Rite of Spring 2013 (NHL Playoffs): "You have no fear of the underdog, that's why you will not survive."

[Alex Houston]

Don't really see how Kings fans can complain about anything. Coming off a championship season sort of lets you just enjoy the ride and play with house money. Now the Sharks and Wings I could see, though quite honestly, both those teams would've likely lost in 5 or 6, especially the Sharks as much as I don't want to admit it.

Luckily for me, most of the games are the nights I work later, so I can actually go most of the series not watching it. Though if Chicago wins on the 22nd, it'd be nice since I'm going to Colorado for my birthday on the 23rd, so I can get away from the local media for a week.

Should be an entertaining series, with both teams who refuse to lose, though I have a feelings Boston is the feel "real" test for the Hawks this season. I'm hoping Bruins in 6.

Now here's a thought: Which team has the better chance of repeating? And if they did, especially for Boston, is it considered close to a dynasty?

[Kramerica Industries]

*gulp* - if Boston wins this year and next, especially in this day and age, it is most certainly a dynasty.

[Funky Bunky]

They'd be the weakest dynasty ever, though.

[Sodboy13]

*Game 7: Wednesday, June 26, United Center, Chicago, IL, NBC

*if necessary

Man. The weather will be like 43 degrees Celsius. (Thats 109 degrees Fahrenheit for you Americans). I wonder if they will be skating on slush?

1. Given how the weather patterns have been in Chicago as of late, it is also entirely possible it will be 43 degrees Fahrenheit that day.

2. United Center ice is less-than-optimal, regardless of atmospheric conditions.

[charger77]

They'd be the weakest dynasty ever, though.

3 Cups in 4 years in the Cap era would be quite the accomplishment.

[speedy]

*gulp* - if Boston wins this year and next, especially in this day and age, it is most certainly a dynasty.

Boston's set up for a great run next year too. They have a little under 7 million to spend on Rask and Horton. Everyone else is under wraps for the foreseeable future, except for Ference, I don't see any reason to bring him back with the emergence of Krug and Bartowski. After these playoffs, Rask could command 6+ million but I hope he'll settle for somewhere around 5/5.5. So that leaves Horton as the odd man out, unless someone convinces Savard to retire.

As for my finals prediction, Bruins in 6. 3-0 at home.

They'd be the weakest dynasty ever, though.

Please, go on...

[NEW.ERA]

Bruins in 5.

Just got that feeling

[FiddySicks]

They'd be the weakest dynasty ever, though.

3 Cups in 4 years in the Cap era would be quite the accomplishment.

Yeah let's not get too far ahead of ourselves quite yet. The Cup Final this season hasn't even started yet.

[The_Admiral]

Boston's set up for a great run next year too.

Oh, come on. It's the NHL. No one is really ever set up for anything. It's so easy to say stuff like this when you haven't seen 26 out of 30 teams for a long time and they're all out of mind. I mean, after the Bruins won, everyone was like "well that was cool now looking at the numbers on capgeek here doot doot doot adjust for pi and welp there's no possible way this team can't win every Stanley Cup for the next five years," and then a year later they got bounced in the first to the patron saints of getting bounced in the first, and then fans went on the internet and Boston-strongly called Joel Ward the n-word. Same with how the Kings would never lose again, and yet it appears they did.

[Eye]

*Game 7: Wednesday, June 26, United Center, Chicago, IL, NBC

*if necessary

Man. The weather will be like 43 degrees Celsius. (Thats 109 degrees Fahrenheit for you Americans). I wonder if they will be skating on slush?

1. Given how the weather patterns have been in Chicago as of late, it is also entirely possible it will be 43 degrees Fahrenheit that day.

2. United Center ice is less-than-optimal, regardless of atmospheric conditions.

So basically Indoor Soldier Field.

[FiddySicks]

*Game 7: Wednesday, June 26, United Center, Chicago, IL, NBC

*if necessary

Man. The weather will be like 43 degrees Celsius. (Thats 109 degrees Fahrenheit for you Americans). I wonder if they will be skating on slush?

1. Given how the weather patterns have been in Chicago as of late, it is also entirely possible it will be 43 degrees Fahrenheit that day.

2. United Center ice is less-than-optimal, regardless of atmospheric conditions.

So basically Indoor Soldier Field.

