500 for Ovi!

Just like his slapshot, or just when he shots a puck towards the goal, which is super fast. Alex Ovechkin became the fifth fastest player in their careers to reach the 500 goal milestone. Ovechkin is behind Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux to name a few. Also Alex Ovechkin is the first Russian born player to join the 500 Goal Club.

To make things even more amazing about this event in his career, he managed to score his 500th goal at home. He also managed to score his 501st in the same game. Leading up to scoring his 500th goal, Ovechkin was on a scoring streak, before the game against the Ottawa Senators where he scored his milestone goal, he was on fire against the New York Rangers in Madison Square Garden. With Ovechkin scoring the first goal (498th career goal) for the Washington Capitals and scoring the last overtime goal, which then would be his 499th career goal. Want to see the videos? This one and here is another one. He's one of those amazing hockey players to watch. He has amazing talent, so it's worth your time to check these two goals out. I told you his shot was fast, once he has an eye on an opening to score a goal, you won't be able to see the puck. You know it went in due to the red light going off with the buzzer.

It was very cool to see him score his 500th and 501st goal in person. I was not there, I was watching it on TV. It's quite an honor to tell my future kids about this one day, saying I saw one of the greatest hockey players of all time in the NHL score one of his milestone goals. It is always fun to see if he can hit thirty goals during a season, which he has done for all his seasons (11 seasons of playing in the NHL). I think you want to see it too, so here is Alex Ovechkin's 500th goal and his 501st goal. He did not stop scoring from there, he is now working his way to 600th goal and more. At the rate he is going you could possibly see the first NHL player to score a thousand goals? Who knows maybe this Russian kid can beat off the all time leading scorer of the NHL off his place, Wayne Gretzky with 894 goals. Wayne why did you stop? No seriously, the Great One, why?! The only reason now I am bring up Gretzky is that there are now debates about who is better: Ovechkin or Gretzky? That one is hard to tell, I figure that time will tell on it's own.

 

Celebrating the 500th goals with the Washington Capitals fans

and also with his teammates André Burakovsky (65) and

Jason Chimera (25)

Also the NHL made a little video honoring and welcoming Alex Ovechkin into the 500 Goal Club. They also did an ceramony welcoming him into it as well, the video is below.

Just like what Teemu Selänne said, Ovi I cannot wait for your 800th goal. Bring it on home, and give us more to watch. You're a great athlete, and what you teammates have been saying about you in news articles and interviews you're one hell of a teammate and one hell of a guy!

2015-16 Mid Season Review: Minnesota Wild Fall/Winter 2015

 It's a team effort to keep the puck out of the net.

Mikael Granlund (64), Jared Spurgen (46), and Ryan Suter (20)

are helping goalie Devan Dubynk (40) out.

The Wild have high hopes coming into this season. Hungry for a chance to grab their first Stanley Cup. The playoffs last year showed that the Wild have some drive, to make it happen. Nothing like those last four minutes of their 2014-15 season to show that they wanted to stay alive in their playoff run against the Chicago Blackhawks. The pre-season showed that still have that competitive drive in them, they won the majority of their pre-season games (4-2-0).

The Wild have been pretty hot during this first part of the season mainly the 2015 bit. During the first part the Wild are 20-10-6. In the first month during the NHL season in October the Minnesota Wild found themselves undefeated at home (5-0-0).

Mikko Koivu (November 21, 2015) and Zach Parise (October 27, 2015) reached their 700th game milestone. The 700 games that Parise played are both combined with his days as a New Jersey Devil and also with the Minnesota Wild. Koivu played all of his 700 games with the Minnesota Wild since his first season in 2005-06, this is also his tenth year on the Wild. Both of Koivu's and Parise's games where home games and both ended as victories.

Daven Dubynk and Darcy Kuemper recorded the first goalie tagged team shutout in the NHL during the December 5th game. Not sure if this is true out not, I heard some commentators talking about it. Please correct me if I am wrong. I googled the heck out of it. This is also led to Kuemper's first win since January 2015.

