However, I felt that, after the Ottawa Senators lost, I had to say something. I knew there’d be many Canadians bitter about “yet another non-Canadian Cup Final”, storming off in disgust because the year didn’t go “as planned”. So, in light of all that, I wanted to show that this Final’s different than in year’s past: in other words, that it’s not as bad as it looks. There IS a reason that Canadians should continue to pay attention well after the Senators are gone, and that’s because the Finals are still very Canadian. They’re both, essentially, Cinderellas (because neither have the respect/notoreity the Detroit Red Wings, for example, have), a popular way Canadians have shaped their image (from my experiences) and they both have a high number of Canadian players (and to that end I don’t mean to call the Canadian teams’ content “foreign”- Canadians (outside of Don Cherry) have shown a willingness to embrace Europeans as their own- it’s just to say that it’s not like there’s no actual Canadians left fighting for the Cup).

As a Canadian myself, yes, I would rather have Canadian teams in the Finals (one of my favourites, the Vancouver Canucks, is Canadian after all), but I, for one, am not at all disappointed for the Cup Final: in fact, I think this one will be the one I’ll be the most interested in years. If others don’t agree, well, so be it, but at least I tried.

RealityCheck

Bigger cliubs with more cash make it easier for people like us to complain, especially those of us who live north of the border and know damn well that buying season tickets year after year wouldn’t stop those billionaires to take away the sport we all grew up watching, religiously.

The DEVILS in the final??!!! wow, amazing.

We’ll gladly give you to Tigers! And the Yankees! Hell if you want take all of Major League Baseball from us! It’s got to be by far the worst sport out there anymore and the biggest waste of money that could easily be better-spent elsewhere… and take NASCAR while you’re at it, ugh…

As to the whining and complaining of Canadians about losing “their game” — if you don’t like it DO something about it! Go to more of your team’s games! Get season tickets! Any time I see empty seats at an arena, Canadian or American, I can’t say I feel sorry if that team leaves town or enters into a downward spiral.

If Ottawa had won, would the talk of the finals then have been European based?

Captain Daniel Alfredsson

Marain Hossa

Martin Havlat

Zdeno Chara

Magnus Arvedson

I think it would most likely have focused on a Canadian team.

Also, about the only place that it matters is in Canada.

Anaheim is a Canadian like team? last I checked their one of those teams that Canadian’s resent. They’re in California, a part of the world Canadians don’t feel should have a hockey team. They’re owned by Disney, and their billions of dollars. Just because Disney didn’t buy a championship years ago doesn’t mean they couldn’t have. They’re paying Kariya 10 million to be a minus player. If Kariya wasn’t Canadian, people would mention how his +/- and point production has dropped year after year. Plus if Anaheim does win the cup, and even make the playoffs next year, no doubt they’ll be the new Dallas Stars, with bitter Canadian’s bitching about how they shouldn’t have a hockey team, they’re sick of them winning, etc…If Anaheim starts to drop Vancouver every year like Dallas does to Edmonton, they’ll be the most hated team in Canada.

The reason the Ducks don’t get respect is that they’r really not as good as they appear. Carolina made the finals last year, are they a great team? Nope. Anaheim has a bunch of average players and veterans with one last playoff run in them giving it their all, and they’re still only where they are because of Giguere. This isn’t the start of a new power team in the West, it’s a fluke year.

New Jersey I have to respect. They made good trades to get where they are now. I wouldn’t exactly call the Niewendyke/Langenbrunner for Arnott trade fair, but it worked out well for Jersey. They got a proven veteran that Dallas fan’s have wanted back ever since, and a young player who showed he could score in Dallas, and then broke out in New Jersey. Dallas got Randy MacKay (who?) and Jason Arnott, who will never be what teams expected of him. Every team that gets him thinks he’s about to break out into a true superstar, but he’s really not going to. He’ll score, but he’s not a superstar. I do respect them though. They have the best goalie in the game, and he doesn’t even need to pad himself up like he’s on a space walk to do it (I’m looking at you, Jiggy).

Look at Basketball, the game was invented here but now there is barely a trace of what it used to be. Giving an 18 year old 90 million dollars for 3 years, that is not only outrageous, in my opinion, it takes away a lot of credibility to the sport.

FYI Big_Booty, it is not as easy as “getting better teams” if we don’t have astronomical amounts of cash to throw at ufa’s like American owners who seem to have more money than brains.

Most Americans root for the underdog, so I would think Anaheim will get the nod unless you are a Kings fan or one of the teams Anaheim eliminated. The Devils (although boring as hell) are an unbelievable team. Although they almost blew the Ottawa series, Ottawa is very talented. Giguere is a very good goalie, but so is Brodeur and I think the experience and talent of NJ will prevail over Anaheim in 6.