DESTINY ON ICE

Throughout the playoffs I have been going back and forth comparing the NBA and the NHL product on display. Now that both have reached their respective finals, unless the Heat and Mavs play to an epic game seven, this NHL playoffs will be the more memorable. In the East, you have the Boston Bruins. A member of the original six, (inaugural six teams inducted in to the NHL) that have a long and storied history, which includes not having won a cup since 1972. Since that cup run, they have been agonizingly close but always seemed to run in to some of the greatest teams in history, i.e. the dynasty Canadiens, Gretzky's Oilers, and Lemieux/ Jagr's Penguins. Vancouver may not be an all time team, but they have been the most dominant team from start to finish. Looking at this Canucks team, I'm reminded in some ways of the 2004 Boston Red Sox. While they don't have the grand history of the Red Sox, they do share a lot in common. In it's 40th season as a NHL franchise, the Canucks have never won a Stanley Cup. 40 years may not seem as unbearable as the 86 years that the Red Sox waited, but try telling that to a Canadian hockey fan. In 1982 they made an unfathomable Cup run, but were swept in the finals. In 1994, they hit the post in game six trying to send the game to OT with less than a minute to play. In the last few years, they have had their chances and their hurdles, namely the Chicago Blackhawks, but have pushed them all aside this year. Last night they didn't steal game one, because both teams played incredibly well, but it was supposed to go to overtime. You have to think Boston had the air taken out of their sails with the game ending so abruptly, so who's to know what their state of mind will be headed into game two. The NHL took about ten steps backwards with the lockout, but has slowly been climbing back. The game is fast and physical, and at a cheaper price than football, basketball, or baseball if you're a Yankee's fan, attending a game is more enjoyable in some ways. While I question the NHL's decision not to try and get back in the good graces of ESPN, this series might surprise people with the ratings it generates. Hockey will never be on the level that the other sports are in America, predominantly because it's not an American game. Still, if you are tuning it out completely, you're missing out. FINERSIDE PREDICTION: CANUCKS IN 6