Here are Aerial Photographs of Winnipeg's Trailer Parks, and Gillam, at the End of the 1960s (Warning: Image Heavy)

"The cure for boredom is curiosity," Dorothy Parker once wrote. "There is no cure for curiosity."

All of the images that you are about to see in this post have been scanned from a publication that I rescued, out of curiosity, from the discard table at the NDC Red River College Library:





"Mobile Homes in Metropolitan Winnipeg and the Additional Zone", released by the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg Planning Division in February of 1970. (With old-style thick plastic coil-binding, so you can imagine the fun I had scanning it.)

The 2013 Stanley Cup Finals Begin Tonight

Hey, long time no see! I've been quietly scratching away at some longer-term projects since the last post, but this subject material has its own particular time frame, so let's get right to it. (There's hockey to be watched, after all.)

(1W) Chicago Blackhawks vs. (4E) Boston Bruins

This really does feel like it could be a once-in-a-lifetime clash-of-the-titans affair, which is why I fear it could turn out to be disappointingly anticlimactic. (There've been some real dogs of series thoughout the history of the Finals, and it does look like we're about due.)

On paper, of course, it's fascinating; both groups feature absurdly deep forward corps, twenty-to-thirty-minute hallmark shutdown pairs on defence, a whole bunch of big dudes who will punch you if you try anything, and wildly successful if probably overperforming goaltenders. (Granting that Quick had been the best goaltender going into the last round, and, uh, yeah.)

Both teams are also as healthy and well-rested as could be considered realistically possible this late in the year; both Conference Finals went quickly, Boston's had kind of an easy ride in the last series and a half or so, and (as I'd mentioned last time) Chicago didn't actually seem to start applying themselves until game ten or eleven of the campaign.

One would normally be tempted to take special teams into consideration, but it'll be amazing if there's one god damn power play goal this whole series (however long the series lasts). Both teams have been phenomenal at penalty killing and astonishingly lousy with the man advantage, and we've hit the point in the year when you can only reliably draw a non-offset minor through procedural malarkey. Like, one team would have to specifically put too many men on the ice, and then that extra guy would have to get the puck in his own zone and shoot it out over the boards. That'd be the only way that someone on the extra team doesn't mysteriously also collect a penalty on the play, the way one does this time of year by getting punched at the side of the net or tied up along the boards on a line change.

Also: this time two years ago Boston entered the Stanley Cup Finals with a playoff power-play success rate of one in ten, just barely squeaking the eleven-per-cent mark, and then won the Stanley Cup anyway. So enough about special teams.

The Bruins have just finished dismantling what could have been considered the ideal offence, and the Blackhawks have just finished dismantling what could be considered the ideal defence and goaltending. It's a fun contrast.

Alas, while my loyalties have historically been pretty obvious -- RAY EMERY FOREVER -- I fear that this may indeed come true and bring Boston its second Cup in two years.

It'll be harder to beat the Blackhawks than the Penguins, unquestionably; it couldn't be easier, surely, at any rate. The Penguins' offensive strategy was to stand still, leave Crosby to skate into quadruple coverage, and then go collect the puck out from behind Vokoun or Fleury depending on how badly the game was going; the Pens' top scorers were Brandon Sutter and Chris Kunitz, because the Penguins' only scorers were Brandon Sutter and Chris Kunitz. So Chicago is far better poised to crack the Bruins' blue line, being able to activate defensive rushes and all, but that can only catch a team unawares so many times in a row.

Note that Detroit did as well as they did against the Blackhawks because they were able to shut down Chicago's top forwards, as Boston will surely aim to do (and did with the consensus best forward roster in the world), and because they consistently kept the puck away from Chicago, as Boston's infuriatingly strong faceoff percentage may ensure.

Shutting down forwards bears further mention because, if the previous three rounds are any indication, it's not an option against the Bruins. The top line of Lucic, Krejci and Horton -- and surely any opponent will do its best to shut down the other team's top line at all time -- the top line of Lucic, Krejci and Horton are +13, +14 and +21 through sixteen playoff games, with thirteen, fourteen and twenty-one points respectively. No no, read that again: Nathan Horton is +21 across sixteen playoff games. Which, I mean, excuse me. I beg your pardon. How is that a thing.

I could be wrong -- I hope I'm wrong! -- I wish I were wrong more often -- but I'm going with:

What I'd Want: Chicago in seven, including at least one line brawl.
What I'll Guess: Boston in six, including at least one shutout.

