A Canadian team in the Stanley Cup finals, a Florida team with a 22 year veteran who had yet to win the Cup, seven games, what more could a fan ask for? When Calgary battled their way into the Stanley Cup finals they had all of Canada on their side because they were the first Canadian team to reach the finals in over 10 years. There were plenty of Americans who were cheering for Calgary as well simply because they didnít like the idea of a team from Florida winning the Stanley Cup.
When I thought about who I wanted to win, I liked Tampa Bay. They have Dave Andreychuk who was playing in his 22nd season in the NHL and was making his first trip to the finals. Then there were players like Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Minnesotaís own Ben Clymer. Tampa Bay was a team made up of good hockey players who worked hard.
The problem I had with Tampa Bay was that they played in Tampa Bay. Hockey is a sport that is played on ice, not on the beach in sunny 90 degree weather.
I liked Calgary for the fact that it was still snowing there and the entire city embraced their hockey team. Sure there were people in Tampa Bay that were excited, but in Calgary the whole city and most of the province was pumped up about the finals.
In Calgary people knew why their players looked like lumberjacks with their traditional playoff beards and they knew why injuries were known simply as upper body or lower body injuries in the playoffs.
The whole upper body and lower body injury things amuses me. Baseball has players going on the disabled list because they sneezed the wrong way or had a bad dream, but here hockey players are playing with broken bones and other ailments that would sideline most athletes. The only reason they donít let the public know exactly whatís wrong is because they know their opponent will most likely do everything they can to make the injury worse.
The playoff beards are another great part of the Stanley Cup finals that are making a comeback. They were big in the dynasty years of the Islanders and the 80s but went a way for awhile in the 90s.
There really isnít any good luck associated with the playoff beard, it simply looks cool. One thing I found interesting was how many of the Calgary players beards were red. It was certainly fitting, but what are the odds of that?
Andreychuk didnít grow a full beard, he stuck to a goatee because had he grown a full beard he would have been a silver streak on the ice with his grey hair.
There are a lot of things I love about the Stanley Cup Finals, many things I fear I wonít see next season because of the likely labor dispute that is about to take place. At least the players were kind enough to leave us fans with one last great finals series.
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