[Sylvanfan]

Well since I'm home sick and bored I figured I give my observations on the first two thirds of the season, and give my thoughts for what may occur down the stretch here.

Its been an exciting season in the CPHL with several squads taking turns at the top of the standings. Early on it was the Atlanta Thrashers and their stellar defensive play that had them a ways ahead of the rest of the league. Than Milan Hejduk caught fire and the Carolina Hurricanes went on a tear getting themselves to the top of the league for a brief time. Than it was your favorite squad the Oilers who took advanatage of a favorable schedule to run to the top of the standings. But that too was short lived and for the last month it's been the Nashville Predators who have resided in the CPHL penthouse. Having lost only 2 times in their past 21 games and holding a 10 point cusion it's hard to fathom the Preds relinquishing this spot.

But the real excitement is in the lower half of the playoff brackets and it's occuring in both conferences. As it stands right now there are 22 CPHL teams who either hold or are within three points of a playoff spot. 21 of those 22 teams boast winning percentages above .500 and prior to yesterdays loss to the Bruins the Flyers were also at the .500 mark.

The spacing of the teams is a little more defined in the Gretzky conference as the Sens and Rangers both hold the 4/5 spots with 66 points, than it drops by two points with each spot all the way down to 8. As the Isles have 64, Capitals 62, and the Leafs 60. Looking from the ouside and chomping on their heels are the Bruins and Sabres who both have 59 points. The Leafs have been an up and down team of late, and are hoping that Roman Cechmanek can repeat last years stretch drive that helped lead the Canucks into the playoffs, and to a first round upset of the Detroit Red Wings. After a mid season meltdown, things have settled down in Washington under new GM Prototype and the Caps have played some of their best hockey climbing back into a playoff spot. Curtis Joseph has done exactly as ordered since arriving in the Capital City in leading the Caps in their recent winning ways. The Bruins have been a bit of an enigma all season, but in recent weeks have put forth some more consistant efforts to slowly get closer to that elusive playoff spot. The Bruins are a veteran ladden team than once they get in could make a lot of noise in the playoffs. The Sabres looked all but done at Christmas time and several rumors out of Buffalo had several key players off to new homes. But GM Looob remained patient with his squad and it has paid dividends. The Sabres despite numerous injuries to their defence core recently are the hottest team in the Gretzky conference and have climbed back above the .500 mark for the first time since the early weeks of the season. J.S.Giguere and Ziggy Palffy have arguably been the CPHL's two best players since the calender started reading 2005. Also not to be forgotten is the Philadelphia Flyers. Although one might think with the recent Bertuzzi trade that the Flyers are starting to look to next year, this team still has a good group of defenceman and GM Liamenator is not one to go down without a fight. After the Flyers the drop is pretty significant, and with it looking like 89 points will be required to get into the playoffs a team like the Panthers or Lightning will have to rack up 41 points in their remaining 28 games. It can be done, but a 20-7-1 finish to the season will be a tough task for either of the two Floridian squads.

Over on the Howe side things are an even tighter fit with 4 points being the diffence between 6th spot and 11th. The Columbus Blue Jackets currently hold the 6th spot with 63 points but have struggled since a trade that saw top scorer Doug Weight head to Toronto with a 3-6-1 record in their last 10 games. Sitting in 7th based on winning pct. is the LA Kings who now have 61 points. A defensive squad who play a lot of close games the Kings have received surprisingly good goaltending from the seive duo of Cloutier and Noranen and have won three straight to get to where they sit today. Will King GM Icarus give in into temptation and sacrifice tommorrow for a bit more boost today to help propell his team to a place they've yet to get to? Also with 61 points but one more game played is the Minnesota Wild. When 2004 ended the Wild sat 3rd in the Howe and were challenging the Preds for second. But with Jan Hrdina moved onto the Rangers the Wild have struggled in recent weeks and now hold a playoff spot by the slimmest of margins. GM Farhall hopes that his new top line of Nedved, Kariya, and Lehtonen will help the rekindle the Wild offence that was averaging 4.4 goals a game 30 games into the season. Looking in from the outside are three teams with 59 points each. The Avs, Blues, and Red Wings all seem to be going in different directions. After a hot start the Avs fell into a serious funk, but have got it back together lately. Posting 8 wins in 10 games the resurgent Avs have come back to within two points of a playoff spot. The Detroit Red Wings are coming off a very tough stretch in the schedule that has seen them drop 4 straight. Goaltender conditioning has been an issue all year in the motor city and has been very evident in the recent struggles of the Wings. The St.Louis Blues continue to go along at a .500 clip despite the trade of top tender Curtis Joseph to the Caps. The Blues do have a good forward core and a stud like Pronger on defence. Will this be enough to help them stay in the race? It should be noted that one time outside lookers the Ducks and Coyotes have sizzled of late and now find themselves 3rd and 4th in the conference. One more run like the Ducks, Coyotes, Oilers, Preds, or Avs have had at different times in the season would likely be enough to propell any of these squads to a sure playoff birth at this point in the season.

Once the Allstar break ends it's going to be a mad run down the stretch on both sides and CPHL followers appear to be in for a treat. Who will get in, who will just miss out, who will make moves, who will stand pat. Stay tuned as only time can answer those questions.