Hockey, everybody! I'll see you back here in a day or two, with some... unique... Winnipeg content. Until then, true believers!

The NHL Stanley Cup Conference Finals Begin Tonight

Well, hello there, everyone! I've just returned home from the closing ceremonies of the Canadian Library Association 2013 National Conference and Trade Show (henceforth "CLA Conference", because I'm not typing that out again); if you've been wondering about my almost total disappearance for the last four days, that's what I've been up to. Learning all day! Socializing all night! Rising and shining bright and early the next day for more learning! SLEEP IS FOR WORK WEEKS.

I'll be watching the official website for the eventual arrival of the conference slides and other related materials, and then -- hopefully, if things don't get too busy around here -- sharing some photos and impressions and whatnot.

Ah, but there I go, carrying on about unrelated matters when there is pressing business to tackle. Playoff predictions! I've been two-thirds right on them so far this year -- which is sort of an overperformance against previous years, actually -- and it's probably all downhill from here, but I intend to try nonetheless!

Eastern Conference

(1) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (4) Boston Bruins

You know, I think I've finally learned a valuable lesson out of all of this: stop pretending that the Rangers are ever a legitimate contender. (It made for a pretty impressive playoff-time magic trick, though, what with roughly a gazillion dollars suddenly becoming invisible and all.)

Somewhat amazingly, the forward advantage for Pittsburgh isn't as dramatic as you'd initially expect; Boston is as big and nasty as ever, has enough breakout speed reserved to catch the Penguins' defence off-guard, and can put up a whole pile of points in a hurry. (Would you believe that the leading playoff scorer so far this year is David Krejci?) If they were hanging three to five goals a night on Lundqvist, what's to stop them lighting up Vokoun like a Christmas tree? And if the Bruins, who have the goaltending advantage to begin with, manage to chase Vokoun, the Penguins will feel obligated to give franchise goalie Fleury a try, and... yeah, no. That'd end exactly the way you think that'd end.

I can't speak for America, the Boston Marathon bombing still fresh in everyone's minds, but the Penguins are markedly the sentimental favourites up here in the North, and it's certainly plausible that they can advance to the Cup Final if their goaltending holds. Having said that, the consensus among people I've talked to is that A) most everyone in Canada wants Iginla to win a Cup, B) nobody anywhere likes Jeremy Jacobs, and C) the universe is cold and unfair. SO:

What I'd Want: Pittsburgh in seven.
What I'll Guess: Boston in six, and at least one Penguins star is sidelined by a dubious hit sometime during the series.

Western Conference

(1) Chicago Blackhawks vs. (5) Los Angeles Kings

(Yes, I realize that this game has started before I could get home. DON'T TELL ME WHAT'S HAPPENING YET)

Be honest: the way that Game Seven unfolded, you thought the Joel Quenneville Curse was kicking back in, didn't you? I totally did. Those last five or ten minutes of gametime, especially... that one call, had me mentally preparing to watch a man unravel like a yanked sweater thread at the merciless cruelty of the fates that torment him.

What finally did pull Chicago through, despite an excellent shutdown series from Detroit, is their abundance of available firepower; the Hawks' defence core can manufacture additional offence with ease whenever they like, and their forward depth is just gross. So gross. The grossest.

(That said, full credit to Quenneville for adjusting as wisely as he did; that recomposition of the Toews-Kane-Sharp top line and Keith-Seabrook defensive pair for Game 5 turned the series around and saved his season. Probably also his job, too, the way the year's gone for coaches.)

They'll be up against arguably the best defence, and certainly the best goaltending, in the Playoffs to date; that said, however, I don't believe the Kings have enough left in 'em to hold Chicago off. If they'd closed out the Sharks earlier and had the extra few days of rest, it'd be a different story -- but with Chicago no less rested (who haven't even really seemed to start exerting themselves until a week ago, remember) and proving scarily capable of busting defensive schemes open, I think Quick will only be able to hold them off for so long.

What I'd Want: Chicago in seven.
What I'll Guess: Chicago in... ahh, what the heck, let's give 'em seven.

