CONCACAF Got it Right.... Finally!!!!

I'm super glad that CONCACAF found a way to give every team a shot at one of the three automatic spots for the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

Canada, who sits seventh in Concacaf was faced with a daunting challenge before the Coronavirus which was to only compete with .5 of a spot for the upcoming world cup. This was going to be a challenge because they were going to punished because of lack of ranking points among other things.

This format isn't perfect by any means but it will do because of the current pandemic. Canada has six games between them and the new Octagonal last stage that the region has adopted this time around.

Early predictions are that Canada is the favorite to be one of the three teams to reach the final stage of qualifying. They would join the other five that have already qualified.

Personally, I'm not going to get much good sleep from now until when the draw takes place on August 14th. I don't want to see Guatemala in the group stage. Yes, I believe that we are better then them but with no home and away currently scheduled for the first group stage, I am very concerned that we will draw an away game for Pot 2. If that happens, that could be the Achilles heel for the Canadian Men's National team. Playing in Central America without a return leg is one thing that I believe would derail Canada's Qualifying hopes.

If they qualify for the second phase, they will play a home and away with Group E winner that is projected to be Haiti. Despite losing to Haiti at the 2019 Gold Cup, over a two legged tie I really fancy our chances. For one, we had a 2-0 lead in that quarterfinal game. Two, at home we still should be able to win at home and therefore we would have a different mindset up 2-0 in a two legged tie.

Here is a potential mock draft for the qualifying:

Group A[edit]

Pos	Team [  v t e  ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	El Salvador	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to second round
2	A2  Dominican Republic	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	A3 Grenada	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	A4 Cayman Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	A5 Bahamas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played on a day in October 2020. Source: FIFA

Group B[edit]

Pos	Team [  v t e  ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Canada	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to second round
2	B2 Nicaragua	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	B3  Barbados	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	B4 Dominica	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	B5 Aruba	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played on a day in October 2020. Source: FIFA

Group C[edit]

Pos	Team [  v t e  ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Curaçao	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to second round
2	C2 Suriname	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	C3  Guyana	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	C4  Montserrat	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	C5 Anguilla	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played on a day in October 2020. Source: FIFA

Group D[edit]

Pos	Team [  v t e  ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Panama	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to second round
2	D2 Saint Kitts and Nevis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	D3 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	D4 Cuba	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	D5 Turks and Caicos Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played on a day in October 2020. Source: FIFA

Group E[edit]

Pos	Team [  v t e  ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Haiti	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to second round
2	E2 Guatemala	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	E3 Bermuda	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	E4 Puerto Rico	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	E5 U.S. Virgin Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played on a day in October 2020. Source: FIFA

Group F[edit]

Pos	Team [  v t e  ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Trinidad and Tobago	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to second round
2	F2 Antigua and Barbuda	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	F3 Belize	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	F4 Saint Lucia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	F5 British Virgin Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

   As the mock draw indicated, there is not much to worry about. If they draw an away game in pot 2 then they need to dig deep to get a result. There is not many teams to be concerned about in pots 3, 4 and 5 but I would hate for my worst nightmare to come true.


I'll have more on this in the coming weeks.

Mets 1, Braves 0

In a completely normal season and a completely healthy Jacob deGrom, we might have witnessed a complete game thrown the New York Mets Ace pitcher.

Instead, we were limited to a five inning masterpiece by deGrom who made Braves players look silly through the first half of the game.

The Mets handed it over to their bullpen after that and they picked off right where deGrom left off allowing only two hits in four pressure point innings for the Met relievers which put a short term end to nightmares of a bullpen that was terrible last year.

Yoenis Cespedes returned from a two year absence with a clutch seventh inning home-run that gave the Mets the only lead they needed today.

In a day that it was just good to get baseball back, the news of a 16 team playoff format is really good news for a team like New York who would have made the playoffs last year if it was a 16 team bracket. I really believe that this team is better than last years team.

Another thing to point out is that a Best of 3 should favor the team with better starting pitching and therefore, making the NLDS seems to be a realistic target for the Mets.

This should be considered a double win for New York. The Mets are in a great spot to make a run and I'll be looking forward to seeing it unfold.

Why Kraken???

I've been around sports for awhile now and I have never seen  a lot over my years but what happened yesterday with Seattle's NHL team is something I have a very hard time excepting. 

Kraken??? Where does this come from and how does this team win? From my understanding it is mythical Sea Creature. For me, the Detroit Red Wings already claimed the Mythical Sea Creature as they throw an Octopus on the ice before every game. 

For the colors, I painfully admit I like them but they do look like Rimouski Océanic's jersey's of the QMJHL that plays in the CHL. 

I guess I'm being a bit too picky. Naming sports teams can become original. It's too easy to name a team after an animal. In the mid 1990's the trend seemed to be naming teams after certain types of animals. Therefore, bears and dinosaurs turned into Grizzlies and Raptors of Vancouver and Toronto. Then, there was Thrashers and Bobcats and Pelicans for the last few animals. I like it when a name represents a city too make it their own. 

Karken does not belong to Seattle. According to Wikipedia, the Kraken lives off the coast of Norway and Seattle isn't in Norway. 

