Whoa, Canada!

I’m watching Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals. Edmonton lead 3-1 after two periods, but now trails 4-3 with 9 minutes remaining in the third period.

Period – schmeriod! These haven’t been periods, they’ve been exclamation points!

This has been one hell of a game. The Carolina Hurricanes and the Edmonton Oilers are two of the fastest teams in this year’s playoffs, and both teams came out skating fast and hitting hard. Oiler defenseman Chris Pronger beat Hurricane goalie Cam Ward on a penalty shot, Carolina killed off a 5-on-3 power play, and the hits! Guys have been slammed into the boards and knocked off their feet throughout the game. The game’s first penalty came on a clipping by the near-side boards. All you saw from the main camera angle was a head and torso in red suddenly fall out of view and two red legs appeared in their place. And now, after leading 3-0, Edmonton is busily trying to regroup after giving up four unanswered goals and the lead.

Oh, yeah! Now it’s tied at 4! What an amazing play by a guy who was airborne when he made his shot!

Oh, crap! Now the Oiler goalie is injured. A three-player pile-up forced him into the net and he can’t walk.

Lord Stanley’s Cup hasn’t been hoisted over a Canadian rink since the Montreal Canadiens bested the Los Angeles Kings in 1993. Only two times since then have the canucks managed to field a team in the finals – the Vancouver Canucks lost game 7 in Madison Square Garden in 1994 and the Calgary Flames lost game 7 to the Tampa Bay Lightning two years ago. This is quite a contrast to the 80’s, when Canadian teams won the cup seven years in a row (five times by Edmonton).

These Oilers look like they can return the Cup to the Great White North. (Besides, the Cup is due back. C’mon, the defending champion is Tampa Bay?!?) They eked into the playoffs with the final spot in the West and then knocked off league-leader Detroit in the first round, then faced a double-dose of California en route to the Western Conference Championship. They are spunky, and definitely hot at the right time.

Shit!

OK, perhaps giving up the game-winning goal with 30 seconds left because the goalie and defenseman bobbled the puck behind the net doesn’t support my statement, but hey, this is just game one.

Anyways, this series looks to be a great one, despite the rally in Raleigh. I’m worried about the injury to Roloson (the goalie), but the Oilers are slick (yeah, I know, boo – hiss). I know the NBA championship is going to have better ratings, but they will not have a single game as good as what we’ve seen tonight.