After dismantling the St Louis Blues in round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Canucks turned thier sights onto a very young, fast and skilled Chicago Blackhawks team. On paper the odds were in favor of the Canucks, and after winning game 1 on home ice, many Vancouver fans may have had the Western Conference finals in thier sights. But the young and resilant Blackhawks team never gave up, and we saw this numerous times throughout the six game series, with the Hawks having to come back from a deficit in all 6 games, including multiple 2 and 3 goal leads that the Canucks had at various points in the series.

With the Hawks winning this series in 6 games with game 6 having a stunning score of 7-5 for the home team, that game in a sense summed up the entire series in 60 minutes of hockey. The Canucks took too many penalties, their penalty kill was ineffective, the young snipers of the Hawks put the puck in the net, the Canucks defense seemed very slow and a step behind on every play, and Khabibulin outplayed Roberto Luongo. Not many people are overly surprised at all the the items at the top of the list, penalty kill, slow defence, etc..., but no one, including myself thought that Roberto Luongo would be the second best, by a fair margin, goaltender in this series.

After a quick four game sweep of the St. Louis Blues, the Canucks have been on a extended break waiting for the second round to begin. In the meantime the Blackhawks have been in a tough and physical series with the Calgary Flames which went 6 games and was filled with emotion, hits, fights and bruised bodies. Although many picked these two teams to be first round combatants with about a week to go in the regular season, the Canucks surged past Calgary to win the division and have home ice both in the first round and now in the second against the Hawks as well. And after the Hawks going 1-2 on the road and the Canucks 2-0 at home in the first series, home ice may be the difference between these two teams.

Canucks 45-27-10 (3) vs. Hawks 46-24-12 (5)

After a tragic end to his season, with the death of his fiancée in an accident in Jamaica, Taylor Pyatt is ready to return to the ice, and has started skating in Vancouver. Just because he has started skating, it doesn't mean that he is both physically and emotionally ready to step into a playoff game. The one thing the Vancouver Canucks have is time after their four game sweep of the Blues. With the 10-12 day layoff the team faces, this allows Pyatt to get into game shape along with gives him time to get his emotions and mental game where it needs to be.

But all this begs to question the fact if the Canucks even want or need Pyatt in the line up. During the season he was bounced around on all four lines, but spent most of the time on the 3rd and 4th lines as a checker and an energy guy. In 69 games he tallied 10 goals, 9 assists and had an even rating. As the season went on he was used more and more on the penalty kill as Coach AV was more comfortable using him in situations on the penalty kill and in key defensive situations. He was skating well, as skating is not one of his great skills, using his large frame and was a great compliment to the third line with Wellwood and Bernier.

Ever since the Canucks wrapped up their first round series against the St Louis Blues, all the talk has been about the very realistic chance that the Canucks wont hit the ice for their second round series for about 10-12 days. Yes the Canucks do have their fair share of bumps and bruises, as do all playoff teams, but when does the line between rest and rust get crossed.

The talk around the team was that both Sundin and Salo would be ready to go if there was a Game 5, so either their injuries weren't that serious, or the Canucks PR team is just twisting the story to make it seem that way. Even after the game 4 win, goaltender Roberto Luongo needed 40 minutes of treatment before he came out to address the media. No one on that team is going to admit that they are in fact injured, as no injuries are ever disclosed during the playoffs, but all the players agree that a quick sweep of the Blues is a good thing and will allow them to be fresh and healthy for the second round.

With a 4 game sweep of the St Louis Blues, many see this as a lop sided series where the youth of the Blues showed and the great goaltending of Luongo propelled the Canucks into the second round, while creating Canucks history of the first 4 game sweep the franchise has ever had. But for the many that watched every moment of every game they all know this was a battle until the end, and alhtough the stats show otherwise, this was a very close series, and if it wasnt for a early whistle this series could easily be back in Vancouver for game 5, and even back to St Louis for game 6. By no means am I saying the Blues could pull off the improbable 3-0 come back to win four straight, but this series was a lot closer than many may think from an outside view looking in.

