What does this have to do with hockey? I will show you. You see, the Abominable is my ten year old goalie son, Colin, and I am Daffy. That is correct, I am the one that puts his foot in his bill (I mean mouth).
When the playoffs started this year Colin asked me, “Who would win the Stanley Cup this year?” I gave this a lot of thought (one second) and said, “the Ducks.” He thought about my response for a couple of seconds and then proceeded to bombarded me with questions. I should have seen the set up, but nooooo! I gave (what I thought were) intelligent answers to each question.
Question #1- Who do you think will win between the Wild and the Avalanche? I predicted the Wild. My biggest mistake, you see Colin is a huge Avalanche fan. I explained goaltending would be the reason and Backstrom was a better goaltender than Theodore (foot has left the floor).
Right away came question #2- You don’t think Theodore is a good goalie? I explained Theodore is okay, but not as solid as Backstrom. Just for the record -Theodore stats .940 save % and a 2.00 goals against, Backstrom stats .888 save % and a 2.83 goals against for the series (foot is at waist level).
#3. Why do you think the Ducks will win? My answers were: they are stronger, physical, defensive and have a strong goaltender in Giguere. All good points. Or so I thought (foot- shoulder level).
Immediately was the question “So, you don’t think Dallas is a good team?” I thought about this one for a couple of seconds (showing some wisdom, but obviously not enough). I gave my reasons why the Ducks were better and gave a few more reasons: Dallas over the last 10 games was 3-5-2. The Ducks were 8-2-0. Dallas had not won a playoff series in five years. Dallas goaltender, Turco, is a good regular season goaltender, but can’t handle playoff pressure. I won’t go into the painful detail how Turco was better than Giguere (foot completely inserted in mouth).
Every answer I gave responded in another question – I won’t tell who I predicted in the Eastern conference(Montreal). The Abominable picked Pittsburgh. Montreal is in a fight with Boston, and Pittsburgh swept Ottawa. The image of Daffy is really in full focus now. I can state that every day during these playoffs, my son asks, “Who won last night?” I give him the scores and he proceeds to let out a one arm pump “yes” and gives me that cheesy smile. Has it been painful? Oh yeah! Does he remind me of my picks? Every chance he gets and he loves every minute of it. Have I learned anything? Yes, that behind every Abominable lies a ten year old goalie setting up his dad to be Daffy. And that is why I am minding my own crease…