Dubynk also found himself in a middle of a baby watch during this past December, his wife was expecting Baby Dubynk: "Earlier Saturday, Dubynk voiced concern he could miss the upcoming road game at Colorado because of the most publicized childbirth in Wild history. His wife, Jennifer, is due with the couple’s second child any moment now. 'My wife has been mentioned on the highlights more than I have lately,' Dubnyk joked," is what Michael Russo wrote about #babywatch in an article in the Star Tribune.  During this baby watch, Dubynk stayed at home which lead them to take Kuemper (as a starter in goal) and taking Niklas Backstrom as backup goaltender, this was his first time dressing for a game since pre-season in September.

It has been an interesting start to the season. I would love to see the Wild keep up their momentum and charging ahead to their way to their first Stanley Cup. I believe they can win one. They have showed in the 2015 part of the season they have drive to go where they want to go and be on top of the league. It is amazing to see that there has been no really horrible goalie injuries or issues that have came across the team in this first half of the season. Devan Dubynk has been pretty strong in the net for the Wild all season long, which is great. Because it is what they need a strong goaltender in their net, and also a strong defensive and offensive in front of him, which they have. So from this point on, I have a feeling their good to go, even though they find them selves in a little losing rut right now, I believe they can get out of it. They are a strong team, they know where they want to go and know they have to work hard to get there.

I have not forgotten about you...

It has been super busy since the semester has started! Once the first week of classes, came around I got swept away with it and it snowballed from there. Not saying that me being busy is a bad thing, it's actually a good thing.

New semester, leads to new beginnings. I got a new job this September and that has been working out well, it is something new for me. I never have served before, so taking up an serving job has been an adventure. I love it, I love the fact I am learning something new, and getting new work experience in my resume.

This serving job has not been the only job I have started once this semester had started: I have started writing for the school's paper. It has been a fun experience getting my toes wet into the career path I want to go into. It has been an fast here, I have my own sports commentary column that is in the works right now, hopefully the first piece will be ending up in this next upcoming issue that is coming out next week. I also became one of the sports editors for the paper, so this all has been all really exciting. I have gotten two articles published in last weeks issue, these where my first ever newspaper articles, so I feel really proud of them! I love writing these articles, they are fun to write. I am glad to be pursuing this career path, I like being right in the middle of it all when a story breaks.

My classes are going well, I am enjoying those. I am taking four this semester. They are trickier than they look on paper when I was picking them out. Well mostly the British Lit and the Intro to Philosophy one. I thought the African History class was going to be hard, it actually not. It is all actually very interesting! I enjoy it, I am learning new things about the continent of Africa, I am thinking about taking more classes that involve African history. I am also starting to get my feet wet in the major I want to transfer into, journalism and communications so I am taking an intro class to that, it's really fun. Just learning about anything to movies, television, newspapers, social media, and magazines; basically everything that involves media. These classes are something I find interesting, so some of these are being hard and tough, it's worth it because I love them!

I haven't gotten a chance to go to very many hockey games yet this year, since I have been busy with my two new jobs. But I did find a time to go to my first Madison Capitols game, it was a fun experience! That day was their Pucks and Paws night. So everyone who had a dog, got to bring their dog to the hockey game. It was a very cute idea. I think hockey games are much better with dogs, well the ones that are not that too crowded, and every seat in the arena has someone in it. It was a good thing to do at this game, because there where not very many people in the audience during it. I enjoyed it, not sure how the dogs enjoyed it? Due to the fact they are not used to the sounding of the buzzer when someone scores, or someone getting chucked up against the boards. I am planning on seeing more hockey games over winter break, planning on going to watch some Men's and Women's Badger Hockey too, along with some more Madison Capitols games. Planning on venturing to my first NHL game too, I am thinking of venturing my way up to a Minnesota Wild game one of these days over break, or Spring Break.

At the Madison Capitols game. The Caps won 3-2!

