This is where I drive around, mostly.

One of the other playlists that gets me through the February slog is the anticipation of windows-down, volume-up trips to the city/beach/anywhere in the sunshine of summer and the songs to go along with it.

I started making these in 2007 for songs to listen to when me and my girl were driving around and have thus carried it on into its fourth summer:

1. “Pursuit of Happiness” (Steve Aoki Remix)” by Kid Cudi – The tsunami of synths at 45 seconds just begs for a BIG sound system; this might be my favourite song of the year so far and people around me get flailed on when it comes on at the bar.

2. “Lisztomania” by Phoenix – Fell in love with the up-tempo drum beat of this song on New Year’s Eve but it carries as well in the humidity as in the windchill.

3. “Magic” by B.o.B. featuring Rivers Cuomo – doesn’t hurt that it doubles as a shameless plug for my radio station.

4. “Holiday” by Vampire Weekend – I had this one slotted in since the album came out in February; if music comes from wanting what you can’t have then it’s appropriate this winter-weary song came out that month.

5. “Ladyland” by Leif Vollebekk – This mix starts off anthemic then tones it way down with this one, but I love the opening line of this quick acoustic cut.

6. “Banned from TV” by Lil Wayne – Get out of jail so we can hear you rap on something other than a cellphone connection Dwayne.

7. “Club Can’t Handle Me” by Flo Rida – Trying to anticipate what I think will be a big Guetta-produced hit pretty soon.

8. “Meet Me In the Basement” by Broken Social Scene – Works as an interlude; this song makes me think of anticipation – of that roadtrip destination just being over the next hill.

9. “Four Night Rider” by The Rural Alberta Advantage – An acoustic stomper of the highest pedigree to break you out of your trance.

10. “We Don’t Want Your Body” by Stars – Got their new album the day I put this together and had to save a space for Stars on here.

11.”Terrible Man” by Wintersleep – I wrote in my album review that it reminded me of a Tom Petty-style song with its wordy, poetic verses and harmonized chorus.

12. “No Competition” by T.I. featuring Young Jeezy – if this track was only good enough for his latest mixtape then T.I.’s comeback album is going to be real good.

13. “You’re Not Stubborn” by Two Door Cinema Club – as the playlist starts to wind down it gets more into songs near the end of their respective albums; the jagged guitars throughout this one are still beach-worthy.

14. “Rollin’, Rollin’, Rollin’” by Joel Plaskett – Joel’s moving on while providng the mix’s banjo fix.

15. “NW Apt.” by Band of Horses – Gorgeous, uplifiting and simple chorus.

16. “Bear” by The Antlers – I love its references to turning 21 while spinning a wonderful vocal melody throughout and even rocking out a bit in the chorus.

17. “Lemonworld” by The National – Bringing in some atmosphere as the mix winds down. I’m late on The National but that’s alright, the first time I heard this song was my first night in my new NW Apt. in Ottawa.

18. “Epitaph” by Hey Rosetta! – Don’t let the bastards grind you down.

3.5/5 stars

At first listen, it seems Wintersleep has been in a constant state of evolution and lightening up since this Nova Scotian band released its debut, self-titled album in 2003.

That effort was as mysterious and ominous as the Yarmouth fog, which led to 2005′s untitled album that was as powerful as the Bay of Fundy tides. Their breakout Welcome to the Night Sky was at times as grandiose and shiny as the tallest of Halifax buildings, and now most of New Inheritors evokes the sun beaming down on the Cape Breton highlands with its optimistic-sounding instrumentals and peaceful vibe.

It’s a bit weird to hear the same voice that plaintively declared “When I grow up I’ll be a monster” on “Orca” now assuring us that “happiness, it’s all around you” on “Mirror Matter”.

But like that metaphorical sun shining on a graveyard, there is still darkness lurking even when all seems happy and safe on the outside.

“Trace Decay” is one such song that opens with singer Paul Murphy almost sounding like Band of Horses (whose album came out the same day) before the band breaks into a wonderous, spacey jam that turns into an adventure-rock ending that would lift you up if you ignored the lyrics “had a party with nobody that would love you but the wine,” and “got more pills than the doctor should have ever described.”

Drugs and pills are referenced throughout the album, whether it’s the dreamy “Preservation” about the lengths people go to fight aging, to “Blood Collection” which ruins the romantic imagery that Bon Iver’s “Blood Bank” gave to rolling up your sleeves. 

