2011 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS - VANCOUVER CANUCKS

The Spring Lockdown has begun for 95% of Canadian men who are hoping that Lord Stanley's Cup will make it's return above the 49th parallel for the first time since 1993, the year the Montreal Canadiens last sipped from hockey's holy grail.

Every year the NHL playoffs begin what should be two months of excitement and anxiety for Canadian hockey fans, but sadly most years the playoff drive lasts a mere few weeks. But if all things go to plan, Canada's long suffering drought should come to an end if the Vancouver Canucks can replicate their regular season effort: #1 in points, #1 Goals For, #1 in Goals Against, #1 on the Power Play and #3 on the Penalty Kill...The Canucks are my pick to win the Stanley Cup.

Here are my picks for the rest of the series:

Eastern Conference Qtr Finals:

(1) Washington def (8) NY Rangers

(7) Buffalo def (2) Philadelphia

(3) Boston def (6) Montreal

(5) Tampa Bay def (4) Pittsburgh

Western Conference Qtr Finals:

(1) Vancouver def (8) Chicago

(2) San Jose def LA Kings

(3) Detroit def Phoenix

(4) Anaheim def Nashville

Eastern Conference Semi Finals (based on predicted 1st round results)

(1) Washington def (7) Buffalo

(3) Boston def (5) Tampa Bay

Western Conference Semi Finals (based on predicted 1st round results)

(1) Vancouver def (4) Anaheim

(3) Detroit def (2) San Jose

Eastern Conference Finals

(3) Boston def (1) Washington

Western Conference Finals

(1) Vancouver def (3) Detroit

Stanley Cup Winner

Vancouver def Boston in 6 games

So there you have it, email me, or post a comment on here, and we'll see who the better man or woman is. Or post your picks on our Facebook page.

Beckham's Trick Shot Video Real or Fake??

REAL? FAKE? DON'T KNOW, DON'T REALLY CARE!

What I do find interesting, is the backlash this latest entry into trick shot advertising library seems to be creating. Have a read through the YouTube page comments and you'll see they're weighted heavily in the Beckham Hater/Disbeliever category, why? Where were all the haters for Roger Federer's Trick Shot? Was it the fact that Beckham was blatantly shilling for Diet Pepsi? Can't be, R-Fed was mugging for Gillette in his. Was it that Federer's was deemed more legit? I think you'll find both are of the same integrity as the other, in fact if I were a betting man, I would say they are probably produced by the same ad agency.

Real, or Fake? Your thoughts??

FRESH TRACK OF THE WEEK

MARTIN SOLVEIG - HELLO (Original Mix)

As I flush out the direction and develop this whole online presence you'll be treated to new additions here and there, the first being this little nugget of musical goodness. Now you may be asking, why music in a sports blog? CUZ I SAID SO!!

My rationale being that without music there would be no athletes. You just said WHAT??? Think about it, its 7am, you're exhausted, its time to train, what's the first thing you do after lacing up your shoes...headphones! Still not convinced? Rocky Balboa was just a beefed up Philly street punk until 'Eye of the Tiger' came along...Check Mate.

So to inaugurate this premiere edition I have kicked things off with a kickass song and a video featuring tennis stars Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils. I present to you 'Hello' from Martin Solveig feat. Ravonette, both the long and short versions.

Think you have a better sports sounding name than Fresh Track Of The Week, send me your suggestions, I'll pick the best ones and hold a vote. If yours get used, you'll get credit of course. WOWEE!!

Stunning Back Flip Penalty Kick

So you say 'sawccer' is not exciting...well, you're right, most of the time.

But have you seen the Swiss Under 16 League? Of course not. Well, now you have a reason to, thanks to FC Baar's Joonas Jokinen and his stunning backflip penalty kick. Maybe if more goals were scored like this one from the spot, more Americans could find themselves taking an interest in the sport.

Personally I still find this highly unlikely, unless you take Jokinen's backlfip move and make it legal all over the pitch. Imagine, drop kicks and uppercuts via the football boot. Add in a rear-naked choke here and there, and might just make the sport violent enough to take some marketshare away from the Big 4 sports in America.

By the way, FC Baar defeated FC Sempach 3-0, thanks in part to Jokinen's new signature from the spot, which you can watch here.

Lebron - The Animated Version(s)

As if Lebron James didn't already lampoon himself enough during "The Decision" last summer!

'The King' has now followed in the footsteps of Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson, in creating an animated version of his self, or selves in his case. You see, where the above mentioned Pro Stars gang teamed up to sell cereal, Lebron has ditched D-Wade and Chris Bosh in his attempts to sell Nike shoes.

In their place are 3 other alter-ego injustice-fighting versions of Lebron: The Kid - a fun-loving wannabe B-baller, The Athlete - Lebron as we know him now, Business - the smooth talking ladies/money man envied by the kids, that is until they grow up and realize he's a gangster, and Wise - the patio-dwelling, rocking chair bound, advice-wielding old man.

Created, Exec. Produced, and featuring the voice of Cleveland's Public Enemy #1, The series debuted on YouTube Monday, April 4th to little fanfare, that is if you go by page views which were only at 771 at the time of writing, 11:30am EST, April 6th. After checking it out for myself, I don't know which part is more offensive, the 'Bing' product placement or the blatant rip-off of 'The Usual Suspects'??

UPDATE: One day later and all mentions to the Lebrons cartoon are now deleted on Youtube. Maybe it has something to do with the paltry 700 views???

Zizzou Falls Flat On His Face

The latter stages of his career have not been too kind to one of football's greatest, Zinedine Zidane.

First there was the less than enjoyable experience of the being ejected from the 2006 World Cup Final for head-butting Italy's Marco Materazzi. Then just last year, Zidane got his hands involved with the Qatar 2022 World Cup bid. For a country with 45C summer temperatures and no world class stadiums, FIFA executives and the three-time FIFA World Player of the Year, sure took a shining to the tiny Middle East Nation and their bags full of money. Zidane was reportedly paid $15 million for endorsing the successful bid.

And now the latest "misstep" in the French national's careers occured in a match with children no less. My advice...He should've done this in the WC Final against Italy, and beat the Azzurri at their own game!

By the way...can anyone tell me what the tiny sultanate of less than 2 million people is going to do with 12 - 40 thousand plus seat stadiums when the World Cup is over with???

The Olympic Blessing

Every time a Canadian city has hosted the Olympic Games, the following season their NHL team has gone on to clinch the President's Trophy for first overall: 1976/77 Montreal Canadiens, 1988/89 Calgary Flames, 2010/11 Vancouver Canucks. Both Montreal and Calgary also went on to win the Stanley Cup those years, will Vancouver now follow suit??