Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Mixed Emotions.

I know I'm a day late, but I'd like to talk about my feelings.

(Holy shit, I surprised most of ya there for a second, huh? No need to worry, this won't get too deep.)

I'm talking about how it felt to watch a Canadian team miss out on Lord Stanley's Cup for what amounts to the second year in a row. Like Calgary before it, Edmonton was unable to capitalize on the momentum of their comeback and bring the Cup back to Canada.

Was I disappointed? Yes, but there were some mitigating factors that made the loss somewhat easier to deal with.
  • 11 of the 25 players on the Hurricanes are from Canada.
  • One of them - Rod Brind'Amour - is from the Hometown.
  • Each player gets a day with the Cup - it's tradition. If each player takes the Cup to their respective hometowns, that means that the Cup will be in Canada almost 45% of the time.
  • In the off season, the Cup stays at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, so it's in Canada. Yes, it's in Toronto, but we can't hold that against it.
  • At least my favorite team didn't lose out in Game Seven of the Finals. My team was booted out long before that, and I've had time to deal with the loss.
  • Hockey in general had a great year, and hopefully can make a big comeback in the next few years.
  • Any series that's decided by a game seven is a great series. It would have blown if it was a four game sweep.

It still cracks me up to think that, at least technically, The Hartford Whalers beat a WHL team to claim the Cup. If you would have asked me this in 1982, my ten year old self would have told you that you were fucking crazy. (I was a mouthy ten year old, can you believe it?) Even that early I knew the Whalers sucked.

Who'da thunk it, right?

Later.

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