NHL Playoffs: Quarterfinal Picks

Ok, I know I'm pretty late in posting this, but here's the list of who I'm rooting for in the NHL Quarterfinals. Even though The Bruins are not in the playoffs, I still enjoy playoff hockey. How can you not? The players kick it up to a whole new level for the playoffs.

Winning the Stanley Cup is probably the most difficult achievement in professional sports.

Here's my picks:

East:
Ottawa / Tampa Bay - Ottawa - (The Sens currently hold a 3-1 lead in the series.) - I gotta root for the Canadian team over the Florida team. Plus TB won it last year, or two years ago to be exact... Update: Prior to my posting this, Ottawa won tonight and took the series 4-1.

Carolina / Montreal - Carolina - (series is currently tied 2-2.) - Well, first off, no matter who they were playing, I'd be rooting against Montreal because I fucking hate the Habs, but I also like to root for the 'Canes (formerly known as The Hartford Whalers). They are kind of one of my backup teams.

New Jersey / NY Rangers - Rangers - Doesn't matter at this point since the Rangers got swept...

Buffalo / Philly - Philly - (series is tied 2-2.) - Gotta go with the Flyers here. I've always liked them as long as they were not playing the B's.

West:
Detroit / Edmonton - Edmonton - (Edmonton leads series 3-2) - It's more that I'm rooting against the Wings than rooting for the Oilers here...

Dallas / Colorado - Colorado (Colorado has a 3-1 lead in the series) - The Avs have been my 'B' team ever since Ray Bourque got traded out there.

Calgary / Anaheim - Calcary (series is tied 2-2) - I gotta go with Calgary over Disney's team.

San Jose / Nashville - SJ (SJ leads the series 3-1) - First and foremost, the new Worcester AHL team is the Sharks affiliate team, so they automatically get my support for bringing hockey back to Worcester. Second, Joe Thornton plays for San Jose and I hope it galls the shit out of The B's management to be sitting at home watching Thornton in the playoffs.