Last night the Chicago Blackhawks won their third Stanley Cup in six years and showed us what unity and experience can do. This is a team that has been together for a while now with Joel Quenneville as their skipper.
Tampa Bay was seeking their second cup but came up short. Mind you, we all have to take our hats off and applaud them cause quite frankly they put up a hell of a fight. A lot of times the runner up in any sport is never remembered and I find that quite harsh. Tampa beat some good teams; our beloved Habs, Rangers, and Detroit. I salute them for a job well done.
Sadly, only one team can be the winner, and what a great bunch these guy are. A lot of critics and good friends of mine were predicting a series victory for Tampa. They believed that Tampa would win because Chicago’s net-minder, Corey Crawford, wasn’t anywhere close as good as Ben Bishop. In most situations goaltending can make the difference, but this Chicago team is one of a kind.
This is a unique bunch, from Patrick Kane, to Richards, Sharp, and Toews, the list is endless. A lot of times teams draft well and bring together superstars and elite names from all over the world, but teams, at times, don’t gel. Sometimes the team chemistry isn’t right, with locker room issues and egos running high, other times, coaching staffs aren’t up to the challenge.
Joel Quenneville has to be the coach of the year. Year after year, he finds ways to keep all the egos in check. Since the glory days of the Edmonton Oilers I haven’t seen a team demonstrate such hunger in the way they play. Passes are crisp, tape to tape, and everyone plays so well together. The moment this team starts falling behind the level of fire amongst them rises. It is fun to watch. There’s a level of urgency, hunger, and desire to win. It’s the difference between winners and losers, and Joel Quenneville has to be the one who brings it all together. I congratulate this team for playing some of the most exciting hockey that I’ve seen this year. Hopefully our beloved Canadiens can take a page from Chicago’s upper management handbook and realize that you can’t depend on goaltending to always save your rear end.
3-1 in my free pick of the day. For today, my free pick is the Cleveland Cavaliers +4.5. I’m going with this game because I believe that there’s too many points in a do or die game for Lebron to overcome. I had predicted this line to be -2, although the odds makers believe it should be higher. I will fade them and go with my experience and home team, and, take the Cavs to win outright here and force a game 7.
