Anaheim wins game 2.

The Anaheim Ducks have defeated the Ottawa Senators 1-0 in game 2 of the Stanley cup final.

Samuel Pahlsson scored with just under 6 minutes to go to the 3rd period to give the Ducks a 2-0 lead in the series. Both goaltenders, Ray Emery and Jean-Sebastien Giguere did well in this game as only one goal was scored during the whole game. The Senators now needs to win both games at home to even up the series or they will be in serious trouble.

Game 3 will be presented saturday in Ottawa.

Stanley cup final.
Anaheim Ducks 1 - Ottawa Senators 0
(Anaheim lead the series 2-0)

(Picture: Getty images)

Anaheim takes game 1.

The Anaheim Ducks have won game 1 of the 2007 Stanley cup final as they defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-2.

Ottawa took the lead twice in the game but each time the Ducks responded. Mike Fisher scored the first goal of the game. Wade Redden also scored for Ottawa. Andy McDonald and Ryan Getzlaf answered each with a goal to tie the game. And with under 3 minutes to go, Travis Moen scored the game-winning goal for Anaheim.

Game 2 scheduled in Anaheim.

Stanley cup final.
Anaheim Ducks 3 - Ottawa Senators 2
(Anaheim lead the series 1-0)

Vancouver Giants: 2007 Memorial cup champs.

The Vancouver Giants defeated the Medicine Hat Tigers 3-1 and have won the 2007 Memorial cup. The Quebec Remparts were last year champions.

The Memorial cup is one of the hardest trophy to win in hockey. You have to win your league playoffs and then win a 4-team round-robin tounament. Junior players from around the world play in one of the 3 canadian junior leagues. From 16 to 20 years old is your window of opportunity to win the Memorial cup.

Congratulations to this year's winners.

Happy 14th birthday Carl.

There are some people we meet randomly on the internet. Especially when we start reading blogs from people all around this globe. One of them is Carl, just celebrating his 14th birthday.

Reading Carl's blog over the course of time makes me say that he has a bright future ahead of him. He is a smart young man in becoming, has a nice personality and a touch of tasteful humour. His blogging is as good as many so-called top listers out there already. Just imagine what's ahead. Carl has a lot of potential and I wish him all the success in the world. Happy birthday!

20 Millions$ on the table for Markov.

Montreal Canadiens GM, Bob Gainey, offered a 4-year deal for a grand total of $20 Millions to defensemen Andrei Markov. Don Meehen is Markov's agent, the ball is in his hands. (a greedy agent too)

I am a bit surprized by Gainey's first offer. This is $1 Million more a year that what would've been my opening offer. Also, Markov has been injuried to a knee during the World championships in Moscow. We will hope this will not affect his play. He has a 5 week recovery period ahead of him but avoided the surgery.

But I understand Gainey showing clearly that he is in the team's plan to stay here. Now is Gainey planning to keep Sheldon Souray along with Markov? When Craig Rivet was traded to the San Jose Sharks, I suspected a form of plan to keep both Markov and Souray. The next few weeks will tell, contracts expire around July 1st.

PayPerPost launches PPP direct.

A whole new section called PPP Direct has been created in the PayPerPost system this week and it offers a way for advertisers and bloggers to cumminicate directly and negociate new offers.

Unlike ReviewMe who charges 50%-100% commission (keeping half of the advertiser money for themselves), PPP Direct will only charge 10% fee to the advertisers, which 5% of it is collected to cover Paypal fees.

PPP Direct now opens the possibility for any advertiser who reads a blog that would be interesting for his business, to directly contact that blogger and litterally hire him for one campaign or for a series of campaigns. The two parts can discuss and even negociate directly the details and terms of the campaign itself. For example: advertisers and bloggers have the possibility to negociate the amount charged for the campaign, the nature of the campaign,it's content, it's lenght, or any other point that needs to be discussed. At the end, the advertiser along with the blogger create optimized campaign for maximum performances and increased number of visits.

Look out for those PPP Direct badges as they will be installed on PayPerPost bloggers' blogs. Advertisers and bloggers are now only 1 click away at a way lower fee percentage than ReviewMe! Advertisers can now hire more bloggers for the same amount invested. How cool is that?

First contest!

There it is! First contest ever. And this one will go thru the overtime period.

The first period: Review this blog, plain and simple. Minimum 75 words and of course backlinks to Overtime!'s homepage along with sports blog and contest as keywords inserted in your review. Like my blog or not, review it honestly, tell what you think is good, tell what should be better. Even if you already reviewed it in the past, you are eligible. The winner will be drawn randomly with pictures of the drawing.

The prizes to be won for the 1st period: One 10$ CAD transfer thru Paypal. Or equivalent value check thru regular mail. The first period ends on June 30th. Once the review is done and is online on your site, ONLY leave your email address and the url of your review in this comment section below. Other chit chat will be deleted. Not reasonably qualified reviews, (under 75 words, no backlink, and so on) will also be deleted from the comment section.

If the comment count reach 50+, meaning there will be 50 reviewers of the blog and more, a second prize will be added and also randomly drawn. The more this contest brings people, the more chances you have to win.

The second period of the contest, different rules, and different prizes shortly after June 30th...

This contest is over! One contestant applied, so one winner! Of course no drawing was needed to declare a winner. :D

Will the long wait affect the Ottawa Senators?

