A few weeks ago, I saw the new Star Trek movie. To be completely honest, I'm the farthest thing from a "trekkie" and ended up seeing the movie because the tickets to Fast and Furious 6 were solid out, but I was thoroughly impressed with the film (Not going to waste a lot of time reviewing the movie because you can find much better summaries than the one I would write elsewhere on the Internet, but I need to mention the fact it stars the talented and very underrated Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan, who's acting is worth the price of admission). Anyways, towards the end of the film, the famous "Boldly go where no man has gone before" was spoken by Spock, and all of a sudden, my intelligent Vulcan friend encouraged me to do something that would be very, very bold: Write about the NHL playoffs.
For some reason, the NHL receives absolutely no attention. Fewer fans go to hockey games than any other major professional sport. ESPN would never in a million years lead with a hockey story. Worst of all for the NHL, Tim Tebow and LeBron James don't play in the league. While it is an uphill battle for the NHL, things do seem to be pointing up. Initial television ratings have been near record highs thanks to great series, especially the seven game marathon between Chicago and Detroit. Playoff atmospheres are rocking in places other than Hockeytown. Perhaps best of all, Sidney Crosby jokes are becoming more popular on social media (Look up Boston pilot joke if you're not sure what I'm talking about). The NHL, unlike the NBA, has absolutely no parity from top to bottom. The Finals match-up was basically set in stone after the injury to Russell Westbrook, and every year, it's pretty easy to narrow serious contenders down to a handful. Last year, the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup as an #8 seed! Meanwhile in the NBA this year, the Milwaukee Bucks, the #8 seed in the East, got swept by the Heat and raised questions over whether a team of actually bucks could play better basketball.
As a member of the self-proclaimed "ADD/Steroid Multi-tasker/A-thousand-miles-a-minute/#YOLO" generation, the game of hockey would seem to be much more appealing. Unlike sports like baseball, basketball, and even football, hockey can go on rapidly for minutes at a time, and the interruptions and television timeouts are kept at a minimal. The tactical approach of soccer, the technical skills of lacrosse, the physicality of football, the speed of track, and the gracefulness of dancing make hockey one of the more challenging sports to master. It's one of the only sports where you can witness feats that range from this (Rick Nash Goal), to this (Tuukka Rask), and even something completely insane like this (Goalie Loses Tooth).
Unfortunately, there are only four to seven hockey games left in the lockout shortened NHL season (The lockout, and second one in the last 10 years, is probably one of the reasons the NHL has been desperate for attention), so if you want to watch something far more entertaining than the NBA, I caught you just in time. And man, the Stanley Cup Finals should be one hell of a series. Two 'Original 6' teams in the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins could provide just the spark the sport needs. The only question is, will the NBA fans or sports fans in general be willing to tune in? I know I will be. On one side, you have the Bruins, the 2011 Stanley Cup Champions. Gone from that team is star goaltender Tim Thomas, but in his place is Tuukka Rask, whose highlight tape was featured earlier and is something I really hope you watched. Back though are players like David Krejci, Zdeno Chara, and Nathan Horton who played prominent roles against the Canucks two years back. The #4 seed in the East, the Bruins needed a miracle comeback against the Toronto Maple Leafs (Toronto is kind of like the NHL's version of Cleveland with a little bit of the Chicago Cubs' World Series curse thrown in there for the non-hockey readers) just to get by the first round. Then, they SWEPT the Pittsburgh Penguins, which would've been like the Pacers sweeping the Heat with an average margin of victory of 20 points. If the old addage, defense wins championships is true, the Bruins will be hoisting another Stanley Cup, because the combination of Rask's play and the penalty kill numbers will stifle the Blackhawks' forwards.
However, I'm taking the best team in the NHL this year to win the Stanley Cup. The Chicago Blackhawks won 36 games and finished with 77 points in a 48 game season. They ranked in the top two of both goals and goals against per game. They had the third best penalty kill in the NHL. Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, and Bryan Bickell have wowed fans all season with incredible goal scoring displays, and Corey Crawford is becoming one of the league's top goaltenders. The ultimate intangible though will be the fact that Chicago has home ice. Other than maybe the NFL, the crowds at hockey games are the closest thing to a college atmosphere you can find. The fans, while not as mighty in quanity, are some of the most die hard fans this side of European soccer, and they ramp it up come playoff time. This season, the crowds in every building have been LOUD for the entire 60 minutes, and then they take LOUD to a whole new level come overtime.
By and far, especially since Game of Thrones will not be returning for another 9 months, the best television out there the next week and a half is going to be found courtesy of the NHL. It make take a bold step to turn on the Stanley Cup Finals, but if any of you all find yourself watching NBC tonight at 8:00 PM, I think most of you will be entertained, impressed, and pissed off because you missed the first three rounds of one of the more compelling sports on the planet.
My pick: Chicago in 6
J. Nave
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