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BRHL Home -> BRHL2 Message Board -> Main Board -> BRHL Playoff Preview: Colorado versus Columbus
Post Info TOPIC: BRHL Playoff Preview: Colorado versus Columbus
BluesGM


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BRHL Playoff Preview: Colorado versus Columbus
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Hello, welcome to the first of 8 previews of the upcoming playoffs. In each, I'll do a comprehensive look at each of the teams and discuss strengths, weaknesses and overall facts.

First up is Western Conference winners Colorado Avalanche versus the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Colorado (51-21-7-3) finished tops in the West, edging out Detroit by one point. The Avalanche scored the most goals (309) in the west and conceeded the least (216). Their leading scorer was Brad Richards who totaled 104 points while playing in every game this season. Martin St Louis (103) and Brendan Morrow (89) were 2nd and 3rd. Olaf Kolzig played in the majority of games (60) for the Avalanche, posting a respectable 2.54 GAA and .901 SV%. Peter Budaj is the backup and posted a 2.76 GAA and .889 SV% in 31 games.

Columbus (38-38-2-4) slipped into the playoffs by beating Boston and losing in overtime to Detroit. They were the only team to be at .500 and still make the playoffs, though their goal differencial is nothing to be happy about at -20. Their leading scorer was Stephen Weiss with 87 points, while Weight and Gionta had 77 and 75 points respectively. Their goaltending depends heavily Vokoun, who if Colorado so wish it, has arguably violated the goaltending requirements. Although only playing just over 3900 minutes, Vokoun was featured in 73 games. Vokoun hasn't had a great season, finishing with a 3.28 GAA and .882 SV% but his backup Alexander Auld hasn't fared any better with a 3.87 GAA and .865 SV%.

Special Teams:

Colorado's strong play could be attributed to their special teams, finishing 2nd in powerplay with an efficiency of 19.1% and 7th in the penalty kill at 86.3%. They remained one of the most disclipined teams in the BRHL, conceeding 16.5 penalty minutes a game. They averaged just over 30 shots a game and only allowed an average just over 25.

Columbus enters the playoffs with the 22nd best powerplay, clicking at 5% lower than Colorado's. Their penalty kill isn't much better, as they're 21st in the league while averaging the 5th highest amount of penalty minutes a game. Columbus averaged 27.6 shots for and 28 shots against per game.

In two regular season games this year, Colorado won the season series 2-0-0, outscoring the Blue Jackets 10-6. Evengi Malkin and Martin St Louis were the two biggest contributers with 5 points each in two games while Radek Dvorak was the leading scorer for Columbus with 3 points in 2 games.

Where the series will be won or lost for:

Colorado
    - Won - Exceptional play from St Louis, Malkin and Richards while strong goaltending from Kolzig and Budaj
    - Lost - If Colorado cannot maintain its disclipined play

Columbus
    - Won - Inhumane effort from Vokoun
    - Lost - Lack of depth on the 3rd and 4th lines

Prediction

I honestly cannot see how Colorado can blow this series, barring injury to their top line and to Kolzig. My prediction is Colorado in 5.

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Eric_Isles


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Excellent break down Gareth.

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Sabres_Luke


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What he said- Great job Gareth.

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HOTLANTA


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all the previews are kick ass gareth

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Columbus GM


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Great breakdown Gareth. We've been underdogs all year so it's not going to change now. But at least we've won one so your prediction is still possible ;)

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HOTLANTA


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i think these previews will be a wicked way to update game-by-game like detriot did in their thread





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BluesGM


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reason why columbus is 2-0 up on colorado? PIMs....

Columbus averaging 6 minutes a game, colorado is averaging 31.5...

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ColoradoGM


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The Av's are very disappointed with our lack of Discipline in the first two games!
Look for a cool, calm and collective bunch on the road for games 3 and 4...

Look out Columbus!

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Columbus GM


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Well after 2 games, Columbus is obviously thrilled with their performance so far. Knowing Colorado will not go down without a fight, we anticipate great games back home. Should be good!!

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HOTLANTA


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GOOD THING MAGGIE THE MONKEY HAD THIS SERIES HAHAH.. an 8 seed up 3-0 on a 1 seed is insanely rare in fhl...


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Sabres_Luke


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3-0 is pretty dumb in my opinion for the best team in the West vs the Worst, but I guess thats the luck of the sim.

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Eric_Isles


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Sabres_Luke wrote:

3-0 is pretty dumb in my opinion for the best team in the West vs the Worst, but I guess thats the luck of the sim.



 I think it proves that running into a good goalie (Vokoun) and taking too many penalties can disrupt a contender.



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Sabres_Luke


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well I agree Eric, but you'd think he'd have run into his share of good goalie in the regular season and his team didn't all of a sudden get undisciplined.

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Anaheim GM


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I personally hope they sweep!! 

This is the BRHL version of the Warriors vs. Mavs in last year's NBA playoffs...

Go Jackets!

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2007-08 - missed playoffs (29th overall)
2008-09 - missed playoffs (26th overall)
2009-10 - 7th place in Western Conference (99 pts), Conference Semi-Finals
2010-11 - missed playoffs (19th overall)
2011-12 
Columbus GM


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LOL, well, you never know what can happen on sims. We've been on the Colorado side of things in other leagues and lost as well so it does happen. I wouldn't go as far as calling it dumb. We do have good players and one of the best goalies in the league. And just because it's 3-0, it doesn't mean it's over. You never know. All we do know is that we're happy to be in this position rather than down 0-3.

Marc

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