OH GOD HOW IS IT ALREADY JUNE

Internet on the Radio: Slurpees and Murder Record Club, a Winnipeg Cat Segment on CJOB, and Winnipeg Internet Pundits (Briefly) Returns This Week

Well, hello there, everyone! My apologies for the unintended two-week absence; it seems like the busyness of summer starts earlier and earlier every year, whether it actually feels like summer yet or not. (It's expected to rain today and right through to the end of the week, because of course it is.) But there's well over an hour's worth of content for you to enjoy in this post, so let's get rolling!

Round Two of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs Begins Tonight

In fact, it's already starting -- don't tell me what happens! -- so I'd better get this on the record tout-suite; if I'm going to get my guesses wrong, I should at least come by it naturally.

Prediction time~!

Western Conference

(1) Chicago Blackhawks vs. (7) Detroit Red Wings

I wasn't thrilled about correctly picking Detroit, but yeah, the writing was on the wall when the Ducks turned out to have an average age of like eighty. I was watching that series the whole time like "Yo, hold up, is that Tony Lydman? F'real? Is that Radek Dvorak? Is that Sheldon Sou--Sheldon Souray's still alive?" When you make Detroit look young, man. Maaaaaaan.

So we get the big Original Six matchup, and a conclusive one at that, given the realignment next season and all. (Unless both teams win their respective conferences and meet in the Stanley Cup Final, but that seems... increasingly unlikely in coming years.) So this is it, this is the big sendoff, aaaaaaaaand it'll probably be super anticlimactic.

It shouldn't be a full sweep, although Chicago did sweep the regular-season series against Detroit; the way that overtimes have been sprouting up this year, it seems reasonable that Detroit could sneak off with a win or two that way. And it's not that a Detroit upset is completely implausible; Detroit is always a threat to swipe some games, Howard can lock it down with the best of them when he's on his game, Datsyuk is still very nearly impossible to contain, and -- in case you had forgotten this particular tidbit -- this is JOEL QUENNEVILLE FACING THE RED WINGS.

But with that said, the Hawks are mad talented, good and rested after a short first round, not unfamiliar with how to beat Detroit, and probably very unlikely to overlook the Wings as a threat to their conference finals berth. Ergo:

What I'd Want: Chicago in five.
What I'll Guess: Chicago in six.

(5) Los Angeles Kings vs. (6) San Jose Sharks

Okay, so, that Vancouver collapse? Phenomenal. Oh my word. That was majestic. Like I'd said, the loser of that series is destined for an offseason shakeup -- not that I guessed the series right whatsoever or anything, but c'mon, like anybody called the Canucks being swept -- and the ignominious fashion in which the Canucks lost, coupled with choking against a team everyone else considers chokers, should mean a pretty wild 'n' woolly offseason.

(I love that the whole Canucks season was framed in terms of goaltending, and then come playoff time the goalies were fine but all of their skaters except Kesler were worthless. Whoops! Slightly different narrative than anticipated.)

ANYWAY. Let's talk about teams that are still playing, for the moment. I was impressed to discover that the Sharks have survived in their current -- not to say "doomed", but -- flawed incarnation long enough to build up a really solid younger core, fully ready to take the reigns when the old b'yes get put out to pasture. Logan Couture in particular isn't just a franchise player, he's the franchise -- but mention must be made as well of Brent Burns, whose transition from offensive D-man to power forward has been so wildly successful as to make Winnipeg fans seethe. He's like Byfuglien if Byfuglien were reliably good. Life ain't fair, man.

The Kings had a rougher time to the second round, but a lot of that may be the Blues being secretly way better than their fate suggests. (And part of it may be Quick giftwrapping and giving away Game 1. But, still.)

It feels like it's going to be a startlingly even series; the Sharks are well-rested, Niemi quietly levelled up when nobody was looking, and (perhaps most importantly) the Sharks suddenly choking in the third round would be way funnier than the Sharks suddenly choking in the second round. On the other hand, the Kings have all of the reigning-champion benefits with none of the usual fatigue, they can never be considered totally out of a game, their defence core is almost insultingly solid, and Jonathan Quick is probably actually a robot. Should be good! If you like lots of checking and don't mind really low goal totals -- San Jose may find it harder to score when the other team's skaters seem to be, y'know, trying -- you should get a real kick out of this one.

What I'd Want: San Jose in four. God, could you imagine? That would feel like the world's tilted off its axis.
What I'll Guess: Los Angeles in... mm, seven.

