It’s my Parting Shot for a couple of Weekend Short Shots, plus the last Fearless Predictor pick for the W-H-L’s 2024-25 season…..
Let’s start with the latter note as my March 28th prognostication as to who will qualify for the Western Hockey League final has come true! Plus, I won 60 dollars on Lotto Max tickets over the last two weeks, so I should quit while I’m ahead!! Alas, I can’t. I correctly picked the winners in 11-and-a-half out of 14 series. The Ed Chynoweth Cup final begins tonight with Medicine Hat at home to Spokane. I could simplify the match-up by saying it’s Gavin McKenna of the Tigers against Saskatoon product Berkly Catton of the Chiefs, and add that the scary thing about those two is that they’re eligible to return to their teams and this league again next season! However, McKenna against Catton doesn’t do the match-up justice and, in the end, this series will be won by the team who defends better and has the better goaltending! Twenty-year-old Harrison Meneghin was acquired early this season from arch-rival Lethbridge by Medicine Hat while 19-year-old Dawson Cowan had an all-star season between the pipes for Spokane. It’s tough to pick a better guy between them, so it boils down to who plays better team defence and that would be the Tigers – getting it done in six games, in my humble opinion!
The first Weekend Short Shot deals with how ridiculous sports betting has gotten. I saw last weekend already on the C-B-C-slash-Rogers Sportsnet broadcast of Dallas and Colorado that their sports betting site, whatever it is – I’ll never use it – had odds or lines or whatever they’re called, as to who the favourites were to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Stanley Cup playoffs Most Valuable Player. The first round of the playoffs wasn’t over yet and there were odds on who wins the Conn Smythe?! Enough, this sports betting crap is out of control!!
Lastly, the Edmonton Oilers have won six straight playoff games and have done so by out-scoring their defensive deficiencies while Calvin Pickard, of all people, has out-played, first, the L-A Kings’ Darcy Kuemper and, now, Adin Hill of Vegas in goal! Nobody saw that coming!! Also, I heard somebody say that last night’s 5-4 Oilers’ win in overtime was a sixth straight come-from-behind win. That’s lame, considering Edmonton overcame Vegas’ opening goal by the final five minutes of the second period and actually led 3-1 and 4-2 before the Golden Knights came back and forced O-T!!
That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk…and it turned out nice again!