Wisconsin Badgers Sports Overview - School Year 2014-15

Just kind of want to get this out before the school year starts again.  A look back at this last school year's sport season. It's been an amazing season for the Men's Basketball and Women's Hockey teams this past year. Men's Hockey team it has not. So here is a walk down memory lane...

Badgers Men's Basketball.  It was quite the season this year for these guys! The first number one seed spot in the rankings in the UW-Madison school's history, making the final four again for a second year in a row, beating Kentucky then moving on to the NCAA's March Madness Finals in a long time since 1941 one in the school's history! Just writing this out makes me feel like I am writing out a fictional movie plot to send off to Hollywood to see if I can make a movie out of it. It's surreal to write this all. I am proud of this team, and coach Bo Ryan for all they have done this year. It's honestly one of the most real examples when you think of hard work and dreaming, can we make this into a Disney movie now? But the main point this is what hard work and drive look like. It inspired me, and for sure future generations of Badgers to come. Even though we did not win the NCAA Final against Duke, we won second place. If this was the Olympics we would have gotten the silver medal, so not bad. ;)

We BEAT Kentucky! 

Badgers Men's Hockey. I am right now to start this off with a bright note, the Badgers honored the late Bob Suter on their jerseys with a patch on them dedicated to him. Also I was also glad to catch the majority of the men's home games in person too. But here is the thing, this season was a real dud. As much as I LOVE Badger hockey, this had to be said. This season did not go well for them at all. They finished last in the B1G conference. (I personally do not feel like this whole creating a B1G conference for hockey was a such a good idea, bring WCHA back for the men... -- oh okay, saving this for another day). But, I personally think that maybe an factor. The whole this is a young team excuse does not cut it for me. Alright, I digress. With this season not going well for the men's hockey I feel like they have lost the majority of their fan base, until Boston University and the Minnesota Gophers showed up to town. But again that is old rivals and that is self explanatory. But fans who made it to those games found out, that this season did not go well for these guys. Lost after lost. I have remained by their side as a true fan and haven't left them yet. Not sure how everyone else is feeling about them. But there have been reports about fans leaving their side and also big names from the team have left, but no one have been reporting it in the state of Wisconsin or down here in Madison. Men's hockey, in all honesty why aren't you getting your shit together yet?

A Gopher fan on Twitter complaining about the 

lack of interest down here in Madison.

Badgers Women's Hockey. It was an amazing season for these ladies! I am glad I got to witness the majority of the home games in person for it. These girls played at one hundred and twenty percent! They had fire in their eyes and they had their hearts set on the prize. Main goal was to win an other NCAA Women's Hockey championship, but that did not happen they ended up falling to the Minnesota Gophers in the final four game which lead them to getting third place. Again, if this where the Olympics we would have gotten a bronze medal, so again it's an amazing finish to the season! I am so proud of these girls for what they have accomplished this season, and cannot wait to see what they do in the future. Speaking of the future -- Blayre Turnbull has signed a contract with the CWHL (Canada's Women Hockey League) to be apart of the Calgary Inferno. Good luck to Turnbull and the other girls who have graduated this year with their futures.

 Members of the University of Wisconsin - Madison's

Women's Hockey team kissing the Natty.

Speaking of the graduating seniors on the Badgers Women's Hockey team I also going to say good luck to those who have graduated on the Men's Basketball and Hockey teams in your futures. Also those who have signed into the NBA and also the NHL good luck on your careers there too. I cannot wait to watch you guys excel in these professional sports leagues.

I cannot wait to see what the 2015-16 season have to offer to the Badgers as a whole. I hope the football team have a better ending than it did, maybe another Rosebowl title to add to the books? Badger Basketball, I hope you will get your first NCAA national title in the school's history! I hope this won't be Bo Ryan's last season! We need this man around in our lives. When it comes to Badger Men's Hockey, I hope they can get these kinks out of their system and work their way through them. I hope they can power through this hump and power through and become amazing as they where during the Badger Bob Johnson days, during the 1989-90 season, that powerhouse of a season in 2006-07 and they had fire and passion under their butts in the season of 2013-14. I know that they have that in them, and lets show the world how Wisconsin Hockey is still a powerhouse! For Badger Women's Hockey, I hope they bring home another NCAA championship! Mark Johnson and the Badger ladies have done this four times already. These have been won since Mark Johnson started coaching. So already, they are a powerhouse with one hell of a coach coaching them, you should see his stats as a hockey player as well! Also he is the son of Badger Bob Johnson, so coaching is in his blood!

