Too bad,  but it seems I was oh-so accurate in assessing the Habs/Lightning series. Soon there will be no Canadian teams left in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

In the Monteal case, there is no offence to be counted on – it is always unlikely a team can win 1-0 four times in seven games and that is the pace upon which the Canadiens are rolling. Combine that with them attempting to coast into overtime and playing haphazard defence on the way to 0-3 in the series, and we, or most of us, will all soon need to pick an American team to support (I may go with the Washington Capitals) or move on to summer pursuits.

In the case of the Flames, despite their rising once more into the last-minute breach last game, it looks like the Ducks will be too big – their top line outweighs the Flames’ top line by more than 100 pounds – and too talented for this year’s Calgary squad to overcome. They are exciting to watch (much more so than the Habs) so in case of a miracle advance it will be easy to jump on the unlikely Alberta bandwagon.

The NDP just won a majority in an Alberta election, so stranger things (than a Calgary comeback) have already happened in that province.

•It is a hopeful sign that the Smoke Eaters are making moves that seem bound to improve the competitive abilities of the team, but I am still waiting for some confirmation it will continue to exist even in the near future.

It is unsettling, however, that there is not one Home of Champions native on the lengthy (13 strong) reserve list. Given that all but one of the five Trail kids on last season’s roster is likely to be moving on, the early indications for much of a local presence for the new season are not positive.

• Ball fans should plan to put aside a couple of June weekends for watching the senior men play. It seems the difficulty of attracting teams to the area means most of the Orioles’ regular season will take place on the road. Nothing listed on the web site, still, but I am assured there will be at least those two, sometime-in-June, events.