It's Go Time!

Will Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins capture another WCHL Cup? 

It's finally time for the reason season to begin, Season 16 has drawn to a close for some, but for the elite, the playoffs are here.

For some teams, like the New York Rangers, Colorado Avalanche and Pittsburgh Penguins, nothing really matters until now. Having dominated the WCHL for years now, those teams, along with the likes of the Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks, have long ago viewed the regular season as just another formality.

But how will they fair now that it is time to actually try?

Last season, it went as planned for the New York Rangers, who ended the Colorado Avalanche's two year run as league champions, defeating the Calgary Flames in the finals to finally capture a WCHL Cup title. On the other hand, the Pittsburgh Penguins capped a tremendous regular season by getting ousted by the Montreal Canadians in the first round.

While Pittsburgh won't have to worry about Montreal –they missed out on the playoffs in their final game of the regular season- it's virtually a guarantee that one of these teams won't escape the first round. There is at least one good upset every year.

Below are my predictions for the opening round of the Season 16 playoffs:

Western Conference

(1) Calgary Flames vs. (8) Columbus Blue Jackets-The Flames are trying to defend their Western Conference crown and are once again coming off an incredible regular season, finishing with 59 wins and 128 points. Last season the concern was that the Flames wouldn't be ready for the playoffs after breezing through the regular season in similarly easy fashion. In response Calgary almost did get knocked off in the first round, surviving a seven game scare at the hands of the eighth seed.

Expect this to be a physical series.

And who was that eighth seed? The Columbus Blue Jackets of course, and for the fourth straight season, the Blue Jackets have eeked their way into the playoffs. In the past three seasons Columbus has proven to be a tough out, even knocking off the San Jose Sharks one year. Once again, Columbus will not be an easy out.

Calgary should win this series hands down, but Columbus is playing well and has always shown up in the playoffs. This series has the makings of a huge upset if Calgary falls behind early. If not, Calgary should prevail. Flames in 6.

(2) Anaheim Ducks vs. (7) Los Angeles Kings- The all California affair already has a first before the puck even drops, as the Ducks become the first team in WCHL history to prevent the San Jose Sharks from winning the Smythe Division, thanks to a 9-1 run down the stretch. Their prize is facing the Los Angeles Kings, the very team that defeated the Sharks in the second round of the playoffs last year.

Los Angeles is riding a wave of disappointment though, faltering down the stretch and entering the post-season with a goals for/against ledger barely in the black. Once again, Los Angeles will try to rid its trio of Evgeni Malkin, Paul Stastny and Tim Thomas to victory.

Nothing like hockey and the beach all in one.

Anaheim looks to be fairly balanced, but they have had some issues in net this year, while the Kings have received adequate support from the egnimatic Thomas, so he could be the key to the Kings moving on past round one. If he's just average though, Anaheim should take this one. Ducks in seven.

(3) Edmonton Oilers vs. Minnesota Wild- The Oilers are back with avengence after a season which was plagued with difficulties and failure. Edmonton not only returned to the playoffs, they were the only other team besides Calgary in the Western Conference to reach the 50-win plateau and finished with the second most points in the Western Conference. Tomas Vokoun, one year after being on waivers and assigned to the minors, rebounded with possible Vezina-cailber numbers, which Jason Pominville continued his great play, topping 50 goals and 100 points.

The Wild will try to trip up Edmonton's strong season.

Minnesota meanwhile is back in the playoff race again and are looking to capitalize on the experienced gained last year, a five game defeat at the hands of the San Jose Sharks. The Wild will be using their until-now secret weapon, Ian White. The undersized blueliner has moved twice this season but really found a home in Minnesota, posting possible Norris Trophy numbers.

The Wild should be better this season, but the Oilers seem to be on a mission and should be able to push through to the second round on the strength of Pominville and Vokoun. If either should falter though, this is a whole other series. Oilers in five.

(4) Colorado Avalanche vs. (5) San Jose Sharks- Five of the leagues 15 WCHL Cups are represented in this matchup, but only two are from recent memory, both belonging to the Avalanche. The Sharks last won a cup in Season 7, while Colorado won back-to-back titles in Season 13 and 14. The Sharks and Avalanche are the only teams in league history to win back-to-back titles as well, so it should be interesting to see how the playoff experience matches up in this tilt.

The Sharks continue to ride their core of young leaders, the most recent addition being Tyler Seguin, drafted first overall in last years'draft. Seguin led the Sharks in goals this season with 35, while San Jose also showcases early season addition Pekka Rinne, who found is way to San Jose via free agency, then the waiver draft and finally a trade. Both should play key roles for San Jose.

Hockey imitating art (assuming you can call that art)?

Colorado meanwhile will counter with its core which also hasn't been changed much in recent seasons. While Colorado has had success, winning nine straight series before losing to the Flames last year, San Jose has not, and another defeat could signal a need for change. Colorado is already likely to commit to change in the off-season, as rumours have it long-time netminder Ilya Bryzgalov will be moving on after the season, and a new number one could be stepping into the fold, with one possible name being Winnipeg Jets'Craig Anderson. So the incentive is on Bryzgalov to have a great post-season.

