The Daily Hilario: Matchweek 33-ish

WaFFLe:
3rd vs. 5th:  Avalanche vs. B Tret
9th vs. 6th:  Cesc-y Jonjo Shnoz vs. Langers Athletic
1st vs. 10th:  Mother Hen Mourinho vs. Silent James & the Falcao Punch
11th vs. 12th:  In Hazardous Kompany vs. West Staines Massiv
4th vs. 8th:  DP's All-Stars vs. Haz Mat Suits
2nd vs. 7th:  Cahill for Jesus vs. Dynamo Hawkeye

The Mother Hen continues to finish strong and are now all alone at the top of the pile.

BEVERAGE OF THE WEEKEND: Golden State Mighty Dry Hard Cider -- with summer around the corner (we'll be up to 30 degrees Celsius this weekend I'm sure), I'm resuming my search for a clean, crisp, non-sweet local-ish cider this weekend.  So far, this one fits the bill.  Fairly cheap ($10 for 4, 1-pint cans), fairly good.  Definitely not sweet.  Dig the retro design.

ENGLAND (all times BST):
12.00:  U18 Premier League, 2nd phase, 5th vs. 4th:  CHELSEA U18 vs. WBA U18
15.00:  Championship, 2nd vs. 11th:  AFC Bournemouth vs. Sheffield Wednesday
15.00:  Championship, 14th vs. 3rd:  Birmingham City vs. Watford
15.00:  Premier League, 11th vs. 14th:  Crystal Palace vs. WBA
15.00:  Premier League, 12th vs. 19th:  Everton vs. Burnley
15.00:  Premier League, 20th vs. 8th:  Leicester City vs. Swansea City
15.00:  Premier League, 10th vs. 6th:  Stoke City vs. Southampton
17.20:  FA Cup, semifinal:  Reading vs. Arsenal
17.30:  Premier League, 1st vs. 3rd:  CHELSEA vs. Manchester United

CRAWFUL: Corey Crawford is an excellent goaltender, a winning goaltender, but it's time to sit his Torresian butt (38/47; .809 save pct in 80 min) on the bench and give Oh My (Scott) Darling Clementine (42/42, 1.000 save pct in 68 min) the start in game 3.  Go with the hot hand.

Sure, the defense didn't help Crow too much, but it was the same defense in front of Darling in Game 1, too.  Meanwhile, Vermette remains in Coach Q's doghouse.  Surely he is more useful than, say, Nordstrom, even if all he's used for is to win some faceoffs.  Further Coach Q nonsense: double-shifting Kane in the third when the kid was clearly exhausted (it's just his second game back after a two-month layoff due to a broken bone).

At least Sharp looked ... err ... sharp.  So that's something.  Series tied 1-1 after an all-around awful game from the Blackhawks on Friday night.

ELSEWHERE (all times BST):
14.30:  Bundesliga, 7th vs. 1st:  Hoffenheim vs. Bayern Munich
15.00:  La Liga, 1st vs. 4th:  Barcelona vs. Valencia
16.00:  Ligue 1, 11th vs. 2nd:  Nice vs. PSG
17.00:  La Liga, 17th vs. 3rd:  Deportivo La Coruña vs. Atlético Madrid
18.45:  Eredivisie, 4th vs. 18th:  Vitesse vs. Dordrecht
19.00:  La Liga, 2nd vs. 7th:  Real Madrid vs. Málaga
19.45:  Serie A, 1st vs. 2nd:  Juventus vs. Lazio