This goes along with the overall feeling of the album, that you can cover things up on the outside but there’s something deeper that just isn’t right.

Another bittersweet tune is “Masoleum” in which Murphy fantasizes about running away to die together, about being “wrapped up in the gauze of your summer dress” where the love is strong but the sentiment is sad.

The band has incorporated new instrumentation, with strings at the beginning of “Experience the Jewel” and trumpet in the title track which sports a bouncy guitar opener and a nice, easy that wouldn’t be out of place in a children’s song.

It’s sort of the same style as their hit “Weighty Ghost” but about how these “new inheritors of Earth” may not need to worry about being left with a dump of a planet after our generation is gone.

Highlights include the rocker “Encyclopedia” with its Queens Of the Stone Age-style opener, and the poetry of ”Terrible Man” laid over summery instrumentals that almost sounds like Tom Petty.

This isn’t a bad album, but the band never seems to takes the chances seen on their last, Juno-winning album which produced euphoria out of the hopeless tales of lost eyes and being eaten by whales.

It all comes off a bit safe and the evolution seems to have been scaled down. Maybe the band has slowed its metamorphosis and found its niche that was closer to their earlier albums than the last, and maybe they found it hard to cover up the darkness that guided them for most of their career.

It’s just disappointing because when they really lifted the restraints and explored the light music/dark lyrics dynamic, the results were spectacular. I like it, but I wanted so much to love it.

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You can stream the album, read lyrics and liner notes as well as an explanation of the album artwork on their website.

It can be said that three of the four quarterfinal series were upsets: Montreal eliminating the Stanley Cup champions, Philadelphia coming back from three games down to beat Boston, and San Jose getting the winged wheel of Detroit off its back in five games.

Hell, Vancouver fans were even starting to buy into the idea that they could be a Cup contender before the bubble popped on that dream when they were left with 4 and a half defencemen in the final game against the Blackhawks.

Here’s a quick look at the semi-final matchups:

MONTREAL (8) VS. PHILADELPHIA (7)

Next up for Cammalleri’s Cinderella Canadiens/Halak’s Heartbreaker Habs/the Riot-causers are the Flyers, who had everyone get injured including their third-string goalie Brian Boucher. Luckily for them, their backup goalie had just returned from injured reserve, with Michael Leighton now as the best remaining Canadian goalie in the playoffs.

It’s always said how Canada could put together two or even three teams for the Olympics and they would contend, with three goalies apiece; which team would Leighton earn a spot to, eighth? Eleventh?

Halak the Slovak on the other end didn’t wow as much as against Washington, but that was because Jacques Martin’s defensive strategies totally overwhelmed more inexperienced coaches in Bruce Boudreau (Washington) and Dan Bylsma (Pittsburgh).

It will be interesting to see what adjustments Peter Laviolette will make to counter this, as he is a more experienced than the two eliminated before him.

In Mike Cammalleri, the Flyers fans finally have a target to boo, as he’s starting to creep up on some Montreal playoff scoring records. The Canadiens were playing an amazing team game in the earlier games before Cammalleri started to distinguish himself from his peers.

For the Flyers, Simon Gagne is back from his foot injury to join Mike Richards as Philadelphia scoring threats and the likely target of Hal Gill and Josh Gorges, Montreal’s shutdown defencemen.

SAN JOSE (1) VS. CHICAGO (2)

Both these teams come into this series with questions about how they perform under pressure; the Blackhawks are still young and can put up terrible games every once in a while (game 1 vs. Vancouver) while the Sharks are still trying to pull themselves out of the “playoff underachiever” hole, although after that series against Detroit they’ve got a few more fingers grasping the ledge.

Chicago is a cocky, trash-talking team that yaps at opposing players from the bench but then tightens up from time to time when the chance to clinch comes around.

It seems that the Sharks are slowly building up their confidence with a potential turning point for the franchise being the Joe Thornton to Patrick Marleau goal in overtime of Game 3.

Both goalies are of the good, not great variety. Antti Niemi and Evgeni Nabokov benefit from the “offence as defence” strategy where they’re counted on to stop counterattacks and powerplays, so it will be interesting to see which team can spend the most time in the attacking zone.

 Offense won’t be a problem with the depth both these teams possess, again led by Jonathon Toews (who leads the playoffs in points), Patrick Kane and Dystin Byfuglien for Chicago and Joe Thornton/Pavelski with Ryan Clowe for the Sharks.

