Stanley Cup and NHL Awards

So, first off, congratulations to the Los Angeles Kings for a stellar post-season to capture Lord Stanley's Cup. They're an impressive team, with a great group of players who deserve every moment. And kudos to New Jersey, a group of experienced, talented players who turned heads all post-season.

With that in mind, with the NHL Awards being on Wednesday, as well with me being from Ottawa, I was overjoyed with the hardware the Senators took home. Erik Karlsson won the Norris Trophy as top defenceman, and he was up against Nicklas Lidstrom and Zdeno Chara, a former Senator. With Lidstrom retiring, I think it would've been a great homage to send him out with another trophy. Karlsson is a young player with a ton of potential, and he will have his time once again, and hopefully with the Stanley Cup.

I wanted coach MacLean to win the Jack Adams award, but reading up on how Ken Hitchcock took the struggling St. Louis Blues, and leading them to a 43-15-11 record after replacing Davis Payne, is really something.

With the NHL draft coming later tonight (its 2:15 EST as I'm writing this), I'm excited to see who will be drafted. In my opinion, its much more open this year, meaning there isn't a clear-cut player who we all know will go number 1 overall. It will be an exciting few days of NHL transactions that are going to unfold. 

Game 5 in New Jersey

The Devils managed a 3rd period push to save themselves for another game. Game 5 is in NJ on Saturday, and I really hope this is the start of a comeback. What a story that would be eh? Coming back from 3 games down in the final to win the Stanley Cup.

I was in disbelief, but very impressed, at the speed of LA's power play this evening, scoring almost immediately off the draw. But Martin Brodeur would let that be the only puck go by him.

It's a shame that the NHL isn't following the every-second-day game rotation, but it works because people can sit back and watch it on a Saturday, plus I wouldn't be able to watch it on Friday anyways.

Let's see if LA can follow the trend of winning the Cup on the road.

Stanley Cup in Los Angeles

The new NHL champions could be crowned as early as tomorrow, with LA having a 3-0 threshold on New Jersey for the Cup Final. It would be great to see the Kings win it for the first time in they're existence. Although I love and respect Martin Brodeur, I would love to see him hoist it one more time. As for a return next season, I would love it, but wouldn't be surprised or disappointed if he decided to hang the skates for a final time. I loved that his father was able to watch him play in game 2, but a shame they lost in overtime.

But you have to be impressed with Los Angeles and how they've preformed this post season. They're perfect on the road, and only 2 loses out of the 17 games they've played. An amazing record for an 8th seed that people predicted to be eliminated by the Vancouver Canucks. Speaking of the Canucks, if Los Angeles can win game 4, this'll be the third year in a row the Canucks have lost to the cup champion team (Chicago in 2010, Boston in 2011, and LA in 2012). Must be bad luck somewhere in Rogers Arena, or maybe the Sedins have the wrong skates on.

Back on track, it'll be nice to sit down with some friends, watch the game, have a few beers and watch the cup potentially be won at home since Detroit won it in 2008 (people can quote me if I'm wrong). Hope you all are able to watch and enjoy what may be, the last NHL game this season before September comes.

Cheers!