NHL's March Madness upon us

The science of bracketology is usually associated with the men's college basketball tournament, the 64-team melee that starts today. In the National Hockey League though, another subfield of the bracketology discipline is being established. There is no selection committee, politicking, or automatic bids; just a two-week race for playoff position and the resulting match-ups for what will surely be a great month of Stanley Cup playoffs. For now though, hockey fans are eagerly awaiting their own month of playoff mayhem. Let's call it Anticipatory April.

The closest race down the stretch is shaping up in what seemed a few weeks ago to be an unlikely setting, the Pacific Division. The San Jose Sharks (88 points) have struggled to maintain what was once a substantial lead over their bitter rivals, the Dallas Stars (85 points).

Tuesday night's game between these two Western squads demonstrated this battle for the division, and the top-three playoff spot that is guaranteed to come with it. After Dallas jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first two periods, the Sharks bit back in the third by scoring three unanswered goals in the final six minutes and three seconds of the period.

The last two goals came by way of rookie sensation Jonathon Cheechoo, tying the game with 34 seconds left after scoring 63 seconds earlier. For those of you more familiar with college basketball than hockey, this is an example of the hockey equivalent to the buzzer-beater. The game ended in a tie, but the point helped the Sharks escape Dallas with their precarious three-point lead in the Pacific intact. These two teams will meet once more, on March 28 in San Jose, before the end of the regular season. Expect playoff-like intensity.

Here in Boston, another division race is shaping up in an unexpected manner. The Northeast Division has been tight all season, with the Boston Bruins (93 points), Ottawa Senators (90 points), and Toronto Maple Leafs (90 points) all having quite respectable years.

A few weeks back, it seemed as though the Bruins would have been content with just a playoff berth. But after Tuesday night's 2-1 victory over Toronto, Boston clinched a playoff spot and grabbed a three-point division lead, putting them in line for the third playoff spot in the East. With seven of their remaining nine games in the Fleet Center, the Bruins look poised to hang on and capture the Northeast crown.

Though there are still two weeks left to play, the teams that will make the postseason are pretty much set. There are, however, a few still on the "bubble." One such team unsure of its playoff fate is the Los Angeles Kings (79 points), who are trailing both the Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues by one point for the final two playoff spots. The Kings' loss to St. Louis on Tuesday night bumped them out of the current playoff picture, and their remaining ten games (five home, five away) don't seem to put them in a good position to leapfrog anybody -- all ten are against teams that are over .500.

Of course, the real story this past week was the league's punishment of Vancouver Canuck Todd Bertuzzi for his dirty take-down of the Colorado Avalanche's Steve Moore. Even non-sports fans whose idea of athletic competition is a Saturday night Beruit game (sans "live ball") can appreciate the brutality and viciousness with which Bertuzzi struck. The league has suspended Bertuzzi for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs for the hit, and he will have to apply for reinstatement into the league at the beginning of next season.

The hit, which has, unfortunately, been getting more media attention than anything else in the NHL all season, came in the third period of an embarrassing 9-2 Vancouver loss. Moore suffered a concussion and two fractured vertebrae. With Bertuzzi, who had 60 points this season, out, the Canucks' Stanley Cup hopes are all but crushed.

So, with the brackets still not finalized, hockey fans will have to wait before making their predictions and entering office pools. When the time comes, however, this reporter will not shy away from that daunting task. Next week: end of season awards.