TAMPA BAY, FL – Although it is painful to write about this, someone has to do it. While most of the Rangers are teeing up like the rest of the losers of the NHL, a few of last year’s teammates are battling it out for the coveted Stanley Cup.
Brad Richards appears to have some gas left in the tank, as the Blackhawks look to bottle the Lightning Of Tampa – featuring three ex-Blueshirts. Ryan Callahan, Brian Boyle and Anton Stralman look to drink from the same Cup that had eluded them while in the Big Apple. Nothing beats a little payback!
Both teams are talent-laden and taken different paths to this point. Chicago has established themselves as perennial contenders who simply refuse to lose – with a calm that defies all logic. They thrive on comebacks.
Jonathan Toews may be the best clutch player in recent history. This guy leads by example and believes that no game is lost until the final horn blows. Add in Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Marian Hossa et al and you can never count them out.
Can the Lightning fast Tampa team use their superior speed to drink from the Cup for the first time since 2004? Tampa is a quick-shooting offensive juggernaut. Lightning can strike from any angle in the offensive zone as their attack on opposing defenses is like getting blind-sided. Their “triplets” of Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat have posted a lofty 55 points thus far in these playoffs! Add in Captain Steven Stamkos’ 17 and Alex Killorn’s 16 and you can anticipate the action that these finals will bring to hockey fans. As I type this, Chicago has stolen game one 2-1 after trailing late in the third.
I pick Tampa to win in seven… along with American Pharoah.
Bruce “Caitlyn” Jenner left a lot of hardware on the table! In a matter of speaking. Now, I’m not talking about the obvious. That target is just too easy. What I am referring to are the USA Olympic Medals. While many of us who witnessed his amazing performance in the 1976 decathlon are totally perplexed by the recent events, I wonder about the lost opportunity for the USA Women’s Olympic Squad of the late seventies. Had Brucey turned into Lucy after he snatched (too soon?) the Gold, he Shirley (writer’s license) could have competed with those juiced up East Germans with bigger Adams Apples than pro football players, along with more testosterone than an Oakland A’s Bash Brothers Reunion!
Hell, he (sorry) she could have “racked” (oops) up many more medals versus those bratwurst-eating Fräuleins! At sixty-five , he she can only hope to be the best Cougar that he can be… eh!
Chime in and sound off and come back tomorrow for another edition of MTM with Different Matt.
