By Jason Bryden
Elm Staff Writer
Stanley Cup Playoffs
The quest to claim this year’s Stanley Cup began this past Wednesday as 16 teams are vying to hoist the Stanley Cup in June. Last year’s champions, the second seeded and Northeast Division champion Boston Bruins, began their defense of the cup on Thursday night against the Washington Capitals, who after the last two years being the top seed in the East, are the seven seed.
The East’s top seed this year, the Atlantic Division winning New York Rangers, also began last night against the eight seed, the Ottawa Senators. The last time the Rangers were the top seed, they won the cup in 1994.
The Florida Panthers, who are back in the playoffs for the first time in 12 years and won the Southeast Division are seeded third and play the six seed New Jersey Devils in a series that opens Friday.
The four seed Pittsburgh Penguins will play the five seed Philadelphia Flyers in the Battle of Pennsylvania that commenced on Wednesday.
Out West, the finalists from last year, the top seed Vancouver Canucks, opened on Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Kings. The Canucks, who won the Northwest Division, are the top overall seed for the second straight year and won the President’s Trophy.
The Central Division champion St. Louis Blues, back in the playoffs for the first time since 2009, earned the two seed and will play the seven seed San Jose Sharks in a series that began last night.
The Phoenix Coyotes won its first-ever division crown, capturing the Pacific Division are playing the 2010 Stanley Cup Champion and six seed Chicago Blackhawks in a series that opened up last night.
The four seed Nashville Predators opened up play on Wednesday night against the five seeded Detroit Red Wings.
Four networks will be covering the conference quarterfinals, NBC, NBC Sports Network, CNBC and NHL Network.
Angels-Yankees (Friday-Sunday)
Two favorites in the American League will meet this weekend at Yankee Stadium. The Angels, picked by some to win the World Series, added the biggest prize in the free agent market this off season as they signed first baseman Albert Pujols from the Cardinals.
In his 11 years with the Cardinals, Pujols won three MVPs and two World Series titles. The Angels have made the postseason six times from 2002-09, but have not returned since.
The Yankees are looking to return to the playoffs for the 17th time in 18 years this year and still have a major cast of stars such as shortstop Derek Jeter, second baseman Robinson Cano, third baseman Alex Rodriguez and pitchers C.C. Sabathia and Mariano Rivera.
The two teams met three times in the playoffs from 2002-09 with the Angels winning in the ALDS in 2002 and 2005, while the Yankees took the 2009 ALCS.
Saturday’s game is on FOX at 1 p.m. and Sunday’s contest is the Sunday Night game on ESPN at 8 p.m.
Red Sox-Rays (Friday-Monday)
On September 3 last year, the Boston Red Sox led the Tampa Bay Rays by nine games for the wild card spot in the American League, but the Rays won six of seven meetings between the two teams in September to get back into the race. The Red Sox continued to stumble and the Rays took advantage of it. Entering the final three days of the season, the Red Sox led by one game and were tied entering the final night. The Red Sox were one out away from winning against the Baltimore Orioles up 3-2, but could not get the last out and lost 4-3 at Baltimore.
In Tampa, the Rays were down to their last out, but a home run by Dan Johnson tied the game at 7-7 against the New York Yankees and two innings later, third baseman Evan Longoria slammed a home run down the left field line to give the Rays an 8-7 win and the wild card spot.
This weekend, the two teams will meet at Fenway Park. Are the Rays going to be able to build off of last year’s playoff spot? Will the Red Sox, under new manager Bobby Valentine, be able to overcome last year’s collapse?
Sunday’s game is on TBS at 1:30 p.m., while Monday’s game starts at 11:05 a.m. on Patriots’ Day in conjunction with the Boston Marathon.
Heat-Knicks (Sunday)
A potential first round playoff matchup will take place on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden in New York as the Knicks host the Heat.
Miami currently leads the Southeast Division and sit in second place in the Southeast Division. They are the only Eastern Conference team averaging over 100 points per game as they sit at 100.3 PPG.
The Knicks are eighth in the Eastern Conference, holding a slim lead over the Milwaukee Bucks for the last spot, but are on the heels of the Philadelphia 76ers for the seventh spot.
The Heat has won both meetings this season, 97-89 on January 27 and 102-88 on February 23. The game is on ABC on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Boston Marathon (Monday)
This Monday, on Patriots’ Day, a Massachusetts state holiday, the 116th Boston Marathon will take place as it has every year since 1897.
The 26.2 mile road race begins in Hopkinton, Massachusetts and concludes in Boston. It is one of the Five Major Marathons ran in the world with the other four being the London Marathon, Berlin Marathon, Chicago Marathon and the New York City Marathon.
The race was always held on April 19 every year until 1969 when Patriots’ Day was changed from the 19th to the third Monday in April. Last year’s men’s winner, Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya won with a record run of 2:03.02, while Caroline Kilel, also of Kenya, won the women’s race with a time of 2:22.36.
On the men’s side, a Kenyan has won 18 of the last 21, on the women’s side, eight of the past 12 have come from Kenya. Universal Sports Network will air the race at 9:30 a.m.