One of the more famous lines from Jurassic Park came from Samuel L. Jackson. "Hold on to your butts" basically warned the audience to strap on your seat belts and get ready for a hell of a ride. Seventeen years later I think that same phrase could apply in the second round series between Chicago and Vancouver. Jim Hughson might want to say those words before the puck drops in game one. There will likely be no introduction and no character development. There will certainly be no love story. No, there's a genuine hatred between these teams and I would guess that from the opening face-off there will be T-Rex's and Velociraptors running rampant at the United Centre. And you can be sure that Dustin Byfuglien and Bryan Bickell will be in Roberto Luongo's grill quicker than you can say Dilophosaurus. Okay, enough with the Jurassic Park analogy. It was fun while it lasted, but let's move on.

It looks like this should be the series to watch in the second round. I have a bad feeling that whoever makes it through the Western Conference, bruised and battered and exhausted, might end up like the goat did after the T-Rex had his din-din, (dammit, I promised I was going to stop doing that) once Pittsburgh has finished with them. The Canucks have been waiting for this for a long time. They still feel like they should've beat the Hawks last year in the playoffs, and I would have to agree. I think more than anything they were outcoached. Joel Quenneville found a way to get under our skin and it worked. The reffing (or lack thereof) certainly didn't help. I think it's a new and improved Alain Vigneault this year. I'm still not completely sold on him, but I think that he's done a good job this year. The Canucks had some key injuries this year and their number one goalie and arguably their best player had an off year. Despite that, they still won their division. You have to give Vigneault some credit for that.

In The Vancouver Province, columnist Tony Gallagher seems to think that Chicago has the speed advantage. I'm not convinced that is the case. I think we can skate with that team, despite the fact that Andrew Alberts moves like a dinosaur. (There I go again!)

The Canucks had a very long layoff last Spring after sweeping the Blues, this time it's a 5 day layoff, which is stretching it a bit, but still not too bad. I think the Canucks are better prepared after facing a solid Kings team that plays a similar game to the Hawks. Even their goalie Jonathan Quick is similar to Chicago's Niemi. On the other hand the Nashville Predators were everything that the Canucks are not. They have very little scoring up front and are solid on defense. It will be a big adjustment for Chicago to face the Canucks. That may give us a slight edge in the early going.

I was shocked to see in today's Province that they give the edge in goal to Chicago. Clearly somebody made a mistake. While Niemi's numbers may be slightly better in the first round, LA is a much more offensive team than Nashville. Luongo is a much better goalie than Niemi and if he fails to prove that in this series, the Canucks will once again be on the outside looking in once this series reaches it's conclusion.

The good news is that apparently Ryan Johnson and Aaron Rome are close to coming back. We could definitely use Johnson as he takes faceoffs, kills penalties and most importantly, blocks shots. Chicago uses all four lines, so if we can put together a decent enough fourth line so that we can do the same, that would help a lot.

I know a lot of people expect fireworks off the opening face-off, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. I hope the Canucks decide to stick to business and let the Hawks run around if they so desire. Luongo also needs to focus on the puck and forget about that Brachiosaurus parked in his crease. (I just can't stop myself.) I have a feeling that Luongo is going to have a great series. If that happens, and we don't have any injuries to our top four defencemen, I think we're in good shape.

Either way, this series should have suspense and drama, horror (Andrew Alberts) and comedy (the green men) and everything you could hope for. Steven Spielberg would be proud.