Game On!!!

I'm going to take it one paragraph at a time and give a 110% effort to not use any cliches' in this blog post.


On a serious note, it's game on tonight in Bismarck (some call Bismarck the Des Moines of North Dakota).

- Read the Bismarck Tribune series preview here: http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2009/04/17/news/sports/local/182746.txt

- Read the Owatonna People's Press preview here: http://www.owatonna.com/news.php?viewStory=105490


My take: I realize the Express struggled with Bobcats in the regular season, but I don't care. The Fargo-Moorhead Jets were 4-2-1 versus the Express in the 2005/2006 regular season. How did the playoff match up between the two teams end up?? Express swept the Jets 4-0 in the best of 7 Central Division Finals. The Jets were 7-2-1 against the Express in the 2006/2007 regular season. How did that playoff match up end up?? Express swept the Jets 3-0 in the best of 5 Central Division Finals.

So you can draw only one logical conclusion from those indisputable facts: Not only will the Express win the series, they will do it without dropping a single game. They are 7-0 in Division Finals games, and not even Gretzky's great Oilers teams or the 1980 Olympic Hockey Team could beat the Express in this series.

Seriously now (Why do I keep saying that??), this should be a highly competitive series. The stats from the regular season don't mean anything. Coach Cullen said it best on Monday night's radio show: Both teams records are 0-0 going into game #1. The Bobcats play a defensive minded game in front of their top-notch goalie, but don't light up the scoreboard offensively (sounds like a NHL team from our state). The Express like to a play a high tempo, up and down the ice kind of game. On the surface, which style of play wins out in this series would determine the eventual winner.

My prediction: Express win in 4 games. My reasoning behind that prediction is I think there is a greater likely hood of the Express beating the Bobcats in a low-scoring, defensively dominated game than the Bobcats beating the Express in a high-scoring track meet kind of a game. The Express held the North Iowa Outlaws to only 4 goals in the last 3 games of the first round series, behind the great play of Freddy Bergman and the Express defense.

For the other division match ups, I'm going to stick with the predictions I made last September after the showcase. Fairbanks, Mahoning Valley, and Topeka join the Express at the Robertson Cup along with the Outlaws. Just in case you think I'm lying you can read my September predictions here: http://owatonnaexpress.blogspot.com/2008/09/predictions-for-tonight-and-playoffs.html .

See you at the rink.

--Big Kahuna


*******Update******** Tony McDonald is in the lineup tonight for the Express. This is good news for Express fans, as he missed most of the North Iowa series.