Stanley Cup Finals: Flyers vs. Blackhawks

This years Stanley Cup Playoffs have gone like no one predicted. First, the Canadiens shocked the hockey world by upsetting the Washington Capitals , then went on to upset the defending Stanley Cup Champs in the Pittsburgh Penguins. Then there Cinderella story was crushed by the Flyers is a very disappointing five game series. The Philadelphia Flyers have had one of the greatest post season runs in not just recent hockey history but recent sports history. They surprisingly defeated the rival New Jersey Devils in a dominating five game series and then advanced to a series that will never be forgotten. The Boston Bruins had just come off a very impressive six game series against Ryan Miller and the Buffalo Sabres. The Bruins took a commanding 3-0 series lead and put a stranglehold on the Flyers and their post-season hopes. The series, in my opinion, had a swift change of momentum when Flyers star Simon Gagne returned from a broken foot injury and won game 4 for the Flyers in an epic OT game. During the next two games, the Bruins came out flat and stayed flat getting beat in games 5 and 6 pretty easily. Then game 7 came around. The Bruins, with there backs against the wall came out in game 7 firing on all cylinders taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the game. And then another momentum change happened in the Flyers favor during the last seconds of the first period when Flyers forward James Van Riemsdyk scored a goal that gave the Broad Street gang some life. From that point on the Bruins couldn't keep up with the Flyers went on to score the next 3 goals including the game winner from the series hero Simon Gagne. The Flyers completed one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. The Flyers took their 4 game win streak into a series against the Montreal Canadiens where they went on to dominate the series in five games. Now the Philadelphia Flyers will try to win their first Stanley Cup since 1974.

The Western Conference playoff series were nothing to exciting except for the epic 7 game series between the Gold Standard Detroit Red Wings and the playoff newcomers Phoenix Coyotes. The Sharks took care of the Avs in 6 , The hawks took care of the Preds in 6 and the Canucks took care of the Kings in 6. The Western Conference Semis lead to the Sharks taking care of the Wings in 5 and the Hawks taking care of the Canucks in 6. The Western Conference Finals gave the young Hawks team a chance to shine against the favored Sharks. Dustin Byfuglien and the Chicago Blackhawks put on a clinic against the San Jose Sharks sweeping them in 4 games and shocking the hockey world. The Sharks had no answer for the 6-4 250 pound Hawks forward in Dustin Byfuglien. Buff had a goal in all four games including two game winners in games three and four. Now, the Blackhawks will take on the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup finals and will have a chance to capture their first Stanley Cup since 1961 ending the longest drought in the franchises history.


Keys to the Series: Chicago Blackhawks


The Blackhawks are going to need their playoff newcomer goaltender Antii Niemi to play as well as he has in the previous series or they will have a tough time beating the Flyers and their high powered offense. The Blackhawks core group of younger players will need to show up big for them to have a shot in this series. Patrick Kane and John Toews lead a great young group of players and have been really solid in these Stanley Cup playoffs and if the Hawks end up winning this series, either one of these future Hall of Famers will be leading candidates for the Conn Smythe Trophy. The Hawks young and talented Defensive core ( Seabrook, Cambell, Keith) will have their hands full against the talented Flyers offense.

Keys to the Series: Philadelphia Flyers


Michael Leighton, the Flyers goaltender, has seized the moment and has become one of the greatest stories of this years playoffs. After Brian Boucher went down against the Boston Bruins in Game 5, this rookie goaltender came in and has won 6 of his 7 games in net, recording three shutouts in that span. If he plays like he did against the Montreal Canadiens, I can see the underdog Flyers pulling this series out. The Flyer big three in Simon Gagne, Mike Richards, and Jeff Carter are going to need to have career series in order for the Flyers to take this series from the favored Hawks.


