Sports Then and Now

Bobby Orr flying through the air is one of the most familiar images in Stanley Cup history.

The Stanley Cup Finals are now set as the Philadelphia Flyers and the Chicago Blackhawks begin their championship series on Saturday.

The Stanley Cup is the oldest championship trophy in North American professional sports and has produced many epic moments in the final series for Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Here are now the 20 most memorable moments in Stanley Cup Finals history:

20. 2003 Devils-Ducks
The Ducks were leading Game 6 by the score of 3-1 in the second period when captain Paul Kariya is laid out by Devils defensemen Scott Stevens and is taken back to the locker room with an apparent concussion with 13:48 left in the period.
Kariya returns to the bench and 11 minutes after the hit he scores a goal as the Ducks would go on to win Game 6 by the score of 5-2 to force a Game 7 which they would lose 3-0.

19. 1960 Canadians-Maple Leafs
Montreal sweeps the Toronto Maple Leafs to win their fifth consecutive Stanley Cup, a record that has not been matched in NHL history.

It is also the last Stanley Cup for the legendary Canadians right winger Maurice “Rocket” Richard.

18. 1991 Penguins-North Stars
Mario Lemieux scores a breathtaking goal as he goes coast-to-coast beats two Minnesota North Star defensemen to put one into the net for a goal in the Penguins’ 4-1 victory in Game 2 as the Penguins would go on to win the series in six games for the franchise’s first Stanley Cup. Read the rest of this entry →

After two Caps goals that went under review, the final game-winning goal in overtime was an undisputed one, putting Washington victorious with a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins.

From The Washington Post

This would be a game where one team is just waiting for the playoffs, and the other is desperately fighting for the playoffs: The Capitals, one day removed from winning their first-ever President’s Trophy played the Bruins, who came in seeded seventh in the East, but only two points ahead of the ninth-placed New York Rangers.

Throughout the entire first period, the Capitals seemed to take control of the game. Washington scored seven minutes in with a goal from Backstrom that went under a very long  video review to see if the puck completely crossed the goal line. After the goal was deemed legal, the Caps continued to buzz around the Bruins net.

Not only was their offense clicking, but the Capitals were also able to protect their zone well. With 12 minutes remaining, the Bruins entered the Capitals’ zone and flurried around Jose Theodore. However, Theodore was able to pull off a stacked pad save on a sequence of shots, or a “Johnny Power-double stack” save as head coach Bruce Boudreau called it.

“They came charging the net,” Theodore said about the save. “I was just able to pretty much react.”

Along with the solid play of Theodore, the Capitals defense cleared the puck fairly quickly. Read the rest of this entry →

Could this be the year the Chicago Blackhawks bring home the Stanley Cup?

The Western Conference has been the NHL’s elite conference the last couple of years, dominating the inter-conference games. The cup win by Pittsburgh and the recent development of talented teams in Washington and Philadelphia seems to suggest that perhaps that dominance is finished. Once again however the NHL’s best teams seem clustered in the west with only one or two eastern teams even capable of competing with them.

Here’s a look at how the western conference teams are shaping up going in to the playoffs.

FAVORITES:

1/Chicago Blackhawks- Chicago were pre-season cup favorites. They’ve got a depth of young talent most teams can only dream of. Their defense was led by young Olympians Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook who distinguished themselves against the best in the world. Twenty one year old Jonathon Toews was chosen the best forward and first all-star team center at the Olympics. Team-mate Patrick Kane starred on the US silver medal team. Throw in sniper Patrick Sharp, veteran Slovakian talent Marian Hossa, youngsters Bolland, Versteeg and Brouwer, power-play quarterback Brian Campbell, the resurgent Andrew Ladd, thumper Dustin Byfuglien and it’s hard to imagine this team losing to anyone.

They maintain an incredible defense giving up a mere 24.7 shots per game, two and a half shots stingier than the New Jersey Devils, who are renowned for their tight defensive game, and best in the league.   Read the rest of this entry →

The hit heard around Russia.

Alex Ovechkin is one of those players who can change the flow of a game with one play. Sometimes, it’s with a scintillating goal from some obscure position. Other times, Ovechkin just knows how to be in the right place at the right time.

Sunday during the Czech Republic vs. Russia game was a perfect example of Ovechkin’s good timing. While Ovechkin is known to be a great scorer, he is also known for delivering the big hit from time to time. It was in this game where Ovechkin put a hit on Czech superstar Jaromir Jagr that declared Russian control of the game.

In the final period Russia lead 2-1, the Czechs had to make some moves offensively to tie the game, and they had to do it soon. Jagr had possession of the puck on his way toward Russian territory.

Back when I played hockey, I rarely heard any other piece of advice as much as I heard, “Keep your head up!” Especially in open ice.

Read the rest of this entry →

Team USA was jumping for joy with their win versus Canada.

On the eve of the Miracle on Ice and wearing throwback 1960 jerseys, Team USA made history again.

This time it was against Canada at its own game. It was the first time the US beat their neighbors to the north in Olympic play in the last 50 years.

No one gave the US squad much of a chance again.

It wasn’t the Soviets this time but a Canada team littered with NHL All-Stars.

Just like Jim Craig did 30 years ago, Ryan Miller kept his team in the game with save after miraculous save.

Read the rest of this entry →

The  top six teams in the men’s Olympic hockey tournament play each other today in the final game of the seeding round.  The winners today and the loser with the best record will grab the four tournament byes into the quarterfinals. Win the quarter final game and you’re guaranteed to play for a medal.

The match-ups feature the countries that met in the last three olympic gold medal games. Group A features the USA versus Canada game a reprise of Salt Lake City. The Czech versus Russian gold medal game from Nagano is also the final match-up in group B. Group C is a game  between Turin’s gold and silver medalists Sweden and Finland.

The point system for this olympics has a bureaucratic complexity that makes one fear the NHL will be adopting it for their regular season immediately.

The Russians have lost a shoot-out game to the Slovaks already.  A loss to the Czechs will drop them behind Slovakia to be seventh seed in the tournament. Canada with their overtime win over Switzerland garnering them only two points will not  get a bye without a victory over the Americans.

Hopefully it won’t come down to goal differentials to determine final seeding. Then the complexities will grade into byzantine ones. Read the rest of this entry →