The Senators ended their Eastern conference final last sunday and the start of the Stanley cup final is scheduled to start only on next monday because the Anaheim arena is already leased for another event.

So the Senators will gave to wait for more than a full week to be in action. A long period of inactivity can easily tweak a team's coordination. I cannot remember such a long period of inactivity between conference finals and a Stanley cup final. And yet, another time I blame it on the NHL and commish Gary Betteman.

Maybe I am wrong and the fault should be directed to the Anaheim arena owners. But arena owners have a business to run and they probably didn't expect their team to be still alive this late into the season. This is where the NHL should've forced the arena owners to keep their building available for hockey until early June. After all, an arena is built for sporting events such as hockey and basketball.

I didn't even mention about the fans located in Anaheim. As we all know, hockey isn't very popular in the U.S. from the get go. A full week of inaction will be more than enough for the people in Anaheim to forget all about hockey. This sure cannot be good for the sport popularity. And once again, isn't that the NHl's job to increase the sport popularity and exposure?

Any way I turn this situation around I end up pointing my finger at the league and Gary Betteman for their lack of vision. Let's hope the players and the fans will not lose their focus because of the long wait.

Stanley cup final: Ottawa vs Anaheim.

So now we know the identity of the two teams that will be fighting for the 2007 Stanley cup. The Ottawa Senators and the Anaheim Ducks. The Stanley cup final is scheduled to begin next monday evening. Now, who do you think will be the winner?

The Ottawa Senators: The team finished the regular season 4th in the NHL Eastern conference. Their playoff performances are very impressive this far: they only lost 3 games thru 3 playoff rounds, winning each of their series in 5 games. Ottawa has an explosive first offensive line composed of Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza and team captain Daniel Alfredsson. Alfredsson has been playing very well and looks like a logical choice for the Conn Smythe trophy awarded to the best post-season player.

The Ottawa defense has been holding up very well also, so well that goaltender Ray Emery haven't been seriously tested and didn't need to win a single game by himself this far. Their support players have also contributed to the team success: Mike Fisher, Dean McAmmond, Chris Kelly, Mike Comrie and Antoine Vermette. Ottawa is definatly a very well balanced team.

The Anaheim Ducks: The Ducks finished in 2nd place of the Western conference and went thru some quality teams during the playoffs. They strapped on their work boots to defeat the Vancouver Canucks and the Detroit Red Wings, two teams that were capable of going all the way. The Ducks offense is not their main weapon. Defensemen Chris Pronger leads the team in scoring with 14 points. The rest of the offensive weapons consist of Ryan Getzlaf, Teemu Selanne, Samuel Pahlsson, Corey Perry and Travis Moen.

The team's main weapon is their goaltender, Jean-Sebastien Giguere. His solid play will be needed more than ever considering Ottawa's offensive firepower. Should the Ducks pull this one off, Giguere will deserve the Conn Smythe trophy, a trophy he already won once in his career in their 2003 heartbreaking Stanley cup final game 7 loss to the New-Jersey Devils.

My prediction: Ottawa winning the series in 6 games. Daniel Alfredsson as Conn Smythe trophy winner.

Ducks qualifies for the Stanley cup final.

The Anaheim Ducks have defeated the Detroit Red Wings by the score of 4-3 tonight in game 6 of the Western conference final. They will dispute the Stanley cup to the Eastern conference champions, the Ottawa Senators.

Tonight's game was definatly the most exciting of this series. Anaheim took a 3-0 lead during the 2nd period and looked like they were sailing towards an easy victory. But the Wings never gave up and played a very good 3rd period as they managed to score 3 goals to close the gap to only one goal. A couple of intense and stressful minutes for the home crowd. But the Ducks hung on to that slim lead until the end.

The Stanley cup final is all set. Next monday night, the Ottawa Senators and the Anaheim Ducks will begin the ultimate series of the 2006-2007 season. Ottawa has the opportunity to win a first Stanley cup for Canada since 1993. Anaheim and goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere has the opportunity to avenge their game 7 Stanley cup final defeat at the hands of the New-Jersey Devils suffered a few years ago.

Western conference final.
Anaheim Ducks 4 - Detroit Red Wings 3
(Anaheim wins the series 4-2)

Mister overtime.

Anaheim Ducks' goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere can be called ''Mister overtime''. In his career with the Ducks, his playoff record shows 12 wins and only 1 loss when his team goes into the overtime period.

Giguere is the main reason why the Ducks lead the series 3 games to 2. Sunday's game was a perfect example. The Ducks were outplayed during the whole match but the goaltender kept them within one goal. Then a last minute goal tied the game up as they managed to win it in overtime. Despite playing very well during the conference final, the Detroit Red Wings are facing elimination tonight.

Game 6 of the Western conference final will be played tonight in Anaheim. With a win, the Ducks will qualify to the Stanley cup final where the Ottawa Senators are patiently waiting.

(Picture: Getty images)

Federer increases his lead.

With his victory yesterday in Hamburg, Roger Federer increased his lead on the other players of the ATP tour. Federer is now in front of the number two player Rafael Nadal by 2290 points.

1. Roger Federer 7515 pts
2. Rafael Nadal 5225
3. Andy Roddick 2930
4. Nikolay Davydenko 2905
5. Fernando Gonzalez 2810
6. Novak Djokovic 2810
7. Ivan Ljubicic 2260
8. James Blake 2180
9. Tommy Robredo 2100
10. Tommy Haas 2095
11. Andy Murray 2090
12. Tomas Berdych 2020
13. Richard Gasquet 1900
14. David Ferrer 1725
15. Mikhail Youzhny 1685

Anaheim push Detroit at the edge of the cliff.