Although it wasn't the most hard hitting, bone shattering or physcially demanding series such as the Flames/Hawks, Pens/Flyers, it still had its fair share of big hits, scrums after the whistle and a general hate on for the other team. But in every game as every shift became more imporant, each penalty becoming more costly, we saw less and less of the borderline hits and less scrums after the whistle. This is not to say that these teams didnt have the general hate for each other, rather it seemed as if the players quickly realised that they could not be in the box for a game ending goal, as all the games, even the 3-0 shutout, were close all the way to the final horn. Only one game, game 4, went into overtime, but all of the third periods had that sudden death feeling, and everyone had that feeling of next goal wins, or the next goal may shift the momentum one way.

Since were through the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, I thought I would go over my top 5 surprises so far. From teams to players to suspensions this has been a very interesting first round. Filled with upsets, frustration and even the odd goal or too, if the first round is a preview to the second round I can't wait for it to start!

5. Rangers vs. Capitals

With the way this series is going it looks as if the Canucks will be able to move past the Blues and head straight into Round 2 and await their opponent. With the Canucks having the Blues in a 3-0 stranglehold, it is more of a matter of how many games then if the Canucks will finish off the Blues. With tomorrows game in St Louis the Canucks have an oppurtunity to have a clean 4 game sweep on the Blues on thier home ice, but keep in mind the Blues are going to come out gunning and put on a solid effort as there backs are against the wall and may play like a team with nothing to lose, which can be very dangerous in professional sports. Add in the Canucks never being able to sweep a team during a seven game series and game 4 will be a great one for hockey fans.

Mats Sundin battling with some St Louis BluesThe Canucks on the other hand are playing great defensivley, are getting great goaltending from Roberto Luongo and have been fantastic on the power play and have killed 3 seperate, very long, 5 on 3's that could have changes the whole landscape of this series. Offensivley the Sedins have 9 points in 3 games, and have gotten secondary scoring from the likes of Burrows, Bernier, Sundin and a number of defensemen as well. Although the team is playing well, the Canucks still have some adversity to overcome in the form of an injury to the 10 million dollar man Mats Sundin.

With the playoffs right around the corner the Canucks have matched up against the St Louis Blues and both teams have been red hot in the last two months of the season. The season series has been pretty even and all the games have been very entertaining, and we cant forget the Backes-Bernier offer sheets that were handed out this summer. Along with a couple players returning to their previous team, Johnson and Demitra, this is shaping up to be a very interesting matchup. Here is a breakdown of how each of the teams match up against each other:

Canucks 45-27-10 (3) vs. Blues 41-31-10 (6)

With the Oilers out of the playoff picture and with a young team, a back up goalie and having nothing to play for the Oilers were able to beat the Calgary Flames 5-1 at Rexall Place in Edmonton and become the Canucks new best friend. With one game left for both the Canucks and the Flames, the Canucks are 2 points up and only need a single point against the Avalance to win the Northwest division.

The Flames on the other hand have dug themselves a very deep hole after not being able to beat a back up goalie who hasnt played in 30 some games and a team that is getting ready for a round of golf rather than a round of the playoffs. They now need the Avalanche to beat the Canucks in regulation and now need to beat an Edmonton team with nothing to lose and a ton of confidence after beating them 5-1 tonght.

With the last two games left against the Kings and the Avs do the Canucks rest a few bodies and give the likes of Davison, Vannanen, Hansen and Labarbera a couple of games? Or is the division and home ice that important that we go all out and push for the division while risking both fatigue and injury to a couple of our top guns, especially Roberto Luongo. With the Flames having their last two games against the Oilers, who will definatley be playing spoiler but will also be playing their backup goalie along with giving a couple of kids a shot in the last couple games, the Canucks need some help when it comes to the division titile.

So do we forfiet a division title and start on the road against the Blackhawks, who we may match up better against, or do we want to push for that division banner and face the Blue Jackets in the first round and maybe run into the hottest goalie in the league in Steve Mason. If we dont beat the Kings on Thursday I guarantee we see a couple new faces in the lineup for the season finale, but if it comes to that last game versus the Avs it will be a tough choice as all we may need is a win to clinch the division. Either way the next couple of days will be very interested and both fans and players will be keeping a close eye on the Battle of Alberta.