Happy Mother's Day! Sunday should be a special family day as we honor Mom by ensuring she gets a front row living room seat so she can watch the NHL playoffs, the NBA post-season, or if she insists, the Major League Baseball regular season.

I am not sure if you are taking note, but it has become an annual occurrence that the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is a complete letdown. I mentioned in an earlier column that hockey fans should really enjoy the opening round because it always seems more exciting than the Conference semi-finals.

On that note… here's a second round recap, starting with the only series with drama:

Dallas-San Jose: This looked like a sweep, but the Sharks get credit for making it a 6-game series with four of the six needing overtime. Dallas goalie Marty Turco is finally enjoying some playoff success, topped off by that 61 save effort in that 2-1 game six victory which was the 8^th longest game in Stanley Cup playoff history. It was appropriate that the best player in the series, Brendan Morrow, scored at 9:03 of the 4^th overtime. Ex-Cougar, Devin Setoguchi, a healthy scratch in the last game, will have to work on his defensive game if he wants to become a Shark regular. So much for all the hoopla of this being San Jose's year!

 

Detroit-Colorado: I didn't think we could see a series worse than Pittsburgh-Ottawa, but I was wrong. The Red Wings easy sweep of the Avalanche tops it all or shall I say "bottoms" it all. Colorado goalie Jose Theodore was atrocious (6.92 GAA and .826 save percentage). If he was sick, then why was he playing? Detroit outscored Colorado 21-9, and Red Wings second liner, Johan Franzen, scored as many goals himself in the series as the entire Avalanche team. Franzen, arguably the best bargain in the NHL ($900,000 salary), has 11 goals in 10 playoff games. The Avalanche had several forwards hurt, but that doesn't excuse the team's many defensive lapses. The Wings have had favorable match-ups against Nashville and Colorado. It is shaping up nicely for Detroit since its next opponent, Dallas, did the Wings a favor by knocking out Anaheim and San Jose.

 

Philadelphia-Montreal: It is a surprise that the Flyers won in 5, but who would have predicted that
RJ Umberger would go from a journeyman forward to a super sniper with 8 goals in the series. Yes, that is the same Umberger that was drafted 16th overall by Vancouver in 2001, but didn't sign a contract with the Canucks. Martin Biron gave the Flyers stellar goaltending (.929 save percentage) while Carey Price struggled going from a .925 save percentage in the Boston series to .856 against the Flyers; although I don’t think he should have been pulled in game four. It was nice to see the classy Habs fans give the 20-year-old Williams Lake rookie, a rousing ovation during game five even though he wasn't at peak efficiency. The Flyers have been effective using their size and physical play, but I think their ride will end against the Penguins.

Pittsburgh-New York Rangers: The Penguins are the most exciting team to watch and to their credit they dispatched a pesky Rangers team in just five games. Yes, Pittsburgh's Marian Hossa proved that he can play in the clutch. NY goalie Henrik Lundqvist performed very well in the last two games, but overall was outplayed by his Pittsburgh counterpart Marc Andre Fleury. You had to feel sorry for ex-Cougar, the Rangers’ Blair Betts, who suffered a number of injuries while playing in Prince George, only to have his bad luck continue in the professional ranks. Minutes after a Hockey Night in Canada interview in game three, Betts fractured his orbital bone while blocking a shot resulting in season ending surgery.

The Canadian teams may be eliminated, but Canada remains well represented in the final four. The Flyers have 15 Canadians on their roster, the Penguins and Stars have 12 each and the Red Wings have 11.

 

 

From the quote rack:

 

“Soccer star Ronaldo is denying he knew the prostitutes he picked up were transvestites saying when he heard they played for a different team he thought that meant Chelsea.”

Contributor Derek Wilken of Calgary (http://smacksport.blogspot.com/)

 

 

Contributor Janice Hough of Palo Alto, California (www.leftcoastsportsbabe.com)

Janice Hough, on the Yankees placing Alex Rodriguez on the disabled list.

 

 

NBC's Jay Leno, on the 7-time CY Young award winner starting a relationship with country singer Mindy McCready when she was just 15. 

 

 

David Letterman of CBS

“Papa John's Pizza has apologized for T-shirts that called LeBron James 'Crybaby' and is making amends by offering one-topping pies for 23 cents in the Cleveland area. Of course, that doesn't include the 20 dollar per pie delivery charge.”

Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California

Elliott Harris of the Chicago Sun-Times, after Ashley Hatfield (Miss Illinois) turned down a request from a Chicago Blackhawks player for her phone number.

 

And in case you missed it:

 

And how was your week?

 

 

 

Hartley Miller is the sports director for radio stations 94X and the Wolf@97fm. He also writes for the PG Free Press. Send along a quote, note or anecdote to hmiller@94xfm.com