Both teams in this series have the veteran help that is needed for young teams to win championships. The Flyers have one of the better defense men in recent memory in Chris Pronger providing the veteran leadership, and the Hawks have veteran John Madden who has never missed the playoffs in his 14 year long career. Being a Wings fan, it is hard for me to pick the rival Blackhawks but I have to in this one. They have too much firepower for the Flyers to contend with.

Hate to say it but, I got the Hawks in 6.


Photo Credit: nydailynews.com

2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Western Conference

The Western Conference Quarter Finals have come and gone from the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs and it hasn't been as exciting as the Eastern Conference. This is due to the fact that the Eastern Conference wasn't it was all cracked up to be. Most people will agree that the winner of the Stanley Cup will come out of the West or will be the Penguins from the East. In this article I would like to focus on the Western Conference Semi's and the powerhouse that is the Detroit Red Wings ( The Greatest American Sports Franchise of all Time......... besides the Pats. )


Detroit Red Wings vs. San Jose Sharks

The Detroit Red Wings are every thing that the Sharks hate. They were praying that the Phoenix Coyotes would prevail in their series against Detroit. Unfortunately for the Sharks, it didn't happen. For the past 19 seasons , the Detroit Red Wings have been the gold standard for playoff hockey. They are the team no one wants to face in any round of the playoffs. They don't make any mistakes , they make you beat them. And for most teams over the past two decades, they haven't been able to do that.


Keys to the Series:

Detroit Red Wings:

The biggest key for the Red Wings in their upcoming series against the Sharks will be the goal tending from the rookie phenom Jimmy Howard. He was a little shaky in the previous series against the Coyotes but when he was on it was like watching Patrick Roy from the past. He finished the series with a .919 Sv% and a 2.59 GAA which isn't too bad and isn't too good. He is going to have to step it up against and offensively driven team like the San Jose Sharks. Another key for the Wings in this series will be their defense and how they can shut down the stars of the Sharks. With the front runner for the Selke in Pavel Datsyuk on the roster that shouldn't be much of an issue.

San Jose Sharks:

The keys for the Sharks to this series are simple. They need to get the puck on net and challenge the youngster Jimmy Howard. During the Regular season the Sharks were destroyed by the Wings losing the series 0-3-1 to Detroit being outscored 11-6 in those games. Another issue for the Sharks is the goal tending. Any one who watched the NHL during the regular season can see how good Evgeni Nabokov can be. But in the past , he hasn't showed up in the playoffs and the Sharks have faltered down the stretch.

I can tell you one thing, the pressure is surely on the Sharks to come out of this series victorious. But giving the Wings history , I don't see this series going past 6 games.

Prediction: Wings in 6 ( Bring it home Pavel! )

P.S : I'm a Wings Fan......... if you couldn't already tell.


Vancouver Canucks vs Chicago Blackhawks


Keys to the Series:

Vancouver Canucks:

The key for the Canucks to win this series is their ability to shut down the youngsters from the Blackhawks. Patrick Kane , John Toews , Patrick Sharp, and a couple other players for the hawks roster have the ability to take over a series and put it far out of reach. Another key for the Canucks is to crowd the crease and get a lot of bodies in front of Antti Niemi and get a lot of garbage goals. Niemi was very solid in the first round of this years playoffs but for the Canucks to win this series they are going to need to find Niemi's flaws and exploit them. The goaltending for the Canucks is another key for them to win this series. Roberto Luongo is with the best in the league for the past couple of years when it comes to stats but when the playoffs have rolled around he hasn't been his all. If the Canucks are going to get by this series, he is going to have to bring his A game.

Chicago Blackhawks:

The entire series for this young Hawk team will be determined by the play of Playoff new comer Antti Niemi. He was with the best in the league during the first round of playoffs when it came to stats, but this time along he will be facing a team that is much more offensively oriented in the Vancouver Canucks. If he plays well , the Hawks have a very good chance of coming out of this series.


Prediction: This will be one of the best series , I think , this playoffs. Its a rematch of last years Semi's but I have the Hawks in 7. Too much offense from the Hawks.

