Thursday, June 5, 2008

Over.



Well, let's just say I'm not surprised. The wings were going to win this one. They dominated in the regular season. (remember that?) They dominated in the first round, after trading out the dominator Dominik Hasek for "backup" Chris "The Wizard of Oz" Osgood. They dominated in the second round, sweeping the possibly even more ancient (and beaten up - thanks for the memories, Chris Simon) Colorado Avalanche. They went up 3-0 against Dallas, and then decided not to repeat the mistakes of their 1942 forbears, despite losing 2 in a row to them. Then came the finals.

Game one embarassed the Penguins. Shutout. The Mule came back in game 2, still probably experiencing "Concussion-like symptoms." That worked out for Pittsburgh about as well as game 1. The series came back to Pittsburgh, and the Igloo (and two Sydney Crosby goals) turned the series into, well, a series. Detroit won game 4 away, leading to a threat of Detroit winning in 5, which would have been even more domination from the boys in Red and White.

Then game 5 happened. As discussed previously, I fell asleep pretty soon after Emrick said "we've seen 100 minutes of hockey" and so I missed Petr Sykora's thrilling PPG to win the game. I did, however, see Maxime Talbot's equally important goal with 34.x seconds left in the third. Fleury turned in 55 saves, 55 cup-winning goals turned aside (and I do mean turned aside...that man should consider controlling his rebounds).

In the end, in Game 6, we learned why Mike Babcock looks like he could be a mafia don: He sent out the red wings with one mission - kill. Get that cup. And they did. And how. Detroit continued to dominate, and while pittsburgh did a great job of getting goal number 2 on the 6-on-4, they couldn't repeat the feat that has only occured twice and tie the game with one minute left.

Zetterberg deserved the Conn Smythe - his defense against Crosby quite possibly defined the series. 10 European players helped the first European Captain lift the stanley cup, and Newfoundland managed to win it's first. I ALMOST forgive his dad for being such a class-A dickhead in Pittsburgh after game 4. No seriously, what a fucking asshole. I don't care that your kid played a part in winning game 4, doesn't mean you get to be an ass to the opposing fans. Or maybe it just means you deserve to have beer "spilled" on you. Who knows.

Regardless, the awarding of the Stanley Cup means one thing: It's the offseason. Shave off those playoff beards and take in a baseball game or something. Heck, I'm going to go live on a beach for a few days.

And one thing I've been waiting to say since the riots up in Montreal:

GO BRUINS!

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