2. Chicago (West) vs. 7 Philadelphia (East)

How they got here: Chicago swept San Jose, completely outplaying them in the process. Philadelphia knocked off Montreal in 5, dominating the Habs with the exception of Game 3.

Last SCF appearance: Chicago 1992 (Lost to Pittsburgh), Philadelphia 1997 (Lost to Detroit)

Last Stanley Cup Win: Chicago 1961, Philadephia 1975

Series Overview: Anyone who followed both series closely saw the pure domination by both of these teams against their opponents and should expect a hard fought series complete with physical play and potentially plenty of scoring. Chicago is an offensive juggernaut that also has good defense and good goal-tending, after Antti Niemi outplayed San Jose's offense and Evgeni Nabakov. Philadelphia is just on a roll after the Boston series, and has one of the hardest working players in the game in Mike Richards. If Michael Leighton can continue his run, this series might be closer than most think. In the end though, Chicago's offensive power will probably finish off Philadelphia, leading the Hawks to their first cup in 49 years. Series begins Saturday at 8:00 PM EST. All games are at 8:00 PM EST, with games being played on May 29th, May 31st, June 2nd, June 4th, June 6th, June 9th, and June 11th, with the last three being if necessary.

Series Prediction: Chicago in 5

Current Prediction Record: 6-8

So I picked the Montreal series exactly as it went, and then Boston went out and laid an egg. 3rd team to lose after being up 3-0 in a series in the NHL. So here are your teams:

7. Philadelphia vs. 8 Montreal

How they got here: Philadelphia came down from a 3-0 deficit in both the series and game 7 to knock off Boston 4-3 in both the game and the series. Montreal knocked off the defending cup champs in 7 in what could be considered a shocker.

Series Overview: Both of these teams seem like they are the team of destiny. Philadelphia has used 5 different goaltenders to get to this point, and 3 have been injured at some point in the season (the other two played one game each). They then come back from a 3-0 deficit to win, something that has not been done since the 1975 New York Islanders. Michael Leighton must not get injured this series if Philadelphia wants to win, as Ray Emery and Brian Boucher are extremely unlikely to return for the playoffs. Jaroslav Halak must continue to play like he has to keep Montreal alive. Michael Cammalleri must also continue his scoring tear and hope that he gets support (which he has so far). Point of interest, if both Montreal and Chicago win, this will be the first Original Six Stanley Cup Final since 1979, when Montreal and New York faced each other. Series begins Sunday at 7 on CBC, Versus, and RDS.

Series Prediction: Montreal in 6

Prediction Record: 5-7

Note for other series: Begins Sunday at 3 on NBC, TSN, and RDS.

1.San Jose vs. 2 Chicago

How they got here: Chicago defeated an over-matched Vancouver team in 6 games while San Jose knocked out Detroit in 5. San Jose has been off since Saturday, so rest time may play a factor in this series (either good or bad).

Series Overview: This is new territory for San Jose, who has never been to the Conference finals (edit: SJ did make it in 2004, losing to Calgary), while Chicago returns after being defeated by Detroit last year. Both Chicago and San Jose have lots of firepower on offense, while also having a decent defense. In goal, Antti Niemi has performed admirably for Chicago, while Evgnei Nabakov has shed his reputation for choking in the playoffs. The team that has the better goal tending should win the series. Chicago has been here before and has learned from last year, which leads me to pick them to advance to the Final.

Players to watch: San Jose- Joe Thornton must continue to be the current Joe Thornton and not the Joe Thornton of previous playoffs. Joe Pavelski must also continue his recent hot streak for San Jose to advance. Nabakov must also play like he did against Dallas in Game 6 (4OT marathon) in the 2008 playoffs. Chicago- Jonathon Toews must play like he has throughout these playoffs, while Marian Hossa must also contribute, and not play like he did last year. Chicago’s entire defense must step up to shut down San Jose’s potentially explosive offense. Niemi must also play well for Chicago in goal by not letting in anything soft, which would kill Chicago.

Series Prediction: Chicago in 6

Current prediction record: 4-6.

So I miraculously managed to predict exactly what would happen in the West, and then fail miserably in the East. At least I got the length correct of each series in the West in addition to the correct team. Anyways, here are my overviews for each series in the Conference Semi-Finals.

