In Case You Missed It

As the title says, in case you missed it, and you probably did, the second best postseason series of the spring concluded last night. The first is clearly the Celtics-Bulls marathon, but the Penguins and Capitals ended what was one of the best NHL postseason series this decade, and definitely the best since the lockout ruined hockey. This was one of those unique series that had just about everything and because of that I was captivated by it. It also didn't hurt that my girlfriend is a Pens fan, but I digress. I will admit, I am slowly becoming a hockey fan again, and this series may have been the clincher. 7 games, 3 that went to overtime, constant back and forth, countless series changing moments, this series had it ALL!!!

Obviously star-power is the first ingredient to any classic series. When Evgeni Malkin is the 3rd and sometimes 4th best player on the ice depending on how Marc-Andre Fleury is playing, you know the stars have come out to play. Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby are laying the groundwork for a legendary duel that may take 10 years to play out, with other young studs such as Malkin, Fleury, Jordan Stall, Simeon Varlamov, Mike Green and Nick Backstrom providing support. Ovechkin, who I must admit I'm developing a little bit of a man crush on in a strictly athletic sense, reminds me a lot of Mario Lemieux with his combination of size, power, and skill that no one else on the ice possesses, whereas Crosby is a lot more like Wayne Gretzky. He just glides along the ice making it look effortless sometimes, and he has some of the best hands I have ever seen on a hockey player. These two teams are just scratching the surface of their potential and the Penguins have already been to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Aside from the young guns, this series also had the wily veterans looking for another sip from Lord Stanley's Cup. Bill Guerin for the Pens providing another option for a team already loaded with offense, and a former league MVP in Sergei Federov coming through with the great two-way play that made him a perennial All-Star in Detroit. It was so much fun to watch these two generations of players come together on these teams.

What really took this series to the next level though was the energy that was brought to the rink by these two fan bases. Of course if you have watched hockey over the past 20 years then you know that Pens fans know how to 'bring it", but what was amazing was how Caps fans responded to the teams longest playoff run in over 10 years. The "Rock the Red" was one of the better individual team promotions in a long time, and the Caps definitely capitalized on a perfect storm in the D.C. sports scene. With the Nationals and Wizards among the worst teams in their leagues and the Redskins mired in mediocrity the Caps became the only team worth showing up for in the Nation's Capital, and they came through.

If I were Gary Bettman and thank God I'm not, I would find a way to manipulate it so that for the next 10 years these two teams meet every year in the postseason. It was a thrill to watch these two teams and all of the superstars that came with them battle it out for 7 games. Sure Game 7 was a dud compared to the first 6, but the fact was I WATCHED Game 7 because I didn't know what I would see next. This may be the kind of series that gets hockey back on television regularly, (seriously, Versus?) I grew up loving the game of hockey, and admit that I kind of lost touch with it during the no obstruction penalty years and ultimately the lockout, but I'm back now and I hope other disconnected fans feel the same.