For most of us who worry about such things, finals are over and summer has begun. We broke through the coffee-drinking, studying-til-we-cry induced stupor and are now in the clear. I had one particularly hard final and I was the last one out. My prof kindly reminded me "It's not how fast you finish, it's how well you finish." Thank you, my patient readers, for cutting me some slack and allowing me to finish well. :)
There is a set of people who are just now skating through their finals: the National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils and Los Angeles Kings, the competitors in this year's Stanley Cup Finals.
The Stanley Cup has been around since 1926. Interestingly, the same trophy originated as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup in 1892. Bet ya didn't know that one, did ya? Throw that one around the rink next chance you get. Unlike other trophies, the Stanley Cup is the same, actual cup every year. They inscribe the winners' names on the base of the cup. It's more than just a trophy. It's a legacy. The Devils have only won the Cup 3 times in their history, but that's 3 more than the LA Kings.
Neither team has a clear advantage in this series. Neither team has been to the Stanley Cup Finals a crazy amount of times. The Devils have been around a while as a team. The Kings have not. On the one hand, the Devils have won more games this season, but the Kings have held their opponents to fewer goals. The average age of the Kings current roster is 26; the Devils' age is 29. Do those 3 years matter? If so, which way? Youth and vitality versus Age and experience. It's hard to say.
It's too soon to tell, in my opinion. It may very well come down to who scores last or which team gets tired first or which team gets beaten up the worst. Hockey is not a race, it's a battle. You battle against the clock, the crowd, the refs, your opponents and yourself. This battle wins the war.
"It's not how fast you finish, it's how well you finish."
There is a set of people who are just now skating through their finals: the National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils and Los Angeles Kings, the competitors in this year's Stanley Cup Finals.
The Stanley Cup has been around since 1926. Interestingly, the same trophy originated as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup in 1892. Bet ya didn't know that one, did ya? Throw that one around the rink next chance you get. Unlike other trophies, the Stanley Cup is the same, actual cup every year. They inscribe the winners' names on the base of the cup. It's more than just a trophy. It's a legacy. The Devils have only won the Cup 3 times in their history, but that's 3 more than the LA Kings.
Neither team has a clear advantage in this series. Neither team has been to the Stanley Cup Finals a crazy amount of times. The Devils have been around a while as a team. The Kings have not. On the one hand, the Devils have won more games this season, but the Kings have held their opponents to fewer goals. The average age of the Kings current roster is 26; the Devils' age is 29. Do those 3 years matter? If so, which way? Youth and vitality versus Age and experience. It's hard to say.
It's too soon to tell, in my opinion. It may very well come down to who scores last or which team gets tired first or which team gets beaten up the worst. Hockey is not a race, it's a battle. You battle against the clock, the crowd, the refs, your opponents and yourself. This battle wins the war.
"It's not how fast you finish, it's how well you finish."
FYI, the LA Kings have been around longer than the Devils. You might want to fix that line.
ReplyDeleteI feel like an expert when it comes to the LA Kings and NHL hockey in general. I've been a fan since I was 5 years old, back when the Kings used to wear yellow and purple uniforms, and long before Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Kings. To put it plainly, this series is the most excited I have EVER been for any sports matchup ever.
The Kings are younger, but their players are more playoff-tested, as they have been in the playoffs for several years in a row now. The Devils missed the playoffs last season.
... and LA just won the game in overtime, so they are up 2-0 in the series, now heading back home for games 3 and 4 where they hope to sweep the Devils. Go Kings!
I should have worded it differently: by saying they've been around longer I simply meant that they've won this whole Stanley Cup thing before and they have a few players who have been with the team (let alone playing hockey) longer than I've been alive. You're not the first to notice that, and I apologize. Thanks for the comment, man!
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