So to all the Badgers who are competing during the 2015-16 season good luck and I hope you all do well! Bring home the gold! I mean, the Natty! 

NHL: Draft, Contract Renewals and Trades... OH MY

I do not even know where to begin with this topic. July first was just a whirlwind of trades and renewals contracts being signed. I do not think the NHL is going to look the same anymore after the trades that have been made this past July and that are continuing on happening through out the summer until the 2015-16 season starts in October.

But let's start with the 2015 NHL Draft. Let's meet the NHL Class of 2015:

Five members of the NHL Class of 2015

Connor McDavid (Canada) 
First drafted in the 2015 NHL draft to the Edmonton Oilers in the first round.  McDavid is from Ontario. He considered playing for Boston University and becoming a Terrier but opted out to play in the OHL.  McDavid played in the OHL for the Erie Otters before being drafted. He was a decorative OHL player with numerous awards.

Jack Eichel (United States of America) 
Second drafted and the first American to be drafted during the 2015 draft in the first round. Eichel grew up in Massachusetts, and played for Boston University Terriers before the draft. He also won the Hobey Baker award as a freshmen, was the second to do so. Eichel got drafted to the Buffalo Sabres.

Mikko Rantanen (Finland) 
Rantanen is the tenth pick in the first round of the draft and also is the first to be picked from the country to Finland. He got drafted to the Colorado Avalanche. Rantanen is from a little town in southern Finland named Nousiainen. Before he got drafted he was playing for TPS which is in the Liiga league that is located in Finland.

Joel Eriksson Ek (Sweden) 
Twentieth to be drafted to the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the NHL draft. Elk is from Karlstad, Sweden. Before he got drafted he played for Färjestad BK which is in the SHL league.

Andong Song (China) 
First Chinese born player to be drafted in the NHL. Song was drafted in the sixth round of the 2105 NHL Draft and was the 172 pick. He got drafted to the New York Islanders. Song is from Beijing, China. He ended up playing in the Beijing International Ice Hockey League (BIIHL) as a kid before moving to Ontario, Canada to peruse his hockey career further. Before Song considers signing a contract with the Islanders, he plans to attend Phillips Academy in Massachusetts and probably play more competitive hockey before jumping into the NHL.

Contact renewals seemed to happen all at once on Canada Day (July, 1st), also along with trade mania, we will get to that a bit later. I would just like to list a few notable contract renewals: Mikael Granlund (Minnesota Wild), Patrick Eaves (Dallas Stars), Vladimir Tarasenko (St. Louis Blues), Brody Sutter (Carolina Hurricanes), Alex Galchenyuk (Montreal Canadians), and the full list here of trades, resignings and signings during the 2015 off season.

The trades, here is the mind bottling part of it all. We got players from teams who have won the Stanley Cup this year that got traded, we got an American player who played in Canada now playing in the United States. While we got the USA Olympic Hockey Hero from 2014 playing in the nation's capitol. Hold on to your hats everyone, things are going to start to be a little insane. I believe insane, is an understatement, as in the news I am going to tell you. Let's see how the NHL team rosters, majority of them got turned upside down:

Phil Kessel: Toronto Maple Leafs to Pittsburgh Penguins
Kessel is finally out of Toronto! In the past he been having issues with the media and rumors of him not getting along with the coaching staff, these rumors where also probably started with the Toronto media anyways. Now he finds himself back in the States playing for the Penguins. Just sitting here typing this up and more that I think about it, it is possible for an Crosby, Kessel and Malkin line. This line is probably the scariest future line in the NHL so far, for someone who is thinking about this for the next playoffs and Stanley Cup finals to come.

