Here You Go, Foggy, Picks for You

Well I certainly have missed watching hockey this week. Tonight is Game One of the Western Conference Finals, and although we have had plenty of time to get ready for it, I feel completely unprepared. That is actually not the case, but much like every exam you have ever taken, you never feel quite ready until it's over. Here we go:

Ryan

Red Wings in 6- Still up in the air over this pick. I could have honestly convinced myself to put Dallas up there and talked about Marty Turco and timely scoring, but instead I'm going to talk about Hasek's riding out the final days of his career on the bench. I think Dallas certainly can make some noise in this series (having knocked off the other two top teams in the West) but I feel they will struggle to score against Osgood and the Detroit D.

Penguins in 6- This will be a fun series, but the Pens aren't going away. The Flyers got by on great goaltending and the timely emergence of Ferdando Pisani R.J. Umberger, but the Penguins have goaltending just as good and very balanced scoring. Crosby/Dupuis/Hossa won't be stopped, and the special teams play of Staal and physical presence of Hal Gill will make it tough for the Flyers PP to get anything going. Briere will be a factor, but it won't be enough.

Jon

Stars in 6
Flyers in 7 (Taking the Stress Buffalo's advice, I guess...)

Rich

Stars in 7
Pens in 6

Chris
Stars in 7
Pens in 6
I'm not even sure what's going to happen in these series. All I know is that it's been a while since I've really forward to both conference finals as much I am this year. All I'm sure of this that there's going to be some great hockey played. And that's fine with me.

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If you haven't picked yet feel free to put them in the comments. Even if you didn't pick the first round we are still keeping track.