The powerplays should be electric when you throw in Rob Blake and Dan Boyle for the Sharks to go up against Duncan Keith, Brett Seabrook and Brian Campbell of the Blackhawks.

Edit: Of the four teams remaining, Chicago is second with a 21.6 pp% and San Jose is actually last with 19.3%. The Blackhawks’ penalty kill is first at 88.7% and the Sharks are killing at 84.2%.

They key word then becomes “should” as these two teams have the best offensive talent and potential of the four, but the great penalty killing may put a damper on it.

In the regular season Chicago was 16th in the league with a 17.69 power play percentage, while San Jose was fourth at 21.03%. Montreal was actually second?!

*

The potential Stanley Cup finals matchups will present some long-awaited reunions of players and cities like:

- Josh Gorges of Montreal facing the Sharks, as well as Marc-Edouard Vlasic returning to his hometown to take on the hometown Habs!

-Michael Leighton of Philadelphia, playing the Blackhawks who drafted him in 1999!

-Matt Carle wanting to pay back the San Jose Sharks for trading him in 2008!

-Cristobal Huet of Chicago wanting to prove that HE should have been kept by the Canadiens, not Carey Price! That way HE could be backing up Jaroslav Halak instead of backing up Antti Niemi!

4.5/5 stars

I like to think of Holy F*** as a four-piece rhythm section that’s so proficient it doesn’t need any real melody or lyrics.

The Toronto-based group makes electronic music that’s built to play live without loops or laptops, but instead with drums, bass and two tables full of keyboards, pedals and gadgets that they can improvise with during their set.

This all comes together in what they’ve called a “punk rock attitude” to making enthralling textures and sounds in a genre dominated by DJs and disco balls where computers do most of the work.

Their songs are often built around one distorted, manipulated keyboard part with the rest expertly filled in around it.

For Latin, this experimental band has added more sounds to its quirky arsenal with more traditional instruments, like the piano on lead single “Latin America” which blends in a Caribbean-style keyboard beat with swells and rolls of electric ambience.

“Stay Lit” features Brian Borcherdt on guitar and is the saddest they’ve ever sounded, with mournful vocals and a driving drum part. This fourth track is a departure from the fourth song on their last album, their signature tune “Lovely Allen” from 2007′s “LP” which featured a string part from Owen Pallett and appeared in a Dodge commercial touting the re-birth of their company.

“SHT MTN” (they don’t want to be vulgar, after all) brings the cowbell thunder and blips of distortion to break up the rumbling buzz of the low-end keys while a doo-wop vocal line weaves in and out, then “Stilettos” and “Lucky” pick up the pace, with the latter doing its best turntable-scratch impression in the opening.

Bassist Matt McQuaid and drummer Matt Schulz have made the transition from touring musicians to full-time members, and their presence is felt. “Red Lights” is pure funk with a dominating bass-line, and Schulz proves excellent at pulling off tricky, memorable drum beats as featured in the finale “P.I.G.S.” which finishes off the album with a flourish.

This cohesiveness as a band is similar to the approach taken by Broken Social Scene for their newest album, which I reviewed last week. Another connection with BSS is their former producer Dave Newfeld’s work on Holy F***’s records, and the fact that this band also put out a bonus EP with pre-orders.

Most songs bring standout and unique contributions from all four members, if you can pull yourself out of the trance you’ve been placed in to pick out the individual pieces.

This band truly is greater than the sum of its parts, with the head-bobbing feeling that comes over your entire body more memorable than the simple instrumentation that makes up their songs.

I’ve studied, made lunch or rode the bus many times to Holy F***’s older material, and this immersive record should be no different.

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Cows are mellow animals.

Whenever I’m home for the summer I get so excited to drive because it either means I get to blast music with the windows down, or crank the windows up (still have a hand-operated window) and have nobody hear my singing (which is a work in progress, to put it optimistically).

Last year I decided to make one for rainy nights to go along with sunny days, and thus was born a mellow mix that  focused mostly on chilling me out after a long day.

This edition skews more towards slow jams:

1.”Re:Stacks” by Bon Iver – 24 of my 25 most played songs are Bon Iver and Stan Rogers; now you know what I fall asleep to after a night out.

2.”Oh My God (It Still Means A Lot To Me)” by The Wooden Sky - wistful, autumn-sounding music even though we’re on the brink of summer.

3.”Already Yours” by Bahamas

4.”Nude” by Radiohead – It really shows my frame of mind in second year that this was the song I identified with the most.