Check back later for Coverage on the Western Conference Finals.




Photo Credit: NHL.com

The Sox Slide

Run prevention was the offseason theme, yet our ace is chased after 3 innings by a terrible offensive team like the Blue Jays. Our defense is mediocre and our offense is atrocious except for out dinosaurs like Lowell and Varitek. We have money pits in David Ortiz and JD Drew; yet we won't drop them until they're free agents.

Our future is still bright, as long as prospects don't stay in Pawtucket too long. The Paw Sox kill prospects. Names like Pedroia, Youkilis, Ellsbury and Lester never played a full season in Pawtucket. Young hopefuls like Buchholz and Bowden have spent a full year there, they are now dead to us. But maybe the Padres will want them.

The Red Sox need to pick up a big bat in 2010. Hopefully it is by the all-star break, if not, this season is dead. Cut our losses and pick up Carl Crawford.

So, here's my letter to Mr. Theo Epstein.

Dear Mr. Epstein,

You need to realize Pawtucket is worthless. Upgrade Portland to AAA, keep Pawtucket as AA, but keep the swingers and rehab players in AA. Save Casey Kelly, Ibarra, Iglesias, Doubront, and Exposito. DON'T SEND THEM TO PAWTUCKET. Next point, hitters love Fenway Park. You don't need Mark Teixiera or David Ortiz to drive in runs. Alex Gonzalez is an amazing fielder and loves the Monster; he's a cheaper, crisper solution to Renteria, Lugo, and Scutaro. Jason Bay is not the best hitter in the world but his hitting at Fenway is amazing. Here are some big contracts we don't need, and their possible replacements.

David Ortiz- Any hitter in the league

Mike Cameron- Jeremy Hermida

Victor Martinez- Mark Wagner

Marco Scutaro- Alex Gonzalez

Bill Hall- Nick Green

These are just some hitters on our current team. Take a chance on some farm players before they hit Pawtucket.

-- Jay Beckwith

Rasheed Wallace : A Cancer That Can't Be Cured

July 6th, 2009, I woke up , turned on my laptop, logged on to NESN.com and the first article on the page told me that former Detroit Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace was joining the Celtics for the 2009-2010 season. I thought to myself, " Hey! , this could be good for us". God was I wrong. As the season has been progressing , the hatred for this poor excuse for a Celtic has been building up so much to the point where I want to run up to Danny Ainge and slap him across the mouth.

The guy is pretty much good for nothing. Will all of his size , for some reason in which I am still unsure of, he won't post up and get to the lane. The guy just sits out on the perimeter and takes mostly horrible shots. I will give him something, in the beginning of the year he was on fire from behind the arc, but as of late he has been stone cold.

The only way he can remotely redeem himself would be if he steps up his game for the playoffs this year, God knows we need him in the playoffs as well as everyone. Unfortunately , I don't see them getting out of the 2nd round. I fear for the Celtics future.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

100 Win Season on the Horizon?

It's been along time since I have been excited for a Redsox season. Even after the infamous Arron Boone walk-off in the 03' ALCS, I really didn't have too much hope for their next season. But this year , I have a different feeling. This Redsox team reminds me of the Atlanta Braves team of the mid 90's. The pitching is all there with Lester, Beckett, and the new comer John Lackey. Lester's the Greg Maddux, Becketts's the John Smoltz, and John Lackey is the Tom Glavine. If they can all stay healthy with the veteran Tim Wakefield and the youngster Clay Buckholz backing them up , they have a very good shot of winning the always competitive AL East. As for Dice-K, I've sorta given up hope on him for the time being.

As for their offense , I think people are getting a little ahead of themselves when they say they won't score a lot of runs like they did last year. Some people fail to realize that this year we will have a full season of Victor Martinez and a lot less of Jason Varitek , who was an absolute atrocity at the plate last season. If Victor Martinez delivers the whole season like he did the other night. I think the offense will be just fine. People also forget that the heart of our line up still consists of Dustin Pedroia and Youk.