The Anaheim Ducks managed to transform a near loss into a victory as they defeated the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in overtime. Teemu Selanne, who was almost invisible all game long managed to score the game-winner.

The Detroit Red Wings were leading 1-0 and were only 48 seconds away from defeating the Ducks when Scott Niedermayer scored the game tying goal on the power play during the last minute of the 3rd period. Then halfway into the 1st overtime period, Selanne ended the game.

This game could very well be the turning point in the series. The Wings have to forget this loss and work harder to avoid the elimination.

Game 6 will be played in Anaheim in two days.

Western conference final.
Anaheim Ducks 2 - Detroit Red Wings 1 (1st overtime)
(Anaheim lead the series 3-2)

(Picture: Getty images)

Bernie Ecclestone gives an ultimatum to the Australian GP.

Formula 1's pope, Bernie Ecclestone warned the Australian Grand Prix organization today. He wants the race to be scheduled during the night to increase the number of television viewers. Should the organization fail to do so, Ecclestone said that he would move the event in a different country. Melbourne's contract is due to expire in 2010.

The Singapore GP and Malaysian GP are almost officially scheduled and are supposed to be run during the night. An anonymous person close to the australian organization said that such a demand will not be suited for the local population. Starting the race at 9PM will ruin the event known to be a family activity. It would be ideal to keep the event during the afternoon according to that person. There are also security issues that have to be considered. Some pilots including Fernando Alonso say that night races are virtually impossible to be done for security reasons. To me, the best solution is still to air the event live and broadcast it a few hours later in selected countries.

I tend to agree with that anonymous person. A Grand Prix is a great father-son activity for example. Moving it during the night would totally ruin it. Ecclestone demands are purely financially oriented. He is willing to risk the drivers' lives just to make more money. The Formula 1 and Bernie Ecclestone is already a billionnaire entity. They do not need more money to survive.

But we all know the nature of rich and fortunate people. It is never enough. More, more, more and me, me, me. Simply pathetic Bernie. Why don't you retire old man?

(Picture: Canadian Press)

Federer ends Nadal's fantastic streak.

Roger Federer managed to defeat Rafael Nadal 2-6, 6-2 and 6-0 on a clay surface today at the finals of the Hamburg tournament. Nadal's previous loss on clay happened on april of 2005. His streak ends with an impressive 81 straight wins.

Federer started the match timidly but managed to elevate his play as the match went on. Rafael Nadal said after the match that he was feeling fine physically but felt some mental fatigue as the match went on. His semifinal match (that lasted 2 hours and 34 minutes) is maybe part of the cause of his mental letdown.

This is a warning sign that Nadal should aknowledge as the Roland Garros tournament, the second Grand Slam tournament of the season is just around the corner. Anything is now possible for Roger Federer, who is looking for a first title in career at the french Grand Slam, the only Grand Slam title eluding Roger this far.

Today's result will probably increase the fans' interest for the Roland Garros tournament now that Nadal showed that he is not totally invincible, even on clay.

(Picture: Getty images)

Sens finishes up the job.

The Ottawa Senators have ended the Buffalo Sabres' season and advances to the Stanley cup final with a 3-2 overtime victory. Team captain Daniel Alfredsson sent Buffalo home with the overtime game-winner.

Each of the players composing the first Ottawa line scored a goal during that game: Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson. Their great season will continue during next week as they are now waiting for a winner to be declared between the Detroit Red Wings and the Anaheim Ducks.

Buffalo's goaltender Ryan Miller played a great game once again and did all he could to avoid the elimination but will have to swallow the defeat. Buffalo has work to do this summer as the contract of two of their star players, Daniel Briere and Chris Drury will expire in a few weeks.

Ottawa will have the opportunity to win the Stanley cup next week. No canadian team has won the cup since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.

Eastern conference final.
Ottawa Senators 3 - Buffalo Sabres 2 (1st overtime)
Ottawa wins the series 4-1

(Picture: Getty images)

Another dumb afternoon game.

This afternoon at 2PM eastern time (11 AM in the west!) will be presented the 5th game of the Ottawa Senators-Buffalo Sabres eastern conference final. Ottawa leads the series 3 games to 1 going into game 5.

The thing that I cannot understand is why in the hell does the NHL presents hockey during a saturday afternoon? That sport has been played for almost a full century now during the evening ESPECIALLY ON SATURDAYS! And this time there is no ''basketball game'' excuse possible to explain such a disgrace because Buffalo doesn't have a NBA franchise.

So why does Gary Betteman and the NHL instances schedules afternoon games? I still cannot find a single good answer to that one. No wonder why hockey is doing so bad in Uncle Sam's country. Betteman and his ignorance is blatently pushing aside the sport's traditionnal pleasure of being at home with friends watching a good hockey game during the evening.

This is a no-brainer, people are generally busy during the day: some are working, some are using their saturday afternoon to go to the grocery store and some other people benefit of the sunlight by going outside for a bicycle ride or any other daily activity. So how could scheduling a saturday afternoon playoff game possibly be good for hockey? And to make matter worse, Game 5 of the western conference final will be presented tomorrow.....afternoon of course!

