NHL Semi-final picks

I promised you, oh gentle readers… or probably reader… or probably not even that… that I would post my second round picks.  It’s a little tougher this time.  In the first round I picked the teams I wanted to win instead of the teams I thought would win and it paid off for me… not litteraly of course, I don’t have any money therefore I don’t bet but you get the idea.  Now in the second round most of the teams I’m routing for are either playing each other or they’re playing teams that are on fire right now.  So I have to pick with my  hockey brain instead of my hockey heart.

Let’s start in the East.

Ottawa vs Buffalo.  I picked Ottawa to win it all at the begining of the season.  Furthermore, Buffalo ranks very high on my list of teams that I totally loathe.  I don’t Montreal hate them, and I don’t quite New York hate them, but I sure do hate them.  Unfortunately Ottawa’s goaltending is suspect right now (I never thought I’d route for Dominic Hasek… who I first learned to hate when he played for Buffalo) and Buffalo just made Philly look silly in the last couple of games.  So, in this round it could go either way, but I’m going to back Ottawa.

Carolina vs New Jersey.  This one is painful.  I’ve watched a ton of Carolina players come up through the AHL over the last few years; Eric Staal, Mike Commodore (a fellow red head dontchaknow), Craig Adams, Chad LaRose, and Cam Ward just to name a few.  Unfortunately for the team-formerly-known-as-the-Whalers they are playing New Jersey who have won about 500 games in a row, who are hot enough to melt the ice, and who just happen to have the best goalie on the planet.  I’ll be routing for the Hurricanes, but the Devils are going to win this one.

And now for the West.

Anaheim vs Colorado.  The Ducks looked real good beating Calgary last night, but the Avs are going to destroy them.  Two weeks from now the Duckies will be golfing.

San Jose vs Edmonton.  Joe Thornton vs Sergie Samsonov.  I wanted to see this match up, but not until the third round.  When that schmuck of a former Bruins General Manager traded Joe Thornton to the Sharks for a broken stick and a bag of pucks I instantly became a San Jose Sharks fan.  Unfortunately, said schmuck also traded Samsonov to Edmonton and I became an Oilers fan too.  Now I have to pick one over the other.  No offense Sammy, but I’m picking Joe.  The Sharks have looked like a monster lately and I think they’re going to pile on the goals against the Oilers.  The Oil were great defensively against Detroit, but San Jose is going to steamroll over them.  I’m picking the Sharks.

Well there you have it.  My four picks for the semi-finals.  Knowing my luck they’re all going to get swept.  It’ll probably end up being the Ducks and Sabres in the Stanley Cup Finals.