2014 Stanley Cup Finals LA Kings vs. New York Rangers

Not to brag, but I had picked the Kings to go to the up finals...I did pick them facing the Penguins and I was a game away from that happening. Deep down I did think the Kings would've won the series if it was against the Penguins but I had to made that pick from my heart.

The Kings are a heavy favorite to win the cup against the Rangers in this series, I thought it would be 5 games max, many hockey pundits thought less. After a 3-0 win last night, it looks like the Kings will eventually take the series, in a sweep if they win tomorrow night. What is surprising though is how the Kings came to be up in this series 3 games to 0. You could argue the Rangers were the better team in the 1st 2 games but did not get the bounces both in puck luck and ref luck. In game 3 Jonathan Quick answered his critics about his level of play in the previous games and was lights out, if he plays at that level for game 4 the Kings will sweep, if not I say the Kings will win at home in 5.

I did a one sheet of the two goalies in the series Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings and Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers. Then broke it down to the singles of each goalie for their team, both are all digital drawings.

Jonathan Quick

Henrik Lundqvist

NHL Western Conference finals: Chicago Blackhawks vs. LA Kings Mad Men Style art

My NHL bracket challenge of the Western conference was wrong for round 2 in both series but I picked the eventual winners and is now correct for round 3, I predicted that the Kings would win the series against the Blackhawks. After 2 games in this series it looks like they could, after the Kings had a strong 3rd period in game 2 for a 6-2 win. If Quick can stay at the top of his game for the series and not falter for a few games like he did in the previous series I think they will.

As mentioned in yesterdays post, here are the Western Conference finalist in Mad Men art form.

NHL Eastern Conference finals: Montreal Canadiens vs. New York Rangers Mad Men Style art

Well my bracket was ruined for the 2nd round, I had the Bruins and Penguins for the Eastern finals. The Rangers currently have a 2-0 series lead on the Canadiens and it's not looking much better for them with Carey Price going down in game 1 and subsequently out for the rest of the series. Price is no doubt a huge part of this Canadiens team and changes this series significantly in favor for the Rangers in quality of goaltending. Unless the Rangers just try to coast for the rest of the series it looks like they will be moving onto the cup finals.

I recently got into Mad Men, I started last season and I recently caught up with the series via Netflix. With the mid series finalie this week I was inspired to create Mad Men like graphics for the four conference final teams. I'll be posting the Western Teams tomorrow.

Here are the Montral Canadiens and New york Rangers in Mad Men Style art.

2014 Playoffs Colorado Avalanche vs Minnesota Wild

This is the last one my round 1 posts, and like just about every other series this is a good one, with 3 overtime games and a bunch of last minute goals. I picked Colorado in 6 games just because I like to watch this team play so much, I would love it if they made it to the western finals at least. Colorado looks to close out Minnesota tonight in game 6. This has been such a close and momentum driving series it could easily go back to Colorado for game 7.

Here are two digital drawings of Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov and Minnesota wild Alternate captain Zach Parise.

Semyon Varlamov

Zach Parise

2014 Playoffs Anaheim Ducks vs Dallas Stars

This has been another great series to watch, Dallas is giving Anaheim all they can handle in the series. Up into tonight's game 6 every home team has won the game so odds are good it will head back to Anaheim for game 7. I picked Dallas in the series in 7, I thought Dallas had a grit to take it to the Ducks and frustrate them and that's what has been happening although I did expect Kari Lehtonen to play a little better in the series, while he did have some great games typically when they one, in the losses, he left me wanting him to be better.

Here are my digital drawings of Anaheim Ducks Captain Ryan Getzlaf and Dallas Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen.

Ryan Getzlaf

Kari Lehtonen

2014 Playoffs Boston Bruins vs Detroit Redwings

This has been a what you call "defensive" series with very little goals scored, it looks like Boston will end up taking the series currently holding a 3 games to 1 lead with game 5 today in Boston, it doesn't help the wings that their #1 goalie Jimmy Howard will be out now. I picked Boston in 6, I thought if anyone could take out Boston in the east it could be Detroit, I also think it could be Montreal in round 2.

Here is a ink and digital drawing of Boston Bruins goalienTuukka Rask and a pencil drawing of Detroit Redwings goalie Jimmy Howard.

Tuukka Rask

Jimmy Howard

2014 Playoffs New York Rangers vs Philadelphia Flyers

This is probably the 1 series this playoff I have paid attention to the least. It does seem like an exciting series, both teams are playing hard and I loved Carcillo's goal and subsequent fan reaction to the goal in game 3. I picked the Rangers in 6 games and it could still happen but the way it's going so far and with Steve Mason back in goal for the Flyers it could go 7, I still like the Rangers.

Here are to of my digital drawings of New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist and Philadelphia Flyers Captain Claude Giroux.

