Up Late...twiddling my thumbs

Note: HGTV has its best shows on late night Saturdays...who knew? I'm eating this up.

My interview for Plymouth State is on Wednesday at 10:30 AM. I'm pretty excited and nervous. I'll start looking at what I think I might be asked and forming answers on Monday.

Lots of grand times with friends coming through, though I'm a tad worried because my last unemployment check from the government hasn't come yet...and I could definitley use the money. Seriously stoked for the Tahoe trip in two weekends, it's going to be phenomenal.

Hockey: As the conference finals begin tomorrow I figure I should give my predictions as well. As a rule for these playoffs, watch for Chicago and Carolina to impress and shock. These two teams are going to make the conference finals a real battle for last years Stanley Cup contenders. We've been treated to a lot of fantastic series this year, like seriously hard fought series, and its going to continue into the next stage.

Detroit vs. Chicago: Its hard to bet against Detroit ever. As we saw in their game 7 win over the ducks, their top contributors didn't put in a single goal, rather their lesser known players were able to find the back of the net. The Red Wings know how to win and they usually find a way to make it happen. The Blackhawks should also not be taken lightly. They put away a Calgary team that though it just might be their year and a Vancouver team who had been picked by many analysts. There's a real sense that when they're on their game and making quick transitional break outs that they could score at will. Both teams have a penalty problem coming into this series...and both teams are the kind that will make other pay dearly for those immature mistakes. Khabibulin had a good series against Vancouver, but he didn't have a great series. For Chicago to have a fighting chance, the Bulin Wall will need to be solid. He needs to have a great series. Osgood will have to be every bit of the amazing goalie that he has been for Detroit, every bit, Chicago can really score goals (Luongo, arguably the best goalie in the game, was shamed by them, utterly shamed). Keys for each team:
-Chicago could win if they play their fast style of hockey. I don't think any team has the speed and devistating transition power of the Blackhawks when they're playing their game.
-It's Detroits series to loose and they know that Chicago will take advantage of every opportunity given to them. The greatest threat to the Red Wings is letting themselves get into a shootout with the Blackhawks, the Wings can score, but its highly debatable if they can score as much as Chicago can. Vancouver lost that bet in game 6.

I'm going to predict Detroit, but this series could be really amazing to watch and if Chicago has its way, we're going to watch the dismantling of a dynasty so that a new one can begin. There's a lot of people who are really excited about this series, count me waaaaaay in.

Pittsburgh vs. Carolina: I'm not a fan of Pittsburgh. Perhaps because of the annointing of Crosby and Malkin and this fetishizing in passive hockey fans making the Penguins the fastest growing merchandise team in all of sports. But I do enjoy that Dan Bylsma has injected new life into the team and really disciplined them into a formidable team that can dominate and devastate (game 7 versus Washington). I really like Cam Ward of the Hurricanes, who has yet to loose a playoff series. He's not amazing, but a lot like Osgood of the Redwings, you can actually see this guy fighting for every save. He's not perfect by any means, but having a goalie that has that much raw will to win is not common. Eric Staal of the 'Canes is a legitamate star on a bit of a slump and I think without Boston's Chara on his back, he'll make a lot more of an impact in this next series. Key's for each team:
-Pittsburgh built some great momentum out of the last series, winning four of the last five games and simply devastating the Capitals in the final game. Really they can win by doing more of the same, trusting in their game and executing.
-Carolina has been dubbed the "cardiac kids" for their ability to win in completely nailbiting (and by nailbiting, I mean watch out cuticles because we're chomping that far back) fashion, can they keep doing that? Yeah, I think they can, but that means that they've got to keep the score close so they can continue to give all of their fans heart attacks.

Pittsburgh might be on the way to develop a dynasty of their own. As much as I think Staal and Ward can fight enough for the entire Carolina team (not to say they won't fight at all on their own) the depth of the Penguin bench will probably be too much for them in the end. I'm predicting the Penguins (though I'd loooooove to see them be eliminated).