Whoa, baby! What is going on?

I'm sure there are a few long faces on rue Sainte-Catherine today after the Montreal Canadiens blew another chance to finish off the Boston Bruins. Suddenly everyone's consensus first round pick doesn't seem like such a sure thing. It will certainly make for an interesting Monday night.

Also Saturday the Colorado Avalanche finished off the Minnesota Wild, making the pool advice story I field for Canwest News Service seem a little less ridiculous. I would like a mulligan on that New Jersey paragraph.

I didn't catch much of the Flyers/Caps game on TV, but I did listen to a good chunk of it on the radio while taking advantage of the beautiful Ottawa weather Saturday afternoon. I had the Capitals' feed and give the announcing team three stars (out of five). The play-by-play guy did a great job recapping the score and goal scorers at regular intervals and his description of the play was clear. The colour guy, on the other hand, sounded like the personal secretary to owner Ted Leonsis. Everything was 'we' this and 'they' that. At one point he all but guaranteed a Washington win.

Which brings me to this year's ranking of the announcers on Canadian. As many of you know this is a Sons of Manitoba tradition dating back to at least 2000, if not earlier.

Here's what I said last year, and in 2006.

Here's how I see them stacking up this year (including both CBC and TSN):

1) Jim Hughson: He's been my favourite for a while and there's no reason to suggest he won't be at the top of this list for years to come. He was recently signed to a new contract and should be the CBC's voice of the Stanley Cup final this spring. Hughson is always well prepared and his signature call is: "Big save Luongo." This year he's had to modify Luongo to 'Fleury' as he handled the Senators/Penguins series and has recently moved over to the Colorado/Minnesota tilt.

2) Chris Cuthbert: CBC made a big mistake when they let this guy go during the lockout. Had the Mother Corp. kept him under contract they truly would have the best teams in the business. Instead he's over at TSN doing a fine job.

3) Gord Miller: Perhaps it's because I've enjoyed all his calls of the world junior tournament over the years, but I'm moving Miller into the top three this year. He's not flashy, but he knows the game and has a good chemistry with Pierre McGuire.

4) Bob Cole: The old guy still has a great voice and that masks some of his other shortcomings. Of all the announcers on this list he's the one guy I'd want to call the game-winning goal in the Stanley Cup final, but all the mistakes he makes during the games drops him further down the list.

5) Dean Brown: Is nominally CBC's fourth announcer and has spent most of the first round on the Detroit/Nashville series. He'd probably be higher on this list had I not been over-exposed to him on Ottawa local broadcasts during the season. He seemed to take offence whenever a call didn't go the Senators' way. However in a 'neutral' series I think he does great work, that said he won't see any action past the first round.

6) Mark Lee: He's dropped down the list quite a bit this year, in part due to his inability to figure out who the Sharks' players and coaches are as he calls the Calgary/San Jose series. Doug Campbell on the blue-line? Ron Francis behind the Sharks' bench? I expect better.

Colour guys:

1) Pierre McGuire: Either you love this guy or you hate him and I fall into the former category. His calls from ice level provide a unique perspective and he knows the game well enough to provide some technical insight to the viewers. However his love of Sidney Crosby, Dion Phaneuf and Mike Richards can be a bit over the top.

2) Greg Millen: CBC's lead analyst has grown on me over the years. He's not afraid to criticize, but he doesn't over analyze either. When paired with Jim Hughson he's part of the best broadcast team on television.

3) Harry Neale: Works primarily on local Buffalo games now, but CBC calls on him for time-to-time to fill in. He always has a few cuts turns of phrase that evoke a chuckle and his knowledge of the game is as good as any one in the business. It would be great to have him on CBC more frequently in the future.

4) Craig Simpson: The former Edmonton Oiler has spent the year as the analyst on CBC's late game, which means he sees a lot of the Northwest Division. Although it took him about four months to even acknowledge that he worked for the Oilers until recently he did provide unbiased commentary even during Battle of Alberta games. There are rumours he's poised to return to the Oilers in a front office capacity.

