Ottawa advances

Nice job and congrats to the Ottawa Senators, heading to the Eastern Conference finals. The Senators have only lost 2 games so far, rather impressive. The guarantee is that Ottawa will play a team from New York state. The Senators play the winner of the NY Rangers/Buffalo series. If the Rangers win, Ottawa is the home team; otherwise, a Buffalo win gives it home ice.

A Canadian-based team hasn't won since 1994 (Montreal). The modern Ottawa team has never won the Cup.

As far as the West goes, Canadian Corner is officially behind Detroit. The Red Wings get our Western Conference hearty endorsement for 2 good reasons: 1) Original 6 team, and 2) slightly more than a swim across the Detroit River from Canada. The Detroit metro area even has a CBC affiliate, CBET. In fact, good ol' Channel 9 carries Detroit Red Wings games when offered as a regional game on Hockey Night in Canada.

An Ottawa-Detroit Stanley Cup battle would be almost as good as it gets, and the best we can hope for now. Canadian Corner has similar feelings for Buffalo, given its proximity to the border, though Ottawa is more of a favorite than Buffalo.