Hockey Playoff Season

Before giving my predictions on this year's NHL playoff season, this past weekend our team (and town) hosted the Hockey Alberta Junior B Provincial Championships... and it was one incredible weekend of hockey action!

After the round robin portion of the tournament (Thurs, Friday & Saturday) we finished first in our pool (B) and thus we battled the champions from our league, Heritage Junior B Hockey League, the Cochrane Generals in the one semi-final game. Although Cochrane carried the territorial advantage in play and totally outshot us (50-23 by my stats), we won 4-2 due to some timely goals and some spectacular goaltending by Coulter Haugen (aka "Haugy"). Unfortunately, we did not play nearly as well on Sunday afternoon in the gold medal game against the Sherwood Park Knights and so we had to settle for the silver medal. Its disappointing (obviously) but it was such a super weekend with such amazing fan support... standing room only crowds Friday night, Saturday and Sunday afternoon! Also, it looks like our Head Coach, Reid Fenton, will be stepping down after six years as the coach of the team and so it was great for him to go out with a silver medal after all he's put into the team. He's an excellent coach and a good friend!

Now... onto my NHL playoff predictions... which I'm sure will once again be less successful than TSN's "Maggie the Monkey":

Western Conference
Detroit over Nashville in 5 games, San Jose over Calgary in 5 games, Colorado over Minnesota in 6 games, and Anaheim over Dallas in 7 games. My pick to come out of the West - the San Jose Sharks! Yes, Anaheim the defending champion and they are good... but they'll have at least two very tough series against Dallas and then Detroit, so I think San Jose will have the advantage.

Note: yes, I am still a Flames fan but they barely got into the playoffs and although they could suddenly go on a hot streak after being on such a cold streak... don't count on it!

Eastern Conference
Montreal over Boston in 7 games; Pittsburgh over Ottawa in 7 games; Philadelphia over Washington in 6 games; and NJ over NYR in 7 games. Some great matchups in the East! My pick to come out of the East: New Jersey... though I really don't like to pick them its hard to see anyone outdueling Martin Brodeur, esp Carey Price or Martin Biron. Marc-Andre Fleury may be able to do so, but I just don't think the Penguins have the defencemen to give Fleury enough of a break to hold off some pretty decent Devils offense.

At the very least, the NHL playoffs, esp the opening round, will provide a lot of tv double-headers... Fortunately Sarah likes to sit on the loveseat in the tv room and feed Caleb... so I suspect Caleb will do a lot of feeding and growing these next few weeks as he sits on mommy's lap and eats while we all watch the NHL playoffs!

Sport's cliche: "There's no I in team"
Steve's response: But there is an I in l'equipe (french word for "team")

Just read the shirt

A couple more pics of our dear son, Caleb, taken tonight. He is such an incredible gift from God!
And tomorrow is my amazing wife Sarah's birthday!
Yes, I am a blessed man. Thank You, Lord!
To whom much is given, much will be required.
(sorry I cannot find the Scripture reference at the moment)

Reasonably Rested in Three Hills

Most of you probably expect this post to be titled something like "Sleepless in Seattle" yet the truth is I, Steve, am reasonably well-rested in Three Hills. Our dear little Caleb sleeps quite well, both during the day and at night. Of course, I'm not the one who does all the hard work... it's his wonderful mommy that is slightly less rested. When Caleb wants to eat during the night, I am glad to get him out of his crib and hold him for a few minutes until Sarah has a chance to wake-up, use the washroom, come and sit in the rocking chair in the living room, and start feeding him. Then I promptly head back to bed and fall back to sleep rather quickly. Once in a while, I hear Caleb making various noises in between feeds as he gets his diaper changed, but not usually. Most of this week, we have gone to bed around 11:00 pm and Caleb has awoken for his first night time feed around 2:00 am and then again around 6:00 am. Of course, it also helps that this week is Easter Break here at PCA (and most other schools in Alberta) so I don't have the regular daily responsibilities at the office. Perhaps next week I'll be "tired in three hills."

Other highlights in the past few days...
*Walking in from work and hearing the instrumental music of great hymns and then looking to see my amazing wife holding Caleb, feeding him and smiling at our content little boy.
*Reading the "Baby's first Bible" readings to Caleb while he feeds before we put him in his crib for the night.
*Watching Grandpa Marlowe hold Caleb as he fell asleep while we had Easter Sunday dinner at Hunts!
*Hearing, crying and trying to sing Bill & Gloria Gaither's song, "Because He Lives" on Easter Sunday while my incredible wife holds our precious little boy and smiles at me.