 
Patrick Sharp: Chicago Blackhawks to Dallas Stars 
Even though Sharp has won the Stanley Cup at the end of last season this year with the Blackhawks. This trade shows that no one is safe from being traded. No matter who you are, you will be traded when you hit free agency status. Also it's up to the club on who they see fit for next season and in the future of their club. Even though it is wired to see Patrick Sharp in a different jersey that is not a Blackhawks one, it shows that life happens and trades happens in the NHL.

 
TJ Oshie: St. Louis Blues to Washington Capitals  
Trades can rock one's world. Oshie was just building his dream home with his wife in St. Louis, they got the green light status to move in a short while before his trade happened to the Capitals. Looks like someone may have two homes? Who knows, but that is not the main point. The St. Louis Blues where not doing so hot last season, and things needed to be changed. Out with the old faces and in with the new. So the majority of the headliners of this team got traded. But what pretty cool about this is the fact that Oshie was in the long lasting shoot out in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi where the America beat Russia, on their own soil. Just to remind you of it, why? Watch it, the whole thing because it's pretty epic! So to have him wear a Washington Capitals jersey is pretty amazing too, also he got a new number too, so no longer 74 anymore, he is 77.

With these new drafties, contract renewals and trades that have been made, it looks like the 2015-16 NHL season will be an interesting one. People are ready to watch Connor McDavid play, they are comparing him to Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby. I am also looking forward to all the NHL rookies that are heading into this season too, to see what each of them bring to the NHL table. Also I am glad to see some of my old favorites come back to their old teams. I am also looking forward to some of my old favorites who got traded will have to bring to their new teams, and the reactions these players are going to get when playing in their old barn. So heres to an interesting up coming season that will all blow us away!

Minnesota Wild: Second Part of 2014 - 2015 Season Rollercoster

Unlike the first part of the season where it was mainly a lot of downs, the second half seemed to be a nice change of pace for the Wild. Giving them a glimpse of happy times a head, even though it may be the upcoming season in October, the start of the 2015-16.

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUBS! The man who saved the Minnesota Wild's butt goaltending wise! Daven Dubynk, our man. No longer the Wild will find themselves in hot water when it comes to goaltending. With injuries, sickness and whatever else could keep goaltenders out of the crease, we finally have three to juggle! A little bit of the weight have been lifted from Darcy Kuemper's and Niklas Bäckström's shoulders.

 Daven Dubynk in between the pipes for the Minnesota Wild

Ryan Suter's adventure to the NHL's All Star Weekend in Cleavland, Ohio. He was the only Minnesota Wild player to be voted into the 2015 All Star Weekend roster.

Suter also found himself picking up a part-time broadcasting

job, while in Cleavland for the All Star Weekend. He was filming some

VISA advertisements. Here is the challenge one he did too.

The players on the Minnesota Wild team, and also every NHL player has it hard when they are traveling all the time and sometimes if these players are easily trade-able do to contracts and other reasons. This gives them rarely time to spend with their families, loved ones and friends during the seasons. Heck, they could be in different cities or different countries from their families. Sometimes the families cannot be able to get up and move right away, due to the fact some of the kids of these hockey stars are school age kids, who can't be exactly get up rooted and move right away, due to school schedules. Jordyn Leopold wrote a letter to the Minnesota Wild coaching staff asking them to see if they can get her father, Jordan Leopold to get traded back on to the Wild, because Lordyn and other members of her family missed him very much and they wanted him to get returned to Minnesota to be with them again. The Wild coaching staff and the general manager read the letter, and got Jordan Leopold back on the Wild team again. This is not just a player only thing, this can also happen to coaches, general managers and other staff that it takes to help a hockey team run successfully.

Jordyn Leopold's letter to the Minnesota Wild's

coaching staff.

