So with the first round of the playoffs over, we finally get to the good stuff. And you know what else is good stuff? Beer. And equating things to beer is even better stuff, so put on your beer goggles and take a peek at what to expect in the semifinals of the Stanley Cup race.

In the Eastern Conference we have the Sabres matched with the Rangers and Ottawa taking on the Devils. Both these series pit different flavored teams against one another, with lightning offense taking on stout defense. Kind of like a Black and Tan. And just like in a well-poured Black and Tan, I expect the heavy, Guinness-like defense of New York and New Jersey to sink to the bottom against the scoring power of Buffalo and the Sens. It’ll take some time though, so stock that fridge for plenty of overtime games and a big fat Game 7 at the end.

Out in the West the Red Wings will attempt to make it to the conference finals for the first time since 2002 when they take on the Sharks. Now the team from Detroit is kind of like Budweiser in that it’s so big and dominant that it’s hard to think anyone can beat it, yet it doesn’t taste very good. San Jose, on the other hand, is more of an acquired taste, like a fruity microbrew with boysenberries. I don’t understand boysenberry beer or why anyone would drink it, but I really don’t like Bud, so my money is on the Sharks to steal this one in six.

The other Western match-up pits Vancouver against the Ducks of Anaheim. If Detroit is the Budweiser of the NHL, the Canucks are more like the Molsen of the league: Big and well-known, but so often overlooked (in the US, that is) that it might as well be a specialty brew. The Ducks, meanwhile, are like one of those trendy brands that brewers try to sell to people who don’t really like beer, like Michelob Ultra or Zima. Yeah, I’ll take Molsen over Zima any time.

The games that I was able to catch had one trend. The winning team (except the Rangers) were owned like the girl in this basketball dunk video

Anyway, to recap

• Calgary Flames looked terrible
• Buffalo made the Islanders look like, well, Islanders.
• Devils took it to the Lightning …

I’m glad it’s Friday today so when the Vancouver Canucks / Dallas Stars go to a quadruple overtime I don’t have to get up early. Although, it’s much more likely i’ll be passed out in a chair….

Her picks this year are the Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, Atlanta Thrashers and Pittsburgh Penguins and the Vancouver Canucks.

SO are you smarter then a monkey?   or know more about hockey then a monkey?    Then make your first round picks and see who does better.       Or just sit back and watch how the ‘experts’ lose to the monkey.

TSN will be covering up to 28 games in the first round of the playoffs!   While the CBC will be covering every Canadian hockey game.     The playoff eve and the first night of playoffs many people participate in playoff pools or playoff brackets.     BBQ’s begin, trash talking begins and city mayor’s make silly wagers.   Ahhh, the playoffs!

The Canadian teams / games are

Ottawa vs Pittsburgh:  This will be a FAST and EXCITING series.   Crosby, Malkin and Staal vs Alfredson, Spezza and Heatley.  Who can score more goals?   or which Goalie will stand out?
Vancouver vs Dallas:    Goaltending match-up.    Luongo is in his first playoffs while Turco has never done good in the playoffs.   Who’ll be the hero?
Calgary vs Detroit:      Which team can grind it out four games first?   This will be a hard-hitting tough series for both teams.
Ahhhh, the playoffs.   Wait there was nothing snarky about this blog.   I know, but seriously, aren’t the playoffs great?

The chase for the Cup gets underway on Wednesday when the Penguins of Pittsburgh face off against the Ottawa Senators. The Pens, of course, have that young phenom Sidney Crosby, who led the league with 120 points, including 36 goals. The Sens, meanwhile, have a bunch of players not named Sidney Crosby, but they do have Dany Heatley and goalie Ray Emery. Still, they don’t have anyone named Crosby or Jordan Staal or Evgeni Malkin, so I’m pretty sure Ottawa is going down in the first round (sorry Canada), but this could be the best series of the whole post-season.

Also on Wednesday, the Dallas Stars get their series underway against Vancouver. Now you might be thinking you heard once that Dallas is pretty good, but that was in 1999 when they won the Cup; this Stars team is the one that sorta just gets into the playoffs and then gets booted in the first round. The Canucks, with the Sedin twins and goalie Roberto Luongo will be tough to beat this year.

