The 'Next One' got one!!!

Yessirree Bob, I guess I am a jinx. Last summer I was in Alaska, playing hockey every day and I watched every playoff game in Humpy's pub on C street in Anchorage. I got a lot of fish and chips and a lot of beer from sympathetic Wings fans. This year I am in Arabia and had to wake up at 4:30 in order to watch this epic game.

I slept through my alarm.

But I DID wake up to this amazing sight in my inbox;



The "THE PITTSBURGH PENGUINS ARE THE" was all I needed!!!!! It didn't take long for me to start tearing around Amman letting everyone know that a team they have never heard of playing a sport they had never heard of won a championship that they don't care about. I care, I care.

Series analysis after I get back from the Dead Sea, but let me first say that I told you so. I was wrong on most of my other predictions, but exactly right where it counted!

Battling Your Worst Enemy: Self

The Humanity Factor was in full swing for Saturday's Game 5. The Wings 5-0 victory was well-earned and deserved. The return of Pavel Datsyuk was not only surprising, but extremely enjoyable to watch. Hank Zetterberg was his usual fantastic self after taking a Game 4 hiatus. He has been one of my top 5 players for the last couple seasons now, and he is taking his game to a whole new level, even displaying a nasty side when standing up for teammates. Like I've said, expect him to be the next bearer of the "C" after Lidstrom's retirement. Speaking of Lidstrom, he continued to be magical, as did most of the Red Wings.

Maybe it's better to say that the Red Wings didn't particularly play "better", they just got back to playing how they always play, which is, needless to say, pretty close to perfection when they're firing on all cylinders. They are extremely disciplined, extremely efficient, and extremely talented at playing as a team. Should I be saying this on a site that carries as its flagship photo an image of Super Joe? Probably not. But I have to tell it how it is.

One thing I've loved about the Penguins is their ability to think and act at maturity levels beyond their age. This is particularly true of Sidney Crosby, whose on- and off-ice poise is that of a 10-year veteran. Unfortunately, none of this was true of the Pittsburgh Penguins of Game 5. A player is only as good as he lets himself be, and the Penguins were letting themselves be pretty darn bad in Game 5. They looked great at the beginning, but a soft goal by Dan Cleary started an avalanche of bad penalties and unfinished chances that led to the mess that was the team in white during Game 5. The Pens, usually so poised and wise beyond their years, displayed attitudes of children far younger, and they have no one to blame but themselves.

A hockey player - or any person for that matter - can become something larger than themselves if they dig deep enough. The youngsters on the Penguins epitomized that attitude the whole last half of the season and up to Game 5 of the Finals. However, on that fateful night, the Penguins started to dig, hit a rough patch, and proceeded to throw down the shovel, kick it, kick a few rocks, stub their toes on the rocks, kick some more, and finally sit down in a fit of tears and curses. It was horrific, sad, and disappointing to see players like Malkin and Kunitz let their team down with despicable penalties. Even the consistently poised Crosby was caught in his attempt to dismember Zetterberg's foot with his stick. Absolutely pitiful. And it made the team all the more upset when the calm, cooler-than-school Red Wings shrugged off their every attack.

The glimmer of hope that I see at the end of the tunnel is the fact that the Pens aren't normally like this. It can be chalked up to a complete mental breakdown that, while disappointing, is something that can be overcome. Expect a drastically different Pens team entering Mellon Arena on Tuesday night.

While objective in my analysis, I still want the Pens to win, if nothing else than to see the underdogs get one and to see the start of what I'm sure will be a hockey dynasty in the near future. Will they pull it off? I'm hesitant to say. Momentum has been like a huge pendelum in these playoffs, and all it takes is one timely goal or penalty or mixup to shift the favor from one team to the next. If my previous prediction comes true, however, The Red Wings will lift Lord Stanley's Cup for the second time in as many years to a quiet, disappointed crowd at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh tomorrow night.

