We're Talkin' Hockey Here….

Every year the regular season of the National Hockey League comes right down to the final week before all the playoff slots and pairings are decided, making for an exciting time for the fans.  But this year is something else again.  With one game left in the season, there are still teams vying for position and who advances and who doesn't will not be settled until Sunday evening.  Note for the casual observer:  The top eight teams in each conference, East and West, advance to the playoffs and the first-round matchups are 1 vs. 8, 2-7, 3-6, and 4-5.

Every team in the league plays their final game either today or tomorrow, so let's look at where they're sitting this morning:

The Western conference has been dominated all season by that juggernaut called Vancouver who handily cruised along at first place almost the entire season.  San Jose gave them a good chase for a while but have been fairly comfortable in 2nd place …… until now.  If they drop their final game and Detroit wins theirs, then they will swap positions on the final day.  Both teams have lost their last two games, so they are controlling their own destinies.

It was only 3 weeks ago that there were only 6 points separating the 4th through the 11th positions in the Western standings, making every game count.  But Minnesota went into a swoon and fell out of contention.  Dallas also muffed their chance to clinch a spot but they still have a slight chance to get in providing they win their remaining game against Minnesota tomorrow and Chicago loses to the hot Detroit team.  Dallas tops Chi. in the tie-breaker if they both finish with 97 points.

But how about the battle for position?  Nashville could drop from 4th to 8th if they lose their game and one of the others below them wins.  If they lose, not only Chicago, but every other team can potentially jump up to 4th and grab the home-ice slot for the playoff rounds.  If you're a confirmed hockey fan, then you are in luck.  Sunday's tv network game on NBC is the Chicago – Detroit matchup.  That is going to be a good one.  They both need a win, especially Chicago (the defending champs.).

Over in the Eastern conference, most of the dramatics took place during the past two days.  After riding on top for a couple of months, Philadelphia lost their composure, winning only 2 of their last 10 games, and let Washington climb over them into 1st earlier this week.  Philly's overtime loss to Buffalo last night clinched the Caps' first-place finish.  In fact, Pittsburgh can still take away the Atlantic Division lead from Philly and leap to 2nd place if they win and the Flyers continue their losing ways this weekend.  This will be a nail-biter for all Pennsylvanians.

Speaking of Buffalo, they have been hot lately, winning 7 of their last 10 they have come from "out of the playoffs" to 7th and can overtake Montreal with a win coupled with a Montreal loss.  If the two teams remain tied, Montreal wins the tie-breaker.  The big, hot finishers this week is Carolina, though.  They have surged into the playoffs suddenly by winning 8 of their last 10 and the New York Rangers loss to lowly Atlanta Thursday night has dropped them out of the playoffs after spending most of the season comfortably in the top eight.  The Rangers play New Jersey in a matinee game today and if they win, then Carolina will have to win tonight's game against Tampa to stay in #8.  Carolina edges the Rangers in the tie-breaker.

After playing 81 games, almost every team in the league is still in a position to affect the standings on the final game of the season.  It doesn't get any better than that.

Now let's affect our own standings and get this equipment checked out.  I need some more coffee.  See you back in the day room later.

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Thursday Morning Lineup – Where There's Smoke….. ?

After all these years, and all those thousands of basic firefighter schools, I still see fire departments spraying water on the smoke instead of the fire.  This really upsets me because it shows a complete disregard for why we are here and what we have been trusted with.  When we show up at a fire, the public has every right to expect us to make valid attempts to contain, control and extinguish it.  But still, way too many firefighters just become front-row spectators and watch the show while dutifully running the town's water supply down by spraying it into the air and letting the heat carry it up and away.  In fact, they are able to slide into viewing mode quicker by having fog nozzles already mounted on their master stream devices before they roll out of the station.

Basic fire training starts (or should) with the standard Chemistry of Fire lectures followed by the teaching of why water is the agent of choice for making fires go out.  You know, the expansion of water into steam by absorbing the heat, etc., etc.  And part of that portion of the school emphasizes the need to have the fire stream reach the seat of the fire, or you won't be putting it out.  But I am wondering why these basics are being ignored in so many places?  Have the bare-bones tactics been dropped from fire schools?  In this era of handing out EMT recertifications without holding any refresher training, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there are fire schools that skip stuff in order to make things easier for both the instructors and the students, wrong as it is.

But the more likely reason is that the subject is being taught, but the students either don't learn it, or make no attempt to retain it.  So why are the fireground officers ignoring it?  Are things that shabby within those departments that not even the officers responsible for the fire scene  know the basics?  If you think it's tough now getting the citizens to pay for adequate fire protection, just wait until they find out that fire loss isn't much higher if they don't even bother having anyone show up in the first place.

Now let's show up at the apparatus and get this equipment checked out.  It's time to get some more coffee going, too.  See you later back in the day room.

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