The Stanley Cup playoffs began on Wednesday, ensuring hockey fans everywhere over two months of on-ice battles. With the intensity level cranked up from the regular season, sixteen teams are prepared to lay it all on the line. And at the end of this trek, in mid-June, one will be left standing, on skates, the players hoisting the coveted Cup over their heads before popping open bottles of champagne.

The playoffs are full of new faces, past champions, and some with everything to prove. In the West, San Jose looks to avoid another early exit. The Sharks have the ammunition to go all the way, but the true test will come in the second round, a round in which they have lost every year since 2006. This first-place seed faces off against the Anaheim Ducks, a California rival down south. The Ducks went on an impressive run at the end of the season to squeeze into the playoffs, but the Sharks should prevail.

The second matchup in the West also has two division rivals facing one another. The defending champions in Detroit are a storied franchise, having won four Cups in the last 11 seasons, but also have a tendency to underperform in the postseason. These Red Wings are up against the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. They will be looking for the upset, though their lack of April experience may play against them.

The third-seeded Vancouver Canucks stole this berth from the Calgary Flames with just games to go in the regular season. Their opponent, the St. Louis Blues, is by far the biggest surprise, especially sitting at the sixth spot. After being last in the West for a significant part of the season, the Blues made a Cinderella push into the postseason. This inspiring story will only continue if they can get some pucks past Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo. Vancouver took Game One on Wednesday, 2-1.

The most exciting series may be the one featuring the Chicago Blackhawks taking on the Calgary Flames. Even though the Blackhawks took the season series between the two squads, 4-0, the Flames have enough firepower to make this quite the clash. They may be the sleeper of the West, but Chicago surely has enough motivation after making the playoffs for only the second time since 1998, and enough young talent, with the likes of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.

The East looks very similar to last season’s playoffs, with the Carolina Hurricanes replacing the Ottawa Senators, and the remaining teams jumbled up as different seeds. The first matchup presents the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens, teams that faced off in last year’s first round, but under very different circumstances. In 2008, Montreal topped the Eastern Conference while this year, Boston has home-ice advantage as the first seed. Even though many would love to see Montreal triumph with its 25th championship in its 100th season, Boston should take this one.

Powered by Alexander Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals came in second and are facing off against the New York Rangers, who made some significant pickups at the trade deadline in March. This is a classic story of Washington’s offense against New York’s defense, the Capitals’ power play against the Rangers’ penalty kill. New York beat Washington on Wednesday, stripping the Caps of their home-ice advantage and taking a 1-0 lead in the series.

The New Jersey Devils and the Carolina Hurricanes are opponents in the next series. The Devils have been ice-cold lately, while the Hurricanes have been on fire. New Jersey has the experience to pull its act together though, especially being anchored by the infamous Martin Brodeur, who became the all-time career wins leader this season. Even so, this series is up for grabs, and the Devils took Game One on Wednesday, 4-1.

The last of the eight is a Pennsylvania showdown, with Pittsburgh in the west and Philadelphia in the east. Pittsburgh’s turnaround since the hiring of coach Dan Bylsma was been astounding, but the Flyers always have the grit that makes them hard to play against. The Penguins snatched the first game at home, 4-1.

The Stanley Cup playoffs bring one guarantee: every hockey fan will be in paradise until June because of the level of competitiveness. Across North America, people are hoping for upsets, celebrations and quadruple overtime. And in the end, after 15 series end in handshakes, a testament to the sportsmanship in the game, one team will be at the top, raising hockey’s holy grail as the 2009 Stanley Cup Champions.