The Humanity Factor

The Red Wings/Pens matchup is quickly becoming one for the ages. It's a seeming David versus Goliath battle between a well-oiled, nearly perfect team of experienced veterans against an upstart, fast and feisty group of youngsters who smell blood after last year's letdown. Whoever ends up winning the Cup will have done so not necessarily because they worked harder or played better, but because they were able to persevere amidst adversity and capitalize on key opportunities. At the end of the day, both of these teams match up pretty evenly when their respective pros and cons are weighed. This makes it mighty difficult to predict a winner, but unbelievably entertaining to watch.

The thing I love about hockey is the raw emotion and humanity behind it all. Players who never score will suddenly come alive and light the lamp; players who never make mistakes will trip up at the worst of times; and players who rarely fight, block a shot, or finish a check will suddenly show they do indeed have a pair. That's what makes hockey so fantastic. These are not robots, these are real people who can get fired up to play beyond their normal means, or can tire enough to fall short of expectation. It's what we hope for in the Stanley Cup Finals in particular: two teams, full of real-life men who are prone to all sorts of hills and valleys. We as viewers find perfection in their imperfection, for it's those moments of blunders and greatness that make for a riveting Stanley Cup series. One that we'll remember.

There have been multiple examples of the Humanity Factor in this year's playoffs. Let's take a look at a few:

Wings D-man Jonathan Ericsson has an appendectomy three days before Game 1. This would sideline most - athletes included - for up to a month. Ericsson? Nope, out there playing. Not only that, but in his own end he's outplayed teammates higher up on the depth chart like Brad Stuart and Niklas Kronwall.

Sidney Crosby. His numbers before Game 4 aren't great indicators of how he's played. He's put in the work of your typical THIRD liner: mucking, grinding, effective in his own end, finishing checks, and crashing the net, but with all the trimmings of the superstar he is. I think it's also important to note the attention his play has demanded. Every shift Brian Rafalski, Nick Lidstrom, and Hank Zetterberg are out to shadow him. This they've done admirably, but doing so leaves the likes of Stuart, Kronwall, and Franzen to handle Evgeni Malkin. Uh oh.

Perhaps my favorite moment of humanity in action came at the end of Game 2 when Maxime Talbot - probably out of frustration - jabbed his stick into the midsection of Chris Osgood after failing to score, knocking the Wings keeper clean over. Perfect example of humanity causing you to do things you normally wouldn't in the midst of adversity. Then, out of nowhere comes Hank Zetterberg to give Talbot the classic cross-check and complimentary face-wash for his dirty deed. "I love it," I'm thinking to myself. A superstar leaving his niche and personality behind in the name of standing up for his 'keeper. But wait, it gets better: Evgeni Malkin, similar in niche and skill to Hank, jumps in to the fray and engages Zetterberg in what he desperately wants to be a fight, all in the name of protecting his teammate. He didn't accomplish much in the way of hurting Zetterberg, but the look on his face suggested he was ready to kill. This whole exchange was a perfect example of human players doing things they normally wouldn't do, all in the name of playing for a shot at being the greatest team in the greatest league in the world. We can point fingers at whoever was wrong or right, or who deserved what penalty. But what it comes down to is what we've been waiting for all season. Again, we find perfection in the imperfection. And it's damn good hockey.

Then there's been the gaffes: The aforementioned Talbot skewering Osgood; Rafalski bumbling the puck that led to a shorthanded goal by Jordan Staal; Marc-Andre Fleury allowing goals off the back of his legs; and the Red Wings specialty team problems, to name a few. Things like this will continue to happen. There will be missed calls, cheap shots, and retaliations. We can keep a tally of who's done more, or we can just enjoy this fantastic series for what it's worth.