5.”There Is Hope For You” by William Elliott Whitmore - Thanks Harris for the tip on this 30something blues player who sounds like he’s 80.

6.”Big Bird In A Small Cage” by Patrick Watson

7.”Barricade” by Stars

8.”Wing Finger” by Chad VanGaalen - I thought of this song during the end credits of Avatar for some reason.

9.”Passenger Seat” by Death Cab For Cutie

10.”New Kind Of Love” by Plants and Animals

11.”We Made A Pact” by Hey Rosetta! - A heartbreaker.

12.”45 Years (Live)” by Stan Rogers - “This is for my wife,” uttered the year before he died in a plane crash.

13.”Oliver James” by Fleet Foxes

14.”The Sea” by Owen Pallett

15.”Passing Afternoon” by Iron and Wine

16.”Unison Falling Into Harmony” by Great Lake Swimmers

17.”In The Summertime” by The Rural Alberts Advantage - slowdanced to this one when I saw them live in November.

18.”Don’t Go To Klaksvik” by Leif Vollebekk -Simply put, will make you want to make love to everybody.

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3.5/5 stars

As a collective, Broken Social Scene has released three sprawling albums where the many members piled instrument upon instrument for full, rich music that became sort of a signature sound.

Their latest release, Forgiveness Rock Record, sees them make the switch from producer David Newfeld to Josh McEntire of Tortoise (with the band co-producing) and has the emphasis put on the ROCK aspect of the title.

“It’s sort of the most focused record we made in a long time,” said singer Kevin Drew to CTV.ca, and other band members credited McEntire’s mellow style and the break from touring’s hectic lifestyle as affecting the album.

This isn’t to say that the band has sold out for their first album since 2005′s self-titled effort. In general, the song structure is more straightforward with an added emphasis on the lyrics and less on dreamy soundscapes, although there are still interludes and instrumentals as the album runs over an hour.

Lead single “World Sick” acts as sort of a transition to the band’s new approach, with Drew allowing the band to provide the lift to the anthemic chorus while he shows restraint in his vocals, sounding almost weary at times. This is in contrast to his raw, shrieking style on older tracks like “Ibi Dreams of Pavement” and “It’s All Gonna Break”.

Tracks like “Art House Director“, “Water in Hell” and “Texico Bitches” are more traditional rockers, with only the name stopping the latter from fitting in comfortably on your local adult-contemporary radio station.

“Meet Me in the Basement” is an instrumental track and a personal highlight, as it’s one of the “big” moments on the album, mixing stadium-sized drums with a pile of instrumentalists pouring their hearts into a sunny and glorious palette of sound.

That track, as well as “Highway Slipper Jam” and “All to All” are flashbacks to BSS’ earlier records, and the trio of Leslie Feist, Emily Haines and Amy Millan do make an appearance together on “Sentimental X’s“, part of a mellow back-to-back with the sensual slow-burner “Sweetest Kill“.

The last track on the album is notable because it came from the sessions in between takes for Forgiveness Rock Record, which became an EP titled Lo-Fi For the Dividing Nights that came with pre-orders from the Arts and Crafts website.

“Me and My Hand” is a short ballad of loneliness and how some people deal with it, and fits in well with the acoustic, mostly instrumental songs on the EP that were put together while killing time.

That pre-order came with a one-year membership to the Broken Social Scene fan club, but I have a feeling that it may attract some more members after this album hits shelves.

People who may not “get” the earlier BSS albums will be better suited to this accessible summer rock record, while older fans will find the transition to this particular style an easy one, while slightly lamenting the wild grandeur of their older material.

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Next week in the summer of HEAT (Hearing Everyone’s Awesome Tunes) is Holy F*** and maybe Sleigh Bells if NHL playoffs are at a lull, work isn’t taking up my time and I feel like having less of a life.

I’m taking this post on the road, writing it appropriately enough from the Ottawa airport departures area.

This week’s situational song is about the one of the other aspects of the airport, not the tears that can come with leaving but the joy that can come with a long-awaited reunion.

In Ottawa, the arrivals area has a long escalator down into the baggage claim which means a mad scanning of the crowd from up high for that friend (or in this case, loved one) waiting there.

Sometimes it’s a set of doors; sometimes it’s rounding a corner, but the anticipation is huge for both parties no matter what the barrier.