5) Garry Galley: Often teamed with Dean Brown, he worked with Hughson during the first-round this year on the Ottawa series. He's too linked to the Senators for me to provide an objective analysis.

6) Glenn Healy: Oh, where to begin? Suffice to say, Healy is way too negative for my liking. It's one thing to be critical it's another thing to constantly throw players under the bus. Hopefully the Maple Leafs hire him as their next general manager, because I think he'd be a perfect fit for that franchise.

OK, so with that out of the way, here's what's going on in the pool. The team side document is online and a link is available at the side. Today provide team side scores, tomorrow I will update the player side, in the meantime you can check out the spreadsheet (the link is also on the side).

T1) Terry James 10 I've said this before, but this could be the year you join the rest of the family on the winners' list
T1) Scott McCleery 10 One of the five rookies tied for the early lead
T1) Richard Warnica 10 One of four Canwesters tied for the early lead
T1) Mark Brennae 10 So how do you feel about the Huet trade now?
T1) Lloyd Mack 10 Lots of people went for Colorado in six
T1) Liam Lynch 10 Hence the big tie for first
T1) Don McGowan 10 Apparently the Jays needed a McGowan to get out of their funk
T1) Debb Coghlin 10 Your Avs win and you're in first. Not a bad day.
T1) Dale Oviatt 10 You didn't benefit from my decision to go reverse alphabetical for this update
T10) Sean Hutchinson 9 Still perfect, but missing that elusive bonus point so far
T10) Ryan Plesko 9 Must be easier to make objective choices without the Oilers involved to cloud your judgement
T10) Jordan Stein 9 Same as above, but substitute in Canucks for Oilers
T10) James Peters 9 Have you helped control the deer population of the B.C Interior again since we last spoke?
T10) Dave Washburn 9 If the combined pool still existed, you'd be doing quite well
T10) Brad Bouzane 9 For that matter, so would you
T10) Barry Horeczy 9 Did you have Amber Holland in your Players' Championship pool?
17) David Forbes 8 King of the bonus points so far, too bad you also took the Wild
T18) Peter James 7 Look, I'm not absolutely terrible on this side of the pool . . . yet
T18) Jennifer Hosfield 7 How are exams going?
T18) Jeff Sandelli 7 Well, it all comes down to Sunday night.
T18) Jason Anthony 7 Once again you manage to find yourself in the middle of the pack
T18) James Gordon 7 Where do you think Emery will end up?
T18) Cliff Hosfield 7 Wild to the Western final pick showed courage, but didn't pay off
T24) Ron Strate 6 And here's the group that's 2-for-3 so far with no bonus
T24) Rob Shaw 6 Capitals win Saturday was good news for you
T24) Neil MacKinnon 6 Jersey pick won't hurt you in the long run
T24) Natalie James 6 Glad to hear you enjoyed your reading week
T24) Mike James 6 Too many penalties hurt the Flyers, but you already knew that
T24) Mary James 6 Toronto or bust
T24) Kim Landon 6 Have you ever watched the Tracy Ullman show? It's hilarious
T24) Justin Lee 6 May want to stick to picking players
T24) Janet Chapman 6 May want to stick to picking teams
T24) Adam Fulton 6 Thanks for the wine update, I will include a link to it in an upcoming update
34) Ali Hewitt 4 Only one right so far, but you did get the bonus point
T35) Steve McKinley 3 Alot of work to do to catch your office mates
T35) Stacey Tomlinson 3 You should get Jays' season tickets if you're such a good luck charm
T35) Mary Kay Hosfield 3 All your final eight teams are still alive
T35) Julianna Nowaczek 3 I saw a hit from Hungary on the website. I suspect it was you
T35) Colleen Turnbull 3 You're blading trail must be ready by now, right?
T35) Chris Chapman 3 Nice of you to let Janet get bragging rights on this side of the pool
T35) Arthur Casement 3 And I here I wasted the Casement/basement line yesterday. My bad.
43) Colleen Racine 0 I'm sure you'll get one right eventually. No one has ever finished with zero before. (No pressure)