Flashback to May 19th, 2007: As the Ottawa Senators celebrated a series-clinching overtime goal right beneath me, my emotions got the best of me and I bitterly exclaimed: “Don’t worry Ottawa, you’ll blow it in the finals.”
I told you so.
Congrats to the Ducks on being the first California team, and the first team on the West Coast in over 80 years (no, Colorado doesn’t count) to win the Stanley Cup. The Ducks didn’t just win, they consistently manhandled the Sens. Ottawa won a lot of games in the playoffs by playing a physical style, but when they ran into a team that plays even more physical, they couldn’t hang. Ray Emery fell back down to earth and proved he’s a below-average goaltender who seems to let in at least one soft goal per game, and the rest of the Sens did nothing to shed their image as chokers. They were so rattled that they turned over the puck like it was a hot potato and resorted to a barrage of cheap shots, including Chris Neil’s attempt to behead Andy McDonald in Game 3 (which, mysteriously, went unpunished) and Daniel Alfredsson’s shooting of the puck at Scott Niedermayer in Game 4 as the period ended in a humiliating display of poor sportsmanship.
Can you tell I don’t like Ottawa very much? Heh.
This video is the sort of thing I’ll watch years from now when I’m having a bad day, and it will cheer me up instantly.
I don’t think I rooted for either team as much as I just wanted to be entertained. And in that respect, this series succeeded. But deep down, I’ve always liked Teemu Selanne (I had a Jets hat with “Selanne” and “13″ across the front way back when), and seeing him win the Cup brought a smile to my face.
Still, the whole Yashin thing earlier that day brought a bigger smile to my face.