Thoughts on the Stanley Cup

Well, the 2010-2011 NHL season is officially in the books and we have new Stanley Cup champions: The Boston Bruins.

I've mentioned before that I wasn't a fan of either team and I really wasn't looking forward to the match up. But of course as a hockey fan I couldn't just tune out the series completely. So I watched and tried to get a feel of the series and I tried to figure out which team I would hate seeing win the Cup less. And honestly, I never really figured that out. It was a pretty even series and both teams each had uncanny similarities...which was highlighted in this brilliantly hilarious piece done by Down Goes Brown.

In the end, I could only find one way to justify which team I wanted to win, and that was Tim Thomas. I really like him and he seems like a real good guy off the ice. It's been fun to watch his success (despite the fact that his success means success for the Bruins), and he was outstanding throughout the entire playoffs, especially in the Finals. I was real happy to see him raise the Cup and in my own little world he was a one-man team out there, making all the saves and scoring all the goals. Yeah...that sounds a lot better than the gross Bruins winning the whole thing, doesn't it?


The only known photograph from that night.

So congratulations, Tim Thomas!! You deserved it.


And as for the way some Vancouverites reacted to the loss... As each goal the Bruins Tim Thomas scored, and as each minute wound down, I had a feeling things were going to get ugly in downtown Vancouver. I know hockey is an emotional sport, but the concept of rioting over something like that just doesn't make any sense. Way to kick yourselves when you're already down. Your team just lost the Stanley Cup and to add insult to injury you are going to try and destroy your beautiful city and harm your fellow citizens and fans. I don't know...I guess I can understand some havoc and raucousness, but there is a line that shouldn't be crossed and was crossed. I just hope when the Sabres are in a similar situation (win or lose) we will have enough respect for ourselves and our city to not to try and destroy it when we are either celebrating or mourning.

I hope the people who injured others and lit peoples' cars on fire are caught and held accountable, and I also hope that the Canucks can some how find a way to give back to those who came to clean up after the rioters the following day.

Beginning of the end

Tomorrow marks the first day of the Stanley Cup Finals, and in a few weeks there will be a new Stanley Cup Champion. For the first time in a while, I am really not looking forward to the series. I don't like Boston or Vancouver. It's easy for me to come up with reasons why I don't like the Bruins, but when it comes to the Canucks it's hard to put my finger on it. Maybe it's kind of like a sibling rivalry...the Canucks are our "sister" team as they were the other team that was founded in 1970. I'm not sure if that has something to do with it, but it probably does. Either way, I don't want to see either team hoisting the Cup. So that puts me in quite the conundrum, doesn't it? I suppose I will just have to see how the series plays out until I can decisively figure out which team I dislike the least.

Meanwhile, the Sabres are still well into the offseason and I really haven't missed them... After the elimination, I think every fan goes through a depression where they think, "What am I supposed to do now?! What is my purpose in life?!" And believe me, I felt like that. I couldn't imagine going through months with no Sabres hockey, especially considering how much fun that season was. But the depression comes and goes, and eventually I realize that I sort of embrace the offseaon because it's time to put the Sabres on the back burner and enjoy other things that I like to do. And that's what I've been doing. Enjoying not having to go to class and complete assignments, enjoying going out with my friends, planning little getaways, going to concerts and festivals, and everything else that the summer brings.

And then Sabres.com posted a story about the locker room renovations. I thought to myself, "Hey, that's pretty cool. Everything sounds like it's going to be a kickass facility for the players." And then I saw this picture on the team's official Facebook page. And my heart did a little back flip.



It's Ryan Miller!!! Going over the locker room plans with Terry Pegula!! When the season ends, the players all disperse and go their seperate ways, and I know that it will be months until I get to see their faces again. So when I get a picture of Ryan Miller right in the thick of the offseason going over the locker room plans with Terry Pegula, it's just like a little bonus for me! And it may or may not have made my day when I saw it. If I had more shame I would probably be a little embarrassed admitting that, but...I don't.

So even when I think that I don't really miss the Sabres, I do. And me getting excited over this picture just proves that there's no way that I can stop liking this team, even if I wanted to.

And I'm not going to lie, the picture of Darcy Regier and Ted Black breaking the locker room wall was pretty awesome too:




I will be sure to update as soon as I figure which team I hate less in the Finals, as I'm sure you're all eager to find out.

Miller's Olympic Mask

Continuing on with my last post discussing how Miller is going to be wearing number 39 for the Olympics, which is pretty awesome... Now let's move onto something a little more personal to a goalie than the number on his jersey...his goalie mask:



Vurry nice. The Irish in me especially appreciates the little four leaf clover near the cage. I'm interested to see what's on the other side.

Here's the article discussing the mask with Ray Bishop, the man who makes all of Miller's masks.


I don't have much to say about the Vancouver game... Kerry Fraiser wanted in on the action and tried to make another erroneous game changing call, what else is new? But the Sabres were able to cancel it out by scoring another goal, but then they made some mistakes of their own and lost the game. I'm just happy that the long road trip is behind them and they're back in the Buff for a bit. Aside from a few more games on the road here and there, the team is going to be home for the majority of the time before the Olympics.