Even a 5th grader could easily understad that hockey is an evening event and always will be. So please Gary, don't ever participate to ''Are you smarter than a 5th grader?'' because you are clearly not.

Ducks ties up the conference final.

The Anaheim Ducks has won game 4 of the Western conference final with a two goal push during the third period. The score was tied at 3-3 when Ryan Getzlaf scored his first goal of the series to give his team a very important victory avoiding being down 3-1 in the series.

The Red Wings really tried to put pressure on the Ducks during the second period but failed during the third period. The series is now tied at 2-2 and the conference final has become a best-of-3 series.

Game 5 of the series will be played in Detroit.

Western conference final.
Anaheim Ducks 5 - Detroit Red Wings 3
(The series is tied 2-2)

(Picture: AP)

Another change for the Alcine-Simms fight.

For the third time already, I have to talk about another change for the WBA super-middleweight championship bout between Joachim Alcine from Montreal (28-0-0) and Travis Simms (25-0-0).

This time, the announcement says that the fight will take place on July 7th at the Bridgeport Harbour Yard arena in Connecticut.

The negociations between Don King and GYM (Groupe Yvon Michel) are going on since months already. Don King was initially asking for the rights on the next Alcine fights should he win the title. A demand that was denied by GYM. There was also negociations on the location of the fight. GYM wanted to present the fight in Montreal as Don King was pulling the blanket to present it in the US. Then the purse bid went to the very limit before being cancelled.

I have been posting about this championship bout twice already. Once on January 31st 2007 then another time on march 7th 2007. Let's hope that no other changes will be made and the fight will finally take place at the scheduled date. Alcine must be itching to finally step in the ring with Simms.

Chris Pronger suspended 1 game.

Anaheim Ducks' top defensemen Chris Pronger will miss game 4 of the Western conference final for hitting Tomas Holmstrom of the Detroit Red Wings to the head while using his elbow.

A very dangerous hit that could've resulted in a more serious injury to Holmstrom. I disagree with such a small suspension as this vicious attack deserved at least a 2 game suspension. The context of when the hit was committed is very important. Anaheim was clearly losing the game, Holmstrom had already scored 2 goals in that very game and the hit was a pure frustration reaction. All of this makes me say that there should've been a more severe suspension. But the league always penalize depending of the nature of the injury, not the agression itself. It really is pathetic.

Game 4 of the series will take place tonight in Anaheim. Detroit lead the series 2-1.

Sabres refused to die.

The Buffalo Sabres have avoided elimination by defeating the Ottawa Senators 3-2 tonight. The Sabres didn't waste any time as Derek Roy scored after only 9 seconds into the match.

Buffalo extended their lead to 3-0 during the second period then were backed up by their goaltender Ryan Miller to shut the door on the surging Senators who managed to score 2 goals in a 1:46 time span late in the second period.

Game 5 will be presented at the HSBC center in Buffalo.

Eastern conference final.
Buffalo Sabres 3 - Ottawa Senators 2
(Ottawa lead the seires 3-1)

(Picture: Getty images)

Wings blanks the Ducks.

The Detroit Red Wings played an exemplary game and easily defeated the Anaheim Ducks 5-0 yesterday evening and took a 2-1 series lead.

Tomas Holmstrom was dominant for the Wings as he scored 2 goals and added 1 assist during the game. Anaheim goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere was pulled out of the game after the 4th Wings goal.

Holmstrom's play was so dominant that Chris Pronger charged him into the boards while aiming at his head with an elbow. He could easily be suspended for one or two games for such an aggression.

The Ducks will host game 4 of the series and could be in a world of trouble should they lose this game.

Western conference final.
Detroit Red wings 5 - Anaheim Ducks 0
(Detroit lead the series 2-1)

(Picture: Getty images)

Win a date with a celebrity!

GoFish.com is actually running a contest that allows YOU to win a date with actress Mirelly Taylor. She has appeared in movies such as ''Kiss me again'' and ''Serving Sara''. She is also featured in television shows like ''Las Vegas'', ''Punk'd'' and ''Numb3rs''. Seduce a celeb is a unique new show that will allow the online audience to actually be a part of the show.

Producer Scott Sternberg and Andrew Firestone from “The Bachelor” will also be a part of the ''seduce a celeb'' show.

The Seduce a celeb contest will run on GoFish.com over the next 14 weeks. Check out some of the Free videos at GoFish.com

Imagine yourself dating actress Mirelly Taylor for an evening. What would you like to do on a special date like this? Would you go with a safe bet like a dinner and a few drinks in a club? Or would you go for a crazy ''base jumping'' date? You decide. All you have to do is submit your video to GoFish.com.

There could also be more celebrities available for a ''date a celeb'' contest later on. So let me speculate on who should be available for such a date. How about a date with Paris Hilton? A date with her could easily be a wild one for sure. Now, how about Sandra Bullock? Or Sarah Michelle Gellar? Oh boy, how I would like to date the beautiful Buffy...

Visit GoFish.com and submit your video today. A dream date is up for grabs guys! The videos with the more votes will be the finalists and Mirelly Taylor herself will choose the 3 lucky finalists. Are you the perfect match for her?

Better equipment = better decisions?

The National Hockey League will invest a total of $5 Millions in high definition cameras that will be installed over each net in every of the 30 NHL arenas. The league thinks that with the installation of those new cameras they will be able to make better decisions when they will go to the video replay.

Since the beginning of the 2007 playoffs, there were already three unconclusive video replays. When the video replay is unconclusive, they cannot speculate even if they think that the puck crossed the goal line. The league want to reduce the number of unconclusive video replays with the new equipment.

Let's do the math: 30 buildings, 60 nets. So there should be around 60 new cameras. $5 Millions divided into 60 cameras = $83 333 for each new camera. That's a lot of money for a single camera.

At this price, let's hope that the cameras will be VERY effective.

Don't miss HDTV tuesdays!

As a member of the PayPerPost team you can blog for money while taking advertisers opportunities. But on tuesdays it gets even sweeter. There are all kinds of cool prizes to be won. For example, on tuesdays some posties already won 1000$ for a single post, an Apple TV, and even a Playstation 3!

More cool stuff will be given to posties on tuesdays. Thanks to one of our sponsor, Bid4prizes.com, posties will have the opportunity in the upcoming tuesdays to win cool new prizes like a brand new HDTV! How cool of a prize is that huh?

This tuesday May 15th, a few more cool prizes like a Slingbox, a Nintendo Wii, a Yamaha Surround Sound System and a Logitech universal remote will be given away. For more info just visit http://blog.payperpost.com/2007/05/hdtv-tuesday-playstation-3.html

So with all those prizes up for grabs on tuesdays, any blogger could just participate on tuesdays and make a lot of cash and cool prizes. If you aren't already a PayPerPost member I suggest you visit their website, join the team and have a shot at very cool prizes. The community is great, the opportunities are fun to complete and best of all, you get paid to blog about things you love!

Join PayPerPost today and you too can blog for money!

Senators blows out Buffalo 1-0.

I never thought that a 1-0 playoff game could ever be that easy for a team. The Ottawa Senators held the Buffalo Sabres to 15 shots on goal and easily defeated them 1-0 tonight at the Scotia Bank place in Ottawa.

Daniel Alfredsson took advantage of a lucky bounce and scored the only goal of the game halfway in the 2nd period as it was enough for his team to win the game. Ottawa now has a very comfortable 3-0 series lead.

The game would've been a blowout without Ryan Miller in Buffalo's net tonight. The Sabres' goaltender has been spectacular and has been beated by an unlucky bounce. I really feel bad for Ryan Miller because he has been giving it all for his team and haven't been backed up by his teammates during this series. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to see Ottawa do well. The only sad thing is that a fantastic goaltender like Ryan Miller won't go to the Stanley cup finals and Ray Emery will. But the way the Senators play in front of Emery, even my own mother would manage to go to the Stanley cup finals.

The Sabres are 0/19 on the power play during the series and really looked like a bunch of midgets during this third game of the Eastern conference final. So why Buffalo look like midgets in front of Ottawa? They have the perfect team to give Ottawa a real and genuine battle but right now they look like they never played hockey and there is a reason for that.

I will tell you why... they are badly outcoached. Lindy Ruff is really a lousy coach. For example, he tried to show his ''bad ass attitude'' to the media during an early playoff round a few weeks ago when he said that he refused to smile and was not satisfied after their 1st round series victory against the New-York Islanders. If he really had a ''bad ass attitude'' like Scotty Bowman had for example, his players would've been so scared of him that they would've eaten the boards, the Scotia Bank place and the Senators tonight. But instead of that they only managed 15 weak shots during the whole game, a game that they absolutely needed to win.

Lindy Ruff never solved the Ottawa defense, cannot match a single line without being dominated and cannot build a serious power play threat. Ruff never took nobody anywhere in his entire life. Dominic Hasek took him to the Stanley cup finals a few years ago and players like Briere, Pominville, Afinogenov, Drury and Miller brought him to where he is this year. But when the players can't win by themselves, Ruff has zero solutions for them.

I would fire Lindy Ruff so fast after the end of the series that there would be no need for him to show his ugly face in the HSBC center ever again. I would FedEx all of his stuff to his home before the plane from Ottawa touch Buffalo's airport tarmac in two days. (Because this series will end in two days)

When I see quality coaches like Claude Julien get fired a bundle of games before the start of the playoffs for no apparent reason and coaches like Lindy Ruff keep their job for 10 years and win the Jack Adams trophy given to the best NHL coach last year. It makes me wanna puke.

Oh, and I haven't had time to chat about tonight's referees work...they were absolutely pathetic. They gave doubtful penalties early on in the game then ignored blatent penalties towards end of the game. The more things changes, the more it stays the same... a competent ice hockey referee is a rare thing on this earth.

Eastern conference final.
Ottawa Senators 1 - Buffalo Sabres 0
(Ottawa lead the seires 3-0)

Canada grabs gold.

Team Canada has defeated Finland quite easily yesterday by the score of 4-2 and won the gold medal of the World hockey championships presented in Moscow.

Canada took a quick 3-0 lead and cruised to the victory until Finland pressed late in the game to reduce the score to 3-2 with 2 minutes left in the game. Rick Nash then scored one of the prettiest goal of the tournament and insured Canada's victory. It is the 24th time that Canada wins the gold medal at the world championships.

Weeeeeee are the champions my friend...

Anaheim 2 - Detroit 1

The Anaheim Ducks evened up the series with the Detroit Red Wings with a 4-3 overtime win. Scott Niedermayer scored the game-winning goal with a precise shot that went over Dominik Hasek's shoulder. Anaheim ties the NHL Western conference final at 1-1. The next two games of the series will be hosted by Anaheim.