Eastern Conference

(1) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (7) Ottawa Senators

One of my favourite things in life is being completely wrong about something. (One of my least favourite things is being completely right. I don't know what this says about me.) And if there's one thing that I was extremely happy to be wrong about, it was my original suspicions that the Montreal-Ottawa series would be boring and dispassionate. It's amazing how a grievous facial injury, vengeful sea-mammal-themed insults, a gazillion minutes in fighting majors and the complete implosion of one team can liven up a series!

Pittsburgh, meanwhile, seemed to get caught cruise-controllin' against the Islanders, who put up as courageous and tenacious a fight as anyone could have hoped for until the crushing inevitability of being the Islanders in the playoffs finally caught up to them.

The thing is, the Islanders did as well as they did against the Penguins by leveraging timely bursts of hockey talent -- plus getting to play against Fleury, y'know, there was that -- and the Senators made it to this second round by punching the other team in the mouth until they flipped out and forgot how to play hockey. And I don't mean to oversell the importance of the officiating, because you just know someone'll be like "AWW C'MON WHY DO THE PENGUINS GET SO MANY CALLS THEIR WAY UGH THIS LEAGUE IS RIIIIIIGGED", but I do think the laissez-faire the Sens benefitted from in round one isn't as likely to be there in round two. Let's say Chris Neil (because it's going to be Chris Neil) tries to stir something up after the whistle by jabbing the broken-jawed, concussion-prone, intensely-spotlit face of the franchise; how likely do you think it is that the refs let it slide?

Again, I'm not saying that the League will clamp the rulebook down because it benefits the Penguins; I'm saying it benefits the Penguins that the League will clamp the rulebook down. The NHL is, shall we say, very slightly concerned about how the public perceives its violence, and this series is very likely to be the most closely scrutinized.

Besides, the issue of penalties aside, the Sens' other ticket to round two is that they got to ring up a bunch of goals on a Carey Price that was awful by Carey Price standards. (He'd never given up six goals in a playoff game, until...) The Isles' almost-success came from getting to ring up a bunch of goals on a Marc-Andre Fleury that was... well, that was kind of what we expect from Fleury, actually, but -- anyway, Vokoun exists, and Bylsma is not stupid, and away we go.

What I'd Want: Ottawa in seven, with at least one more line brawl. Although I wouldn't mind Pittsburgh in seven either. Really, just give me seven games of this, y'all can do what you want with the last one.
What I'll Guess: Pittsburgh in... ehh, five.

(4) Boston Bruins vs. (6) New York Rangers

We who watched it unfold in real time, every single one of us, without fail, are all going to tell our grandchildren about that Boston-Toronto game seven someday. That was legendary, and spectacular, and the most Toronto-sports-ian Toronto sports event in what feels like forever (because it kind of was). As I noted on Twitter at the time, I felt bad about laughing, sure, but holy shit did I laugh.

Also:

Toronto Maple Leafs or Toronto you dumb fuck you lose after you have almost win go fuck yourself

— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) May 14, 2013

The Iron Sheik basically has the hang of being a Torontonian, it seems like. First the Jose Canseco mayoral bid, now this; if sports doesn't work out for them -- it never seems to, really, does it -- at least Toronto can remain secure in its Twitterverse star power. (You may laugh, but look at how Winnipeg's leadership behaves; they'd kill for that kind of C-to-D-level recognition. Or at least mint a whole lot of keys to the city for it.)

All the more impressive in Boston's game seven comeback victory -- and the reason I'm less inclined to call this round in their favour -- is that they pulled it off after some dismally anemic offence in previous games, and that they pulled it off despite being down to, like, three and a half defencemen left on the roster.

New York required all seven games, too, technically, but I wouldn't really count that last one as a game per se. (It's so perfectly, serendipitously fitting that the Southeast Division died on an unworthy third-seed getting bounced in round one and stinking it up on their way out.) The Rangers are healthier, play a cleaner style, have a captain who's basically a superhero, and are fully capable of winning any given game by potting a single goal and then just figuring it's taken care of.

It'll be competitive right to the last -- certainly more so than that other East series, I'd reckon -- but, unless the Bruins get some bodies back in a hurry, I think the Rangers will ultimately be able to grind this one out.

What I'd Want: New York in seven.
What I'll Guess: Eeeeegh--it's really tempting to still say Boston anyway somehow. But nah, New York in seven.

Playoff hockey! Yay!