The Eastern Conference-

-is all set up for the second round, and with it, down the toilet goes my Stanley Cup prediction.

I couldn't be happier.

Jesus Christ, it's sweet to see the Habs go down, and even sweeter that one of the guys responsible is Glen Wesley, who according to CBS sportsline logged 14:12 of icetime and came out even in the plus-minus.

Yeah, I just linked myself twice, you wanna start something about it?

Still, I don't feel too bad about my call that the Canadiens would win it all, especially seeing as some other people's predictions ( Barry Melrose: Dallas) are far less original and just as wrong. Plus, I hate the Canadiens like poison, and I'm glad to see the French bastards weep. Don Cherry was right- block shots with your body, not your stick.

By the way, I know I'll get sick of mentioning this after a while, but Sportscenter is a useless source for NHL information. I've been watching for 25 minutes, and I've seen clips of John Kruk doing” fact or fiction" about the Detroit Tigers, 3 year old clips of Pedro Martinez tossing Don Zimmer to the turf, (cause it was raining during the Red Sox Yankees), and- I shit you not, an anonymous interview with a Duke Lacrosse player who (Gasp!) says that there was no rape going on. There's a commercial on now for Mission Impossible 3.

One would think that by the time they'd pulled off two "impossible" missions, maybe the third one wouldn't seem quite so daunting?

I guess what I'm saying is, I've been drinking.

It happens people- I worked late, and there you go.

Either way, it's a shame to see the Flyers go out like that, but Buffalo was the better squad from the beginning.

Peter Forsberg is the only thing that made it interesting. It's a shame he left the Avalanche, because the man is a Sasquatch, plain and simple, and that footprint on their shoulder pads might as well be Forsberg's fingerprint. A shaved Yeti with a Five O'clock shadow, pulled from the wilderness, handed a hockey stick and set loose on the rink to dominate, Forsberg was, is and will continue to be the best player in the National Hockey League.

The man could grow a playoff beard between periods, and I'm sorry to see him go.

In terms of predictions for the east, I'll hold off until we watch game seven tomorrow.

Game sevens always have precedence.

Go Flames.