West Can Be Decided Tonight....

I haven't been very good at keeping my blog updated with the playoff action - my apologies. Although I like both of the teams that have been dominating their respective conferences (Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins), it would be more fun to see a little more competition. You know, edge-of-your-seat nail-biting, spill your beer or pinot noir or other adult beverage of choice all over the couch kind of games. I feel for the Flyers because I think they really would have been hotter had they not been without 2 of their major defensemen, Timmonen and Coburn the last 2 games. Coburn took a puck to the face on Sunday and the poor chap's eye is swollen shut and he had more than 50 stitches to close that nasty gash.

Which of course, as a hockey mom, brings me to the whole visor debate. I know that wearing a visor won't protect a player from all injury, especially the freak ones, but when you're talking about potential career-ending type injuries I think wearing one is a no-brainer. Alex Ovechkin wears a visor and it sure hasn't affected his ability to see the puck in any way, as he is up for virtually every major scoring award in the trophy cabinet. I'm just glad that our kids have to wear the whole cage although I don't know any Pee Wee players who've ever been hit by an AO 95-mile an hour slapshot! So I hope the Flyer's Braydon Coburn gets better soon - that hurts just thinking about it!

For all of the new hockey fans, you've probably noticed that a lot of these guys have full-face beards during the season. Growing a beard during the playoffs has been a tradition for more than 20 years now. Some of these poor guys are so young, they can't even grow one. Scary thing is that there's fifth graders in our school who have more facial hair than some of the NHL guys. What the heck are they putting in our dairy products these days anyway? Poor Sid the Kid (aka Sidney Crosby) is alas one of the great young players who's having a time getting that darn beard thing to fill in. He sort of looks like the guy I saw once on a tequila bottle (Pepe Lopez, I believe?), not that I would know anything about tequila :P

Just kidding Sid - you know you're adorable and you guys have been phenomenal in this series so far! Speaking of fashion blunders, the photo above is one of Don Cherry's latest red-carpet numbers. For you new fans, Don Cherry is the long-time face of "Hockey Night in Canada." He has quite a fashion sense so I know you lady fans would really enjoy his wardrobe choices for each show. Unfortunately, Don is not the most "PC" sports guys out there and sometimes has to be "bleeped" so we don't get to see much of him in the U.S. He is an absolute riot though and I hope NBC brings him in for the Stanley Cup finals! I want to find out where he got that jacket so I can have a skirt made just like it. So, Don if you're reading?

Back to the playoffs - the Western conference series will most likely be decided tonight. The Detroit Red Wings are so talented and have such a deep bench, even minus one of their top scorers, Johan Franzen. He's been out with concussion-like symptoms but I read somewhere that he was back for a light workout today. Maybe we'll see him in the finals - fingers crossed. So keep your eyes open for octopi on the ice. I have a feeling there will be lots of "pi" flying!