Early Friday minutae

Published 10:32 am Friday, March 25, 2011

First off, the bad news is there will be no live blogs during the road games in the first round of the playoffs. Of course, that means the good news is I’ll be attending those road games, so you’ll be getting full game stories and my usual pregame and postgame summaries here on the blog. Yay!

Secondly, The poll from the beginning of the week has been closed. Forty percent of the 191 responders predicted a Portland sweep in the first round, and almost exactly the same number predicted the Winterhawks in five. That’s eighty percent who believe Everett’s season will be over by next Saturday. That’s not a lot of belief in the Tips’ chances in this series.

Finally, leading WHL scribe Gregg Drinnan wrote a provocative editorial about fighting in hockey. So, for your consideration …