Western conference final.
Anaheim Ducks 4 - Detroit Red Wings 3 (1st overtime)
(The series is tied 1-1)

Massa wins, Hamilton leads.

The fourth Grand Prix of the season was presented this morning in Barcelona at the Spain Grand Prix.

Felipe Massa in his Ferrari was starting from the pole and lead the race from start to finish to win a second race in a row. Lewis Hamilton finished in second place as the second McLaren driven by the defending champion Fernando Alonso came in third place. Only 14 cars finished the race.

With that second win, Massa propels himself towards the front of the drivers championship. Lewis Hamilton takes the lead of the championship without having won a single race this far. His regularity (3rd second place in 4 races) allows him to become the yougest pilot to lead the F1 drivers championship.

Barcelona Grand Prix results:

1. Felipe Massa (BRA/Ferrari) 1 h 31:36.230
2. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes) +6.790
3. Fernando Alonso (ESP/McLaren-Mercedes) +17.456
4. Robert Kubica (POL/BMW Sauber) +31.615
5. David Coulthard (GBR/Red Bull) +58.331
6. Nico Rosberg (GER/Williams) +59.538
7. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN/Renault) +1:02.128
8. Takuma Sato (JPN/Super Aguri) 1 lap
9. Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA/Renault) 1 lap
10. Rubens Barrichello (BRA/Honda) 1 lap

Drivers championship after 4/17 races:

1. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) : 30 pts
2. Fernando Alonso (ESP) : 28
3. Felipe Massa (BRA) : 27
4. Kimi Räikkönen (FIN) : 22
5. Nick Heidfeld (GER) : 15
6. Robert Kubica (POL) : 8
7. Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) : 8
8. Nico Rosberg (GER) : 5
9. David Coulthard (GBR) : 4
10. Jarno Trulli (ITA) : 4
11. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) : 3
12. Takuma Sato (JPN) : 1
13. Ralf Schumacher (GER) : 1

Constructors championship:

1. McLaren-Mercedes : 58 pts
2. Ferrari : 49
3. BMW Sauber : 23
4. Renault : 11
5. Williams : 5
6. Toyota : 5
7. Red Bull : 4
8. Super Aguri : 1



(Picture: Getty images)

Senators pins the Sabres.

The Ottawa Senators took longer than they expected to defeat the Buffalo Sabres yesterday. This is a second victory for Ottawa at the HSBC centre in Buffalo. A goal by Joe Corvo at the 5th minute mark of the 2nd overtime period gave Ottawa a 4-3 victory.

The start of game 2 was chaotic for Ottawa as they fell quickly behind by 2-0. But as the game was unfolding, the Senators took the momentum to come back in the game and even take the lead by one goal, 3-2. But with only 6 seconds to go in the 3rd period, Daniel Briere worked his magic once again to tie the game in extremis at 3-3.

Joe Corvo shattered Buffalo's fans victory hopes with a shot from the blue line that found it's way in Ryan Miller's net. Buffalo will have to play desperate hockey to have a chance to get back into this series as Ottawa seems to be a better all-around team.

Games 3 and 4 are scheduled in Ottawa.

Eastern conference final.
Ottawa Senators 4 - Buffalo Sabres 3 (2nd overtime)
(Ottawa lead the series 2-0)

(Picture: Getty images)

Canada and Finland at the World championships.

Canada will face Finland in the gold medal match at the World hockey championships presented in Moscow. Canada defeated Sweden in the semifinal match by the score of 4-1.

Finland had to go in overtime to defeat the host team, Russia, 2-1.

A goal by Mikko Koivu sent Finland to a surprizing gold medal match. I personnally thought that we would have a good old Canada-Russia gold medal match but Finland completed the biggest upset of the tournament to have a shot at gold.

Canada should not take this team lightly or they could also be upseted by Finland. I think that Canada will find a way to win the gold medal tomorrow. The only untangible will be Finland's performance tomorrow. Can they elevate their game once more to defeat the hockey world giants?

Detroit 2 - Anaheim 1

The Detroit Red Wings opened the Western conference final with a 2-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. Detroit take the early 1-0 series lead. Tomas Holmstrom scored the game-winner on the power play for Detroit with only 4:56 to go in the 3rd period.

Despite shooting 32 times on Dominic Hasek's net, the Ducks only managed to score a single goal. Detroit only needed 19 total shots to win the game.

Game 2 will be presented in Detroit.

Western conference final.
Detroit Red Wings 2 - Anaheim Ducks 1
(Detroit lead the series 1-0)

(Picture: Getty images)

Battle at the summit.

The Detroit Red Wings and the Anaheim Ducks finished 1st and 2nd in the Western conference during the regular season and both teams meet tonight for game 1 of the Western conference final.

The logic in the west has been respected during the first 2 rounds of the playoffs and the two best teams have to dig it out to find out who will represent the conference at the Stanley Cup final.

The situation of the Detroit Red Wings ressembles a lot the Buffalo Sabres one. They are hosting games 1 and 2 of the series and should try to exploit their home-ice advantage to extend this series to 6 or 7 games. Because should the Ducks win game 1 of the series tonight they could possibly lead the series 3-1 after 4 games.

Detroit will be walking on egg shells if they lose tonight. The loss of Matthieu Schneider in the Wings defence during the end of the previous series could hurt them a lot as Detroit's defensive squad isn't getting younger with players like Chris Chelios who is well over 40 years old.

