Carnac the Magnificent

In tribute to Jay Leno retiring for a second time from the Tonight Show, I wanted to do this post in the form of a popular Leno skit.  But none of them worked.  So I am reaching further back to Johnny Carson days for this one.  A look at the Birds through Carnac the Magnificent.


The answer is: 4 very winnable games
The sound of an envelope ripping open, and Ed McMahon laughing
Question: What I said last Monday about the last 4 games Seattle just played

Answer: 75%
Question: How close the TBirds came to winning all 4 games.

Answer: Wanting Revenge
Question: What Kelowna looked like yesterday afternoon after the 4-1 loss to Seattle last game.

Answer: Identical Twins
Question: How hot the Gropp, Barzal, and Hickman line and the Portland Winterhawks.

Answer: One and the Same
Question: Who has scored more goals against Taran Kozan, Spokane or Me?

Answer: Two, you dumb ass
Question: Number of Memorial Cups the Spokane Chiefs have won more then me, so take that Jon?

Answer: One below zero
Question: The number of points Seattle lost to Victoria.

Answer: 6-12-13
Question: A date in the past, or the number of points Seattle is up on Spokane, Vancouver, and Everett.

Answer: Too Many Men
Question: What Michal Holub, Riley Sheen, Seth Swenson, Carter Folk, and Griffin Foulk say when asked about having to have 3 players to a room on road trips for Lethbridge.

Answer: A very long weekend
Question: What 3 games in 3 nights must feel like.

Answer: A very long weekend 2
Question: What I am probably into for taking my wife to the game on Valentines day.

Answer: An amazing time
Question: What I had working the Root game last Friday night.

Answer: Tyler Hunnex
Question: Whose birthday it is today.

Ok, enough of that.

Three games coming up this weekend.
Tri, Everett, and PG.  All three of them very winnable games.
But, Tri is 6-3-0-1 in their last 10.  That is hot for them.  And, assuming goaltender Eric Comrie plays in net, he can steal a game.
Everett, well, it is Everett, and it is in Everett.  I'm told big, loud crowd.  Very difficult game.
And PG is 7-3 in their last 10.  Hot team trying to make the playoffs.  But, they will have to bus overnight from Kamloops.
So the Birds will have to show up and play very hard to walk out with three wins.

The two concerns that everyone has

Penalties.  This is a huge concern for me going down the stretch.  Giving up power plays to top end teams will kill you most nights.  They have to cut down on the lazy ones.  The hooks, trips, holds.  Most of those can be avoided.  Do this, and hit responsibly, and that will happen.

Short handed goals against.  This one kills me.  The Birds gave up their 12th last night.  It is also the number of chances the other teams are getting, and not scoring the short handed ones.  They are going to have to cut down on this, or just give away momentum that they should be gaining through the PP.

Looking ahead a little bit.

The Birds have 15 games left in the regular season.  I just looked at the schedule, and I should be at 13 of those.

With Seattle up 12 points on Vancouver, and Vancouver only having 14 games left, I think you can almost pencil in at least 5th place in the conference.

With Seattle 17 points behind Kelowna, I think it is safe to say Seattle will not finish 1st in the conference.

As much as I hate to say this, Seattle is 8 points behind Portland.  Portland has one game in hand. Seattle and Portland play 4 more times, or a total of 8 points up for grabs.  Even if Seattle wins all 4 of those, they would have to match Portland the other 9 games. I'm not going to say impossible, but I'm not betting on it.

So that means a 3rd to 5th place finish.
As I mentioned last week, I think the best match-up in the first round for Seattle would be Spokane. So if we finished 4th, had home ice, and Spokane finished 5th, I would take that for sure.