The bottom line for this season is, if every one can stay healthy for most of the year, I think we have a very good shot with keeping up with the rival Yanks.

Photo Credit: ESPN.com ( Getty Images )

Chad Rung the Bell

Tonight, the Kettleers took on the Chatham A's. Cotuit had Walters State Junior College's Chad Bell on the mound. The Kettleers got off to a quick start from the bat of Kevin Keyes (Texas). He hit a line-drive home run into right center in the first. The game was a pitcher's duel until the 4th inning when Chatham's Tyler Lyons loaded the bases with 3 straight walks. Brandon May stepped to the plate and knocked in a run with a wall ball single. Then after a hit batsmen and a sac fly, it was 4-0. Brandon May added a 3-run blast in the 8th.

Wait... Chad Bell hasn't given up a hit?!? There's only three more outs to go in the game. After the iffy Cotuit defense gives up a mysterious hitless 2 runs, then a grounder to Rico Noel and a swinging strike out Chad Bell pitched the first no-hitting of the 2009 Cape League Season. It was a fantastic showing by a pitcher, by far the best performance I've seen.

Pictured: Chad Bell, Credit: TheCapeLeague.com

Cotuit's Losing Ways

The Kettleers have lost their last 6 games. Their offense has gone flat, they don't have star pitching, the defense is still atrocious. I don't know if we just need some more team work, or we just need the weather to change and have more practices. We have the right line-up in place but our big bats are struggling. Our offensive production from the first-base position is less than stellar with Kevin Patterson batting .186 and Tony Plagman batting .203. Our usually prodctive catcher, Cody Stanley has also dropped below .300 and is now batting .271. Cameron Rupp and Kevin Keyes are hitting well, but they can't carry the whole team. An extremely bright spot of the offense is Arkansas' Zach Cox. He's hitting .422 in a solid amount of at-bats. We'll see how this next week goes and then we'll see who's getting beat up by the blogosphere.

Cotuit Kettleer Roster Changes

At Lowell Park today, the Kettleers updated their roster for possibly the final time this summer. Texas ballplayers Kevin Keyes and Cameron Rupp drove up in their personal cars and asked me if they were allowed on the field. I was weary at first because our outfield and catchers are doing pretty well offensively. Then the game started... I didn't watch a lot of it, and a good thing I didn't because in the 9th we were down 14-2 to last place Falmouth. My thought is on the new line-up is:

1. Chris Bisson SS
2. Zach Cone RF
3. Kevin Keyes LF
4. Cody Stanley/Cameron Rupp (Platooning at C)
5. Kevin Patterson DH
6. Tony Plagman 1B
7. Brandon May 2B
8. Zach Cox 3B
9. Jeff Rowland CF

That's what I like for Cotuit from now on out. On the bench we have speedster but a liability in the field, Rico Noel. 3rd Catcher that should switch positions, Zach Maggard. Smooth fielder, B.J. Guinn. And a powerful outfielder, Cory Vaughn. They may not be the best bench in the world but they could be worse.

Pictured: New Addition, Ricky Bowen. Credit: TheCapeLeague.com

Unlikely Cancelation in Cotuit

Cotuit 3 PM: The sky finally clears from a thunder-hail storm and I'm ready to watch some CCBL action.

Cotuit 3:30: I show up at the park eager to get the tents and tables up.

Cotuit 4 PM: We're just about done setting up and Mr. Logan asks me to take out the banners today because the weather is nice.

Cotuit 4:07: Coach Roberts walks towards the field still not dressed, something's up. He tells us, "Hey everyone, Orleans doesn't have a bus today so the game is cancelled." My first thought is, the rain finally went away and now we have to deal with this?!?

Cotuit 4:10: The interns start to pack up then Mr. Logan comes back out and tells us to stop because we might still have a game. After long deliberations with league officials, the game is finally called off.

