Other than the two Penguins-Red Wings series, has there been a more interesting Stanley Cup Finals match-up than this in the last decade? While Vancouver and Boston may lack the star power Detroit and Pittsburgh had, the storylines are still juicy. The Bruins haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1972, and hasn’t even appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals since a 1990 loss to the post Gretzky Edmonton Oilers (one of these days I’m going to do research and figure out how a team could trade the greatest player that ever played the sport and win a championship within two years). Vancouver has never won a Stanley Cup, losing the epic 1994 series against the New York Rangers in their only Stanley Cup Finals appearance. Furthermore, the Canucks are looking to become the first Canadian team to win the Cup since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens.
It’s fair to call Vancouver a “fragile juggernaut”. With the talent they are able to put on the ice, they should blow Boston’s doors off. However, if Boston is able to press the right buttons, they can knock the Canucks off of their game. Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo was so bad at times during the first round series against Chicago that some in the Vancouver media were calling for backup goalie Cory Schneider to play. If the play gets physical, some Vancouver players can lose their focus in an attempt to slam people into the boards (2nd line center Ryan Kesler, who had the distinction of being the best player on my crummy fantasy hockey team this past year, is a good example of this). Most importantly, don’t underestimate the amount of pressure that will be on this team from the entire country of Canada. Hockey is more important to Canadians than any sport is to Americans by roughly a factor of 12. If the Canucks have issues during the first two games, they could crack under the pressure.
However, I fully expect the Sedin twins to power Vancouver to victory. Henrik and Daniel have each won scoring titles the last two seasons. You’d be hard pressed to name a set of twins that are better at something than the Sedins are at hockey.
I’ll be pulling for Boston, but objectively, I’m predicting Vancouver to win in 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment