Well hockey fans we just saw a very exciting first round to the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs.  There were definitely some surprises.  The biggest surprise in my eyes was the Ducks knocking off the Sharks.  Now many will say that this is not a big surprise.  The Ducks were a very good eighth seeded team and the Sharks are no strangers to playoff trouble.  But, after the regular season success of the Sharks and winning the Presidents Trophy I really thought that they would be able to go deep in the playoffs.  I was wrong. 

No surprises in the Detroit-Columbus series, Chicago-Calgary series, Boston-Montreal series, and the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia series results; at least not in my eyes, but there was some excitement.    Philadelphia made the series somewhat interesting and if they didn’t blow a three goal lead in game 6 that could have been a great game 7.

As you may remember I picked St. Louis to upset Vancouver.  Way off on that one.  I really thought St. Louis would be able to ride the wave that got them in to the playoffs, but the Canucks were just too much for the youth and playoff inexperience of the Blues.

As most hockey fans predicted, Carolina and New Jersey went the distance.  That turned out to be quite a series.  It had everything you would expect.  Teams swapping victories, a last second game winning goal, and of course Marty whining about being interfered with when he was a good three feet out of the crease.  It is only a matter of time before Marty starts complaining that players are shooting the puck too hard at him.  Anyway, the Hurricanes pulled off an amazing come from behind win in the last two minutes of game 7 to move on to the next round

And what can I say about the Rangers-Caps series.  Seven games, shut outs, suspensions, coaches and fans battling.  What an intense series and it stayed intense right to the end of game 7 when Sergei Federov shot a heck of a wrist shot past Lundqvist with five minutes left in the third. That turned out to be the series winning goal.

So here are the final results: 

Anaheim defeated San Jose in 6                                                                        

Detroit swept Columbus

Vancouver swept St. Louis

Chicago defeated Calgary in 6

Boston swept Montreal

Washington defeated New York in 7

Carolina defeated New Jersey in 7

Pittsburgh defeated Philadelphia in 6

Second round predictions:

Detroit over Anaheim in 6

Chicago over Vancouver in 7 (haven’t learned my lesson picking an upset against Vancouver)

Carolina over Boston in 7 (upset special for round 2)

Washington over Pittsburgh in 7

Enjoy the conference semifinals.  Until next time hockey fans.