Welp...

So the Canes didn't put up much of a fight against Pittsburgh. They were swept. Ouch. Apparently, I was wrong on all of my reasons for why they would win in the 3rd round. Mainly on reason 2. I was absolutely dead wrong on our defense.

Apparently, our defense just did not feel like playing. Either that, or they were so beat up from playing 14 previous games against bigger teams that they were just beat up physically and couldn't compete.

No matter what the excuse is, Pittsburgh dominated us in just about every aspect. Their defense was better than ours, their offense made our team, and goalie, look like swiss cheese, and we vastly improved Fleury's stats going into the Stanley Cup Finals.

All in all, it was an absolutely great run up until the Eastern Conference Finals. Honestly, I would never have believed it that the Canes would have made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, let alone the playoffs, if you had told me back in February of this year. There was just no way we were playing well enough. But after a great March, and April, we turned into a team that really believed in itself and took it to other great teams.

However, now that the offseason is upon us, the questions can start coming. Who will we try to resign, who do we not want, who will we try to go after? I'll try to come up with my answers to those this weekend, after I have a bit more time to digest this post-season.

Round 3! Pens and Canes

Well, surprise, surprise! The Canes are still the predicted losers of yet another round of playoff hockey!

I, myself will call shenanigans on them all. And of course I would, I'm a Canes fan. But here are my points.

1. Our forwards solved Martin Brodeur of the 3rd seeded Devils, and the probable 2009 Vezina-winner Tim Thomas. Do you really think that Fleury is the same calibre of goaltender as Marty or Timmy? Fleury is 8-5 with a 2.72 GAA and .901 SV% in the post-season. Those numbers are NOT good enough. At the same time, Cam Ward has a 2.22 GAA and .927 SV% along with 2 shutouts this post-season. Goaltenders win playoff series. Who have the Pens faced? Biron? Varlamov?
   
2. Our "no-name," "bucket list," "non-scoring" Defense has somehow managed to hem in both #3 New Jersey and the number 1 seeded, 2nd-in-the-League-by-1-point-in-the-regular-season Boston Bruins. But somehow, Crosby and Malkin are going to score 7 goals each on them.
   
3. Look at the competition. Pittsburgh has had to play Philadelphia and Washington. Against Philly, they played against a crumbling team in front of a very shaky goaltender (yes, I know I picked Philly to go to the Finals. That was based on gut-feelings, not facts). They then played against the Washington Capitals, who they only had to keep up in score with. The Caps really had no defense(similar to the Pens), and their rookie goaltender turned out to be fluky. It was a matchup to see who could score 4 or 5 goals the fastest. The Canes on the other hand had to best arguably the greatest goaltender there's ever been along with a New Jersey team that is historically defensively-minded(although not as much so recently). The Canes then had to further beat the heavily favored Boston Bruins, the team that everyone had basically handed the Cup to already. Boston was supposedly the perfect team. They had scoring, they had massive shut-down D-men, they had a Vezina Candidate in goal. Yet, the Canes prevailed.
   
4. Lastly, the Hockey Gods are on our side. Yes, the Hockey Gods. The Hockey Gods are fair, they are balanced, they look down upon meddling Refferee's and officials. They do not turn a blind eye to fans who turn their zealotry into putrid vile toward others. They smite those who are not believers of truth, balance, and fairness.
   
   FACT: The Buffalo Sabres have never won the Stanley Cup.
   HOCKEY GOD INTERVENTION: Sabres fans are loud, obtuse, and remind one of the hooligans in England. The Hockey Gods have Smote them.
   
   FACT: The 2002 Stanley Cup Finals were determined by the Refs and NHL Officials, rewarding Detroit with the Stanley Cup.
   HOCKEY GOD INTERVENTION: In 2006 the Edmonton Oilers eliminated the Red Wing in round 1. Then, the team with less Stanley Cups, won the Cup that year (balance).
   
   FACT: The NHL did everything in its power to keep Carolina out of the 3rd round. The refs swallowed their whistles while looking at Chara and Ward abuse our forwards, disallowed a (ultimately meaningless) goal, and called phantom penalties on the regular season's least penalized team.
   HOCKEY GOD INTERVENTION: They influenced Colin Cambell's decision not to suspend Scott Walker for having Aaron Ward's face lose a game of chicken to Scotty's fist. Then, gave the series winning, OT goal to said Scotty.
   