Eastern Conference:

4. Pittsburgh vs. 8 Montreal

How they got here: Pittsburgh demolished Ottawa like almost everyone (except me) predicted. Montreal shocked the Caps in 7 games, which almost no one expected.

Series Overview: Jaroslav Halak was Montreal's saving grace in Round 1 and will have to pull off a repeat performance for the Habs to have any shot of advancing. The Bell Centre crowd will have to channel the old Montreal Forum to give their team a shot when on home ice. Pittsburgh will have to get good goal-tending out of Fleury and good play out of Crosby, Malkin, and Staal. Look for an interesting series. If Montreal can get stellar goal-tending and consistent offense, watch out. I'm determined to pick against Pittsburgh, so I'll take the underdog once again. Series starts Friday at 7:00 PM on CBC, RDS, and Versus.

TV: CBC, Versus, RDS, NBC (Game 2 only)

Prediction: Montreal in 7

6. Boston vs 7. Philadelphia

How they got here: Both teams pulled off upsets, although Philadelphia's was much more surprising than Boston's. Brian Boucher outplayed Martin Broudeur to help the Flyers advance, while Tukka Rask outplayed Ryan Miller to help the Bruins advance.

Series Overview: Boston gets Marc Savard back, which is huge, as he is their main offensive threat. Tukka Rask will have to play well again in order for Boston to advance. Philadelphia will have to hope that Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne both get healthy in time for the series, while Brian Boucher will have to stand on his head again for the Flyers to advance. Should be an interesting match-up. Series starts Saturday at 12:30 PM on NBC and TSN.

TV: TSN, Versus, NBC (Game 1 only)

Prediction: Boston in 6

Western Conference:

1. San Jose vs. 5 Detroit

How they got here: Detroit beat the Cinderella story team Phoenix after a thrilling seven game tilt, while San Jose partially got rid of their title of "Consistent Choke Artists in the Playoffs" by defeating Colorado in 6 games, even after they lost one on an own goal by Dan Boyle.

Series Overview: Detroit will once again ride on experience while hoping for another solid performance from Jimmy Howard. Pavel Datsyuk needs to continue his recent hot streak, while Nick Lidstrom will have to elevate his play from the first round. A few good hits from Kronwall would not hurt either. San Jose must hope that Nabakov does not manage to collapse and that Joe Thornton actually shows up for this series. In the end, I believe that San Jose will once again manage to either throw away this series, or that the Wings will just simply outplay them. Series begins Thursday at 8:30 PM on TSN and Versus

TV: TSN and Versus

Prediction: Detroit in 6

2. Chicago vs. 3. Vancouver

How they got here: Chicago managed to finish off a pesky Nashville team that squandered a glorious chance to go up 3-2 in the series by giving up the tying goal in Game 5 with roughly 13 seconds to go. Chicago also got lucky that Marian Hossa was not suspended for his hit on Dan Hamuis, which was quite similar to Ovechkin's hit on Campbell at the end of the season, which netted him a 2 game suspension. Vancouver managed to finish off LA after an interesting tilt that saw them blow out LA in Game 5 7-2.

Series Overview: This series is probably the most intriguing of the second round match-ups. This a rematch of last year's Semi-Final which saw Chicago defeat Vancouver in 6 games, including a Game 6 7-5 thrashing, which earned Luongo the nickname 7uongo on some boards. This series will be determined by which team has the better goaltender, as both Niemi and Luongo have been prone to mistakes during the playoffs (Niemi in Game 1 against Nashville and Luongo in the aforementioned Game 6 last year). In terms of offense, Vancouver will need to have the Sedins play like they did at the end of the season (or Game 5 in the playoffs), while Chicago will need Hossa to not choke and Kane to continue his success against Vancouver from last year (hat-trick in Game 6). This series could easily go both ways, but I believe that Vancouver will exact revenge for last year's humiliating end and move on to the Conference Finals. Series starts Saturday at 8:00 PM on CBC and Versus.

TV: CBC, Versus

Prediction: Vancouver in 7

Note: No season series statistics were available at the time of this post. All times listed are EDT.

Current prediction record: 4-4.

So, if you missed the Rangers-Flyers game earlier, you missed an outstanding exhibition of goaltending by Henrik Lundqvist, as well as an amazing game in itself. The Flyers won in a shootout (and that's a story for later), securing the seventh seed. And now, here are the match-ups, along with my (baseless) predictions of who will advance.

