Was I the only one with tears in my eyes on Wednesday night? Seeing the Stanley Cup presented to Nicholas Lindstrom makes even the toughest guy weep. The Wings redeemed themselves after blowing game 5 by taking game 6 in Pittsburgh. The Wings have now won 11 Stanley Cups, four of them in the last 11 years.
Now I can say it: the Wings are just the better team. While the Penguins are gutsy, the Wings outplayed and outclassed them for much of the series. The puck possession was beautiful. If not for the lapses at the end of game 5 and the almost lapse at the end of game 6 -- thank god for Osgood -- the series would have been pretty easy for the Wings. Now, I don’t even mind the triple overtime.
The Stanley Cup playoffs are just the best there are in sports, probably because of the Cup itself. The players would just kill for it. Seeing Dallas Drake raise the cup after so many years just exemplifies what these guys go through. There is nothing like the expression of pure elation on the players’ faces. It continues to amaze me when grown men just become giddy on the ice.
Remember a few years ago after the strike? The salary cap was supposed to be the end of teams like the Red Wings because they would no longer be able to stockpile talent. This has turned out to be totally untrue. Names like Yzerman and Shanahan have been replaced by Zetterberg and Datsyuk. The Wings have given up on the $9-million-a-year CuJo/Hasek for the bargain Hasek/Osgood. The only thing that stayed the same is the winning.
Congratulations Wings. You have made Hockeytown proud and given us something to celebrate.
