Like many, I have not be able to predict a damn thing when it comes to these NHL playoffs.
How can you, when arguably the last team you would predict (the Oilers get the nod here because they were the only eight-seed that didn't win the Stanley Cup last time NHL hockey was played), is sitting pretty in the finals with more than a week's worth of rest? When thinking about the Oilers/Hurricanes or Oilers/Sabres Stanley Cup Final, I can't help but think of one man: Biff Tannen.
Wait ... who?
You know, Biff, the antagonist to Michael J. Fox's Marty McFly in Back to the Future 2. Remember, Biff was able to secure the sports almanac from the future and was able to parlay that into some successful bets on horse races and riches beyond anyone's wildest dreams.
Well, can you imagine if we had the 2006 Sports Almanac last year? What were the odds of Edmonton in the Finals? 25-to-1? 40-to-1? I remember telling a friend in September, as I put down $10 bucks on my Canucks at 19-to-1, that the Sabres were 85-to-1 to win it all. While the Hurricanes' and Sabres' odds both improved rapidly throughout the season, Edmonton was still a long-shot as we entered the playoffs.
What is the point here? The point is, I for one, am not going to bother predicting what is going to happen or even analyzing what has happened so far. Sure, we could go into the pieces of the puzzle that each team has utilized to form a playoff success, but at this point with television coverage ramped up in Canada, that would be bo-ring. As a result, this column leaves the hockey where it belongs ... on the ice.
What I can talk about here is what I am: a fan. There are 30 teams in the NHL, and three remain. Some of my famous quick math tells me that 90% of the teams and subsequently 90% of fans are "out of it." Yet somehow, we still watch. We watch because we love the sport, the storylines, the phenomenal pace of the game; the entertainment factor.
However, who are we cheering for? Is everyone in Canada throwing their support behind Edmonton? Is anyone cheering for Carolina? Having thought about this, given my own stark reality as a Canucks fan, I have to ask myself: who do I want to win the Stanley Cup? And what does that say about me?
Edmonton Oilers
Six weeks ago, if you would have asked me who I wanted to win the Stanley Cup, assuming it wasn't my team, my answer would have looked something like: "Anyone but Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, and Colorado, in that order." How awful would it be to have a team that you play eight times per season win the Stanley Cup? Or the team with most obnoxious fans in the league, in the city that you live in? The idea of these team's fans with bragging rights not just for one year, but basically until the Canucks win the Cup, leaves chills down my spine.
However, since the first win against Detroit, the Canadian media has been beating this team into us. I am almost ready to give in, and here's why:
I lived through this two years ago when the Flames (who I hate far more than the Oilers) made their run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. As this was happening, I couldn't help but recall the 1994 playoff run that ended virtually the same way and how much I loved that spring and how I still haven't gotten over the Canucks' loss to Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, and Mike Richter.
To have the Flames pull it out would have been a fate worse than death. As everyone from coast to coast jumped on that bandwagon, I couldn't watch. As Calgarians decided that maybe hockey was cool (remember, it wasn't too long ago that attendance was a major problem there) and were sporting brand new red jerseys, using the playoffs as an excuse to party and yet somehow getting credit for being the best fans in the league, I couldn't watch.
Of course, this year, these same Flames were nowhere to be found in the third period of game seven as their team was down by a mere two goals. Embarrassingly silent when their team needed them most, and out the door before the final horn went. No "thanks for a great season" send-off. I think they may have all been going to get a refund on their "sea of red" jerseys, as they likely still had the price tags attached. So as the Oilers burned through California, I had no choice but re-live this experience from last year. But there's a difference.
I have never seen an entire crowd cheer for their team, chant for their team after the other team scores a big goal. It's like they don't know any better, but after five Cups and numerous playoff appearances, they do. It's like they decided this year, "Screw it, they clearly can't do it alone on the ice, and if Flames can somehow get respect, we've got to take it to another level." and they did.
They cheered and they cheered and not one player on the Oilers isn't boosted by that, isn't made 10-15% better than he was two months ago. When they are down, they are not out, and it's not because the players are any better or because Dwayne Roloson is doing anything that Jean-Sebastien Giguere did a few years back. It's because the people there believe.
The team has built towards this, making the playoffs over and over again, often getting that Groundhog day feeling as they lose to the Stars. My problem with the Flames is that they didn't deserve it, the fans I mean, the players I can't judge. I don't talk to the players, but I talk to the fans. The players aren't the reason a franchise is in trouble, its the fans. Flames fans didn't deserve a Stanley Cup after sleeping through eight-odd years of no playoffs and relatively little support. Oilers fans do.
As a Canucks fan, I feel like we have been through a lot in this current incarnation of the team but that is for another day ... or two. Year after year, a severe disappointment, I think Oilers fans can relate. As for Flames fans, just sucking for 10 years and not even really trying to win doesn't count. Getting every possible break on your way to the Cup final doesn't match up to years of potential squelched.
Carolina Hurricanes
Two years ago, this is my team. Unequivocally. Do you know anyone that is a 'Canes fan? Does anyone? If sports is about debate and being a fan is about bragging rights for your team, then isn't Carolina the choice? Of course they are. Carolina is the common ground for all of us that have lost their team in the last two months. Sens fan? Go Hurricanes. Leafs fans? Go Hurricanes. Red Wings fan? Go Hurricanes.
You don't know a Hurricanes fan. Which means you don't have to hear about the year they won the Cup from someone everyday until your team wins. If the Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup, its like it never happened. Think I am wrong? How many times has someone smacked your team because they are a long-suffering fan of the Lightning that "finally got the Cup in 2004?" None. It was a cute little story and nobody won in your group of friends and acquaintances, everyone just sighed and re-laced the skates and got ready for the next season.
It took a while to get to that next season, but here we are, and two years in the making, it's worth twice as much. Do you really want that guy you know to have the satisfaction? When there is a simple way out? Like a carryover in a golf skins game, the Hurricanes can drain the putt that wipes everything clean and we all start fresh next year. Sure, Carolina has the parade, but does anyone really care? No. People in Carolina don't even care. As an added bonus, you can even bond with your Oilers fan-friend about having come so close. Trust me, relationships everywhere are saved. If you can't be happy, why should anyone you know be happy.
So who do I cheer for? If what I wanted to happen in the next two weeks came to fruition and I had to live with it in sports bars for the rest of my days who would I want to win the Stanley Cup? The truth is I don't know. Maybe you do. Maybe something you've read here rings true. Maybe you've convinced yourself that the Oilers are a Canadian team (like that makes a lick of difference), or you still hold a grudge because the Hurricanes have beaten the Leafs in the last decade. Maybe you want to see Doug Weight win the Stanley Cup or you like Eric Staal as a player.
Whatever your reason, it's yours and one that you will have to live with. Me? I won't know until I sit down and watch and something pulls me towards one side or the other. Maybe that happens in Game 1 or maybe it has to wait until Game 7, but at least I can rest easy knowing that I've thought it through.
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