So the Conference Quarter Finals are behind us and the Conference Semis before us. But before we get to those, let's see how the PPP faithful did in Round #1.

Atop the leader with a whopping 21 out of a possible 24 points is Grabovski's better than you think who correctly guessed the outcome of every series and undershot the Boston, Tampa Bay, and San Jose series by only one game. And his Cup and Conn Smythe picks in San Jose and Joe Thornton seem pretty good thus far.

Here's the top 10 after Round #1:

And way down at the bottom of the chart? Why that would be super friend of the blog Cornelius Hardenbergh with a lowly 4 points; only correctly guessing the outcome of the Boston-Montreal and San Jose-Los Angeles series. And tied with Corny? Why that'd be Chemmy joke account ARMANDO SLAPNUTS who chose every lower seed to win. Keep it up Corny and you'll find yourself the future owner of a Leafs Suck book!

The final Round #1 Scoring can be found here.

Follow me after the jump for Round #2

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#4 Pittsburgh vs #8 Montreal

Definitely rooting for Pittsburgh. Crosby needs to continue his legend at all costs. No other option.

#6 Boston vs #7 Philadelphia

As much as we all hate Philadelphia Karina nailed it this morning. Do you want Boston to have a shot at the Cup with Tuukka Rask and our 2nd overall pick? Go Flyers, ugh.

If San Jose loses this series, in light of last night, will the choke label be applied or do people view Detroit as a legitimate threat given their game seven torch job on Phoenix and their scorching post Olympic play?

#2 Chicago vs #3 Vancouver

I think most commenters here want both of these teams to lose but I'm rooting for Chicago who have lived through bad ownership and management to tell the tale.

(Comments for this post are closed, go comment in the East article).

The unbalanced schedule has wreaked havoc on our ability to hate each team properly. Gary Bettman's ridiculous idea to have teams play more often against fewer opponents in the regular season has done nothing to create rivlaries. Of course, that's something that anyone with any knowledge of hockey could have told him. Instead, we have a southern market team (for some that is enough to hate) and a former Original Six rival that used to provide us with moments like this:

If I remember correctly, the Gardens crowd, as the Leafs went on to win 5-1, serenaded Crazy Eddie with chants of "Bel-ONE!, Bel-TWO!, Bel-THREE!, Bel-FOUR!, Bel-FIVE!" Good times. Here are some numbers with the team's NHL rankings:

Anyway, after the jump, three bloggers will argue the case for their respective sides:

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This would be a lot better if not for the need for me to run the show over at Five For Howling last night. Well worth it though. So here are three previews from people that didn't have to slake their thirst for thrown snakes last night:

1. Behind The Net
2. Double Edged Sabres
3. Puck Daddy

Common themes in them include that Boston can't score to save their lives. Hmmm I wonder if we know anyone that could help with that?

The Bruins are lucky that they are playing a team that also struggles to play goal or they'd be swept. They have our first rounder so they are evil but Buffalo is Buffalo. God, I don't even know what to cheer for? A meteor? The Apocalypse? I won't watch a game of this series because it is going to be sinfully boring but I predict Tyler Myers will emerge as some sort of man-god because his many mistakes will be covered by either Ryan Miller stopping or the Bruins not recognising what to do with the puck in front of the net. 

This was supposed to be up last night but I hurt my shoulder patting myself on the back for #ThrowTheSnake. Someone on Twitter told me my new found egomania was going to my head. New found?

Moving along San Jose Joe Thornton how to save a choking victim Colorado BU alum Brandon Yip Darcy Tucker 1-0 series lead last minute own goal hilarity blah blah blah

It should be a given that you're rooting for the underdog Coyotes. You would fee like some sort of monster who steps on baby chickens if you rooted against Travis Hair's favorite team and wished ill will upon Arizona's snake tossers. Just in case you're still not sold here are some words from a blogger beloved in Canada: Two Line Pass.

There's one reason, and just one reason, to really, really hate the Detroit Red Wings: their fans. They think Detroit is "Hockeytown" despite the fact that I could hop on Ticketmaster and buy lower bowl seats to any playoff game I wanted right this second if I had any desire to go to that decaying hellhole. (Ed note: he is technically correct which is the best kind of correct.)

Oh, I know, "the economy sucks," but Buffalo hasn't had a local industry besides Seasonal Affective Disorder since the '70s and they bang out their rink every night. But sure, you're the best fans in the league, got it. Oh and also they think Chris Osgood is one of the best goalies in NHL history. Because they are idiots.

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Every year during this blog's history (damn you Maple Leafs) I've had to pen an ode to the second most important aspect of the Stanley Cup playoffs: Hate. I'm a traditionalist. Sports Bigamy is the greatest sin in my eyes. I don't normally get into that 'real' fan debate but this is the exception I make. So for me, a perfect season would end with the Maple Leafs winning the Stanley Cup. Next best would be for the playoffs to be cancelled until the Leafs return. Unfortunately, that's not how life works. This is actually one of the few things that Chemmy and I agree on so we are left picking the lesser of two evils.

First up was the Devils v. Flyers series which presented a conundrum (just kidding, screw the Flyers) but this one has no such problem. Even still, in the interest of fairness (stop laughing), after the jump bloggers from each side of the divide will get their chance to make their case for our support. If you want some kind of analysis you can go here or here or here.

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