It just seems so wrong

At the risk of offending my American readers, especially those of you from any state that can wear shorts in December, I just have to say that a team named after a Disney movie, a team that, until last year, had a picture of a duck in a hockey mask that was more Jason from Friday the 13th than goalie, winning the Stanley Cup is just plain wrong.

Whew, that was a long run on sentence.

Unlike last year, when I wrote this "letter"* to the Carolina Hurricanes or this post predicting (wrongly!) that the Oilers would win the Cup I have not followed the playoffs too much this year. Until my last post I had made no mention of the playoffs at all. Why? Because the freaking Oilers sucked this year and didn't even make it to the playoffs. And why did they go from the finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs last year to nada this year? It may have had something to do with the defection of Chris Pronger, a man rumoured to have had an affair with a local sportscaster (a female one, in case you wondered) that so pissed off his wife she demanded he leave the team a year into his 5 year contract. Foolish, foolish man. I'm of the opinion that the majority of professional athletes sleep around but I assume that they are smart enough to do it on the road, not at home with someone in the news. Eejit. Anyhoo, I digress. The Oilers traded Chris Pronger to where? The Anaheim Ducks, formerly the Mighty Ducks. So of all teams to make it to the cup finals? I so did not want it to be the Ducks. I am sure there were other factors in the Oilers breakdown this year, but he was a pretty big part of it. Trading Ryan Smyth at the deadline- maybe not so smart either but I understand it from a financial point of view.

Have I lost you all yet? I know there's a few of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, and a bigger group who could care less. Stay with me, it's only one post.

So yeah. There was no hockey posting, or watching, for me. Until game 3 of this fianl series in the playoffs. One Canadian team vs. one American team. Our nation's capital vs. the home of Disneyland. The Ducks won the first 2 games. Crappy. The Senators won Game 3. I was a little excited. There were letters in the paper saying that a true Oilers fan would not be supporting the Senators to win. I don't believe that at all. That would then be saying that a true Oilers fan, or a true fan of any of the other 28 teams, would not be watching this final because there team is not in it. I supported Ottawa because I wanted to see the Stanley Cup back in Canada. I don't deny that at all. There are 6 Canadian teams and 24 American teams. So much of the game has been taken away to entice American viewers. I think it is great that many of those American teams sell out their arenas, but the reality is that hockey is a Canadian game, I don't think anyone would deny that. Americans have football and basketball and baseball. We have hockey. We have a Stanley Cup that has not been won by a Canadian team in 14 years. Americans will never tune into NBC in droves to watch a regular Saturday night hockey game. Not even if they aired them.

So I did want Ottawa to win. And it didn't happen. Which is sad. I know the Cup will make it's way through Canada this year. I believe something like 19 of the Ducks are Canadian and they all will get a chance to bring the cup home. It's not the same as belonging to a Canadian team for the year though. Ah well, there is always next year. When Edmonton will hopefully win it. And if not, I will cheer for Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa or Montreal.

*Just in case you happened to be the one person who clicks on links and read that letter to the Carolina Hurricanes while Liam didn't actually get beat up for his support of that team, he did get pushed to the ground by 2 boys. Kids are mean little feckers.