Stanley Cup Playoffs

First round, against  the St. Louis Blues

This was a fun series to watch, due to the fact that the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota Wild are becoming rivals. It's nice that I got to witness the history of this young rivalry come about. There was an interview during the first round of this series with Mikael Granlund talking about how one of the games in the series did not have any penalties at all. I cannot remember what exactly happened, but if you are more carious about this, here is the overview of the series. Even though it's not heated quite yet, it's getting there. So I am interesting in seeing what this comes out to become in the future.


Second round, against the Chicago Blackhawks

With this series being a four game sweep, unlike other past two years it was a fight (in 2013 and 2014). The Minnesota Wild had to do some soul searching this time to pull out motivation from themselves to hopefully hold on and turn this series into a seven game one, instead of the four game series it turned out to be. I felt like people where looking at head coach Mike Yeo to be the one pulling out the motivation from under the Wild's bench. Yeo, isn't the one who can pull the motivation from under the team's feet or set the fire under their butts, it's them, the individual players themselves to pull the motivation out from under themselves or set that fire under their own butts.

I feel like there that was something not connecting with the Minnesota Wild during this series. I really can't detected it, and I do not want to point fingers anyways. I feel like they where not with it. Sorta playing the victim instead of the underdog that can take over and push the king off the top of his hill. I would not go around again pointing fingers and saying, "Oh, we should fire head coach Mike Yeo..." Really? Again, it's not his fault. It was a rough season for players, coaches and everyone involved with the Minnesota Wild. Yeo got dealt a hand of cards, and dealt with it, the only way he could. He used what he had, and stayed claim while doing so. So, I personally hope Coach Yeo doesn't go anywhere for the time being. Yeo has grown on me, and I hope he does to his doubters too. Yeo is one good guy, who knows what he is doing.

This post-season has been a good one, so far: Daven Dubynk won the Masterton Trophy at the NHL Awards. Once we got around to the the NHL Draft, we got Joel Eriksson Ek and Jordan Greenway as new rookies for next year. Another new rookie that will join these two next year is Mike Riley, of the Minnesota Gophers. Another Minnesota Gopher to join the Wild. Keeping the strong Minnesota hockey tradition alive. The Minnesota Wild officially have three goalies, since they have signed Deven Duybnk! Also the Wild have resigned Mikael Granlund, Nate Prosser, Ryan Carter, Christian Folin and Erik Haula, for the up coming season or seasons to come. Also there is no word on if Jordan Leopold is going to be officially signed with the Minnesota Wild for his last few years as a professional NHL hockey player. Maybe we will be hearing this news by the end of the summer and before the next season starts in October? 

Duybnk with the Masterton Trophy at the NHL Awards

The 2014-15 season was one hell of a season. Even though it ended early than everyone would have liked. It would have been cool to see Zach Parise and Ryan Suter hold up Lord Stanley over their heads after the loses of their fathers. Also everyone else who on the team after their rough season as a whole team. But I think this season taught the whole team to grow as a team, and learn how to deal with hell when it's all around you. I have a feeling that the Minnesota Wild can pull themselves through this dark tunnel into the light they hopefully see at the end of the tunnel. I have a feeling the 2015-16 season will be a better one and a special one. Who knows maybe Zach Parise and Ryan Suter will be holding up Lord Stanley over their heads at the end of the season. I believe that Minnesota Wild can be that good and will be that good. Now, they have to prove that to themselves and us. Let's see what happens when the puck drops on the Minnesota Wild's fifteenth season in the NHL...

The NHL Stanely Cup Playoffs Review

It's rare to win three Stanley Cups in six years, but that what the Chicago Blackhawks exactly did. Actually it's rare in any sports to win three or more medals, cups, trophies or awards within ten years. They are expectations, and now the Blackhawks successfully found themselves on this list with hard work and determination. My  hats off to you guys, even the ones on the list.

 Your 2015 Stanley Cup winners, the Chicago Blackhawks

Captain Jonathan Toews also finds himself is working his way to a hockey triple crown of awards. What every individual NHL professional hockey player dreams of, winning three Stanley Cups (check!), winning three gold medals in the Olympics (work in progress, he has two (2010 and 2014)) and winning three IIFH Worlds championships (another work in progress, he only had one (2007)). Toews is also known for being a captain that has good sportsmanship and also one of the notable captains to ever play in the NHL.