“At the Airport” is lyrically one of Luedecke’s strongest songs, with lines like “the static of our phone calls is coming down like brick walls and you’re so beautiful I can barely see you” capturing the awkward but heartfelt greetings of two long-separated lovers alongside a rollicking banjo line.

It has the same sentiment as the opening scene of “Love Actually” but the rustic musical vibe isn’t that ideal for a romantic comedy.

At any rate, even if you’re not like me and currently at an airport you’ve probably had an experience at an arrivals area, whether it be a bus, train or even someone pulling up to a driveway.

Anticipation turns into reality and someone comes back into your life, and Old Man Luedecke was able to tap into that specific feeling and produce this song from the 2006 release ”Hinterland”, his first full-length album.

4/5 stars

Crystal Castles went the self-titled route again for their latest release, but I’d have to say that “Celestica” or “Violent Dreams” are two track names that capture the dynamic of their newest record: part spacey, twinkling electronica and part grating noise rock, sometimes in the same song.

For their ever-important second album, Crystal Castles, Crystal Castles follow up 2008’s Crystal Castles by finding the right amount of inventiveness to add to their already unique sound. Where the first album could fall into the trap of somewhat repetitive songs at times, it was acceptable because it was unlike anything most people had ever heard.

This latest effort (which was released a month and a half early due to leaks appearing online) has Alice Glass and Ethan Kath covering wider ground, from the “Baptism” which veers from Timberlake-style club synths to trancey minimalism, to poppier tracks like “Not in Love”.

Unpredictability is definitely a strong quality of the band. The introduction to “Empathy” has a Middle-Eastern feel to it while “Birds” features an undertow of what sounds like electric guitar.

The first three songs unfold along the same lines of how a nightmare does:  “Fainting Spells” is an uneasy opener with a haunted-house style melody, the aforementioned “Celestica” lulls you into a false sense of security as a surprisingly lovely piece before “Doe Deer” smashes you in the face.

If I ever get to see them live that one will finally be the death blow to my eardrums.

Glass is a diverse vocalist, from hardcore-style screaming to more traditional singing, and sometimes is mixed as just one of the many layers on the tracks. She’s a big piece of the band (which was previously a solo effort) but the foundation is Kath’s production which truly makes the lyrics another part of the music, instead of always being at the forefront.

Closer “I Am Made of Chalk” reminds me of the Internet hoax where some engineers apparently recorded what Hell was supposed to sound like; if that was a normal day for the damned, this song sounds like when Satan holds choir practice while suffering souls drown in lava.

The last album had a sort of futuristic, urban feel, like driving around 2100-ish Vegas in a hovercar while an angry woman yelled at you from the passenger seat. This record takes you outside the city on a sonic voyage through all sorts of emotions and vibes, and the result is rewarding for the listener.

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I’m horrible at gauging music/movies without soaking in but I can definitely see this album as equal to the first and given time will probably end up better. It has a great chance of making my mid-year top albums list, although there are still many more to come – on my count, one a week until the first Tuesday of July.

A Winter Classic rematch is one of the quarterfinal matchups. Zdeno Chara will have more hits in this series than David Ortiz will all year . . .

If I had done predictions in Round One they would have mostly been wrong, so again I foresake in-depth analysis in favour of a look at the matchups and what’s interesting about them:

San Jose (1) vs. Detroit (5)

San Jose may have trouble getting in the playoff frame of mind, but their airport workers are already using every trick in the book to throw off the Red Wings. The Sharks’ home crowd is one Evgeni Nabokov blunder away from booing their troops, and are also not taking advantage of the most badass animal to potentially throw on the ice.

Both teams are having goaltender and scoring issues: I’d argue that Nabokov and Jimmy Howard (with his snazzy pads) are about equally “meh” in net, and while Detroit is getting most of its offence from its top line and defencemen, the Sharks have relied on their depth while the much-maligned top line continues its sub-par offensive production.

The Sharks are the team with the best record left in the playoffs, so when they are firing on all cylinders they are a favourite. The problem with those cylinders is that the filter is clogged and the sparkplug goes on the fritz everytime you need it for a big night.

A theme of these playoffs is that each of these matchups isn’t all that new; these two teams have met before in the playoffs in 2007, and the next year San Jose hired Detroit’s assistant coach for their head job.

The Sharks are your team if you pity them and their fanbase, while cheering for Detroit is a safe pick for a borderline dynasty trying to get to the finals for the third straight year.

