Better Late Than Never

It's hard to believe we finally return and a wild 2009-10 has commenced with the Chicago Blackhawks ending a long drought- thanks to Patrick Kane's sudden death sneaker thru Michael Leighton's wickets which only he knew was in, stunning Philadelphia, Doc Emrick and NBC to deliver the Original Six franchise's first Cup since 1961.

Kudos to Conn Smythe captain Jonathan Toews and dynamic running mate Kane, who helped lead one of the league's most riveting young teams to the sport's pinnacle. Amazing how quickly Joel Queenville's club did it too, going from last Spring's rise to the Conference Final all the way to champions in two postseasons. Awesome stuff from arguably the most talented, rich roster in the game. Duncan Keith was a beast all year teaming with overlooked partner Brent Seabrook to form the best tandem. The third time was the charm for Marian Hossa, who overcame the fluky Scott Hartnell equalizer off his skate after Queeneville foolishly sat back, forcing dramatics. Good for Hossa, who this time was much more effective these playoffs. Though he only lit the lamp three times, the star was superb in all facets, hustling all over the ice and setting example.

While Hossa redeemed himself, what could be said about Dave Bolland and Dustin Byfuglien? Both were money during the magical run, scoring and setting up big goals as well as throwing their weight around. You could easily make the argument that Bolland- not Toews- was Chi-town's best player and deserved playoff MVP. But they went with the overall playoff leading scorer who certainly dominated Vancouver and San Jose as these Blackhawks went through a tough trio of Nashville, Vancity and San Jose. Remarkably, the division rival Preds pushed them the most, coming very close to leading 3-2 before the Hawks rallied to win it.

Enough can't be said about Patrick Sharp, who notched timely goals during the run, including some daggers against his former team for Lord Stanley. The Flyers didn't exactly come out on top in that trade. Hell. Even former pest Ben Eager got them early in the series, helping the Windy City go up two-nil before Peter Laviolette's pesky bunch got back in it. If ever a team deserved a better fate, it was this tough Flyer bunch who never heard the words 'give up.' No matter what obstacles (injuries, 0-3 down), they were a T-E-A-M, proving it with determined play that even won over this rival fan. Anyone who knows me knows I got no love for the Flyers but they really get mad props. You represented our conference proudly, showing that never say die attitude that only Rocky could appreciate. And you can bet the legions of Philly fanatics who booed Santa stood proudly even after Kane's stunner, leading to the most anti-climatic ending in Cup history. Yeah. Elias to Arnott was a lot better a decade prior.


Kudos to Jeff Carter, Ian Laperriere and especially Simon Gagne for igniting the orange and black back with the OT winner staving off elimination at Wachovia in Game Four versus Beantown. We all know what happened afterwards. One of the most historic playoff comebacks ever. And to think, they dismantled the Habs and had Chicago concerned before the wild end to the Cup. Would it have shocked anyone if the Flyers had pulled that out, they go into United Center and win the series? Considering how tough they were led by Mike Richards and royal pain Chris Pronger, not at all. Look at the contributions they got from Scott Hartnell, Claude Giroux and former Wing Ville Leino, who really came of age during the special run.


And what of the unlikely netminding duo of Leighton and Brian Boucher? Two journeymen taking this team who snuck in thanks to Bouch outshining Henrik Lundqvist in the shootout, nearly doing the unthinkable. Who needs goaltending? When one of his netminders seemed off, Laviolette had the magic touch or even a weird injury like to Boucher versus Boston allowing Leighton to come in and steal the show. When you have a blueline led by Pronger and big minute logger Kimmo Timonen, it really helps.
As Hasan noted much earlier during his team's first round ouster, this wasn't your normal low seventh seed that just made the cut. They had star power up front and on D and it showed all Spring.


There also were heart and soul types like Blair Betts and Laperriere risking themselves with tenacity on the PK. Hence. Lappy taking one to the eye when the Devils were all but finished. The kind of yeoman work you need to go deep. It was that kinda gritty effort that made Philly so proud of these Flyers, who brought that Broad Street mentality with them. In the end, even though they came up a little short of delivering the franchise's first Cup in 35 years, the orange and black were winners.


No wonder the series was so popular, garnering excellent ratings which demonstrate just how far the game's come. It helped to have two of the largest markets, who boast strong fanbases. However, the action was fast, furious and ferocious. Precisely the kind of in your face playoff hockey we can appreciate. In the end, the best team won.


As it turned out, Antti Niemi was a little better than Leighton, who the Hawks chased a couple of times en route to becoming champions. A Finn getting his name on the chalice who wasn't exactly a household name. He didn't have to be.


A toast to both cities on an outstanding Cup Final.





Sincerely,






BONY's Derek Felix

Goals A Plenty

How to describe last night's Blackhawk 6-5 home win over the Flyers in Game One? Unpredictably offensive. Never have I seen so many goals on such a big stage. You had to love it if you were an NBC exec. The exciting, edge of your seat opener earned the best rating in 11 years with the 2.8 turned in bringing back flashbacks of Sabres-Stars (3.7) on Fox. Heck. It was 12 percent higher than last year's Pens-Wings rematch. Sidney who?