Whoever wins this series has the path to do some series damage, whoever loses has a long list of questions to ask. Sharks in six.

Eastern Conference

(1)    Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (8) Washington Capitals – Talk about David and Goliath. Pittsburgh, who lead the league with 64 wins and 130 points, tangles with the Washington Capitals, who barely got into the playoffs, winning a tie-breaker with the Montreal Canadians to sneak into eighth spot. On paper this should be a cakewalk for the Penguins, but games aren't played on paper.

It's either going to be a sweep by Pittsburgh or a tough series, and which way it goes is all up to Pittsburgh.

Of concern for Pittsburgh is the fact they went 4-5-1 in their final 10 games after going 60-11-1 in the 72 games before that. As far as slumps go into not a huge one, but it couldn't come at a worse time for the suddenly human Penguins. Washington meanwhile is likely riding a wave of enthusiasm after getting back into the playoffs for the first time in several seasons, and will be able to dent the Penguins armor if the players they have, like the Magic Mike connection of Mike Smith, Mike Green and Mike Ribiero, can have strong playoffs.

If Washington can take game one, they should have a shot. If they let Pittsburgh get on a roll though, this could get ugly. Penguins in six.

(2)    Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (7) New York Islanders- While it's almost a sign of the apocalypse that Toronto is even in the playoffs to begin with, seeing them sitting with home ice advantage is truly world-ending news. After starting the season with a loss to the Washington Capitals, Toronto went 16-0-3 in the next 19 games to give them a huge edge on the Adams Division crown and they survived a late charge from the Ottawa Senators to maintain that title. No team loaded up more at the trade deadline either, as elite players like Derek Roy and Mikko Koivu joined the club during a flurry of activity.

Two teams with zero expectations usually equals out to a very good series.

The Islanders meanwhile stayed to their traditional selves, making few moves, instead relying on the same core they've largely had for years. Carey Price, Phil Kessel, Erik Karlsson, and the list goes on, as the Islanders continue to turn high draft picks into elite players. And if not for being in the same division as the Penguins and the New York Rangers, the Islanders record would likely look a lot better. If the Islanders stars come to play, this could be over quickly.

Expect this series to be arguably the closest one in the playoffs. The Islanders have the elite players to win big, but Toronto has been playing well as a team. It could be a case of to much tinkering with what was working though for Toronto. New York Islanders in six.

(3)    New York Rangers vs. (6) Philadelphia Flyers- The two seeds no one wants in the Eastern Conference is the eighth and sixth seeds, because it's a virtual guarantee you'll be facing off against the Penguins or Rangers. For the Flyers, they drew the Rangers this time around.

It's hardly an ideal return to the playoffs for the Flyers, who strangely missed the post-season entirely last year. An improved defense, which features deadline pickup Jay Bouwmeester, is the key to Philadelphia moving on to round two.

As always, Philadelphia will need to be physical to win.

For the Rangers, the key to not have a cup hangover. The defending champions are trying to not look to far ahead of them, and will be relying once again on superstar Henrik Lundqvist to backbone their cup run. Complete with 60 wins and 10 shutouts, Lundqvist will be the biggest obstacle for the Flyers to shutdown.

This series would be closer if the Rangers had a weakness, but they really don't. A solid defense, elite netminding and well balanced scoring is a tough triple play to contend with. New York Rangers in five.

(4)    Buffalo Sabres vs. (5) Ottawa Senators- In what should be a good series, the Sabres and Senators tangle for the second straight year in the first round. Last year the Senators pulled off a seven game victory, winning two games in overtime including the final game.

What's different though is this time around Buffalo has home ice advantage, meaning game seven won't be in the comfy confines of Canada's capital if it should go that far. With this being possibly Miikka Kiprusoff's final season, expect Buffalo to play like they want to end it earlier than that. The long-time netminder is contemplating retirement, and Buffalo would like to see him go out on a high note.

It'll be an all out scrap to see who wins the second round of this now annual tilt.

Ottawa wouldn't, and will be hoping up and coming Cory Schneider is as good as advertised when it matters most. So far so good for the young netminder, but the playoffs are the biggest stage and last year the Senators rode Mike Smith to the conference finals.

Two solidly built but unspectacular teams face off against one another in this matchup. Like last year when Ottawa went on to advance to the conference finals, the winner has a legitimate chance to go far. It'll be interesting to see who does. Sabres in seven.

ACHL

Western Conference

(1) Norfolk vs. (8) Worchester: Norfolk in four

(2) Peoria vs. (7) Portland: Peoria in six

(3) Houston vs. (6) Lake Erie: Lake Erie in seven

(4) Manchester vs. (5) Abbotsford: Abbotsford in five

Eastern Conference

(1)    St. John's vs. (8) Syracuse: St. John's in five

(2)    Conneticut vs. (7) Hamilton: Hamilton in six

(3)    Wilkes-Barre/Scranton vs. Rochester: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in five

(4)    Binghampton vs. (5) Hershey: Hershey in five