   FACT: Brooks Orpik (Orprick?) viciously broke Erik Cole's cervical (that's neck folks) vertebrae (yes, that's spine folks) on March 4th, 2006. He was about 1 Newton of force close to killing, or permanently paralyzing Erik Cole. He was given a 3-day suspension. Not once did he call Erik Cole to apologize. Not once did he send flowers to Erik while he was in the hospital. Not once has he spoken to the man whom he almost killed, while playing on the same ice.
   HOCKEY GOD INTERVENTION: None.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Yet.
   

Playoff Picks

The 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs start tonight, and thankfully, after 2 years of not participating, the Canes are back in the post-season. With my super hockey knowledge and foresight I will give you who I believe will win the playoffs. Not just the 1st round, but the whole thing! Yeah, I'm good like that.

Round 1, Fight!

Eastern Conference

1 Bruins vs. 8 Habs: The Habs are beat up and haven't played consistent hockey in months. There's not way that they're going to be able to pull off this upset. The bruins pull through in 5.

2 Washington vs. 7 New York Rangers: These are two teams that look very different. Washington is a balls to the wall offensive team, with very little shut-down defense and a shaky goaltender. New York is a more balanced team with less offensive power and a better goaltender. The Caps' hopes are pinned on if they can score more than Theodore can let in. If nothing else, it'll be interesting to watch Avery try to pester AO. Caps win in 6.

3 Devils vs. 6 Canes: One of the more even matchups in the playoffs. This one could really go either way. The Canes are riding a hot streak that has lasted for more than a month, while the Devils have played .500 hockey for most of the past month. Brodeur hasn't looked Brodeur-esque lately, while Cam Ward has. The Canes have had Jersey's number this season taking the season series 3-1. However, the playoffs are always a different story. This one goes to 7 with the Canes coming out on top.

4 Pens vs. 5 Flyers: Another overly even matchup. This is going to be another series going to 7 games. This one however will be about who makes the most mistakes and who gets beat up the most. This series will wear down on both teams, but I see Philly coming out on top. Their defense is going to find a way to shut down Crosby, Malkin, and Staal. Flyers in 7.

Western Conference

1 San Jose vs. 8 Anaheim: Anaheim made a late season push to get into the playoffs, but they're not the team that won the cup a couple years ago. San Jose has been on a mission this year and can't be denied getting past the first round. Sharks in 5.

2 Detroit vs. 7 Columbus: I would love to see Columbus take this series, and I believe that they could. However, Detroit always finds that extra gear in the playoffs. They always seem to be able to stay focused and motivated. Even if they play to an empty arena, Detroit wins this one in 6.

3 Vancouver vs. 6 St. Louis: Another Cinderella team in St. Louis. The Blues haven't been in the playoffs in what seems like forever, especially after having a streak of twenty some years straight in the playoffs. Unfortunately for the Blues, this is the year that Bobby Lu asserts himself in the playoffs. The Nucks win in 6.

4 Chicago vs. 5 Calgary: The even matchup out west that isn't. Calgary won't have enough firepower to keep up with Chicago in this series, and Kipper won't be able to keep them in the game. Hawks in 5.


Round 2, Fight!

Eastern Conference

1 Bruins vs. 6 Canes: Ouch. I hate pitting my Canes against the Bruins like this. They were kicked around all season by the Bruins. That being said, they played all their games against the Bruins before they turned it on in late February. They will make a series out of it. As much as it pains me to say it though, I don't think they can get past the Bruins. They needed someone else to do it, and I don't see how the Habs or the Rangers could have done it (assuming the Rangers beat the Caps). Bruins in 6, they're just too big.

2 Caps vs. 5 Philly: The Caps will face a real test in the second round. The NHL won't get what it wanted in a Crosby vs. Ovechkin series. In this round I see Biron somehow getting hot, and Theodore will choke. Varlamov will come in for Washington, but it won't be enough, and the Flyers will take this one in 6.

