Original Six Match-up Has Nostalgic Tones

Many fans and pundits were giddy with excitement at the prospect of Columbus making it to the postseason of this shortened “2012”/13 season around six weeks ago. The plucky underdog almost made it to the party but alas they fell short.

Because of that many fans and pundits were apoplectic with rage because the “usual” suspects made it to the postseason of this shortened “2012”/13 season. They were furious about the likes of the Maple Leafs & Islanders smugly challenging for the Stanley Cup as they last did in 2004 & 2007.

As you can imagine all hell has broken loose in North America and beyond now we have confirmation that the finalists for the 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Final are two Original Six teams. Gary Bettman is marauding through the streets of his failed project in Phoenix reminiscent of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters. Only this time he is being remotely controlled by Don Cherry like a puppet tied to Don Corleone’s strings.

Piece after piece has been produced by the media whether in paper form, though the airwaves into people’s televisions and radios or on the internet. “How could this have happened? This is a new era in the NHL” they ask.
Back in the real world it has not. There has been no Ghostbusters sequel written by Mario Puzo (unfortunately). There has been no questioning of whether or not the salary cap is working – whatever that means; just excitement.
You see the bright new dawn that many “hoped” was coming with the likes of the Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, I suppose Phoenix and, more recently, Columbus Blue Jackets has been forgotten now we have an Original Six Final. Yet Chicago’s dismissal of the defending Champions on Saturday night. LA’s longest game as a franchise after they went past the previous 26:31 of OT versus the Canucks in 1993, (see below) throws up some interesting stats.

This will be the first time two Original Six teams will face off for the Stanley Cup since 1979 when Scotty Bowman’s Montreal Canadiens defeated Fred Shero’s New York Ranger in five games. Those surnames will sound familiar for a reason.

Usually when two Original Six teams come up against each other there is a huge amount of trawling through stats and records to do but the last time these two played was over 600 days ago. It is only the seventh time they have met in the postseason ever.

Yes that’s right these two teams, founded in 1924 and 1926 in the case of the Blackhawks will be playing against each other for the first time in a Stanley Cup Final. Period. Indeed the two cities have only played each other on two occasions in Championship games over the course of all major sports: in 1918 when the Red Sox bested the Cubs in the World Series and a little more recently in 1986 with the Bears defeating the New England Patriots in the Superbowl.

This final was already going to make history but the stats are making this series even more significant for these two historic sporting cities.

The Bruins saw off the other “dead certs” for the Cup by sweeping the Pens in the Eastern Conference final. That after the B’s became the first team in NHL history to win a Game Seven after trailing by three goals in the third against the Leafs on May 13th. That after the Pens had a regular season equivalent of 123 points.

It was not as easy for Boston as some are describing but they did make relatively light work of a team that learnt the hard way that the small pieces are what make a team successful, not just the loading up of stars. That was discussed prior to the playoffs in one of the first Icing on the Week’s.

Antithetically Chicago have had to battle themselves as well as the mysterious “Curse of the President’s Trophy” this postseason. After a relatively straightforward opening round against the Wild they have battled through a seven game bout against another Original Six team in Detroit and a tough five game series versus Los Angeles.
Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews have received significant criticism for their lack of productivity but these past two weeks have seen a definite increase in their impact. Toews underlined that with two assists in their series clincher on Saturday night and Kane was even more impressive. His hat trick saw him to fourteen points in the postseason, a three-way team high, and also the first player since Wayne Gretzky to score three in a final clinching win.

The question now is whether the ‘hawks star players have got into their groove at just the right time or whether Boston’s momentum will see them roll onto their second Cup in three years. Will it be the influence of Nathan Horton who is on course to equal his regular season points total in half the time this postseason or Marian Hossa’s experience of four finals in the last six years?

Wednesday will be the first indicator but one thing is for sure, not many are hankering after a Winnipeg Jets – Columbus Blue Jackets final now.