Chicago (2) vs. Vancouver (3)

These teams met last year in a six-game series that saw the first cracks appear in Roberto Luongo’s aura: he may have steered Canada to Olympic gold, but did so despite forgetting how to catch the puck. Luongo is still the best goaltender remaining in the West, but none of these four have been consistently dominant this year.

Annti Niemi quietly put up two shutouts in the opening round for Chicago, but the focus for them remains their quick, skillful group of forwards and injury-plagued defence.

Vancouver matches Patrick Kane, Jonathon Toews and Marian Hossa and with the Sedin twins and the red-hot Mikael Samuelsson, and the rest of their forwards are a scrappy bunch who can still score.

Vancouver is probably Canada’s best hope for a Stanley Cup and has the only ginger nominated for the Most Valuable Player award*, plus if they advance we get more of Green Men messing with opposing players by the penalty box.

 The Blackhawks are a team who were celebrated for getting to the conference finals last year, but the addition of perennial bridesmaid Hossa means the goal this time is losing in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals (as he has the last two years on two different teams) or bust.

Finally an excuse to put together my All-Ginger Team: Henrik/Daniel Sedin and Corey Perry (borderline, I know) for forwards, Brian Campbell and Mike Commodore on defence, and Miika Kiprusoff in goal. Anyone I’m missing?

Pittsburgh (4) vs. Montreal (8)

The Canadiens are THE underdog of the playoffs, knocking off the top-seeded Washington Capitals in 7 games. Montreal played their game by not letting Washington play theirs, and will have to try to keep it up against the defending champions.

The difference with this series is that Washington has gained “playoff underachiever” status and is one more early-round exit away from a big housecleaning (side note: I bet they make a play for Marty Turco this offseason with Jose Theodore gone).

Pittsburgh has made the finals the last two years and are led by Sidney Crosby, who threw in an Olympic gold medal for good measure.

Montreal’s equilizer is Jaroslav Halak, who played amazingly in his last three must-win games, but who also played poorly enough earlier that Montreal actually tried out Carey Price for a game. These two goalies are inconsistent (with Halak being the lesser of the two) and Montreal is depending on his play staying at this level for 12 more wins,

Pittsburgh switches out the supporting cast from year to year but keeps the same core, which includes playoff-tested Marc-Andre Fleury in goal. Crosby seems to have a great sense of scale and ability to rise to the occasion, and will have the spotlight on him in Montreal where he has played very well in the past.

They will have to step their game up against the Canadiens, who are somewhat similar to the Ottawa Senators except when Halak is stopping 50+ a night.

Pittsburgh is your team if you want to clamp onto a still-young team that will be contenders for years to come, while the Canadiens are the ultimate underdog and should make this an entertaining series. They better, because they ruined Crosby vs. Ovechkin in what even American analysts have started calling “the best rivalry in sports”.

Boston (6) vs. Philadelphia (7)

This is what I meant when I said these matchups are not that fresh: these two teams played at Fenway Park on New Year’s Day and have each played on Fox/ABC/NBC 5 times a weekend, every weekend for the past 10 years (only slightly exaggerating).

What it does have in favour is seemingly two more underdogs facing each other, although as I tweeted a while back the Flyers underachieve all year so it seems like they overachieve when they play well in the playoffs.

There are some notable matchups like Zdeno Chara vs. Chris Pronger and hard-hitting Milan Lucic against Scott Hartnell; Boston did beat Buffalo by actually beating up on them physically along with taking out sniper Thomas Vanek and will go the same route here.

Also to watch is the return of Marc Savard from a serious concussion he suffered at the beginning of March; he’s been cleared to play but I don’t know about this decision. Lots of discourse in the NFL last year was on the long-term impact of brain injuries and rule changes were put into place to protect players from coming back too soon. I can’t find any links to the Bruins with the doctor who cleared him, so I’ll have to trust the neurosurgeon’s judgment in allowing him to play.

These are two teams with a history of playing each other hard and fast and this series is very unpredictable, this might be a series where you have to watch and see which team your gut goes with.

Philadelphia has more pure scorers with Mike Richards and Claude Giroux and could get Simon Gagne back towards the end of the series, and also have renaissance man Brian Boucher in net. Boston has to grind out every goal it can get as they struggled all year to score, but have young Tuuka Rask in net who is making people notice and forget about Tim Thomas, last year’s Vezina Trophy winner for best goaltender.

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As for me? I’m hoping for Vancouver/San Jose and Pittsburgh/Boston (Matt Cooke, the player who injured Savard, would not make it out alive) in the next round.