As Nova Scotia’s favourite son Sidney Crosby tries to win a second straight Stanley Cup with his Pittsburgh Penguins, which combined with Olympic gold would make for a very nice 12 month stretch for Sid the Kid), the Ottawa Senators aren’t making it easy. The Sens made a Series out of it with a triple OT win on the road Thursday night and now bring it back north of the border.

We can’t realistically imagine the Penguins losing this series, but Ottawa has made it interesting.

Other playoff thoughts: the New Jersey Devils looked old and tired against the hungry Philadelphia Flyers and that series was about as close as the final tally indicates: Flyers in five. by the time you read this at the breakfast table, or at the computer desk, or maybe you’ll get a quick glance at it as you line the birdcage, the Montreal Canadiens might be as toasted as your bagel, unless they won Game 5 Friday night against the Washington Capitals which I doubt happened, but one never knows.wholesale nfl jerseys Buffalo is in 3 1 deficit and yet could come back against Boston (this is a series whose survivor will be the lesser of two losers but it’s better than nothing, and better than the Leafs which is almost the same as nothing). However, I just can’t see Montreal beating Washington three straight. the Chicago Blawkhawks are being pushed by the Nashville Predators of all teams. Young and very talented, the Hawks might have had a sense of entitlement heading into this series, which would not be the first time that happened to a team like Chicago (anyone remember how the early 80s Edmonton Oilers needed a few playoff wakeup calls before they reached the summit?).http://www.big49erssanfrancisco.com If Chicago gets through this one, it could be just the kind of adversity they needed: you can’t approach the playoffs with anything less than a sense of urgency, no matter how good you think you are.

Who leaves work early to watch the NFL draft? I do, that’s who. And as we watched them parade to the stage at Radio City Music Hall after their names have been called in the first round, we realize that some of these guys are going to be outright busts, others will straddle the line between solid and pedestrian, and maybe a handful will truly live up to the hype (the Browns could have had Eric Berry, a beast of a safety that I coveted, had they not screwed up their draft position last season by winning four in a row to end a brutal season). NFL draft picks symbolize Hope for the downtrodden when it’s April and your team has blown for years, hope springs eternal.

Maybe you’re 10, 12 or 14 years old and snuck out of the house through your bedroom late on a Sunday around midnight. Or maybe you’re a little older, and you don’t have to sneak out, you just walk right through the door because all kinds of delightful things happen after midnight. Or maybe you’re older than that, and you’re bored and HEY! here’s an empty storage shed by the baseball field! Let’s burn ‘er down and enhance the buzz! Anyway, we still have hope for your future, but there’s lots of work to do.

The more than 100 kids who play Little League baseball in Stellarton kids form the Town as well as the surrounding rural areas won’t be overwhelmingly traumatized by the loss of a storage shed and a couple dozen jerseys (and parts of a batting cage), but it will be an annoyance for Little League president Rob MacKay and the others who run minor ball on a shoestring budget, as they scramble to replace what was lost.