I was impressed that the majority of the Penguins fans stayed to watch the Stanley Cup celebration. I suppose the possible once in a lifetime chance of watching such a celebration trumped the pain of it being the Red Wings celebrating and not the Penguins.
That was an entertaining series, despite Detroit looking unbeatable roughly 90% of every game. Heh. I was thinking to myself last night when the Pens scored their second goal, "If they manage to win this game and game 7, they'll be the most outplayed Stanley Cup champion ever." Most of that reason was Fluery, who kept them in a lot of games. Still, it's interesting how a goalie can stop so many great scoring chances and yet let in, IMHO, softies. And damn did I almost have a heart attack with that last second shot. All that went through my head was, "here we go again."
Well, the first two games weren't all that much fun to watch (unless you're a Wings fan) but the rest of the series was a blast. And, Pens fans, I wouldn't be too down. If they can keep the nucleus of Crosby-Malkin-Fleury-Malone-
Staal intact, that team will be making the cup final an almost annual event. And to Spofites-nice to have some fellow hockey fans to enjoy the playoffs with me. Out here in the desert, there's not all that much interest or knowledge.
Many of the reports on the European captain thing seem to say that Lidstrom was the first European-born, European-trained captain to hoist the Cup. I suspect that the "European-trained" part is thrown in there because some Canadian national who ended up being a Stanley Cup winning captain was born in Europe. Anyone know if this is the case?
I think I heard somewhere some captain from the 30s was born overseas and moved to Canada when pretty young. So maybe that's the distinction?
Many of the reports on the European captain thing seem to say that Lidstrom was the first European-born, European-trained captain to hoist the Cup. I suspect that the "European-trained" part is thrown in there because some Canadian national who ended up being a Stanley Cup winning captain was born in Europe. Anyone know if this is the case? I think I heard somewhere some captain from the 30s was born overseas and moved to Canada when pretty young. So maybe that's the distinction? You are correct sir. Chicago Blackhawks in 1938 won the Stanley Cup with Johnny Gottselig as their captain. He was born in Odessa Russia but moved to Saskatchewan as a young boy.
