Mark Lee Cares Not For This Hockey Business of Yours

Quite frankly, neither do I most of the time - but man, that guy could make the birth of your first child seem dull and uninteresting.

Yes it's that time of year again - the event that signals the beginning of spring, lets you know it's time to do your taxes and puts more strain on a marriage than 3-drink lunches at Hooters - it's the NHL Playoffs!

The networks have broken out their cavalcade of stars. All your favorites are here - Mark Osborne, Gary Galley, P.J Stock, Mark Lee, the-goalie-formerly-know-as-Glen-Healy-reconstituted-as-a-human-gasbag, and a monkey named Maggie.

And to celebrate this momentous occasion, I did something I haven't done in a very long time - I watched a hockey game... two of them even, start to finish... plus there was flipping to two other games. And I gotta say it really wasn't all that much fun.

First there was the Ottawa/Pittsburgh game - and to all the Ottawa fans out there, my condolences and better luck next year... your team is finished. That series is going to be over in 5 games maximum. If Shean Donovan, Randy Robataille, and Luke Richardson are playing meaningful minutes for you it's probably not your year. Between the 175,000 penalties called in that game, Pittsburgh managed to score 4 goals to Ottawa's 0.

And everybody who took Sidney Crosby over Evgeni Malkin in their hockey pool is now beginning to see the error of their ways... myself included. Could we be heading toward a day when Pittsburgh decides to keep Malkin over Crosby? Who would have thought that.

The late game tonight was Calgary/San Jose - and while I'm very happy to see Calgary steal Game 1 3-2, they won't get too many more wins with games like that. You don't win many games in the playoffs giving up 40 shots. The first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes of this game were exciting - and that's about all - except for Jarome Iginla's wrecking-ball rush in the 2nd period. It was also nice to see Dion Phaneuf not folding like a hobo's suit so far in the playoffs.

One of the other two games was New York/New Jersey - the threat of rabid wolverines gnawing on my shins could not make me watch this series. While I love defence in football I hate it in hockey and this series is chalk full of it. The Rangers may very well be the team that comes of the East this year. They have the defence and grit to punish and shut down skilled teams like Montreal and Pittsburgh. Wouldn't a Minnesota/New York Stanley Cup Final be outstanding? It would go 7 games, with each game finishing 1-0 after 13 scoreless overtimes. The Rangers won 4-1 tonight if you weren't scoring at home.

Speaking of Minnesota, other than Nashville, they are the only team in the West I can't see going to the Stanley Cup. Every other team in the West has a legitimate shot but I think Minnesota is a house of cards. They're built to grind out wins in the regular season by boring people to death - but when things get ratcheted up in the playoffs I don't think the Wild can keep up. They lost at home to Colorado tonight by the by.

So that's it for tonight's games - stay tuned tomorrow to find out if Bob Cole is openly cheering for against the Canadiens this year. Honestly, this is a toss-up for me. I find it hard to believe he'd throw his support behind Boston. But you never know about those Leaf fans - they're an odd bunch.

End transmission.