Be careful tonight Wings!

Senators 5 - Sabres 2

The Ottawa Senators and their captain, Daniel Alfredsson showed their colors in game 1 of the NHL Eastern conference final. They defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-2.

Ottawa dominated early on and took a 2-0 lead that was filled by a Buffalo surge halfway thru the match.

Ottawa then got away with the victory during the 3rd period as Oleg Saprykin scored the game winner, followed by Dany Heatley and Dean McAmmond in an empty net. Ottawa takes away Buffalo's comfort and home-ice advantage.

Game 2 is scheduled saturday at the HSBC center in Buffalo.

Eastern conference final.
Ottawa Senators 5 - Buffalo Sabres 2
(Ottawa lead the series 1-0)

(Picture: Getty images)

Get paid to blog about the things you love.

That sentence is one of payperpost's favorite line and describes pretty well my experience so far with them. I blog about things I love and in some cases I get paid for it.

But more importantly I bumped into other blogs from other posties and made friends with them, exhanged tips, comments, created more life and more comments in here as time went on. I now go read on a daily basis other payperpost members blog just because I came to discover quality bloggers I didn't know about. The forum and the company blog are also active and updated on a daily basis. Postiecon is also an event scheduled for posties and advertisers this fall in Las Vegas! At this meeting, new bonds between PPP bloggers will be created. Maybe great new blogs will be created, who knows?

If you are a potential advertiser, why don't you plan a little pass thru Vegas to meet the whole team? Of course the advertisers that brings in opportunities for us bloggers are an important part of the team. Some of them have very interesting products or services. Sometimes it's a brand new contest, sometimes their campaign is just plain fun and sells itself. Results for some campaings speak for themselves. Maybe your next campaign is taylor-made for us! Compare the costs of what your last campaign costed with what it would cost to get similar or even better results.

All this and much more makes me stick with the payperpost band.

Diaconu by TKO.

Fans and boxing commentators predicted a close fight between Adrian Diaconu and Rico Hoye. I tought as well that the fight would be very tight in my pre-fight thoughts posted in february.

Adrian Diaconu remains undefeated (24-0-0, 15 KO) as he hitted Rico Hoye with powerful shots during a full 2 rounds to start the fight. Hoye went down on a knee during the 2nd round then referee decided to stop the bout before a serious injury was inflicted early in the 3rd round. Hoye now sees his record go to 20-2-0, with 15 KO. This sure was a painful night for him.

I had the chance to see it as the event was televised live up here late evening and I have to back up the ref's decision to stop it right there. Diaconu was moments away from delivering a bone crushing power punch that would've been very dangerous for his outclassed opponent.

Diaconu earns a world title shot with this win. He is the first Interbox protege to clinch a world title fight since Eric Lucas himself. Adrian Diaconu now has a shot at Chad Dawson's WBC world title before mid-september.

(Picture: Canadian Press)

Game on!

Tonight marks the start of a very interesting head-to-head confrontation between the Ottawa Senators and the Buffalo Sabres. Their NHL Eastern conference final will be very well disputed, nobody will want to give an inch to the opposing team. Ryan Miller facing Ray Emery as a goaltender duel will also be interesting to watch. This is Emery's chance to proove to everyone in the league that he can manage big time pressure and be rightfully considered as a part of the active top 10 NHL's goaltenders list.

Games 1 and 2 of the best-of-7 series will be presented at the HSBC center in Buffalo. A home-ice advantage that the Sabres should exploit. Winning tonight for Buffalo would be a nice insurance policy, guaranteeing a long 6 or 7 tightly played games battle.

Should the Senators win tonight and break right off the bat Buffalo's home-ice advantage, Ottawa could then very well have the freedom to work with a 3-1 games lead going back to HSBC center for game 5 later on in the series.

Are you ready for conference finals action?

Habs and Andrei Markov.

The Montreal Canadiens and defensemen Andrei Markov right now are into negociations about an eventual next contract as Markov's current deal is due to expire in just days from now. How much the Montreal Canadiens want to pay and what will be the lenght of the contract offered to the russian defensemen? This guy should be top priority on Bob Gainey's desk.

Bob Gainey need (or maybe already has) some sort of plan as of the core he wishes and can afford to keep. There is roster movement already with the Habs as an ordianry young russian player, part of last season roster has just signed a contract in a pro russian league this week. Add the players that Gainey doen't want to re-sign and there will be open spots available this summer.

A blogger buddy that I read a couple times a week, Allan, placed himself in the shoes of Bob Gainey for a brief moment in his blog and would offer a $16 million 4-year deal.

I think his evaluation is pretty good. Markov is not that much money hungry in my opinion and could settle for $11 millions wrapped in a 3-year deal that I would put on the table as a first offer if I could also run the Habs. Heck, I would even throw in his contract a $1.5 Million bonus for a eventual Habs Stanley cup victory during the upcoming NHL 100th anniversary tournament or league format that would include the Montreal team. There are discussions for sure in the hockey world as I came across quite a few articles about such an event these last few weeks.

(Picture: My own Andrei Markov bobblehead :D)

Only four remains.

The NHL Eastern and Western conference finals are about to start this week. Four teams are still in the hunt for the Stanley Cup. I will go right away with what I think will be the result.

Eastern conference final
Buffalo Sabres (1) - Ottawa Senators (4)
-I go with Ottawa in 6 games-

Western conference final
Detroit Red Wings (1) - Anahem Ducks (2)
-I predict Anaheim in 6 games-

Tribute to Gilles Villeneuve.

