They toss an Avalanche at us. We plow through.
They toss Huricanes at us. We laugh. Har har.
I say Wings in 4.
[Rodney Dangerfield]
Place your bets! Place your bets!
[/Rodney Dangerfield]
stv
Canes in 7.
All I can say is, my heart won’t take many more Sudden-Death overtime showdowns.
Predictions? I’m really no good at calculating odds, but I will predict that, this time next week, stv will be saying: >whap!< “Thank you, Mr. Francis, may I have another?” 
I’m banking on Wings in 5.
GO WINGS GO!!!
ahem Being from the glorious state of North Carolina…I’m holding out all sorts of hope for the Hurricanes. I’d be really disappointed if we lost in 4. We can make it at least a 5 game series I think. 
Well, you know what happens when you place some leaves from a tree of genus Acer in the path of a cyclonic tropical storm with winds in excess of 74 MPH. (See recent issues of The Globe and Mail for clarification if you have questions.)
I suspect that birds of the species Agelaius phoeniceus should fare little better.
Go 'Canes!!!
After beating Beantown, Montréal wasn’t afraid of “a little wind” either. (a fart joke! :D)
Don’t underestimate the 'Canes!
THe Red Wings feel they must beat the lowly Hurricanes, lest their enraged fans burn down their houses. The Hurricanes fans think it would be neat-o-keen if their team won, but aren’t going to go into a deep depression if it doesn’t happen. So, one Hurricanes hope is that the self-imposed pressure on the Red Wings will cause them to play tight.
In additon, no matter how many times the Red Wings claim that “we’re taking the Hurricanes seriously”, you know that most of them feel the recent round against Colorado was “the real Stanley Cup playoff”. However, underestimating your opponent really is dangerous – remember that Detroit lost its first two games against Vancouver. The Hurricanes would like nothing more than to sneak up on a Red Wings team that doesn’t take them seriously, at least at the start.
Another factor is that the Hurricanes have stressed conditioning all season, and are in great health, with no injured players. And the longer the games go, the better the team plays, with a 6-1 record in overtimes during the playoffs. So, as a somewhat younger, well-conditioned team, the Hurricanes are hopeful that the grind of the series will lead to “tired legs” amongst the somewhat older Detroit players.
The overall strategy of the Hurricanes will be to play tight, disciplined, defensive, no-dumb-penalties, grind-it-out games – for example, a 2-1 overtime win, where the winning goal bounces off three skates before going in. Some teams get frustrated by slow games against tight defences, so one hope is that the Detroit players get annoyed enough that they start making bad plays trying to force the puck into the Hurricane end, or, even better, take dumb penalties. (In the Toronto series, Gary Roberts came clear across the rink to hit a player after the second period had ended, meaning that Toronto started the first two minutes of a key third period in their end of the rink fighting off a power play).
Anyway, it’s not who wins that counts, but how many economic development projects you can advance. Do you think there will be many automotive executives attending the games, who might be interested in moving their computer operations to Research Triangle Park?
Wings in five.
GO WINGS!
Also – forgive me if this is a sensitive topic – but has anyone noticed that the Red Wings team logo is a flying hubcap? I dunno, the whole thing reminds me of an article in last week’s The Onion – “CNN Graphic Designer Asked To Combine Dollar Sign, Syringe, Fighter Jets, Panda”.
Lets go Red Wings. :stomps feet:
Lets go Red Wings. :stomps feet:
Lets go Red Wings. :stomps feet:
…I’m done.
It IS NOT! It’s quite clearly a winged wheel.
Sheesh.
Canes.
They have to.
This is my dream Stanley Cup.
My two favorite teams are the Canes and whoever is playing the Red Wings.
Well, it’s not going to be Detroit in 4!
'Canes 3
Red Wings 2.
Go 'Canes!!
Wings in 5.
[Rodney Dangerfield]
Place your bets! Place your bets!
[/Rodney Dangerfield]
stv:(
Being from Connecticut, I must say SCREW THE CANES!!!
I hope they lose, lose big and painfully.
>whap!<
…and, yes, my heart is still going. [sub]Lord, these OT wins…[/sub]
[sup]-{Way to go, Canes!)[/sup]
[sub]Actually, that last post was from me.[/sub]
…and blur? Green’s a good color for you.
[sup]-{At least, it USED to be.)[/sup]
Okay, 'Canes fans, consider us humbled. I admit, a good many of us were pretty cocky before this game. You’ve won our respect.
However, I really don’t see you winning much else after tonight.