So in a series of unfortunate events, the Orleans Firebirds did not have transportation to the game in Cotuit. The league dropped the ball like Josh Bard on that one. If Lowell Park had lights, however, we may have been able to play that game because the team could have used personal transportation and travel down Route 6 (Fun Fact: the longest road in the nation) to beautiful Lowell Park in Cotuit. The Kettleers will try for their first home game since last month when they take on Hyannis in an inter-town deul at 5 PM on the 3rd.

Cape Cod Rain Again

It seems like all I've wrote about is the awful weather on the Cape this summer. Well, today is the next sad day in CCBL 2009. A wall of thunder storms have canceled at least two games today at Wareham and Cotuit. Probably 3 more cancellations on the way.

In Cotuit, we had another hit on the roster when Chance Ruffin (Texas) let the organization that he will not report to the Kettleers. Also, Clemson's Chris Dwyer has been negotiating with Kansas City with a contract so he has left the team. The Kettleers are short on pitching now and reliever Ben Rowen (Virginia Tech) has pitched 14.1 innings in 8 games with an outstanding 1.88 ERA has been the bright spot in the Cotuit bullpen.

Meanwhile, the Kettleer offense has been frozen. Cody Stanley (UNC-Willmington) is the only player batting over .300 but he is slipping, he is down to .313 now. Speedster Chris Bisson started the season attempting 12 stolen bases in his first 6 times reaching base. He has now reached base 14 times and only attempting to steal 15 times, far off pace from the beginning of the season.

The Kettleers have to step up their game if they want to reach the finals again this season. But we do need bullpen help and maybe a couple of bats. Cameron Rupp and Kevin Keyes may be that answer to the offense problem but GM Bruce Murphy has to find a pitcher to keep Rowen fresh in the bullpen.

Pictured: Ben Rowen. Photo Credit to TheCapeLeague.com

Cotuit Stuns League Leading Anglers

The storm clouds stayed away from Lowell Park for just long enough to let Daniel Tillman (Florida Southern) deliver his 3-2 fastball for a strike with the bases loaded in the top of the 9th inning of a 3-1 victory for the Kettleers over the Chatham Anglers. As an intern, I didn't get to watch the game, I was too busy retrieving full, wet trash bags and eating the league's best hot dogs provided by my good friend Johnny C. The ninth inning was a bit hectic for us because we had to finish everything before the storm closed in on Cotuit Bay. Sorry I can't give you a legitimate story but please read Steve McCarthy's story at kettleers.org.

Pictured: SP Justin Grimm (Georgia)
Photo Credit: TheCapeLeague.com

Mother Nature Upsets Play Again

You know what they always say, "If you don't like the weather on the Cape, wait a minute." Well CCBL has waited about 10 days and still have to postpone games night after night. Wareham has had to postpone 5 games in the past 6 days. I don't think that college coaches appreciate the Cape League renting their players then over-working them until the day that they have to report to classes. Could this be the first summer we see temps come in during the back-half of the season? Could we see a 30-man roster for the first time? Paul Galop and the CCBL brain trust have to mull their options to keep the league's integrity to still be the premier Summer League in the nation. What do you think the Commish should do about this? Leave a comment or e-mail me at jbeckwithjr@gmail.com.

Saturday's Games

-YD @ Brewser, 5:00

-Chatham @ Cotuit, 5:00

-Hyannis @ Falmouth, 5:30

-Wareham @ Harwich, 7:00

-Bourne @ Orleans, 7:00

Friday's Results

- Harwich 3, Hyannis 0, 6 innings
- Bourne 4, Chatham 0
- Y-D 3, Orleans 1
- Brewster at Falmouth, ppd.
- Cotuit at Wareham, ppd


Photo Credit: TheCapeLeague.com

Friday's Games

- Bourne at Chatham, 7 p.m.
- Brewster at Falmouth, 7 p.m.
- Harwich at Hyannis, 7 p.m.
- Y-D at Orleans, 7 p.m.
- Cotuit at Wareham, 7 p.m.