You’ve also got the Minnesota Wild kicking off their series against Anaheim. This should be a pretty good series, too, since this is Minnesota’s first trip to the playoffs since the first Bush was president and they had a team called the North Stars, so those fans in Minneapolis should be plenty fired up. It might even be enough for them to steal this one away from The Team Formerly Known as The Mighty Ducks.

Lastly, the San Jose Sharks take on the Nashville Predators. The Preds look pretty good on paper, but they play in a division with Chicago, Columbus, and St. Louis, so looks can be deceiving. Still, I’m picking Music City over Silicon Valley because Sharks fans cursed themselves last year by booing the Canadian national anthem.

On to Thursday night and more Eastern Conference action, the Buffalo Sabres start their run for the Cup with a little practice time against the Islanders, while the New Jersey Devils go through the motions against Tampa Bay. The Isles have no hope of making it past the first round, but it’s nice to see them back in the hunt, I guess. The only hope for Tampa is . . . well, there really is no hope for them either.

The last series in the East is the Rangers vs. the Thrashers. The who? That’s right, the Atlanta Thrashers are not only in the playoffs but they are in as a division champion. Of course, saying Atlanta had the best team in the Southeast is like saying you’re the smartest one on the short bus. Still, the mighty NY Rangers aren’t much better and will probably get booted in the first round.

That leaves us with Calgary and Detroit. Yes, Detroit is one of the best in the league and the top seed in the West, but how can you possibly root for the Red Wings? That’s like rooting for the Yankees, yawn. Plus, they’re owned by a pizza empire, a bad pizza empire at that. No, everyone out there should be rooting on the plucky Flames to score an upset here, and they just might, though it’ll mean they have to win at least one on the road, which they haven’t been able to do often this year. But this is the playoffs and everything changes now.

So America, are you ready for some hockey?

There is a little thing called the NCAA Final Four happening on Saturday. UCLA takes on defending champion Florida in a rematch of last year’s title game, while the biggest of the big men — Greg Oden and Roy Hibbert — are set to do battle in the paint in the Ohio State-Georgetown tilt. I know, your bracket was long-ago blown out, but these are going to be some fantastic matchups, so you better tune in.

For those of you hoping to see a fight or two, the NHL is heading into the final stretch before the playoffs. Calgary plays in Vancouver on Saturday looking to hold onto their slim grasp on the final postseason spot in the West, while Nashville battles Dallas in their bid to steal the Central division away from the Red Wings. On Sunday, NBC brings us some riveting action as Detroit takes on the Columbus Blue Jackets. (Sweet Sam Hill, even Versus would have passed on that matchup.)

The playoff picture is shaping up in the NBA as well. Who would have thunk that Toronto would be leading the way in the retched Atlantic division? What Svengali could have predicted the Wizards would have a chance to top the their division? Washington and the Raptors go head-to-head tonight at the Verizon Center. But you don’t care about the East, all you want to hear about is the stinking Suns and Mavericks. Well fine, the top two teams in the West square off on Sunday in Phoenix, with the Suns needing a win if they want to catch Dallas for the top seed. They might do it, too, with Dirk Nowitzki nursing a bone spur in his ankle.

What else? Well, baseball is still in preseason action, but who cares about baseball this early in the year? The MLS is gearing up to start their season soon (you’re a fan, you just don’t know it yet), and NASCAR has short-track action from Martinsville. Oh, and someone is probably playing golf somewhere this weekend (yawn).

No matter what sporting event trips your trigger, though, I’m sure the big plan for this weekend involves plenty of this:

Pretty nifty trick, no?

(Video via Lifehacker via tonari no shibfu)

The west has some crazy competition going on and for the past 2 months or so when one team wins or a team loses they can go from 3rd to 8th. This is all due to the structure of the conference and the whole Northwestern Division.

Anyway, here’s my list.

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Let’s summarize where the significant players went and what for. By significant players I mean players that we’ve all heard of. If I did every player that got traded you wouldn’t read this post as I wouldn’t type it.
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