THE QUEST FOR LORD STANLEY BEGINS....NOW.

The truncated NHL regular season ended in thrilling fashion this weekend as teams battled one another to punch a ticket to the NHL playoffs.  It literally came down to the final weekend for teams to clinch spots and literally until the very last game to decide playoff seedings.  With that being said, now that the smoke has finally cleared, here are the lucky teams who earned a chance to compete for Lord Stanley's Cup:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

(1) Pittsburgh Penguins vs (8) NY Islanders

(2) Montreal Canadiens vs (7) Ottawa Senators

(3) Washington Capitals vs (6) NY Rangers 

(4) Boston Bruins vs (5) Toronto Maple Leafs

WESTERN CONFERENCE

(1) Chicago Blackhawks vs (8) Minnesota Wild

(2) Anaheim Ducks vs (7) Detroit Red Wings

(3) Vancouver Canucks vs (6) San Jose Sharks

(4) St. Louis Blues vs (5) L.A. Kings

While the Penguins and the Blackhawks will go into the playoffs as the favorites to reach the Finals, recent history indicates that being the top-seed doesn't guarantee a spot to the championship.  Just ask the L.A. Kings, who squeaked into the playoffs last season, then went on an epic run to win the Cup.

The playoffs begin on Tuesday, April 30th and we'll be kicking things off with an appearance by HOCKEY THIS WEEK the hockey radio show, followed by three games: Minnesota vs Chicago, L.A. vs St. Louis and Detroit vs Anaheim.   The local teams play later in the week (NY Islanders vs Pittsburgh on Wednesday, NY Rangers/ Washington & Montreal/Ottawa on Thursday).  We were scheduled to raffle off a signed & framed Lundqvist Winter Classic photo on Tuesday, but since the NY Rangers don't play until Thursday, we're going to hold off on raffling it off until then.  We're selling raffle tickets during the game ($5 each, 3 for $10) and the proceeds of the raffle will go towards the One Boston Fund, for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.

So remember, if you are a fan of the Habs, Islanders, Rangers or any other team competing in the playoffs, be sure to know that you can catch your favorite team here during the Stanley Cup Playoffs!

Cheers!

#NHL RIVALRY NIGHT: WHAT A NIGHT!

Last night we found ourselves hosting not one, but TWO huge rivalry games in the NHL; The NY Rangers faced off against their dreaded rivals the NY Islanders, while at the same time, the Montreal Canadiens traveled to Toronto to hook up against the Maple Leafs.  This was a big night for all four teams as both games had playoff implications, which added additional pressure to the night's games.

A good crowd turned out for the games and they were as feisty as the players were on the ice.  As it turned out, the Maple Leafs established themselves quickly and ended up blowing the Habs away, 5-1. Wasn't even close.  My sense was that the Habs had a bit of a letdown after clinching a playoff spot a few days earlier.  Hopefully they will bounce back this week.

In the other game, the Rangers and Islanders battled tooth and nail through three scoreless periods before the NY Rangers pulled out a 1-0 overtime victory, much to the delight of the Ranger fans in the bar and to the disappointment of the Islander fans.  It was an epic battle, with the real feel of a playoff game.  Both teams are still in the playoff hunt and even though the Islanders lost, should they make it to the playoffs, they will be a dangerous team to face.

So overall, if you were a Ranger or Leafs fan, you went home happy.  As for the fans of the Habs and Islanders, tomorrow's another day.  But with less than two weeks left before the playoffs, every game from here on out is an important one.  And the fans know it.  This should be a great stretch run.

Stay tuned!


Cheers.

FUN-TASTIC WEEKEND (long post)

The past weekend was a blur for us, but in a good way.  Between the return of the NHL and the NFL Championship Sunday, it was a great weekend to be a sports fan.

Saturday brought us the long-awaited return of the National Hockey League and to be honest, I was curious to see what kind of turnout we'd get.  As I mentioned in previous blog posts, there was a lot of resentment towards the NHL for starting the lockout and there had be growing rumors of fans staging boycotts and turing their back on the league who, in their eyes, had turned their backs on them.

