Takes and trash talk from both ALL sides of the NHL's most obscure PATHETIC* rivalry

* Thanks, Kevin Lowe!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Ducks Gameday—C’mon, Ducks, win me a t-shirt!

Vancouver Canucks (34-21-4, t-5th in west) at Anaheim Ducks (35-16-9, 3rd in west)

Now I’m a guy who’s mostly sworn off sports betting, especially since the sport I know most about seems the one that is most prone to bounces and breaks, but I did engage in one Ducks bet this past offseason that may come to fruition tonight.

The bet-rival: Temujin, of West Coast Chaos
The bet-subject: the 06/07 regular season matchup between the Canucks and Ducks
The stakes (as chronicled in the WFS reader bet thread): Temujin bets Earl Sleek that when the Canucks and Ducks play each other this season, the Nucks will come out with more points. The winner recieves a T Shirt of choice. Aug.29/06
The series thus far:

Nov. 9th in Vancouver: Ducks 6, Canucks 0
Nov. 30th in Vancouver: Ducks 2, Canucks 1
So it all looks pretty in the bag for me, eh? Two games remaining in Anaheim, and so long as the Ducks can avoid two regulation losses, I should be sporting some Anaheim green in time for St. Patty’s day.

Of course, I should mention how fortuitous timing seems to have been when it comes to this bet, both Vancouver games happening early in the season when the Ducks were killing everyone and the Canucks were still learning how to play in front of Roberto.

Records through Nov. 30th (the second VAN-ANA matchup)
Anaheim (27 gms): 19-2-6, 44 points, .815 win pct.
Vancouver (26 gms): 12-13-1, 25 points, .481 win pct.
Since that 2nd matchup, however, the Canucks seem to be the team possessed:
Anaheim (33 gms): 16-14-3, 35 points, .530 win pct.
Vancouver (33 gms): 22-8-3, 47 points, .712 win pct.
And if that’s not enough, check out how well the Canucks have done on the road since Christmas: 9-1-1, outscoring opponents 39-19 and only allowing 2 power play goals in 67 chances (a whopping 97% PK rate!). Maybe there is hope for poor Temujin.

Prediction: Ducks 3, Canucks 2. By the way, I wear a Large.

p.s. I haven’t spent any time yet gloating about it, but I am in two separate fantasy leagues with Temujin and the WFS crew. After drafting two Duck-heavy teams, I’ve spent roughly 99% of the season in first place in both leagues. You might think this makes me some sort of credible fantasy advisor, but really, my advice is not to stockpile players from your favorite team—I was drunk-drafting and I’m pretty surprised it worked out so well.

9 comments:

Sean Zandberg said...

Haha! Shit, I forgot about that! He's gonna drink more tonight due to the nervous anxiety! Some dude on the Canucks.com forum is saying that Sabourin is playing tonight...oh hell!!!

Temujin said...

Uhhh, someone hacked into my computer back in August, posted as me on various hockey blogs and forums, and generally sullied my reputation as a fair and honourable person.

It doesn't seem right that I have to pay for the bet of someone who pretended to be me, does it???

Is Pronger still injured? Giggy got a lower body injury? Selanne indicted on Finnish fraud charges?

Oh sweet lord vishnu gaia, I'm gonna be out $20 after tonight.

DAMN!

Anonymous said...

Looks like you are in luck tonight! Sabourin to start for Vancouver. No Luongo.

starting goalies

Temujin said...

Thabourin Thays ith gonna be thix to thee-ro for the Canuckth.

GO THABOURIN GO! GET A THUT-OUT!

Sean Zandberg said...

"I was drunk-drafting and I’m pretty surprised it worked out so well."

Yeah so are we! We feel like idiots!!! haha

Anonymous said...

Well Sleek, you won your damned T-shirt, and I'll honour that agreement, but truly the better team won tonight. Sabourin was fantastic tonight, and even though it was a BS call in OT, you have to give full value to the 'Nucks for hanging in there and pulling out the win.
In a couple of weeks, the Canucks will be firmly in second place in the conference, and the Ducks will continue their slide! Woo hoo!

So, that was a size small you wanted, right?

Earl Sleek said...

Well, that was about the shittiest way to win a t-shirt.

Any way, that was one crazy third period, all old-school and whistle-free. Guys were fighting through checks for once. It made me kind of nostalgic for less whistle-happy days (sigh).

Yay loser point!

Anonymous said...

Speak for yourself Zanstorm. Trailing Sleek by a few points going into the stretch and he's unaware of the maximum games/per position rule. lol

Prediction... Sleek = first loser in both pools.

Earl Sleek said...

Hodge talking trash? I haven't heard that since draft day.

I must say I am impressed by the (attempted) strategy to wait until the last days of the season to take first. Very Nascar of you.