Baumblog EST 1968 - A blog for the Baumbachs who originated in Syracuse, NY

OK, so I did a lot better in this past round. Here's how I see things for Round 3:

Buffalo vs Ottawa: Make no doubt about it, Ottawa hasn't seen a team as deep or talented as Buffalo. Ray Emery's GAA will be climbing for this series. At the same time, Buffalo forgot how to score at times against New York, and if they do it again Ottawa will decimate them. I'm rooting for Buffalo, but I think Ottawa wins in six.

Detroit vs Anaheim: Detroit's defensive corps is hurting. Anaheim is relatively unscathed and well rested. But...Anaheim should have beaten Edmonton last year in this round, and it wasn't even close. They picked up Pronger to try to make a difference this year. Will it work? Ducks in six.

Eric said 30 minutes later

Wrong!

Wings in six.
GJ said about 2 hours later

Believe me, I hate the Ducks worse than the Wings--mostly for taking Pronger from the Oilers. You can imagine how much I *really* don't like Prong's wife for that. Anyhow, I'm also a realist. San Jose beat themselves. Anaheim might do that too--after all, they did it last year with the Oilers. Detroit is really hurting on the defensive corps, and goaltending-wise, Anaheim has two goalies that are easily the equal of Hasek. However, these ARE the Wings, so I'm giving 'em two wins. Had this been almost any other team, I'd have given it to the Ducks in four or five.

You know what's neat? It's quite possible we may have yet another year with a brand new Cup winner (that is, a team that has never won the cup winning). Three of the four teams left have yet to win, though technically the last franchise in Ottawa won a few in the early years of the league.

If nothing else, both series will be very good. I'm looking forward to some awesome hockey for the next few weeks (in addition to the IHWCs, of course!).