the 4th star

The SHDE is in the books. Finally.

According to the Manitoba Bisons offensive coordinator who hatched this ridiculous email idea format, the draft took approximately 21.5 hours to complete. If that doesn’t sound too bad, then consider that only seven people participated and only six rounds took place. Mats Sundin is faster than this thing.

With the snake system selection in place (first responders to the original email get an earlier pick), I landed in sixth spot out of the seven entries. To make matters worse, I have a BlackBerry on me. Slow trigger. Not a good start but amazingly, regular season scoring champion Evgeni Malkin fell to me in the six-hole. That worked out great as I think the Penguins will come out of the east again. Here are the rest of my picks:

Marian Hossa, Detroit
Eric Staal, Carolina
Henrik Sedin, Vancouver
Brian Rafalski, Detroit
Michael Ryder, Boston

“Just as it is in life, balance is the key to a successful playoff draft.”
— WazooWazny, yoga master

Some highlights:

- Chapko took three Washington players with his first three picks. He no doubt forget to head into his own zone to check on who the Capitals goaltender is. His next two selection were Anaheim players, so it’s possible he could be out of this thing by this time next week.

- Rumour has it Wisener submitted a list of players to take should his turn come up when he wasn’t near a computer. On that list, Ilya Kovalchuk.

- Dr. Hot Tub Hudson took three Devils and two Sharks, admittedly subscribing to the ‘all the eggs in one basket’ strategy made popular by Winnipeg Jets GM Mike Smith when it came to Russian players. Those wishing to connect the dots between Hudson and Communist economic ideologies can do so at their leisure.

Opening night of the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs is in the books and there’s one clear conclusion fans can make. The CBC really dropped ball by taking the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia series rather than the Washington-New York affair.

The Penguins romp over the Flyers was a snoozefest, made even more miserable for the home viewer thanks to the vanilla deliveries of Dean Brown and Garry Galley. Thank God I live in Winnipeg and not Ottawa, so I’m spared this duo every other Saturday. The first period was not even five minutes old before I went hunting for another game.

Found one. The Capitals-Rangers contest on TSN was fantastic. Period. Speed, skill, excitement, good goaltending in one end, shaky stuff in the other net, Sean Avery, and Alex Ovechkin. Added bonus: With so much going on you almost don’t even notice Gord Miller and Ray Ferraro calling the action. Best case scenario. Now if they could just get Darren Dutchyshen to stop gushing about how much the Canadian hockey fan loves playoff hockey we’d really be in business.

Much more on that as the spring continues, no doubt. The point here is, the CBC has a dud on its hands with Crosby Show and I have to wonder how many hockey fans outside of Nova Scotia will stick around for its entirety. It’s not all bad for Ceeb, though. Vancouver-St. Louis looks like it’s going to be a good one, certainly Boston-Montreal will evoke some passion, and a San Jose-Anaheim series called by Mark Lee should be a bloodbath. And the hockey should be pretty rough, too.