The 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs

The Stanley Cup playoffs have started and these first round matchups are RIDICULOUS. I really can’t see a clear cut winner in most matchups in the East or West….but that doesn’t mean we won’t try to make any predictions. Here is what the Bay Area Bias guys came up with.

Western Conference Quarterfinals	Aaron Sholl	Tyler Snellings	Dave Crowell	Peter Engkilterra	Adam Cacioppo	Cody Butler
1  vs 8	7 games	5 games	6 games	7 games	5 games	5 games
2  vs 7	6 games	7 games	6 games	6 games	6 games	7 games
3  vs 6	6 games	5 games	7 games	6 games	6 games	6 games
4  vs 5	7 games	6 games	7 games	6 games	7 games	6 games
Eastern Conference Quarterfinals	Aaron Sholl	Tyler Snellings	Dave Crowell	Peter Engkilterra	Adam Cacioppo	Cody Butler
1 vs 8	6 games	4 games	5 games	5 games	7 games	5 games
2  vs 7	5 games	6 games	6 games	6 games	5 games	5 games
3  vs  6	7 games	7 games	7 games	7 games	6 games	7 games
4  vs 5	6 games	7 games	7 games	7 games	7 games	6 games

I think we are going to see more “upsets” since there isn’t too much difference between most of these teams. The only clear cut games that we came up with are the Bruins and the Penguins winning their rounds. If it weren’t for me, you could add the Rangers too – I just think the Sens might be able to pull off the upset if Anderson gets hot.

As for the Sharks series, San Jose needs to go into St Louis and steal at least one of the games in order to come home and take control of the series. It isn’t going to be easy but scoring first is going to be the major key. That will open up the game more since St Louis is the type of boring hockey team that Ken Hitchcock produces. They like to score garbage goals and sit on that lead for the rest of the game.

The good news for the Sharks is that St Louis has a terrible power play in as of the last two weeks of the regular season. The #2 worst PK ranking the Sharks have is a bit deceiving since they have improved from the all-star break. A lot of “experts” are going off of the 4 game series from the season, but most of them sound like they didn’t watch anything more than the scoreline of the game.

So let’s see your predictions in the comments below. Like we did last year, whoever gets the most correct (with number of games for each series) will win an autographed San Jose Sharks puck. The first round winner will receive a puck signed by Daniel Winnik. A big thanks to my buddy, Mark Nelson, who donated the pucks to Bay Area Bias. If you want any signed Sharks gear or paraphernalia, contact him ASAP at spazzksjo@aol.com.

Since these picks are late in getting up, have your picks in by Friday night at 11:59pm. That gives you a head start on all of us experts – we got all of our picks in before the first games started yesterday….I just so happen to have a day job that prevented me from posting it in time.

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