With a stunning look at Jonathan Toews and the rest of his teammates on his Chicago Blackhawks team. I am going breakdown the whole NHL Stanley Playoffs for you from day one to the Stanley Cup being raised over Toews's head.

Round One (April 15 - 29, 2015)
We started out with sixteen teams, for the first time ever in a long time there where five Canadian NHL teams in the play offs.

Montreal Canadians vs Ottawa Senators 
Was a six game series with the Canadians winning four games which makes them head to round two.

Tampa Bay Lightning vs Detroit Red Wings 
This was a close series, for both teams. This series ended up going to all seven games. Tampa won four of these games, and and went on to the next round. 

New York Rangers vs Pittsburgh Penguins 
This was a series I really enjoyed watching. But I did really want the Penguins to win, but it turns out that the Rangers took them out in five games, with the Penguins only winning game two which was a close game with the Rangers trying to tie it up and take the game into overtime. The New York Rangers also came into the play offs as the Presidents' Trophy winners for the 2014-2015 NHL season, then now finding themselves moving on to round two in the playoffs.

Washington Capitals vs New York Islanders 
 This was a series that was a tight one with the full seven games and what they all had to offer. Each game on it's own was pretty tight on it's own. The Washington Capitals took the series and ended up moving to round two in the playoffs. What also is special about this series is that it is the last playoff series the Nassau Coliseum was going to see. The New York Islanders are going to be moving to a new arena next season. The Washington Capitals' captain, Alex Ovechkin was joking around before game six with Chuck Gormley from CSN about stealing one of those famous blue chairs from Nassau. But that prediction that Ovechkin had did not go as planned, the New York Islanders won their last and final game at Nassau Coliseum, what a way to close a place down!

A photoshopped photo of Alex Ovechkin with hopefully

 two souvenirs from Nassau Coliseum

St. Louis Blues vs Minnesota Wild 
This was a close six game series. It was a rough one, due to ups and downs of both sides winning about every other game, it was looking like it was going to be a seven game series. But not so much when it came down to the last two games. Which the Minnesota Wild dominated. Which leads to the Wild traveling to round two in the play offs.

Nashville Predators vs Chicago Blackhawks 
 Another tight six games series. Why you say that? You would ask. Well, it was a series full of overtimes. Overtimes? Well unlike regular season NHL where each team gets five minutes of overtime hockey then goes to a shoot out if the score is still tied after five minutes, they do sudden death overtime, that is twenty minutes periods of hockey until someone scores a goal. This can lead to a game or two after the regulation time of sixty minutes of hockey. So the Predators and the Blackhawks found themselves playing two periods of overtime hockey in game one, then also found themselves playing THREE periods (this equals to two hockey games back to back in a row) in game four. The Blackhawks won each of these overtime games. Also the Chicago Blackhawks found themselves winning the series and moving on to round two of the playoffs on the road to the cup.

Poor little tired Patrick Kane (88) trying to left up big Brent Seabrook (7) 

in celebration of the overtime win, in game four. The game went until 

one in the morning Chicago time. Also on the bottom is captain Jonathan Toews 

commenting about Kane trying to left Seabrook. Pretty much sums up that night. 

When I saw that photo after the game I seriously thought Kane was lifting 

up more than one person. I thought Toews was in there too. Here's to show
how tired the players where, and also the hockey fans watching the game.

Anaheim Ducks vs Winnipeg Jets 
 This was the first time the Winnipeg Jets found themselves in the playoffs in a long time, nineteen years to be exact. The Jets fought hard. But it was sad seeing them swept by the Anaheim Ducks who moved on to round two. But I am giving a BIG shoutout to the amazing Jets fans who supported their team through it. You guys are the true heros of the playoffs. Seeing your team for the first year in nineteen years enter the playoffs.

