FanHouse Playoffs

Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, The FanHouse Walk will put last week's stories to bed and deliver the essentials to bridge that agonizing space between now and September.

Mr. BCS Goes To Washington -- Except I have a feeling Jimmy Stewart would find some way to rail against the BCS, however wrongheadedly. You see, the big word in the halls of Congress on Friday was "fair" but don't let that confuse you. While the Mountain West and certain members of Congress are using the fairness term to stoke public support, their real concern is about money.

Ah, November, that great, daffy season when we all look deep into the eyes of the BCS and run away screaming. Amidst the falling leaves and the damp, icy winds, a fan's fancy turns lightly towards playoffs.

Or maybe not so lightly. Even though somebody other than the Big Ten gets to embrace epic failure in the title game this season, we're still not satisfied. We still have the creeping sense that something will be left unsettled on the field.

Most playoff plans are completely batcakes. Some include too many teams; some include too few; some actually think the bowls are interested in becoming playoff games. (Like anybody can afford to travel to, say, Shreveport, Tempe, and Los Angeles on successive weekends without a 21-day advance purchase.)

I found one plan that comes pretty close to being workable. It comes from Pete Fiutak at College Football News, who made it pretty simple:

8 teams, 6 BCS-league champions, the top ranked non-BCS champion, the top ranked at-large team. America, it's your turn to get what you want.

I have a couple quibbles with that plan, but it's more realistic than any others I've seen. Even Fiutak admits his plan isn't going to happen, though. But why?

(This will be the first part of a two-part series airing here on the Fanhouse. It will break down the final two races of the season for the two drivers, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, who still have a manageable shot of winning the 2007 Chase for the Nextel Cup. Watch for the next one just before Homestead next week.)

Heading to Phoenix International Raceway this weekend for the 9th of 10 events in the Chase for the Nextel Cup, Jimmie Johnson leads teammate Jeff Gordon by 30 points. Here's a breakdown of their past success at Phoenix and what type of possibilities exist with the point standings.

PIR Stats: Jeff Gordon comes to PIR knowing that he was the last winner in April at the track, and that he is the only driver to win there in the next-generation NASCAR race car. Johnson, though, holds the average finish margin by one full position - 7.2 to Gordon's 8.2.

Gordon has 17 career Cup starts at PIR to Johnson's 8. In that time, Gordon has racked up 8 top-5s and 14 top-10s to Johnson's 3 top-5s and 6 top-10s.

Chase Stats: After gaining the 30 point Chase lead last week at Texas, things are looking brighter for Johnson. However, that could change very quickly, as well. If Gordon wins and leads the most laps, he will tie Johnson if the No. 48 finishes 3rd without a led lap or fourth with one. A 43rd-place finish for Johnson at that point would give Gordon a 131-point lead heading to Homestead.

Likewise, if Johnson found victory lane and led the most laps, he could clinch the championship if Gordon finishes 34th or worse by simply starting at Homestead.

Naturally, Johnson can control his own destiny by winning the last two events, but Gordon can as well. If he wins at PIR and Homestead leads the most laps in both events, Gordon would take the title. If he doesn't lead the most laps and Johnson finishes 2nd in each event and leads a lap, the season would end in a tie, with the title going Johnson based on wins.

It shall be interesting, wouldn't you say?

There are reports of 1000s of Canucks fans checking into Vancouver area hospitals, suffering from anxiety and panic attacks after Dallas took Game Six by a 2-0 score.

This is feeling eerily similar to the 3-1 series lead the Canucks choked back to Minnesota before the lockout. It's kind of hard to win when YOU CAN'T FRICKIN' SCORE!

Just how pathetic is the Canucks offense right now?

The Swedish Twins, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, have not scored a point since Game One! Both have just two points in the series. Neither twin got a shot on goal in Game Six, which would also make it hard to score goals.

Markus Naslund, the Canucks well-compensated captain, has just a lone goal and an assist to his name. Six million bucks a season for this? Who is he, Alexei Yashin?

Brendan Morrison, once a great play-making producer, has just one lone assist. As Tony Gallagher wrote in today's Vancouver Province:"Since Game One, it appears Brendan Morrison's jersey has been filled by Alexander Semak, once described in a scouting report as 'a feeble little forward'."

The Power-less Play is now ZERO for it's last 23, and has just one goal in 28 attempts this series. For a team with this much talent, such a pathetic total is inexcusable. It's not just that the Canucks can't score, but they don't appear to be even the least bit dangerous with the man advantage. The Stars allow the Canucks to cycle on the outside, and basically wait for the Canucks to attempt one of their three predictable set plays.

Kevin Bieksa? 0 points in 6 games and 18 penalty minutes. Bieksa has spent more time in the penalty box and scowling at referees than producing any offensive chances. It's time for Vigneault to put Brent Sopel in the #1 PP slot and give Bieksa a break.