A small clip as a tribute to Gilles Villeneuve, the most spectacular race car driver ever. For him, the 2nd place was the 1st place of the list of losers...

Salut Gilles!

On May 8th 1982, already 25 years ago today, the legendary Gilles Villeneuve died in a spectacular crash on the Zolder, Belgium racetrack at the age of 32. Today, racing fans from around the world remembers exactly where they were when they heard about Villeneuve's fatal crash.

Gilles Villeneuve was born on January 18th 1950. At a very young age, Gilles was already addicted to racing. As soon as he finished high school, he participated in drag races with his own Ford Mustang. In 1973, he went to Jim Russell's driving racing school and participated in the Quebec Ford Formula championship. That season went almost perfect as he won 7 of the 10 races and won the championship.

But coming from a poor family, he had to leave racing and settle for snowmobile racing, with lower costs and better purses. On his snowmobile, Gilles Villeneuve won the world championship in 1974. His financial situation was still critical, in 1974 he started competing in the Atlantic series without real success.

One season later, in 1975 some good results came in but nothing compared to his 1976 season. During that season, Gilles Villeneuve took the championship while winning 9 of the 10 Atlantic series races. His most spectacular win coming on the Trois-Rivieres circuit as many Formula 1 drivers were invited and participated to the race. A memorable race that Gilles won on board of his famous Direct Film car. I had the chance to touch that car once on a visit to the Villeneuve museum in Berthierville, Québec. So it was a hard fought battle with James Hunt, who was about to win the Formula 1 championship, that really started it all for Gilles.

Gilles Villeneuve's performances and driving abilities impressed James Hunt so much that he suggested his hiring to McLaren. During the 1977 season, as he was still competing in the Atlantic series, McLaren gave Villeneuve his first chance at the Silverstone Grand Prix. On board of McLaren's third car he experienced a few engine problems but managed to finish 11th. His lap times and aggressive driving during that race caught Enzo Ferrari's attention. Enzo Ferrari proposed him a bit later a testing session on the Fiorano circuit. Villeneuve did well enough to convince Ferrari to hire him on board of the 3rd Ferrari car for the last two races of the season. He finished 12th in Canada, and was implicated in a crash with Ronnie Peterson, whose car ended up over the security railing, killing an official and a photograph during the last race of the season in Japan.

In 1978 during his first complete F1 season, he had a hard time to the point that the italian press had doubt in his driving skills, even suggesting his replacement. But Villeneuve slowly started to find his marks to eventually win the Canadian Grand Prix in front of a ecstatic crowd during the last race of the 1978 season.

Gilles Villeneuve's most spectacular season in Formula 1 came in 1979 as he won 3 Grand Prix and even took the lead of the drivers championship at some point of the season. He ended up 2nd of the championship, only 4 points behind his teammate Jody Scheckter.

But the most spectacular race of the season happened in Dijon at the 1979 French Grand Prix as Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux battled side-by-side during the last few laps of the race. Villeneuve refused to accept that his Ferrari 312T4 was slower than Arnoux's Renault as this race became one of the most intense moments in Formula 1 racing history.

The year 1980 was catastrophic for Villeneuve as he only managed to grab 6 points during the entire season. But 1981 was another spectacular season for Villeneuve. After winning the Monaco and Spain Grand Prix during the season, his most spectacular performance of the season happened during the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal as he managed to finish in 3rd place even after losing his front wing because of a contact during the beginning of the race. Only God knows how Gilles Villeneuve was able to keep his car on the track. A spectacular performance that I remember very well. I saw it live on television as I was still a 7-year old kid. My admiration for Gilles Villeneuve never faded since that particular race.

Then came the fatal 1982 season. Villeneuve was back at the front for the San Marino Grand Prix, and it was agreed that Villeneuve and his teammate Didier Pironi would not contest the lead past the first corner of the race. However, Pironi disobeyed this agreement and passed Villeneuve as they were coasting to save fuel in the final laps of the race. After passing Pironi on a few occasions, Villeneuve was under the impression that Pironi was merely entertaining the crowd, Gilles once again slowed the pace down to ensure they reached the finish line. Against his expectations, Didier then repassed Gilles at the last available passing opportunity of the last lap. Gilles had been duped. Feeling betrayed and angry, Villeneuve vowed never to speak to Pironi again.

The following race was the Belgium Grand Prix on May 8th, 1982. Villeneuve, after completing his last qualifying lap at Zolder, was coming back in the pits at high speed. As he came up behind Jochen Mass' March-Ford, the front left wheel of his car came into contact with the right rear wheel of Mass' car, who moved aside to let Villeneuve pass. Villeneuve moved the same way and was launched into the air before nose-diving into the earthen embankment and somersaulted along the side of the track. The violence of the accident reduced the car to its cockpit, and ripped Villeneuve's seat. Villeneuve, still strapped to his seat, was thrown across the track and into the catch fencing. When the medical team arrived, he was not breathing. Villeneuve was resuscitated at the scene, but his injuries were fatal. He died in a local hospital that evening, his fatal injuries were likely caused by the force of his car landing after the initial impact.

The spectacular driving style, his will to win and his fair play on the racetrack is what made Gilles Villeneuve so special in the Formula 1 racing fans hearts.

Salut Gilles!

(Pictures: LAT)