Eastern Conference:

1. Washington vs. 8 Montreal

Season series tied 2-2

If anyone has watched Montreal play recently, Jaroslav Halak has the ability to steal games for Montreal; however, Montreal has been playing really badly lately (lost to Toronto 4-3 in OT yesterday). Montreal also probably does not have the firepower to compete with Washington's offense. Questions surrounding Washington's goaltending and defensive playing remain, but should be covered up by Montreal's recent issues. If Montreal catches fire, and Halak can steal a few games, then the series could be more interesting.

Series Prediction: Washington in 5

2. New Jersey vs. 7 Philadelphia

Philadelphia wins season series 5-1

Philadelphia escaped the New York Rangers and made it into the playoffs with an advantage over Montreal in wins, therefore allowing them to make it into the playoffs as the seventh seed. New Jersey holds the obvious goaltending advantage, while Brian Boucher for Philly has not played in the playoffs in several years. New Jersey just needs to score, and they should be fine.

Prediction: New Jersey in 6

3. Boston vs. 6 Boston

Boston wins season series 4-2

Boston has been on a bit of a roll lately, even without Marc Savard. The loss of Savard might very well hurt them in the end, as beating Ryan Miller is a tall order. If Boston can make up for the offense lost by Savard's injury, they have the potential to make this series interesting. Tukka Rask has played well for Boston as a rookie, and if he falters, Tim Thomas won the Vezina last year and played well against Washington today. Look for this to be a low scoring and interesting match-up.

Prediction: Buffalo in 7

4. Pittsburgh vs. 5 Ottawa

Season series tied 2-2

This is another incredibly interesting series. These teams have met in the last two of the last three playoffs, and the winner went on to the Stanley Cup Finals and lost. Pittsburgh might be the favorite, but Ottawa is not as bad as everyone predicted. This Ottawa team also overachieved during the season, and lost one of their best players in Alex Kovalev (torn ACL, done for the year). Jason Spezza will have to step up to fill the void, which he is more than capable of doing. Ottawa also has goaltending questions, which could hamper their chances. Look for an exciting series that will probably go the distance.

Prediction: Ottawa in 7

Western Conference: (Note: The top 7 teams in the West finished with 100 or more points)

1. San Jose vs. 8 Colorado

Season series tied 2-2

Normally, this is the year where on places bets on how fast San Jose will be eliminated, and that could still be a possibility come the second round; however, they are facing a Colorado team that was spectacular during the first half of the season and has tanked during the second half. If Mueller continues to impress after his trade from Phoenix and Matt Duchene can continue to impress, then this series could be interesting. Side note, the home team won all games during the season series.

Prediction: San Jose in 6

2. Chicago vs. 7 Nashville

Chicago wins season series 4-2

This series features Chicago's firepower vs. Pekka Rinne. If Antti Niemi does not play well for Chicago, this could be an interesting series, with the potential for an upset. Rinne has stolen games before, don't be surprised to see excellent goaltending on Nashville's end. In the end, Chicago probably still has too much firepower for Nashville.

Prediction: Chicago in 6

3. Vancouver vs. 6 Los Angeles

Vancouver win season series 3-1

This is another interesting match-up featuring two hot teams. Vancouver has been lights out at home, and feature quite possibly the best goaltender in the West in Roberto Luongo. If Luongo can not implode like he did against Chicago last year, then Vancouver should move on. Do not count out LA though, as they have been a surprise team all year and have played extremely well. This is probably the second best series in the West after Detroit and Phoenix.

Prediction: Vancouver in 6

4. Phoenix vs. 5 Detroit

Season series tied 2-2

This could quite potentially be the most intriguing match-up of the playoffs. The feel good story of the year vs. the perennial powerhouse. No one expected Phoenix to make it into the playoffs, and Phoenix has had some unbelievable goaltending from Ilya Bryzgalov. This series could quite easily go back and forth for most of the way. Jimmy Howard needs to be spectacular, or if he fails, Chris Osgood needs to return to last year's playoff form in order for the Wings to advance. This has seven games written all over it. Note: The last time these two teams met in the playoffs in the first round, Detroit won in six and went on to win the cup.

