"History will be made" - Stanley Cup 2010

2010-06-10T19:15:00.000-07:00

I've been a hockey fan off and on for about 11 years now. I really started paying attention in 1999, the year when the Dallas Stars won the cup. Since then I really haven't had any championships to celebrate (*crossing fingers the Texas Stars pull off the Calder upset this year*). Dallas has been on a downward slide since. Still, it has only been 11 years. The Chicago Blackhawks went since 1961 before they lifted the cup last night. Hopefully, Dallas doesn't take that long! And hopefully they don't end their drought with the most anticlimactic goal in Stanley cup history when they do

Lets go back a couple of weeks first, shall we?

The playoffs this year were full of drama, and the NHL made it a point all playoffs long to remind you of the history of the cup with their "History will be made" ad campaign. Personally, I loved their commercials. This, despite the fact that I hate the Red Wings, was one of my favorites:

Little backstory first. This was game 7 of the 1996 west semifinals. The game went in to double overtime at home in Detroit. In the middle of the ice, Wayne Gretzky bobbled a pass that was picked up by Steve Yzerman. He took it to the blue line and, well, you see the rest. This is still known to Detroit fans simply as "the goal".

The Stanley cup finals have tons of moments like this. And it looked like when the playoffs started that we'd have more then 1 moment like this year. The first round offered us tons of overtimes and two game 7's. Also there were two huge upsets when 8th seed Montreal took out the Capitals, the number one team of the regular season by far, and the 7th seed Philadelphia Flyers, who got in the playoffs the last game of the season, took out the number two seed New Jersey Devils.

The second round didn't disappoint either. The west was a cake walk for the Blackhawks and the San Jose Sharks, who all but swept the Red Wings and Canucks respectively. But in the east was the drama. After eliminating the Capitals in 7, the Montreal Canadiens took out the defending champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in 7 games. Not to be out done the Flyers took out their rivals, the Boston Bruins, in 7 games after going down in the series 3-0.

The conference finals was a display of teams of destiny. The Flyers took out Montreal in 5, the Blackhawks sunk the Sharks in 4. The set up was complete - Chicago Blackhawks, who last one the cup in 1961, would face the Philadelphia Flyers, who last took the cup during their "broad street bullies" age in 1976.

Games one through 5 were full of what everyone wanted to see. Some games were high scoring, some were hard fought defensive battles. The game came back to Philadelphia for game 6. Almost 6 million people tuned in expecting a "history will be made" moment. When the third period ended and it was tied at 3, it looked like we would get that moment.

A little over 4 minutes in to overtime, Chicago's Patrick Kane came down the left side of the Philadelphia zone. He puts a pass infront of the goal (I'm still not convinced he took a shot. No forward would take a shot from that angle) and...well...watch:

The puck goes in and almost no one knows it. Not the refs, not the Flyers, not the scorekeeper who's supposed to signal a red light behind the net when a puck goes in, not even most of the Hawks. The puck crosses the goal line and buries itself in the side of the net. No one saw it. A good 5-6 seconds pass before a ref calls a whistle. The announcers, you expect and want to scream and freak like they did in the first video I posted, did nothing. The quote of the year will be "and the puck's on the other side of the ne....wait....it's in!"

The ending leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Don't get me wrong I'm happy for the Hawks, but the ending..... I wanted more. This wasn't even a shot - this was a cross in front of the net. This was a puck that Michael Leighton, the Flyers goalie, should have stopped. And I promise you, this is a goal that will haunt Leighton for a LONG time.

I wanted a Steve Yzerman like slap shot from the blue line to put a perfect cherry on the playoffs. Instead we got one of the most anticlimactic goals in Stanley cup history. Instead of "history was made" we got "history was made.....we think....wait a second...yeah, it was made"

Now we start the countdown to the 2011 season. Hopefully Dallas doesn't suck this year.

tap tap tap This thing on???

2010-06-10T19:12:00.000-07:00

Well, 5 years after blogging was popular, I'm getting on the bandwagon. I may in the caboose, but I'm on.

This will just be a spot of randomness. Anyone that knows me will know that when I say 'random'.....oh dear....take cover. Cars, sports, games, tv, turtles (because, afterall I do like turtles), whatever.

Stay tuned

Nonsensical things make no sense

"History will be made" - Stanley Cup 2010

*tap tap tap* This thing on???

tap tap tap This thing on???