Western Conference

1 San Jose vs. 4 Chicago: Ah, the Sharks and the 2nd round of the playoffs, mortal enemies. This series will be a battle to see who can score more. Goaltending won't be showcased in this series. Neither will perform poorly, but look for at least 5 goals to be scored in most of the games. In this series, I see San Jose actually making it past the second round in 6 games.

2 Detroit vs. 3 Vancouver: And here is where Detroit's goaltender's go downhill. Neither Osgood, nor Conklin will be able to do much. Not that Vancouver will throw an onslaught of offensive power at them, they will just falter. Vancouver in 5.

Round 3, Fight!

Eastern Conference

1 Boston vs. 5 Philly: Ok, the third round is so far away, and so much can happen between now and then, that it's a bit too hard to write a true review for them. Tim Thomas will show that he's not quite superman, and Boston will get thrown around a bit more in this series. The Flyer's forwards will find a way to forecheck against the Boston D, and that will make the difference. Philly in 7.

Western Conference

1 San Jose vs. 3 Vancouver: This will be the battle of goaltenders. Both Nabokov and Luongo will be great for their clubs. We'll see a couple shutouts and low scoring games. Both goalies will exit this round with Save Percentage's above .930, but only Luongo will come away smiling. Canucks in 6.


Stanley Cup Finals!

3 Vancouver vs. 5 Philly: Ah, time for all of Canada to jump on the "Canada's Team!" Bandwagon. In this matchup, I see Philly doing everything they can to get past Luongo, but not having the success that they had against Boston. However, their defense will come up big against the Sedins and Sundin, as Biron cools off a bit.
That being said, Luongo will be clutch in this series, where 3 games will go into overtime. This series goes to 6 games and the Canucks bring the Cup to Canada, Sundin makes half of Toronto hate him even more (and all of Montreal) and gets his ring, and Canada can keep saying how hockey is their sport and revel in the fact that it only took 16 years for it to happen.


There you go. Put your money on it. But no more than 10 bucks. I don't have a crystal ball or anything.

Come June we'll find out how (un?)awesome I am when predicting hockey.

Holy Crap am I Behind!

Wow. Have I ever been negligent. It's been 2 weeks since I've posted, and I still hadn't even covered the Toronto Trip. Lazy!

So here's how things went in Toronto. Tyler, here's your porn:

POW!

I like to call this one, "Get more bars in more places - AT&T"

Now, for other, non-Tyler porn pictures from the trip.

Here's the asshole of America, Buffalo, NY!

Back to better places.

Whew! All in all it was a legendary trip. Many memories were made, and I'm sure forgotten as soon as they happened!

Now onto the beer! The Schitze! Barleywine is now brewed and fermenting! Holy cow what a task. Here's the final recipe for The Schitze!

That's a ton of ingredients!

11 pounds of Dry Malt extract. 3 lbs were added at the beginning and 8 for a late extract addition for higher hop utilization.

2 pounds of Melanoiden Malt.

1 pound of Crystal 60L Malt.

1 pound of CaraMunich Malt.

1 pound of Dextrine.

8 oz of Hops.

Here's the hop schedule.

90 minutes: 2 oz of Cluster

30 minutes: .5 oz Cascade

20 minutes: .5 oz Cascade

15 minutes: .5 oz Cascade

10 minutes: .5 oz Cascade 1 oz Centennial

5 minutes: .5 oz Cascade

1 minute: .5 oz Cascade

The original gravity was around 1.100.

I've gotta say, I'm not a big fan of Dry Extract during the brewing process. I hadn't used it before yesterday, and I was not impressed. It clumps up and takes forever to dissolve into the water. That being said, I was brewing an extremely high gravity beer, and only using about 3.75 gallons of water to boil in, so it may have just reached its limit on how much extract it could hold. I'll try a few more lower-gravity brews with Dry extract before I give up on it.

Another addition I used yesterday was FermCaps. FermCaps is used to prevent boilovers in your boil, and blowoffs when you ferment. It worked great in the boil, and as far as I can tell it did its job in fermentation. However, this is what I came home to this afternoon.

There was actually beer coming out of the airlock. This is it cleaned up a bit. Since this was such a monster brew with a high gravity, and since I used a yeast starter, the Krausen almost caused a blowout. The high amount of activity in the fermenter also raised the temperature of the cooler I had it in. It fermented at about 70 degrees during the day today. About 5 degrees warmer than I wanted it to. However, I've got the temperature back down, so hopefully there won't be too many esters or perhaps off-flavors getting in there.

