Let the Western Conference Finals begin | Digital Sportscentre

Let the Western Conference Finals begin | Digital Sportscentre

This is Sports Center. Hey, I’m Merced Sports Center presented by M’s Barbecq and Bar. And the Western Conference final gets going tonight between two familiar opponents. For the second straight year, the Oilers are facing off against the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final. Edmonton got it done in six games versus Dallas a year ago and looked pretty dominant in games four to six, thanks largely to an incredible run in net by Steuart Skinner. But this time around, it’s shaping up to be much closer, especially if you go by the odds, as FanDuel barely has the Oilers as favorites. But as you can see, it’s really tight. So why will this year’s conference finals be a lot tighter? Well, it could come down to the Oilers goalending. As you mentioned last year was a big difference, but in Edmonton’s three games against Dallas this season, it was a different story. But just as important, this is an entirely different Stars team that faced the Oilers a year ago as this time Edmonton has Miko Ranton to deal with. And they might remember back in 2022 how well he played against them as he scored in all four of Colorado’s sweep against Edmonton in the conference final. And so far this postseason, he’s been doing every bit as good and currently leads the NHL in playoff scoring. With Mo in the mix, it’ll be a lot harder for Edmonson to shut down Dallas like they did a year ago. This whole time I’m thinking, “No, no, Edmonson’s got this. Edmonton’s got this.” Wait, I forgot Mo. Now, Jar and Gambling guy West Chen, great to see you, Wes. Hey, great to see you, Marissa. Okay, Wes, we’re going to get to playoffs in a second. And it’s a rare this time of year to talk some Raptors, but you know, we found a way. FanDuel has a market for Giannis’ next team with the Raps with the fourth shortest odds behind him staying with the Bucks or going to the Spurs or Rocket. you sprinkling on that plus 850 and if not where? Uh the main reason why I wouldn’t sprinkle on the wraps I think Scotty has to be in that deal for Milwaukee to accept it. I don’t think Toronto’s doing that. So plain and simple, I’m sure the f you guys fans, I’m sure you agree you don’t want to send Scotty out. So that’s that’s a kaibos. Houston Rockets, that’s where I think this is all going to go down. If it does go down, they have the war chest of war chest. They were the two seed last year. They have the win now win though closer than any of the other teams that they have out there. You look at some of the names that are available to go the other way. Shenon, Jaylen Green, some of the rookie contracts and Reed Shepard, Jabar Smith, Tar Een, and the draft picks from Phoenix 2027 29. Houston needs an alpha. Giannis can slide right into that role. I think if a trade goes down, even though he doesn’t want to go to the West, I think Houston is the most likely. Okay, game one of the Eastern Conference finals goes down tonight. Give us your best bet. I truly believe Carl Anthony Towns is the X factor of this entire series. So, I’d put together a little same game parlay of his props. I want him to go over his point prop. I want him to get 10 plus rebounds. That should get you to plus money here. He absolutely has to be the difference. Didn’t have a good, you know, previous round, but he has a career track record against the Pacers. just run the game logs. He did it this season. The other thing that I like about him, um, Indiana’s defense, very soft inside the post, Cat has to find his role in there. I think he has an opportunity to attack a defense that it’s going to be really high-scoring up and down affair. Cat, he has to be the guy, and I think you’re going to see it right away in game one. Well, Jing, a pleasure as always. Hey, thanks for having me. You can watch game one between the Pacers and Knicks tonight on TSN. Coverage begins at 8 Eastern, 5 Pacific. To football and yesterday, we got the official news. NFL players will be eligible to compete in flag football at the 2028 Olympics. And the internet went wild as they always do. Oh my god, this is why I can’t delete Twitter. I’ve tried. You know what? Justin Jefferson could put up those numbers against Guatemala. I’ Have you been to Guatemala? They’re very short. Warren Sharp even took it to AI and artificial intelligence came up with a couple of dream rosters you’d expect. Although no MVP Josh Allen, but whatever. or no machines are perfect. Well, you can tell Bill’s fan wrote this one. But we decided to take a different approach as we went through the last four decades to see what the dream flag football team would look like for each era. Let’s start with the ’90s at quarterback. The only other potential here was Steve Young, but you know, we had to lean Elway. Running back was an easy choice. We got Barry Sanders. The center wide receiver position means we got to pick a tight end. And the best tight end of the ’90s was Shannon Sharp. And at receiver, we got the greatest to ever do it, Jerry Rice. And the other spot, we had a tough decision between friend of the show, Michael Irvin, and Chris Carter. But we went with Chris Carter. Okay. to the 2000s now and with some pretty easy choices now. We have Brady at quarterback, LT at running back, Tony Gonzalez in that center receiver spot, and then filling it out with Terrell Owens and Randy Moss. And then 20110, we have my favorite, Aaron Rogers at quarterback. This script is just getting mean now. And maybe the best possible choice for running back in flag football, we’re going 2010 Chris Johnson at running back one year after the CJ2K season. Now, center receiver, another easy choice. We’re going Gronk. And then look at this receiving core. Megatron and Larry Fitzgerald. How do you stop that? Okay, let’s finish with the 2020s. quarterback with one Mahomes over Allen, although both would be great choices because of their running ability. Running back against CMC, Travis Kelce the center receiver spot, and then I don’t know how anyone stopped these receivers, Tyreek Hill, and Justin Jefferson. Now, I may have recency bias, but I feel like the 2020s might be the best. We’re just over two weeks away from the Canadian Shield Soccer Tournament, taking place June 7th in Toronto, as Canada, Ivory Coast, New Zealand, and Ukraine will all play a series of games. And Canada released its roster earlier today. And there were no real surprises when looking at the squad playing Ukraine June 7th and Ivory Coast June 10th. The roster features 11 MLS players, but will also be missing some key pieces as Alfonso Davies, Alistister Johnson, Moyes Bombito, Jonathan Osario, and Liam Miller are all out with injuries. And just to add on to these injuries, Jesse Marsh confirmed that Bombito is out all summer while Johnston and Osorio are expected to be ready for the Gold Cup, which starts in midJune. One other interesting note, they also invited Manchester United teen prospect Gabriel Bianke to train with the team. The 18-year-old was born in Cardiff and represented Wales as a youth player. His mother, however, was born in Canada, so he can play for Canada at the senior level, but he’s also eligible for England and Italy when it comes to international play. For a ticket to the Canadian Shield, just head to Ticket Master or if you’re watching us on Instagram, just click the link below. That’s all for me today. No speific. Have a good one.

For the 2nd straight year the Oilers and Stars go head to head in the conference championship. With a Giannis next team market up on Fanduel Canada our guy Wesley Cheng talks about where the Raptors fit into things. A Flag Football team with NFL players for the last 4 decades. Canada releases their roster for the upcoming Canadian Shield tournament.