(Dave Sandford/Getty Images)
(Note: This is an updated version of what we wrote last year in a preview for the Stanley Cup playoffs. We thought it came out pretty well and we were awfully proud of it. We thought we would dust if off again.)
If someone were to ask us what the Stanley Cup playoffs mean to us, we'd have a hard time giving a simple concise answer.
-It's Bobby Orr leaping through the air.
-It's the Miracle on Manchester.
-It's Steve Yzerman lifting the Stanley Cup with one knee.
-It's Doug Weight lifting the Stanley Cup with one shoulder.
-It's King Clancy's "curse."
-It's Jaromir Jagr beating the Devils on two bad groins.
-It's Jarome Iginla and Vincent Lecavalier duking it out when it mattered most.
-It's 1961, 1967 and 1972
-It's Dave Andreychuk and Ray Bourque finally getting to touch the Cup.
-It's Marty McSorley's illegal blade.
-It's David #*&! Volek.
-It's John Tonelli.
-It's Ed Westfall.
-It's plastic rats.
-It's Ken Wregget stopping Joe Juneau and Mike Richter stopping Pavel Bure on penalty shots.
-It's Brett Hull's foot in the crease.
-It's "Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!"
-It's Scott Niedermayer giving the cup to his brother, Rob.
-It's Vladimir Konstantinov's "skate" with the Cup in his wheel chair.
-It's Oilers fans making us wish we were Canadian.
-It's Scott Stevens crushing Paul Kariya.
-It's Kariya getting up and burning Martin Brodeur.
-It's watching a game with a few thousand friends.
-It's the 24 banners in Montreal.
-It's Oilers owner Peter Pocklington trying to sneak his dad's name on the Stanley Cup.
-It's Mike Fisher playing cars with a terminally-ill three-year old boy.
-It's Ron Hextall jumping Chris Chelios.
-It's Arturs Irbe's moldy goaltending equipment.
-It's Bob Baun scoring an overtime goal on a broken ankle.
-It's Mario Lemieux making Mellon Arena probably the loudest it has ever been.
-It's Jim Lorentz killing a bat.
-It's Petr Nedved and Keith Primeau breaking tired, weary hearts.
-It's Erik Cole's beard.
-It's Darius Kasparaitis' nice wrist shot.
-It's refusing to touch the Clarence Campbell Bowl or Prince of Wales Trophy.
-It's Ryan Malone ending any hopes the Senators had.
-It's Marian Hossa proving he can come through in the playoffs.
-It's Evgeni Malkin making some toast out of Martin Biron.
-It's "The Shift."
-It's Marc-Andre Fleury simply refusing to lose on the road.
-It's Maxime Talbot making us stay up late.
-It's Petr Sykora calling his shot.
-It's Marian Hossa almost keeping the hopes alive.
-It's finally seeing a Stanley Cup celebration in Mellon Arena, just not the one most of us were hoping for.
In other words, it's a lot of things.
Over the course of the next two months, much of what happened in the above video will take place (minus the Diana Ross track of course.)
Gary Bettman is going to awkwardly hand the Stanley Cup to someone with
a "C" on his chest and we'll have all summer to ponder the greatness of
Peter Ahola.
The first step in this journey takes place tonight. Tune in and take that step with us at approximately 6 p.m.
Posted
Apr 15 2009, 12:01 PM
by
Seth Rorabaugh