Henrik Lundqvist

Claude Giroux

2014 Playoffs San Jose Sharks vs LA Kings

I thought this series would be just as great as the St. Louis and Chicago series has been, however it has been quite the opposite. Game 3 was a pretty good back and forth game but games 1 and 2 were routs by San Jose were the Kings looked like they never even showed up for the game. game 4 is tonight and San Jose has a chance to make the 2nd sweep of these playoffs.

I Picked LA in 7 for this series and thought it was pretty much a toss up pick, I think it will be the winner of this series vs the winner of St. Louis and Chicago for the Cup finals.

 Here is a digital drawing of San Jose Sharks Logan Couture and a sketch of Jonathan Quick of the LA Kings done with a ball point pen.

Logan Couture

Jonathan Quick

2014 Playoffs ST. Louis Blues vs Chicago Blackhawks

I thought, like may others, this series would be the best of the 1st round match-ups and so far everyone who said that is right, the Blues won the 1st two game scoring late to tie and in overtime in each and then Chicago won 1-0 in game 3 at home. Personally I have a rooting interest for the Blues because I would like to see Ryan Miller win and it would impact the Sabres draft pool but with the Blues ending their regular season so terribly I picked Chicago to win the series in 7. After 3 games it has been a hard fought series with both teams having their peaks and valleys through the series thus far, it's still a tough series to predict a winner.

So here are two of my digital drawings of St. Louis Blues defeseman Alex Pietrangelo and Chicago Blackhawks forward Brandon Saad.

Alex Pietrangelo

Brandon Saad

2014 Playoffs Montreal Canadiens vs Tampa Bay Lightning

This series was a though one to pick a winner, I was going to take Tampa Bay but thought about Bishop being out and he was a big part of their team this year and ended up going with Montreal in 6.  Right now looks like it was a good pick as the Canadiens are up 3 games to 0 and game 4 tonight it doesn't look good for Tampa Bay.

Here is a digital drawing I did of the Tampa Bay Lightnings Steven Stamkos and a pencil sketch of Montreal Canadiens Carey Price.

Steven Stamkos

Carey Price

2014 Playoffs Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Columbus Blue Jackets

I'm starting off the 2014 playoff series with the Penguins vs Blue Jackets. I did the NHL bracket challenge on NHL.com before the playoffs and even though I didn't think the Penguins would make the Finals I liked the match ups that I predicted for them and had them going to the cup, but I also picked the Kings in the finals in the west which is not looking too hot.

For round 1 my pick was Penguins over Blue Jackets in 5 games. I bet on Fleury having a better playoff, 2 games in he's not too bad but not great either which is good because last year he was just losing the games for the Penguins, right now I think it's defense that's the question for the Penguins because how many time to you let a guy whack at the puck in front of the net without doing anything on the game 2 OT goal? I didn't like Horton being out for the Jackets either, he could've been a big player for them in the playoffs, I think if he was playing it could be a different series and the Blue Jackets would have a better chance at winning.

So here are my digital drawings of the Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and the Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.

Marc-Andre Fleury

Sergei Bobrovsky

Zemgus Girgensons

It all finally ends today, finally the worst year for a Sabres fan in history comes to a close and I can sit back and watch the St. Louis Blues steam roll... wait what? lost 5 in a row? Miller hasn't been that great? well hopefully they just resign him so we get the 1st round pick.

I'll be at the game and to send them off here is a piece I did of my pick for Sabres MVP Zemgus Girgensons. This was another one of my comic book cover meets NHL designs (it was based on an X-Men cover) but I decided to alter it slightly and not give it the full comic cover look and more like a poster of the player.

Zemgus Girgensons

Marcus Foligno Vs. Brenden Dillon Art

Marcus Foligno Returns for the Sabres tonight from what looked like a season ending injury late last week. Here is a pencil sketch of him going at Brenden Dillon of the Dallas Stars I did a few months ago, people have asked me to do some art work of a fight, I believe this may be my 1st.  

I've been piling up artwork to unleash for the playoff match ups, if you have any art work you want to submit featuring any of the playoff teams be sure to send it within the next few weeks and I'll include it in the match ups Nfg801@aol.com.

Marcus Foligno Vs. Brenden Dillon

Dominik Hasek Art

For long time followers of the blog and anyone that knows me personaly, you know Domink Hasek is my favorite NHL player of all time. It's nice to see the Sabres and Hasek have had a better relationship now than when he requested a trade to the Redwings, it probably has a lot to do with the new Sabres ownership, who is doing a great job in bring back Sabres alumni except a few *cough*Lafontaine*cough*.
Before tomorrows game the Sabres are inducting Hasek into their hall of fame and I made sure I got a ticket to attend. The Sabres also just announced today they will retire his number next season in which I'll be sure to attend as well.  So here is a recent art piece I recently did of the Dominator, drawn in ink and colored digitally. I got this piece printed on canvas and hanging up in my rec room, one of my favorites.

Roger Crozier by Thomas Harding

Thomas has been a regular contributor to the blog so I created a link in the artists section on the right side of the page if you want to view all of his work. He has sent in some great old time goalie drawings, and each is better than the next, in my opinion.

