Just to be straight, I am a Flyers fan, but I live in S. Florida and I’ve been employed by this website to write Panthers blogs, so here’s my first of the season. Enjoy, because this may be the most optimistic one you read from me all season.

FRE spent the day with other Panther's fans hoping that the Cats would bring in some talent to convince him to buy tickets to more games this upcoming season. FRE spent the night feeling alone and empty.

Game 7 is upon us and FRE rolls out what could make or break each team tonight in their quest for the ultimate sports trophy.

FRE nailed it. Detroit in 5. Pittsburgh won in 4 and not 6, but how was he to know that the Hurricanes would run out of gas? Big middle finger to Maggie the Monkey, yeah, he's back in the game.

FRE went 1 for 4 on his second round predictions, which means, FRE doesn't really know anything about hockey and Maggie the Monkey is probably spanking his ass right now in the picks department. Now that we've got that out of the way, here are his Conference Finals predictions and of course, karma's joining the ass-kicking party now...

Since Gary Bettman took over as commissioner of the NHL in 1993, the sport and the league have been in a deep freeze. While Gary has brought some changes that have greatly benefited the league (ie. the salary cap) the things he has done to cripple and destroy the league have far outweighed the progress he has made.

FRE was mostly right on his first round predictions, nailing the East winners 100%, but not faring so well in the West, where he overestimated the Flames and underestimated the Sharks (but hey, who didn't). On to round 2, slated to start Thursday....

Yes, I'm a bitter Flyer fan, but this has less to do with the Flyers losing than the referee's trying to decide who gets to win...

Personally, I believe my Panthers got frieking jobbed out of their playoff spot. Stupid shootout extra points and crap like that...but I digress, on with FRE's extra special extra right, playoff first round predictions. These are of course NHL predictions, if you're looking for NBA, move along, nothing to see here.

Can the Panthers buck 100 years of hockey history? Can they actually make the postseason for the first time in years? I think they can and it will bring me a 1/2 season's worth of satisfaction...