Tomorrow, if I have time, I'll try to post about the Canes' awesome success as of late.

Till then, Cheers eh!

Cheers!

Welcome to Pics, Pucks, & Porters. This blog shall be my attempt to catalogue, dissect, give and receive input into three of my passions; Photography, Hockey, and Brewing/drinking beer.


Let me start by saying that I am in no way a writer. It's funny that I have even started blogging because I hate writing as it is. This is simply a "for fun" activity for me to enjoy and share my passions with others and perhaps get some feedback along the way.


First off, I live in the Triangle region of North Carolina. In the past decade, I have grown to love the Carolina Hurricanes of the NHL. Having Canadians as friends in high school can really push you into loving a certain cold weather sport. Basically the only thing I cannot say about being a Canes fan is that I wasn't there when they were in Greensboro. As soon as they were officially in Raleigh, I was hooked and have been there for all of the major moments.

Which brings me to my next passion. Photography. The above picture was taken with my old Canon S1. Of course I didn't have the greatest vantage point to capture Rod Brind'Amour kissing the Stanley Cup for the first time, but it's not the worst shot ever. The S1 was my first digital camera, and I used the crap out of it. It's a good bridge camera between just a point and shoot and a nice SLR camera. It was an awesome camera to have right out of college, but I missed what I had during my years in school. Here's a few S1 pics.


















My previous camera, that originally got me hooked on photography is my old Canon A-1. Sweet-ass 35mm the A-1 is. It's old, from 1978, but it still takes amazing pictures, when it's got a good battery and clean contacts. It was given to me by my Great Uncle along with quite a few accessories. I took tons of pictures while I was in college. I went to Appalachian State University and loved the picturesque landscapes of the mountains around Boone. In the winter I would take my Bronco out on the Blueridge Parkway and take pictures of the snowy landscape. I could spend all days driving in a foot of snow and getting shots that hardly anyone could get to.


Now, I've moved on to my new baby. The Canon 40D. Finally the best of both of my previous cameras. A digital SLR. And a sweet one at that too. My wonderful, and beautiful wife Jennifer(SWMBO) got it for me this past Christmas, and I've barely been able to put it down. I've got two lenses with it, a normal 28-135mm zoom lens and a 70-300mm zoom lens. Next up on the list is a wide-angle lens. Since most D-SLR's have a 1.6x crop on the frame, my 28mm is really a 45mm lens. I love scenery pictures and 45mm is not wide enough for me. So watch out 12mm lens. Here I come.

Here's a few of my 40D pics from just messing around.

Now onto the third and tastiest of hobbies. Beer! I enjoy beer. Actually, I enjoy good beer. Call me a beer snob. I'm Okay with it. I don't drink beer for the sheer buzz of it. I enjoy the flavors. The malts, hops, esters, foam, and bite. The only light beer I truly enjoy is Sam Adams Light. It has flavor. Lately, I've been into very hoppy beers. India Pale Ales and the like are great on my tongue. I love the super-bitterness of the hops.


Now to culminate my beer-fondness I have gotten a beer brewing kit for Christmas that I plan on using as much as possible. It came with a nice Porter kit. It's all from American Brewmasters here in Raleigh, so it's their own recipe and malts. Here's the ingredient list.


3.3 lbs Dark malt extract
3.3 lbs Amber malt extract
Steeping Grains including 4 oz. Black Patent, 4 oz. Chocolate Malt, 4 oz. Crystal Malt
1 oz. Bittering Hops
1 oz. flavoring Hops
1 Pack Nottingham Ale Yeast

Unfortunately, as I look back on the recipe, it doesn't tell me what the exact hops are. That helps a lot. So, as I write this, that Porter is in it's Secondary Fermenter settling out and maybe getting rid of some off-flavors. I don't have any pictures from the brewing process, but here's where it is as of right now.

Tommorrow, I'll update on how my latest brew went tonight. Plus I may try to work out some formatting kinks and post links to pictures so they look better.

(Edit) You can click on most pictures here for a full-size picture. Some work, some don't for some reason.