Here he submits his drawing of Roger Crozier playing goal for the Detroit Red Wings. As a Sabres fan, and yet to be born during his playing days, What I knew of Crozier is that he was was the 1st Sabres goalie and played some big games for the Sabres in the 1970's and played in the infamous fog game in the cup finals in 1975 against the Flyers.

Thanks for your continued submission of your art for the blog Thomas!

Roger Crozier

Ryan Miller: Traded but Sabres related Art anyway

Well it finally happened, the Buffalo Sabres have finally traded Ryan Miller and then the franchise feel apart as Pat Lafontaine "resigned" as President of Hockey Ops. So while my team tries to pick up the pieces with quite a few draft picks and a new GM in Tim Murray who I like so far, I'm a Blues fan for the rest of the way.

I think Ryan Miller will go down as my 2nd favorite goalie behind Hasek, for what he did in the mid 2000's with the Sabres are great memories for me as well as winning the Vezina in 2010 and what he did in the 2010 Olympics. I have a number of Ryan Miller Art work I haven't posted yet as I was looking through my archives, so here are 2 that I recently did this year. The 1st one was drawn in ink and colored digitally the 2nd was drawn all digitally.

Ryan Miller

Ryan Miller

Jonathan Quick by Stephen Bardsley

Stephen has been a regular contributor to the blog, so much so he has his own link on the right side of the page where you can look at his other hockey related artwork and website

Stephen does a lot of sports related art work and I'm pretty sure every one is done with a ball point pen, speaking of experience on a lot of high school folders, drawing in ball point pen is one of the hardest tools draw with and make it look really good. Here he gives us a pen drawing of Team USA goalie Jonathan Quick (the drawing actually contains red and blue pen however he was not able to get a good photo because of the reflection of the ink, he also sent a photo of just the USA logo showing this).

I'm disappointed in Team USA's defeat by the Canadians and even more so by the sulking defeat by Finland after so much hype in USA's offense going into the Canadian game to be shut out was shocking. What made it worse was the Woman's team lost in heartbreaking fashion to the Canadian team after being up 2-0 with less than 4 minutes to go...WHAT WAS THAT SLASHING CALL!!! Any way I was a proponent for Ryan Miller to get the start in goal for the US, I thought he deserved it more than Quick this year and still believe that but Quick couldn't have played any better (forgetting the Finland game) and who could forget his brilliance to knock the net off slightly against Russia knowing the puck would be going in seconds later. Well there's always the next Olympics!

Jonathan Quick

Hockey comic book covers

A few weeks ago I got inspired to recreate comic book covers with a hockey theme, my 1st imagining was recreating the 1st spider-man cover and thought of adding Alex Ovechkin mainly due to the same color palate of their uniforms. After that, the start of the Olympics took over and I created a few Olympic themed covers, featuring Sidney Crosby as Bane in a recreation of the Knightfall cover, and of course Zach Parise as Captain America and finally Jonathan Toews in a recreation of Wolverine #1.  All of these covers I drew and colored digitally.

Old Time goalies by John Dykes

John submitted some of his paintings of some old time goalies. These are some really nice paintings that capture the feel of the goalies in this era, here are Doug Grant of the St. Louis Blues, Mike Palmateer and Gord McRae of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Jim Rutherford of the Detroit Red Wings.

Thanks for submitting them John!

 

Mike Palmateer

Gord McRae

Doug Grant

Jim Rutherford

Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby Art

This is a mixed media piece I recently created of Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby , Crosby is drawn in pencil then scanned and I colored digitally.

Sidney Crosby

Boston Bruins: by Heather Rose

I found Heather on Instagram (user Smokeyandhoney) she has some stunning Boston Bruins portraits done with pencil. I posted 2 of my favorite ones that she had posted, one of Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask and Captain Zdeno Chara . She also has a website where she posts a lot of her other portraits http://heatherrosestudios.com 

Tuukka Rask

Zdeno Chara

2014 USA Ryan Miller art

Ryan Millers USA Olympic mask was recently released and I was inspired to do this mock up of yan Miller in olympic gear. This is one of my 1st works i drew 100% digitaly.

It looks like it's going to be a tough decision between Ryan Miller and Jonathan Quick to start for team USA. Although I am biased being a Sabres fan, I would start Miller just because of the experience and what he did in 2010. Either way USA should be solid in goal and I wouldn't mind if Quick started since he is my 2 favorite goalie to watch in the NHL.

Ryan Miller

Star Wars Emperor vs. Yoda Hockey goalie mask

I recently finished up my latest goalie mask , featuring Darth Sidious AKA The Emperor on one side and Yoda on the other side, both brandishing their light sabers meeting in the middle. I also couldn't do a mask with the Emperor and not also included the force lightning, so I added it thought the mask bringing it all together. Out of all the masks I've painted so far, this is my favorite both in terms of painting and the final product, now that I have several under my belt the process of painting this one went pretty smooth.