Any predictions for who ends up in the finals?
With Bobkov in goal I will take my chances.CSKA is the clear favorite in the West; East isn't that easy to predict, but lets say Avangard.
If anyone but CSKA wins the West it would be an upset, a pretty big one even.Any predictions for who ends up in the finals?
Of course, all teams facing the mighty Red Army are starting with a negative score, and if they win they are sent straight to GulagAre the playoffs fixed> Meaning will some teams " advance" due to bad calls and other things?
Uhmmm.... no. I don't even think Akbars will have a free pass in the first round. And after that every team can beat AkBars. It's playoff hockey. It will be completely different from the regular season.And the usual suspects have tons of playoff experience, they will know how to step up their game. As for AkBars itself Kvartalnov is not exactly a playoff success story in the past. The last strech of 7-8 games before the playoffs was awful. Our goalies are changing personalities it seems. Last season Bilyalov was clearly on top, this season the roles reversed. I have no idea how they fare in the playoffs. I have no idea who will start. And that's not a vote of confidence. And goaltending is absolute key in the playoffs. The loss of Azevedo will be costly. He was a proven playoff warrior. Dawes has never been on a real contender and never went all the way. It remains to be seen if he can be one of the leaders on a team to win 4 series. DaCosta has more playoff experience and is more proven. AkBars will rely on him to score. It's not a bad team on paper, but we had much better and they have not always won.you don't think ak bars wins the east fairly easy?
If you think they can be fixed, why won't you bet money?Are the playoffs fixed> Meaning will some teams " advance" due to bad calls and other things?
The whole league is fixed. Players get fixed salary and turns out better teams can afford better players without "other things" having to interupt. Interesting how it works.Are the playoffs fixed> Meaning will some teams " advance" due to bad calls and other things?
Why don't they know who will start? Do they play a heavy game?Uhmmm.... no. I don't even think Akbars will have a free pass in the first round. And after that every team can beat AkBars. It's playoff hockey. It will be completely different from the regular season.And the usual suspects have tons of playoff experience, they will know how to step up their game. As for AkBars itself Kvartalnov is not exactly a playoff success story in the past. The last strech of 7-8 games before the playoffs was awful. Our goalies are changing personalities it seems. Last season Bilyalov was clearly on top, this season the roles reversed. I have no idea how they fare in the playoffs. I have no idea who will start. And that's not a vote of confidence. And goaltending is absolute key in the playoffs. The loss of Azevedo will be costly. He was a proven playoff warrior. Dawes has never been on a real contender and never went all the way. It remains to be seen if he can be one of the leaders on a team to win 4 series. DaCosta has more playoff experience and is more proven. AkBars will rely on him to score. It's not a bad team on paper, but we had much better and they have not always won.
I stand corrected. Any thoughts in general about the differences, do you think that smaller rink suits skilled players like the ones of SKA better than others? Or just the opposite? And if, why?Minsk plays on the Finnish 28x60 rink since 2019 so whatever the difference is, it's marginal.
I think it's not so much SKA's offense, but Minsk's defense in that series. It's broken down way too often and at the worst times for Minsk. Hard to win when you're down by several goals for long stretches in games...I stand corrected. Any thoughts in general about the differences, do you think that smaller rink suits skilled players like the ones of SKA better than others? Or just the opposite? And if, why?
Because it's a tandem of pretty equal goalies. Reideborn wasn't perfect in the first, so Bilyalov got the start in the 2nd. I gues it will depend on how it develops. If Bilyalov keeps winning, he will start.Why don't they know who will start? Do they play a heavy game?
It's really difficult to make any conclusions above the level of pure speculation.I stand corrected. Any thoughts in general about the differences, do you think that smaller rink suits skilled players like the ones of SKA better than others? Or just the opposite? And if, why?
Small rinks ususally favor a less skilled north-south game. Skilled players thrive more on the bigger rinks. If you go into detail though it gets more and more complicated. For example if you dissect skating big rinks are where smooth and fast skaters prevail as they have more room. Good edgewotk on the other hand is what makes you dangerous in the phone booth of the small rink. Smaller rinks mean more physical contact, i.e. players who shy away from it are doomed on the small rink, but can somewhat have success on the bigger rink if they are fast enough. Defencemen on the bigger rink use the stick more as opposed to taking the body. Obviously for the simple fact that they have a lot more rink width to cover. If you take the body on the big 30m rink you might be several meters further away from the next play, net etc. On the other hand corners and borad battles are further away from the net too, so there is less posibility a lucky bounce of a short pass out of that battle ends up in a dangerous scoring area.I stand corrected. Any thoughts in general about the differences, do you think that smaller rink suits skilled players like the ones of SKA better than others? Or just the opposite? And if, why?
Hopefully not, the team underachieved massively, had historically bad PK for a good while, had a losing stream of historic proportions (for no objective reasons like injuries, covid, etc.), and showed little improvement throughout the season. Furthermore, he was probably the one who asked for Holzer who was just a tremendous waste of both an import spot and money.Will Bill Peteres be Avto coach in the new season? He was eliminated in the first round of the Gagarin Cup, but the team played well throughout the season. Next season could be better IMHO