It's official.  The Detroit Red Wings have now won four Stanley Cups since we last won it all.  To borrow the most used pun of the day, it was a very Swede victory for the team, with Lidstrom becoming the first European captain to hoist the cup and Zetterberg winning

I played a late night double header last night for Raging Storm and the hockey game was already in overtime when I got in my car and turned on the radio.  There's nothing better than a potential Stanley Cup clinching game in OT.  It was riveting radio. When the second

The emotionless Red Army will win the Stanley Cup.  They're on the cusp, and they'll likely seal the deal at home Monday night.  I have little interest in watching Lidstrom and the boys pass around the cup. Still, as I look for a silver lining, at least it's yet another

Nothing is worse than a Stanley Cup final that's over in four straight.  The exception to this rule, of course, is when your team sweeps, but I wouldn't know about such things. The Pens had to win last night to make this interesting and they did just that thanks to

Yikes, the young Penguins are getting schooled.  If you're rooting for the Pens, there hasn't been much to get up about.  In fact, it's been a dog with fleas. In the pool, there has never been a closer race for second.  Four poolies are separated by two points.  I still

I didn't see or hear a minute of last night's game, but I did check up on the score on my Blackberry.  If you're wondering what kept me from the Stanley Cup finals, I'll write about that later today. In the pool, Patino and Alexi made moves to secure second

Ladies and gentlemen, we have our Stanley Cup final.  It's the Penguins vs. Red Wings, which is a great match-up in my humble opinion.  HNIC showed a little factoid about Sid the Kid getting the finals earlier than Gretzky or Lemieux.  The Penguins turnaround has been fast and furious. In

Pop quiz, hotshot.  What's the mathematical probability that two conference final teams, down 3 games to 0, come back and win their respective series in seven games?  If my math is correct, I give it a 0.03221% chance of happening, and that's why you'll probably see the Penguins advance

I remember the 1992 Stanley Cup Playoffs well.  I remember it because Pittsburgh swept the Wales Conference final 4-0 against Boston and Chicago swept the Campbell Conference final 4-0 against Edmonton.  That hasn't happened since and it won't happen this season because the Stars actually won a game last night

We might be looking at two conference final sweeps.  Red Wings vs. Penguins would make for a pretty exciting final.  Go Pens Go! In the pool, the race for 2nd is heating up.  Ryan currently holds down that spot with 79, Patino and Pops have 78 and Alexi has 77.

I want to give props to all the mothers in our pool.  Enjoy your special day, you're the grease that makes the world go 'round. For the rest of the story, visit http://www.torontomike.com/2008hockeypool.html.

I watched most of the Battle of Pennsylvania and it was pretty entertaining.  Forget Sid the Kid, this Malkin youngster is incredible.  If Pittsburgh continues to get good goaltending, they might be unstoppable. I would love to see Gary Roberts win another cup.  19 years between Stanley Cup wins might

For the three of you still following the world's greatest NHL playoff pool, Drew is about to gallop far, far away from the pack.  He got five points yesterday from the Red Wings and nobody else had more than one.  Drew's going to win $170. In Nova Scotia, $170 makes

I enjoyed that Pittsburgh game yesterday afternoon.  The Rangers fought back to force OT and the Pens pulled it out in OT to end the series in five.  I wonder how Sens fans feel seeing Hossa come through in the playoff clutch. With the Rangers and Sharks exiting stage right,

Last night, I had the delightful pleasure of greying out the Montreal players taken in our draft.  They're done, having lost four straight games to the Flyers. I really feel for Habs fans throughout this great country. In the pool, Drew has a slim lead over Marc, Ryan and Pops.

This morning I had to drop my daughter off at her ballet recital.  They're going to work out the kinks before we all show up to witness their grace.  Walking the hallways of the school who should I bump into?  Mr. 75 points, Drew. We're not done the 2nd round,

On day 23, my last two active players hit the golf course.  Well, they were already inactive due to injury, but now it's official.  I will finish this year's pool with 25 points. To put that in perspective, the last place finisher last year had 47 points.  The two years

I could have swore I heard that Carey Price was the reincarnation of Patrick Roy?  That's a ballsy move benching Patrick Roy for Jaroslav Halak. In the pool, Drew still leads, and he tells me he's moving to Nova Scotia and not New Brunswick.  Toronto Mike regrets the error. For

Back in 1952, the owner of a Detroit fish market, Peter Cusimano, threw an octopus onto the ice. The eight legs were purportedly symbolic of the eight wins it took to win the Stanley Cup at the time. The Red Wings went on to sweep both of their opponents that

I've mapped out the remainder of the playoffs.  The Flyers will oust the Habs to create the Battle of Pennsylvania.  The Penguins will beat the Flyers in the conference finals setting up an exciting final against the Detroit Red Wings.  The Red Wings will prevail, but this experience will strengthen

Drew continues to lead by five over the trifecta of Ryan, Marc and Patino.  I'll be pretty surprised if Drew doesn't end up winning this whole thing, and since he'll probably be living in New Brunswick by the time the cup it awarded, I might get away without having to

Now that I've adopted the Pens as my rooting interest for the remainder of the playoffs, I'm having trouble getting into the other three series.  With my basketball team down 3-1 and heading to Orlando and my baseball team in a serious funk, I might have to check into this

In hindsight, maybe I should have loaded up on Pens instead of Ducks. In the pool, the top four guys are separated by a single point.  Good for them.  When you're getting blown out in a pool, you can just ignore the whole damn thing.  I don't have that luxury.

I really hate this Habs ~ Flyers series, because I hate both teams so much.  Why can't they both lose? In the pool, Ryan and Marc are tied in the lead, but Pittsburgh plays tonight which should bolster Drew's chances.  Here's hoping the Pens come out of the East. For the

With one round complete, I'm not the only poolie to lose 8 of his 10 players.  Mike C. and Gary are in the same boat.  On the other end of the spectrum is Alexi who managed to have all 10 of his players advance to round 2.  Alexi has some