Vancouver Canucks vs Calgary Flames 
 Well we got  Vancouver Caunacks and the Calgary Flames, this series will not be a clean one. Trust me this is Canadian rival hockey right here, at it's best, in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The last time these two faced each other in the playoffs was in 2004 Western Quarter Finals. This was a six game series, the Flames defeated the Canucks and moved on to round two. Well, this wasn't a clean series to begin with, in game one: emotions started to boil and a fight broke out. Also in another home game for Calgary head coach Bob Hartly got fined $50,000 for letting the fighting get out of hand. It was one heated series.

First fight... before. 

And, after.

Round Two (April 30 - May 13, 2015)
 We are now down to eight teams who are remaining in the playoffs.

 Montreal Canadians vs Tampa Bay Lightning
If you are thinking Montreal will pull there way through  to the next round, think again. Tampa Bay defeated them in a six game series only winning four of those games and moving on to round three of the playoffs. 

New York Rangers vs Washington Capitals 
 This was a TIGHT seven game series! No joke games two through seven where just a one point ahead scores along with exciting games that followed. The only time there was a two point lead was during game one when Washington defeated New York in a two to one scoring game. Not much as overtime games for these both teams but they did go to a short lived overtime period in games five and seven. The Rangers defeated the Capitals in this series and are headed to round three.

Minnesota Wild vs Chicago Blackhawks 
 It was a heartbreaking series to be a Minnesota Wild fan. The Chicago Blackhawks swept the Wild, badly. The Wild club was not playing their greatest. Something was off about them, they all where performing not like themselves. Not until the last three or four minutes of game four. Actually during ALL of game four. After defensemen, Matt Dumba for the Minnesota Wild scored the first goal in the second period. The Wild got fired up, and played like their fans and I knew they could. But as in the last three minutes or so while the Wild where going for a tie and trying to bring on a game five and get themselves back to life. But that sadly did not work out so well, leaving the Wild swept badly, and making the Chicago Blackhawks move on to round three in the playoffs.

To see the last minutes of the Minnesota Wild will to move and live in

this series watch the last two goals scored by Jared Spurgeon (46) and Nino 

Niederreiter (22) skip to 19:08. 

Anaheim Ducks vs Calgary Flames
A five game series for these two teams. Anaheim won three games out of five leaving Calgary in the dust, and advancing to round three in the playoffs.

Round Three (May 16 - 30, 2015)
 We are in the conference finals, where four teams compete for the western and eastern conference titles and also to move on to the Stanley Cup final.

New York Rangers vs Tampa Bay Lightning (Eastern Conference)
 In these playoffs this was the first meeting between these two teams. In the past three out of four years that the New York Rangers had made it to the conference finals, the Rangers have won and moved on to the Stanley Cup final. But not this year! The Lightning beat the Rangers in a seven game series, which in the first time since 2004 the Lightning found themselves in the finals again.

Anaheim Ducks vs Chicago Blackhawks (Western Conference)
 This was ALSO the first meeting for the teams in the playoffs as well. Another similarity it has to the eastern conference series is it was a seven games series too. Which lead the Blackhawks winning and taking out the Ducks, on their way to the Stanley Cup finals. But there where a lot of Mighty Ducks Movie references also made during this series. Which couldn't made this girl anymore happier!

 

 Emilio Estevez is pulling out his Coach Bombay! Rooting on the Ducks

and going nuts with the CLASSIC Mighty Ducks references!

Round Four (June 3 - 15, 2015)
 Tampa Bay Lightning vs Chicago Blackhawks 
  This was an exciting six game series, with each game expect game six where the team ahead was just leading by one point. During game six and the final game of the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs the Blackhawks only lead by two points. This is the first game the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup at home, the last time that happened was 1938! So again doing what the Blackhawks did and especially for it to be at home, is just icing on the cake!

 

Captain Jonathan Toews with teammate Patrick Kane with Lord 

Stanley! 

Congratulations Chicago Blackhawks you done well, and good luck on your 2015-16 season!