Sabres rule!

My picks for the final two rounds of the NHL playoffs:

Eastern Conference finals: Sabres in five
Western Conference finals: Oilers in seven

Stanley Cup finals: Sabres in six

Conn Smythe winner: Daniel Briere

Weird prediction: Somewhere, probably down at the corner 7-11 in Dubuque, Iowa, the fat pig Brett Hull will choke on a Ho-Ho. (Too bad that didn't come true, eh?)

Calling it a year

Now that I'm fully recovered from a whirlwind trip back to New England, it's time to put the helmets, pucks and blue Sharpies away for another summer.

The last weekend, though, was memorable.

After landing in Boston and squeezing in a two-hour zap nap, I joined my wife, Lisa, and son, Colin, for a quick trip to Portland, Maine, to watch the Pirates try to close out the Providence Bruins in a first-round AHL playoff series.

Sitting in the second row, within earshot of the visitors' penalty box, we had a pretty good view of the game. The view got much better at the end of the first period.

Jason McDonald, one of the Baby B's, skated over to the boards with a puck in his hand. He tapped his stick on the glass, pointed it at Colin and tossed the still-frozen puck over the glass.

Much to my chagrin, I dropped the puck amid the scrum. It landed behind us, where another fan found it.

McDonald, however, stood his ground. This time, he slammed his stick against the glass, pointed to the man and then pointed to Colin.

Sheepishly, the man handed the puck to Colin. McDonald nodded, smiled and headed to the locker room.

And people wonder why I like hockey so much.

P.S. As a side note, Colin got 14 Pirates, one coach (Kevin Dineen) and the media director (Greg Glynn) to autograph his Pirates sign.