness with Ottawa. Ottawa has the NHL's best record since Christmas, and Ray Emery has proven to be solid. Nothing is particularily scary about New Jersey after Broduer looked human against Tampa Bay, other then their system and history. Ottawa is the better team, playing better at this time.

By the way J.K. - 8-0 in Round 1.