When the 3pm games started, there were four girls at the bar, anxious to watch the Pittsburgh Penguins/Philadelphia Flyers game.  Nobody else.  I went to the NHL Store to pick up a few things to raffle off for the night games and when I returned an hour later, the bar was full of hockey fans.  That was at 4pm.  By the time the 7pm games started, we were packed with Rangers fans, Bruins fans, Islanders, Devils, Habs and Leafs fans, all excited to see the return of the game.

I guess it's safe to say that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was right: The fans will return, and they surely did. Damn him!

In any case, the crowd was totally into the return of the NHL and the great matchups that kicked off the mini-season: NY Rangers/Boston Bruins, NY Islanders/NJ Devils, and Montreal Canadiens/Toronto Maple Leafs. Lots of good-natured banter throughout the bar, and within a few minutes, it was forgotten that there was even a lockout.  Very encouraging to see.

Sunday was going to be a pretty exciting day for an entirely different reason;  It was NFL CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY with two great games on tap: Atlanta vs San Francisco and Baltimore vs New England.

We were already expecting a good crowd for both games, but for added excitement, we decided to host a "Chili Cook-Off".  We have a number of budding "chefs" among our regulars, so we figured this was a good way to have them show off their culinary skills.  So we invited anyone who was interested in showing off their skills to prepare some chili and enter it in our contest.  We ended up with five entries, so we let the patrons sample all five and they got to vote on which chili they liked the best.  The entry with the most votes won, and in this case,  SEXY LEXY was voted the winner, collecting some cool swag from BUDWEISER and LONG TRAIL in the process.  Congratulations!

The rest of the day was capped with two exciting games; The first one being a comeback thriller, won by San Francisco, 28-24, while the second game started out close, but ended up with Baltimore pulling away with a 28-13 win in a mild upset.  This sets up an interesting Super Bowl, with San Francisco facing Baltimore on February 3.  What's more interesting about this matchup is that the two head coaches are brothers:  This would mark the first time that two brothers coached against each other in a Super Bowl.  In any case, this should make for a great (and intriguing) Super Bowl, and we anticipate a good day of football and high-jinks!

PLEASE NOTE: Pub Trivia will take place on Tuesday (Jan 22) this week instead of its usual Wednesday slot, due to our NY RANGERS/BOSTON BRUINS VIEWING PARTY (Wednesday, Jan 23, 7pm).  Make it a point to join us!  

Thanks for reading and sorry for the long post!


Cheers!

BROOKLYN: THE NEW MECCA OF SPORTS?

It all started out with the invasion of the hipsters to the dilapidated neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Greenpoint.  They took over those neighborhoods and suddenly it became cool to live and play in those areas.  

Then someone came up with the idea to build a professional sports complex in the heart of Downtown Brooklyn.  As far fetched as it sounded, it gained traction, with promises of housing, jobs and commerce to the area and of course, with the blessing of the Borough President, Marty Markowitz, a sports team.  And after what seemed like forever, a state of the art facility was born: The Barclays Center.

And with the Barclays Center came a professional basketball team: The Brooklyn (formerly New Jersey) Nets.  With a ultra-hot rapper as a part-owner  (Jay-Z) and a billionaire owner from Russia, the former doormat of the NBA's Eastern Conference has all of a sudden become hip.

And just when you thought that was enough to make you want to venture off the island, now comes the stunning news that the NY Islanders will be leaving Nassau County and make Brooklyn their home in 2015.  This is a brilliant move for the Islanders, as they will finally have a facility that will be attractive enough for their fans to want to visit.  And by 2015, their team should be ready to contend for a long run in the playoffs.  Most importantly, with access to 8 million people, this move should assist in building a new legion of fans.  I guess Charles Wang figured if it works for the Nets, it should work for them as well.  Not to mention that having both the Nets and Islanders closer to Madison Square Garden will no doubt strengthen the rivalry between the four teams.

With all of this newfound optimism surrounding the Barclays Center and downtown Brooklyn, the pressing question for Mayor Bloomberg and Borough President Marty Markowitz is simple:





If the Nets or Islanders win a championship, where are you going to hold the ticker-tape parade?



Nuff Said.