As April gives way to May...

...We enter the final home stretch before the NHL draft takes place in late June.

The NHL playoffs' second round (conference semis) are in full swing, with the Bruins hosting the Flyers tomorrow afternoon on May Day (and no, Brad May is not wearing the winged P).

All three CHL leagues are in the throes of their championship series to determine who faces the Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL), host of the 2010 Memorial Cup.

And, at the end of the month, we'll have the NHL Draft Combine in Toronto, where 100 of the top prospects will undergo a whirlwind week of physical testing and interviews. It's an exhausting process for sure, but it's the last major event (not including the Stanley Cup finals and NHL Awards Ceremony) before the draft is held.

Amazingly, when the Combine comes and goes, we might not know who will meet in the Stanley Cup championship series.

That's the way things go with hockey, but it's hard to believe that tomorrow will bring us one month closer to the main event, where an important chunk of the B's present and future could begin to take shape.

Thanks for your continued interest and support of this blog.