2011 Stanley Cup

As of right now, the playoffs are filled with teams that have not won a Stanley Cup in a while, and some have never won it at all. The Detroit Red Wings are the most recent team still in the playoffs to have won it, claiming hockey's Holy Grail in 2008. The Chicago Blackhawks and the Pittsburgh Penguins, the two teams to have won it after Detroit, have been knocked out of the postseason in game seven, both by one goal margins. The Nashville Predators, Vancouver Canucks, Washington Capitals, and San Jose Sharks are all vying for their first championships. The Montreal Canadiens have not been atop the hockey world since the early 1990's, and the Bruins not since the 1970's. The Tampa Bay Lightning won the Cup in 2004, but with a completely different structured team, and a different coach. Anyway, there is a more than likely chance that we will see a team that has never won a championship claim the Holy Grail this June.

Blackhawks

Last night, the Vancouver Canucks beat the Chicago Blackhawks in overtime to clinch the series 4 games to 3, and knock the defending champs out of the postseason. Vancouver jumped to a 3-0 series lead, but Chicago fought back to tie the series at 3 games a piece. Although the Hawks lost the series, I am proud to be a Hawks fan, as anyone should be. They showed a lot of heart after being down 3-0, and showed their full potential to rally back and become only the seventh team in NHL history to tie a series after trailing 3-0. They still lost but, as is true for any team, in any league, in any sport, there's always next year.

Tonights Games

There are two 2011 Stanley Cup Playoff Quarterfinal games tonight. Here they are:




Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Tampa Bay Lightning: 7:00 on VS, CBC, and RDS
Pittsburgh leads series 3 games to 2




San Jose Sharks vs. Los Angeles Kings: 10:00 on TSN, RDS, and VS
San Jose leads series 3 games to 2

Henrik Lundqvist and the Vezina

The Vezina trophy is awarded annually to a National Hockey League goaltender who is judged to be the best at this position. This year, there were three nominees for the trophy, only two of which I agree to be nominees. Although all of them have performed well, Roberto Luongo and Tim Thomas should be accompanied by Henrik Lundqvist, not Pekka Rinne. Although Rinne played well, he had a solid team in front of him. Henrik Lundqvist did not, and performed much better. Lundqvist backed up a young and inexperienced team, and led the league with 11 shutouts. He was unquestionably the only reason the Blueshirts even made it as far as the 1st round of the playoffs. He carried a team that with someone like Rinne would have ended up fighting for 13th place all the way to the playoffs. He did all that, barely getting a rest, and he is not even a nominee! It gets you thinking that maybe the nominees are based on whether or not the choosers like the teams they play for or not. Henrik Lundqvist deserves to be nominated for the Hart Trophy for MVP, because no player has been more valuable to his team than he, let alone nominated for the Vezina.

HAWKS WIN!!!

HAWKS WIN!!! The Chicago Blackhawks take game 6 of the Western Conference Quarterfinal series that they are competing in versus the Vancouver Canucks. The final score was 4-3 in overtime thanks to a Ben Smith tally in the extra period. The Blackhawks came back from a 3-0 series deficit to tie the quarterfinal 3-3! The series now shifts to a huge game 7 in Vancouver.

Blackhawks/Canucks Update

Game 6 tied 3-3 at the end of regulation

Blackhawks/Canucks Update

Game 6 tied 2-2 at the end of the second period