Suffice it to say, the Stars have all the momentum heading into Game Seven, and the Canucks just seem to have no confidence or drive when they have the puck. As good as Turco has been, the Canucks have been just as bad when trying to produce quality scoring chances.

Even a 1-800-Psychic could predict this series, with the home teams winning every single game; utilizing the powers of their home house to channel the positive energies of the universe into victory. It was a pretty easy 5-1 win for the Wings, who faced the bad 'Road Flames' that can't win away from Calgary to save their lives.

This game had it's share of oddities and action ...

Dan Cleary converted the first playoff shorthanded penalty shot goal in over 15 years (Neal Broten did it back in the 80s), and the first playoff penalty shot shorthanded goal in Detroit for like, ever!

Cleary then took a very weird spill into the boards near his own bench on the second period. He appeared to catch an edge, fell down, and hit his head against the boards. The crowd didn't realize what had happened, and surely some of them thought back to Jiri Fischer's heart failure that nearly caused his death. Fortunately, Cleary is OK, and probably had his ego bruised more than anything.

Chris Chelios, who didn't have a goal all season, and none in the playoffs since 2002, potted a goal ... shorthanded!!!

Henrik Zetterberg finally woke up and scored his first two goals of the series (and added an assist). Hank has been unusually quiet this series, and chose a good time to show his talents.

Bad Blood - Backup Jamie McLennan replaced Miikka Kiprusoff and then speared Johan Franzen quite viciously. I wonder what kind of suspension will be handed down, and what random penalty Colin Campbell will give "Noodles" ... Bertuzzi basically bodyslammed Dion Phaneuf, and Jarome Iginla was getting slicy-dicey with his own stick ... Daymond Langkow pounding on Brett Lebda UFC style ... family fun, all around!

Game Six is in Calgary, and should be a donneybrook. Expect a Flames win, and then a Flames loss in Game Seven on the road. Madame Cleo told me so.

"Well, hello Mr. Iginla! Welcome back! We haven't seen you in ages, but we're always glad when you show up. Please feel free to stay awhile"

Yes, Jarome Iginla, who didn't show up for the first two games of the series, snapped the game winning goal (and had a team-high five shots on goal) as the Flames got back into the series with a 3-2 win. It seems the home ice advantage continues for both squads, as the Flames showed a lot more fire than in the first two contests.

The Flames were so hot, in fact, that the arena fire alarm went off during the third period. Flames fans were too busy to care and there was no mass panic or crazy building evacuation. Damn!

Dominik Hasek was anything but dominating as Iginla beat him from across the Alberta/Montana border while Mark Giordano scored on a weak wrister just five minutes previous to that goal. For a goalie who's usually 'in the money', Hasek let the game slip away with two goals that should have been stopped.

For some odd reason, the Wings decided to break their chemistry and dress Todd Bertuzzi for this game. He was his usual ineffective self as he went pointless and -1 in 13:30 of ice time. Bertuzzi, who was booed every time he touched the puck, also left the ice wincing, in the third period, after taking a bodycheck from a Flames player.

It's bad enough that Bertuzzi has mental issues, but now he's become more fragile than Humpty Dumpty. Would you want your team signing this guy to a big free agent contract?

While the Wings star players decided to loaf around, the industrious Kris Draper provided the Flames with both of their goals, with the help of Dan Cleary, in just over 15 minutes of ice time. The likes of Robert Lang, Pavel Datsyuk, and Henrik Zetterberg could not convert on a single one of the Wings four Power Play opportunities.

At least we finally have a series now, and the Flames won't have to take drastic measures, such as firing their head coach, or sacrificing Harvey the Hound to the hockey gods.

One of the tactics used by the Dallas Stars in their series against the Canucks is to take a run or two at goaltender Roberto Luongo. Whether it be to make a little contact, introduce themselves, and just make Luongo feel uncomfortable, the Dallas Stars are certainly taking advantage of the refs looking the other way.

The Canucks, especially Luongo himself, are obviously sick of the lack of goaltender interference penalties being called against the Stars, and have filed an official complaint with the NHL.

Kevin Bieksa, for one, is not pleased at how the Stars are touching his goalie:

"It's tough when you see a guy bumping your goalie. The guys [who have] been bumping our goalie have been their little guys.... So those guys aren't really going to [fight] back. So you give them a shot or something. You have to be very careful. You definitely don't want to take a penalty."

It's not uncommon for teams to try and put great goaltenders off of their game and make some incidental contact. The Stars are obviously pushing the boundaries and getting away with quite a bit. Ladislav Nagy hit Roberto Luongo in the elbow with his knee as he made a very poor attempt to stop his skating motion. Roberto was laying on the ice, and the refs didn't appear to be at all concerned. What are the Canucks to do?