To be fair, naming a team is getting increasingly more difficult, Even some MLS teams are having to get creative. There are now 159 sports teams in North America if you include the MLS and CFL so a lot of the good ones are already taken. Most of the time it is not a good idea to name a team after someone else in the same league as you. Yes, I'm looking at you Ottawa. You can only have one Rough Riders in a nine team league. 

Then there are the 351 Div 1 NCAA basketball teams where multiple duplicates happen. So yes, good on them for having a very unique name but it will never be what I would have chosen.

I'm curious to see how everything transpires. I'm bitter because I want NBA or MLB expansion to come to Vancouver but there is likely only four more expansion teams in our lifetime in the Big 4. Two will go to NBA and two will go to MLB. 

I will not be a Krackhead. Not with my brother living so close to Seattle I will refuse to cheer for anything Seattle related. The two cities are rivals now. 

Covid 19 is Worse Than Anything I have ever Experienced

I've gone through one of my favorite teams relocating to Memphis, two Stanley Cup riots and many losing seasons with my favorite teams. For me, the Covid 19 sports pause is the worst thing that I have been through as a sports fan.

For one, even when the Vancouver Canucks hit rock bottom in 2017, there was still daily sports on to keep myself occupied on a daily basis. I even went to Bolivia in this month in 2017 which completely rejuvenated me heading into the 2017 NFL season.

I have lived a pretty volatile life the last few years with many times thinking I was bi-polar. This all peaked in February 2018 during the Winter Olympics. I thought I was unstoppable in life. This was all during the last of three dismal seasons in a row for the Vancouver Canucks.

But yet, despite all the bad luck I have endured as a sports fan since Familia blew the save the Mets in Game 4 of the World Series in 2015, sports have always been there for me even when our teams flat out suck. 

Now... it feels like sports will never be the same.  The first sports books I ever had was "And the fans go wild" a collection of great moments in sports games when the fans went crazy. Those great moments captured by those sports teams would never be the same if no one was in the stands.

Not only do I not fear my favorite teams having a heartbreaking loss but I also know that I will feel so relieved if we ever get a sell out crowed again. Right now just feels so hopeless right now and even when our teams suck, we still have so much hope.

Under three more weeks to go until baseball but it's not the summer and fall that I'm worried about. It's what sports look like after October. November is going to be slow and December might be as well if the NBA and NHL don't come back until January of 2021.

FHM 6 Update - 1996 Vancouver Canucks

It was a dreadful ending to the season I got swept by the Oilers in four games ended 4-3, 5-4, 6-3 and 9-0. Super frustrating because I had leads in two of the games and just had no goaltending.

I'm kind of shocked that I collapsed defensively but I'm speculating that my forwards are not built to play well defensively.

I'm still proud of my team though as I am trying to transition into a that can compete without having the most depth.

In two years, there will be mass expansion  with Nashville, Atlanta. Minnesota and Columbus all will come into the league in the next five years. This means that I'm going to lose four players in the next five years. My goal will be to acquire draft picks for my players outside the Top 6 forwards and Top 3 defense. This will assure me that I'm leaving no good players unprotected.

I'm trying to get younger and add to my farm system that has jumped to 7th in the NHL. I'm keying in on a Stanley Cup window from 2003-2007.

I have seven picks in the first four rounds in the upcoming draft. The only down side is that the 1996 NHL draft was a pretty weak draft.

In other Stanley Cup results, the Detroit Red Wings defeated the New York Rangers in six games to win their second Stanley Cup in three years. The Rangers still haven't won since 1940.

I pick 17th in the upcoming draft and I'm looking forward to free agency as well. I will also try exploring some trade options to put my plan in place.

FHM 6 Vancouver Canucks 1996 Playoffs

I did it!!! I made a goal at the start of the year to have home advantage in the playoffs and I clinched the 4th seed with a convincing 4-2 win against Calgary in game 82.

It wasn't easy and I will be hobbling into the playoffs but that might have been a foregone conclusion. I went 7-10-2 without Pavel Bure in my last 19 games so I'm not too optimistic going into the playoffs.

I play the 5th seed Edmonton Oilers who have had a good second half climbing the standings to make the playoffs.

The good news is that I won the season series with Edmonton at 3-2-1 but unfortunately, the one game against them I played without Bure was a back and fourth game which I ended up losing 5-4.

Both teams had plus 19 goal differential this year but Vancouver scored 285 goals and gave up 266 while Edmonton played a more defensive game by scoring 238 goals and gave up 219.

Other notes from the league.

Detroit won the Presidents Trophy by going 65-15-2 and scoring 330 goals. In their first year in Denver, the Colorado Avalanche went 52-20-10 to cruise to a Pacific Division Title. The Tampa Bay Lightning qualified for the playoffs for the first time in there franchise's history.

My prediction: I don't have much confidence in my team right now, Goaltending has been a problem the last half of the year and without the presence of Pavel Bure there will be not much margin for error.

 WCQ predictions:

1 Detroit vs 8 St. Louis  - DET 4-0
2. Colorado vs 7 Calgary  COL 4-1
3. Toronto vs 6 Dallas   DAL 4-3
4. Vancouver vs 5 Edmonton EDM 4-2