Prediction: Detroit in 7

Check tsn.ca in the next few days for their playoff series overviews, which will include quite a few details that either I've left out or forgotten.

Having started by looking at the travesty that is the NCAA Hockey Tournament (and yeah, I forgot to mention that that the incompetence of NCAA hockey refs in general makes it more likely for them to determine who wins a game…[COUGH] Miami [COUGH]), it seems fitting to move on to the NHL playoffs. The NHL playoffs, much unlike the NCAA Hockey Tournament, are very well suited to the sport. This is not entirely fair to the NCAA Hockey Tournament, which has to acknowledge that it involves student-athletes, not professionals, and thus cannot have a playoff as long as the NHL’s is. That said, the NHL playoffs do very well at accomplishing the primary three goals of a championship system: crowning the most-deserving team, crowning the best team, and being entertaining.

To begin with, let’s look at the structure of the NHL playoffs. Eight teams are selected from each of the two fifteen team conferences. This means that the majority of the teams in the NHL make it to the playoffs every year. Now, taking the majority of teams from the NHL and putting them in the playoffs certainly serves to devalue the regular season. However, the effect of this devaluation is significantly reduced because of the inherent advantages that come through the seeding structure. In every playoff series, the higher seeded team gets the extra home game if the series goes all seven. More importantly, the teams are reseeded every round, meaning that the higher seeded team will always get the lowest remaining seed. Thus, an 8-seed will often have to play the 1, 2, and 3 seeds to make it to the Stanley Cup, while a 1-seed’s worst possible draw is an 8-seed, a 4-seed, and a 2-seed. Another advantage to having a larger playoff means that the better teams in a conference can rest players with minor injuries, which means that the better teams will be able to play their best players at 100% when playoff time comes around.

This leads to the best part of the NHL playoffs, namely that it features a higher quality of play than the regular season. This is important for two reasons. First of all, it makes the NHL playoffs a lot more entertaining than the regular season. Second of all, it means that the winning team won when most teams are playing their best hockey, so there is always a fair argument that the Stanley Cup winner is the best team in the NHL no matter what happened during the regular season.

The structure of the NHL playoffs also means that the Stanley Cup winner can always argue that they are the most deserving team. Winning the Stanley Cup requires a team to win 16 games against the upper tier of the NHL. Teams that were mediocre during the regular season have to do this against the best teams, while teams that were great get a comparatively easier draw. At any rate, winning the Stanley Cup will generally show that the winning team had a good record against a tough schedule and won head-to-head against the other really good teams in the NHL.

To conclude this entry, I will look at a couple other important elements in the NHL playoffs. First of all, there is that there is a lot of parity in the NHL as compared to the NBA and NFL, which means that lower seeds can beat the higher seeds and legitimately argue to be better teams when they win a seven game series against higher seeds. Second of all, the biggest problem with the NHL playoffs is that the officiating is noticeably different from the regular season. The reason for this is that referees do not want to make a call that might determine the outcome of the series and thus attempt to simply let the teams play. I have sympathy with this sentiment, but it is highly flawed because it makes officiating even more subjective than it already is and thus leads playoff officiating to become even less consistent than during regular season.

Anyone who saw tonight's Wings-Penguins game might see where this piece is going, but someone really needs to deliver a few wake up calls to both league executives and the players themselves. Crosby's stupidity at the end of tonight's game only magnifies the problem that has existed for a while: a lack of respect between players. The best example of this would be Matt Cooke, who inexplicably got away with no suspension after delivering a head shot on Marc Savard that landed Savard with a grade 2 concussion. As video evidence, I provide Crosby's actions from tonight, as well as three head-shots from Matt Cooke over the last two years, James Wisniewski on Brent Seabrook, and Mike Richards' hit on David Booth that ignited the head-shot debate earlier this year.

Crosby


Cooke


Wisniewski


Richards


Oh, and for good measure, this is retaliation gone wrong (Bertuzzi)


The league really is spiraling out of control when it comes to discipline, not that Colin Campbell has ever known how to do his job when it comes to this. They may have started on the correct path with suspending Wisniewski being suspended for 8 games for a head-shot on Seabrook. In the meantime, players need to respect each other, Crosby (still) needs to grow up, and Colin Campbell is still a dumbass.

Oh, and if Don Cherry gets mad, you've messed up.

Don Cherry on Cooke