Chicago: Home to the worst playing surfaces in sports! Just ask Derrick Rose!

[speedy]

Boston's set up for a great run next year too.

Oh, come on. It's the NHL. No one is really ever set up for anything. It's so easy to say stuff like this when you haven't seen 26 out of 30 teams for a long time and they're all out of mind. I mean, after the Bruins won, everyone was like "well that was cool now looking at the numbers on capgeek here doot doot doot adjust for pi and welp there's no possible way this team can't win every Stanley Cup for the next five years," and then a year later they got bounced in the first to the patron saints of getting bounced in the first, and then fans went on the internet and Boston-strongly called Joel Ward the n-word. Same with how the Kings would never lose again, and yet it appears they did.

Oh, relax. You're acting like I just called Phoenix a model franchise. I said they were set up for contention, I didn't say they were engraving their names on an entire rung of the Cup. Sure, anything can happen, Bergeron could get concussed again, Rask could come back from Mars. Who cares. They clearly have a solid core with 94% returning. I get you're the champion of the glass half empty, but rational thinking works too. Will they win every year? No way. Do they have a shot next year? Sure do.

EDIT: Truthfully do I think they'll win next year? Repeating is so hard in today's NHL - but they're young, tough, and experienced. None of those qualities are bad. But then again, I'm the a-hole who said we should trade Rask over Timmy 2 years ago so what do I know?

[Cosmic]

Boston's set up for a great run next year too.

Oh, come on. It's the NHL. No one is really ever set up for anything. It's so easy to say stuff like this when you haven't seen 26 out of 30 teams for a long time and they're all out of mind. I mean, after the Bruins won, everyone was like "well that was cool now looking at the numbers on capgeek here doot doot doot adjust for pi and welp there's no possible way this team can't win every Stanley Cup for the next five years," and then a year later they got bounced in the first to the patron saints of getting bounced in the first, and then fans went on the internet and Boston-strongly called Joel Ward the n-word. Same with how the Kings would never lose again, and yet it appears they did.

Agreed, but I mostly quoted this to thank you for changing your avatar.

[njmeadowlanders]

*Game 7: Wednesday, June 26, United Center, Chicago, IL, NBC

*if necessary

Man. The weather will be like 43 degrees Celsius. (Thats 109 degrees Fahrenheit for you Americans). I wonder if they will be skating on slush?

1. Given how the weather patterns have been in Chicago as of late, it is also entirely possible it will be 43 degrees Fahrenheit that day.

2. United Center ice is less-than-optimal, regardless of atmospheric conditions.

So basically Indoor Soldier Field.

Chicago: Home to the worst playing surfaces in sports! Just ask Derrick Rose!

Yes, but how much of that has to do with all the events held there all season long? Without having to go from basketball to concerts (many big crowded concerts are outside this time of year), to monster truck shows, back to ice and on and on and on all the time, it probably won't be as bad as it would be in say, early April.

[The_Admiral]

There is that, but people who know this stuff better than I do have said that the United Center's ice plant and cooling pipes and so forth are in disrepair and aren't what they should be. You'll never get Edmonton-quality ice there or anywhere else (some would even say you can't even get it in Edmonton anymore), but with a long-term organizational commitment to puck possession and transition play, there's no excuse for the Blackhawks not to invest in their ice-making facilities a bit more than they are right now.

[NJTank]

Trvia Break

Now that the Blackhawks and Bruins will meet in the Stanley Cup Final, what is the only Original 6 match up to never happen in a Stanley Cup Final?

[MDGP]

Trvia Break

Now that the Blackhawks and Bruins will meet in the Stanley Cup Final, what is the only Original 6 match up to never happen in a Stanley Cup Final?

Rangers-Blackhawks?

[Kramerica Industries]

Trvia Break

Now that the Blackhawks and Bruins will meet in the Stanley Cup Final, what is the only Original 6 match up to never happen in a Stanley Cup Final?

Rangers-Blackhawks?

Same. That's the only one it could conceivably be, because those were the most irrelevant teams during the O6 era.

[NJTank]

That is correct.

[The_Admiral]

The Original Six was really a big sham and hardly worth romanticizing. That the NHL made it into 1967 with only six teams, and six highly incestuous teams at that, is really sort of pathetic vis-a-vis the rest of organized sports.