For all it's worth, I think the Pens had to win these past two games. Maybe the Mullet said it best on Sportscenter tonight when talking about Game 4, pointing out that the Penguins are starting to realize they can win, while the Red Wings are realizing they can lose. Detroit looked tired tonight after outplaying the Pens in Games 1, 2, and 3, while the Pens look fresh and hungry. They look poised to take the series after stealing back the momentum. Of course, never count out an experienced Detroit team who will be back in their building with their stellar home crowd. They will get the last change, an ever-important advantage in these Finals, especially in the Crosby-Zetterberg matchup. Hank has done a good job on Sid offensively, but looked dead tonight, while Crosby had a breakout night. It could go either way.

All in all, the winner of the next game will probably win the Cup. I don't see this being a longer series than six games. There's just too much momentum, too much hanging in the balance. The Pittsburgh crowd will see the Stanley Cup raised in their building, whether it's the home or away team is the question to be answered next week. But whatever happens, I'm finding a lot of perfection in the imperfections of this year's Stanley Cup Finals.

Deja vu!

Here we are again! Upcoming game 4 with the Red Wings leading the series 2-1. Don't be fooled though! The series can go either way. The Penguins can come from behind and take revenge for last years loss in game 6. Or the Red Wings will brush off the loss and push to a second straight Cup! It's no secret, I'm a Wings fan! I've tried to keep my biase out of the equation when deciding how I think the series will go. I tried to write before the series started to make my predictions, but life got in the way. Now that we are 3 games into the series, I will make less of a prediction, and more of an observation.

Maturity

When you think of the Penguins who comes to mind? Obviously Sidney Crosby, Ivgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar, Marc Andre-Fluery. When you think of the Red Wings you think of Nicholas Lidstrom, Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Chris Osgood to say the least. There is a major difference in experience, the Red Wings have an average age of 33.4 while the Penguins have an average age of 29. Some people may say that it isn't a big deal, but I definitely notice a difference.

To help describe my observation I will use an example from both teams. Sidney Crosby; the leadership of the Pittsburgh Penguin since 2005. Justin Abdelkader; a little known Red Wing aquisition from the Wings AHL affiliate the Grand Rapids Griffins called up for the Stanely Cup Finals. The reason why I chose these two is because they were both born in 1987. One thing I love about the Finals is the level of play! The physicallity of the game seems to be brought up 10 fold. Hit's on the ice are more frequent, and more violent! Which lets be honest, is the reason why most people watch the sport. During the violence that has been these finals I have seen something very interesting. The moments after a hit are very telling about a teams maturity! While I am generally new to Hockey, I know retaliation. From the early years of being a kid, when you brother hits you, you hit him back.

When I watch clean hits put upon the Penguins it's like watching a group of toddlers hitting eachother. It starts at the top. It seems a majority of the time Sidney Crosby gets hit, if the player is close enough, the hit usually is followed by a retaliatory punch. Whether it's a clean hit or not. His teammates see this and this story is played out repeatedly throughout the game. Rather than worrying about what is happening in the game, they are more worried about repairing their ego.

On the wings side last night I saw a viscious hit on Justin Abdelkader by Maxime Talbot, open ice, and hard! Justin abdelkader had his head down, and suffered for it. He got straight up off the ice and skated away, there was no "love tap" or swat with the stick. He got up and knew the game had to played. The position of the puck is more important that the position of the guy who just tried to take his head off. Something else that is note worthy and is my challenge to you for game 4. Watch how many Red Helmets you see on the ice! I was surprised how many helmets were hit off. You know the hit is hard, when helmets come off. But still the retaliation count is probably going to become the next statistic the NHL starts tracking.

Now I know that the Wings aren't an innocent party when it comes to retaliation. Sometimes it's deserved, sometimes it's not. But it seems that the best maturity level the teams has to offer differs on a very large scale. I challenge you to sit and watch game 4. Take note to the level and intensity of the hits, and see how many fists fly after the hits. Take note of the Black Jerseys, and take note of the white jerseys. When all is said and done, I believe frustration gets the best of the Penguins every game with the Wings. The frustration will catch up to them, leading to stupid penalties, and stupid mistakes made by a younger, inexperienced, and immature team.