On Wednesday night the world saw an ugly side of Vancouver. After losing to the Bruins, a couple hundred people, who the police are now describing as organized anarchists masquerading as Canuck fans, started rioting in the streets of downtown Vancouver. It wasn’t a very good representation of Vancouver, which is a beautiful city. The next day the citizens of Vancouver took to the streets to help the clean-up effort. Those are the real people of Vancouver.

Amidst all the mayhem, there was a celebration occurring in the Bruins’ locker room after their impressive series clinching victory. The shots of Kaberle dousing his teammates in champagne made my heart feel good. The cars on fire outside? Not so much.

Not many people (myself included) gave the Bruins a shot after they fell 2-0 to the Canucks, but they rallied back like they did all post-season and became the only team in Stanley Cup history to win three game 7s.

Well, that’s the season. It was fun. I hope you enjoyed it. I guess we’ll all be on our merry way… But wait, there’s the important matter of handing out some hardware for the deserving few who excelled (and a few that didn’t) during the playoffs.

Without further ado, here’s the second annual Five Minutes For Fighting Playoff Awards.

Following an almost unbearable break after the Conference Finals, the Stanley Cup will finally begin tonight. I hope at this point you trust my predictions. I nailed both Conference Finals, which matches my performance last season. I'm 11-3 on the season and 22-7 over the past two. However, I refuse to accept responsibility if you lose your kid’s college fund gambling.

Take a slap shot to the face in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final. Come back to the ice after missing only five minutes. Just another day in the playoffs.

The playoffs are a time when relatively unheralded players elevate their play and become household names. Throughout the regular season many of these players receive attention within their local cities and are probably recognized throughout the league, but not many people around the league know how truly good some of these players really are. These are the underrated and underappreciated.

After a successful post-season many of these players will no longer suffer from a lack of appreciation. Praise is nice, but it can sometimes become a curse. With accolades come expectations; with expectations come pressure. Players can quickly turn from underrated to overrated.

Let’s take a look at a list of players who elevated their game during the playoffs and helped turn more than a few heads. Whether these players continue to play at this level will become evident over the next few seasons. In the meantime, they should enjoy the increased coverage.

After this series one team will finally shed the baggage of being a well documented underachiever by making a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Both teams have overcome huge obstacles this post-season to make it this far and neither will gain any satisfaction with merely making the Conference Finals. This is a franchise defining series for both teams and will be exciting to watch.

Break it down!

The second round of the playoffs wasn’t able to live up to the lofty expectations set by the fantastically exciting first round. The Eastern Conference Final match-up was set almost a week ago, while the Western Conference was only solidified after last night's big game 7 between the Wings and Sharks.

Thankfully, the Wings and Sharks prolonged their series, which at one point looked like it would be the third sweep of the second round. Not only does this add some drama and suspense to the second round, but I was away for a week and unable to post a conference final breakdown. Let’s first break down the Eastern Conference Final and tomorrow we’ll set up the Western Conference Final.

Full Disclosure (for those mistrustful of predictions): 6 – 2 in the first round; 17 – 6 including last season’s playoffs

I’m not sure how the NHL will follow-up their amazing first round of action. We experienced four game 7s – two that went to overtime, and one of which was one of the most exciting hockey games of the past decade. We saw crazy comebacks, penalty shots, goalies stealing games, a wardrobe malfunction, and a few head shots for good measure. The first round only missed a few upsets.

What does the second round have in store? Hell if I know.

What is it about seeing someone else’s failure that delights us? Heading into tonight’s game seven between the Blackhawks and the Canucks there is a large contingent excited to see the Canucks blow their 3-0 series lead. There are those who hope the Canucks get throttled in the first few minutes and have the game essentially over by the end of the first. I’m not sure I’m one of them.

The first round of the 2011 NHL Playoffs is underway and I couldn’t be happier. This is the best time of the year.

Hockey: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Generic sentence about how everyone is making predictions about the playoffs. Snarky remark about how predictions only make you look stupid. Holier than thou statement about picking the Flyers and Blackhawks to make last year’s final. Strut around while casually mentioning picking the Blackhawks to win the Stanley Cup.

Onto the picks!

The playoffs start on Wednesday and everyone’s looking for the next Fernando Pisani that is going to come out of nowhere and win them their fantasy pool. The playoffs are much different from regular season pools. No one on this list will necessarily go near the bottom of your draft; it all depends on which teams your pool as a collective are favouring. In a regular season pool you wouldn’t see Alex Burrows go even near the second round, but he’s likely to go that early in a playoff pool because the Canucks are heavy favourites.

With that disclaimer out-of-the-way I’m going to list a player from each team that could count as a sleeper. Of course, players from heavy favourites will go earlier and some of the best players from underdogs might hang around forever, so the definition of sleeper differs for each team.

I was hoping I wouldn’t have to write this post. Instead of writing a (hopefully not) Annual Torontonian Guide to the Playoffs I would rather write a quick tweet: Cheer for Toronto. But the Leafs would actually have to make the playoffs for that to work. So, once again, Leafs Nation will have to temporarily lend their support to another team. Or you can disregard the playoffs entirely and throw your full support into baseball – but that’s not ideal.

If you’re a little confused about who to cheer for, read ahead. You’ll at least know who you shouldn’t cheer for.