Fellow Canucks fan 'Zanstorm' feels my frustration, but defends the blind mice in striped shirts:

It's a tough scenario for the refs I'm sure. You want to make the interference call sometimes, but Luongo for one sells it anytime someone touches him. And you know what refs do when a player embellishes often: they stop calling infractions against the player.

I'm not sure if any other team has complained about the same thing this post season. One thing is for sure: it's happening in every series. How about Colby Armstrong's treatment of Ray Emery? Full on contact!

Unfortunately, the Canucks can't retaliate and beat Nagy into a pulp, or even give him a warning shot, because the refs would call the Canucks for a cheap penalty.

Perhaps the league needs to make a point, league-wide, about goaltenders getting bumped into while they are trying to do their jobs. Unless the goalie is completely out of his crease, he shouldn't be allowed to be bumped hard and interfered with.

The Stars aren't shining brightly in Dallas, but the role players are.

Jan Bulis, Stu Barnes, and Taylor Pyatt were the goal scorers as the Canucks took Game Three by a 2-1 count in overtime. Markus Naslund, the Sedins, Mike Modano? They were nowhere to be found on the score sheet.

The phrase "Fast-paced low-scoring hockey game" might not sound right, but it perfectly describes last night's tilt, which was the complete opposite of a very boring Game Two. The two teams combined for 67 shots, and provided plenty of good offensive chances at both ends of the ice.

Both teams were showing the great speed they are known for, hustling hard, and rushing back and forth up the ice with vigour. I was tired just watching these teams skate back and forth! Both team's Power Plays have been nullified by the superior penalty killing units of both clubs, where both teams use their great speed to play very aggresive penalty killing styles.

The main difference between the two teams is that Vancouver likes to hit, while Dallas prefers to sit back and lull opponents to sleep. The Stars are very much a passive team, and it showed when the Canucks forechecked hard in the 3rd period, and the Stars were on their high heels.

"When we scored, we could tell they looked scared," said Jan Bulis, who scored Vancouver's first goal. "It was like they didn't want to win it in regulation, they wanted to get it into overtime. They never found their rhythm and it was up to us to take it."

For Taylor Pyatt, the OT goal was his first ever playoff goal in 17 games. He was taken off of his usual spot with the Sedins, but found instant chemistry with the hard-working duo of Linden and Smolinski.

Jannik Hansen also continued his Cinderella story, and earned himself another shot in Game Four. With increased ice time (15:27), Hansen fired four shots on goal, one of which led to Jan Bulis' opening tally. Hansen continued to display a great package of speed and enthusiasm, and hardly looked like a 21-year old rookie playing in just his second NHL tilt.

As for the Stars' stars, they have been well neutralized by Willie Mitchell and Roberto Luongo. Mike Modano has just one lone assist in this series, and was hard to notice on the ice last night. Mike Ribeiro, the Stars' regular season scoring leader, has been softer than a duck-down pillow and has just one lone point, himself.

Stu Barnes, of all people, leads the Stars with three points in three games. If the Canucks continue to neutralize the few weapons that pop-gun Stars' offence has, then no amount of Marty Turco heroics is going to help Dallas overcome Vancouver's balanced attack.

Marty Turco finally came through in a playoff game, making 35 saves in a sparkling 2-0 victory over the Canucks last night.

If the refs were being paid by the penalty call, they'd have enough to buy a new Mini Cooper S after calling 13 seperate minor penalties. Many of these were very questionable make-up calls, wondering how the NHL could possibly choose these morons (Mike Hasenfratz and Dan O'Halloran) over Kerry "The Hair" Fraser.

The game, itself, was exactly the kind of low-scoring and fairly boring game we expected out of these two teams. The speed of both teams prevented the game from being coma inducing, but not by much.

The Dallas Stars played their system to a T, forcing the Canucks to the perimeter for most of the game. While the Canucks shot total looks impressive, many shots were harmless wristers from a land far, far, away.

Again, the real story was Marty Turco, who didn't let the Canucks have a sniff of a goal all night, and had exceptional rebound control:

Turco, under fire for an 8-15 record and five straight overtime losses in the playoffs, made his best saves in the final six minutes. He slid across to stop Willie Mitchell in the slot and got a piece of hard shots by Mattias Ohlund and Sami Salo to preserve his first shutout in 24 career playoff appearances.

Not that Turco, who stopped 17 shots in the third, was making a big deal about it.

"I thought I had one the other night, he said with a smile, pointing to three scoreless overtime periods. "I count those. It doesn't really mean anything, it's all about the first win of our series." "

I've never second-guessed what I can do," he said. "There's been disappointment, there's going to be more at times down the road. I've talked a lot about it, just doing what I can and really concentrating 100 percent on that and just accepting what comes."

Game 3 is Sunday night at 6:30PST.