The two traditional markets kicked off this year's Stanley Cup Final with a bang, combining for 11 goals and six lead changes with unsung hero Tomas Kopecky getting the last laugh by outwaiting Brian Boucher for the deciding marker with 11:35 left in the contest. The key sub was in for Andrew Ladd and paid huge dividends, giving Chicago its first win in the Final since 1973 when they fell in six to Montreal. Nearly two decades later, they were swept by the Super Mario Pens. Oddly enough, Pitt's Cup clincher to repeat was an identical 6-5 margin. Last night marked the first time that many goals had been scored since. Hopefully, a franchise that hasn't won Lord Stanley in 49 years will net a different result. If you didn't get enough of the goalfest, Puck Daddy's Greg Wyshynski has all 11 broken down.

“A lot of action. Shootout at the OK Corral,” deadpanned Chicago coach Joel Quenneville. “Things settled down as the game progressed. Certainly, I don’t think anybody envisioned 5-5 heading into the third period.”

Queeneville's deep club did it despite getting zilch from the top line of Dustin Byfuglien, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, who went a combined minus-nine with Big Buff losing his first battle against Chris Pronger- who fared better tallying two assists, five shots, four hits, two blocked shots and finished plus-two in over 32 minutes. Despite not playing close to their best, Chicago still showed enough resiliency to pull it out thanks to big performances from Kopecky (G, A), Troy Brouwer (2-1-3), Marian Hossa (2 A) and Dave Bolland (SHG, A), Kris Versteeg (G, A) and Niklas Hjalmarsson (2 A, 4 blocked shots). The Hawks' biggest edge showed up, overcoming a four-point night from Daniel Briere (10th G, 3 A), who was the best player. With 27 seconds left in the first, he followed up his own rebound putting the Flyers ahead 3-2. Late in the second, it was his brilliant cross-ice pass to Arron Asham which tied it at five.

It still wasn't enough. The Blackhawks responded with a much better third, using their puck possession and speed to control the tempo. Eventually, it led to the winner. Thanks to an unreal diving keep by Brent Seabrook, the puck stayed in where Bolland and Versteeg combined to set up a wide open Kopecky, who calmly went around Boucher and hit the net. Great composure shown by the ex-Wing who played a whale of a game with Ladd out, also assisting on Versteeg's tally that made it 4-4 halfway through. From there, Antti Niemi shook off a poor first 40 minutes turning aside all six Flyer shots in the third, including a nice glove save on a long Briere try from 50. With Boucher pulled, a Pronger one-timer went wide as the final seconds ticked off giving an ecstatic United Center of over 22,000 strong victory.

Despite falling, the Flyers did many things well including establishing their physicality (40 hits to 37) while connecting once on four power plays while failing to take a single penalty. Though you'd definitely get some argument from the Hawk faithful. They did miss a couple. And as NBC's Doc Emrick noted, kinda odd that the road team got the only PP's. Don't expect that for Game Two tomorrow. But then again, can we really get a duplicate of the fun chaos that ensued last night? The Blackhawk stars weren't alone with the Flyers getting nothing from Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne, who were a combined minus-seven. Claude Giroux wasn't any better going minus-two without a shot. Peter Laviolette's club got strong games out of Scott Hartnell (G, 2 A), Wing castaway Ville Leino (G, A), the aforementioned Briere, Pronger and Asham (G, A). Even former Ranger Blair Betts scored his first postseason goal since '06 when he rang one off the post and in from the right circle. Nice to see unless you're John Tortorella.

Not so nice was the performance of Michael Leighton, who was chased from the net after permitting five on 20 shots. Even if the last wasn't his fault, the journeyman's off day forced Laviolette to go to Boucher, who in his return since a Game Four injury versus Boston two rounds prior was solid, making 11 saves. Does the Cup experienced coach stay with him or go back to a shaky Leighton? We're banking on Bouch.
Hartnell is hoping the ice will be better.

“It’s really chippy. A lot of snow accumulates really fast, so after the first couple of minutes you don’t see those nice crisp passes and things like that. It’s hot outside and humid and stuff like that so hopefully they’ll be able to do a better job for Game 2, the ice guys.”

"It’s so hot outside, I don’t know if you could do anything about it,” echoed Versteeg while noting the difference after the first 10 minutes had been played.

“The last 10, it heats up a bit. There’s nothing they can do about it. They’re not going to change the temperature or anything like that. They’re not going to tell the people to stop screaming and opening doors.”

But as Hartnell's experienced 'mate Pronger points out, it's something he's accustomed to.

“I don’t think it’s any worse than it was in Anaheim or Carolina. As you progress in the playoffs, the ice gets a little bit softer.”
Regardless, it's the same for both sides. Let's drop the puck for Game Two!