Ladies and gentlemen, we are finally here. After a gruelling 48 game regular season (I’m not joking, that was a lot of games in a short time) and 3 rounds of playoff hockey so far, we have finally arrived at the Stanley Cup Final!
Congratulations first of all to the Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins for outlasting the rest of the league and advancing to play each other for the chance to lift Lord Stanley’s legacy over their heads.
To the other 14 teams who made it to the dance but didn’t get to the promised land, good on you as well. It was a crazy year and while many will downplay the accomplishments of the 2013 NHL season, it’s still not easy to win in this league.
Now, there can only be one winner when this best of seven series concludes. And there can only be one Stanley Cup Champion. Both of these teams have reason to believe that they can be the ones to come out on top. And there are stats and stories and evidence to back up whichever pick you want to make.
My pick is Chicago.
It’s easy to say that I’m not picking the Bruins because I really dislike them. But that’s not the only reason.
It’s also easy to say that I’m making the wrong pick because the fire power in the Blackhawks line-up is similar to that of the Penguins and just look how that turned out.
But I really think that the ‘Hawks have a better defense than Pittsburgh, waaaaay fewer questions in goal and at the end of the day they do have 2 star studded lines that can score a lot of goals, a 3rd line that can cause problems and also put the puck in the net and a 4th line that knows their role, gets out there, hits people and gets off.
I don’t think that this is going to be easy sledding for Chicago though. Boston does bring a crazy hot goalie to the mix with Tuuka Rask playing as well as anyone in the world. They also have Zedano Chara, the monster that he is, with the longest stick on the planet and the strength of an angry bear. What we’ll have to see is how they handle Chicago’s pressure and if they can get in the zone and score some goals. Chicago just beat a great goalie in Jonathan Quick and should be prepared for the challenges that Rask will provide.
In the end I am taking Chicago over Boston in 6 games. 1 of those games will go to overtime and the last game of the NHL post-season will be played on Monday, June 24th in Boston.
Here’s hoping that you have a ton of fun watching the Stanley Cup Final. I have a feeling we’re going to see some good hockey.
