10 Things to Watch in the NHL's Final Four

The Stanley Cup Conference Finals starts today, one game a night, for up to two weeks. We have four teams of interest, with great competing storylines. A team ahead of schedule (Rangers) against a team going for generational glory in a three-peat (the Lightning). The team with the best player (Oilers) against a team with the best team because it has many of the best players (Colorado). All of it should be great. This has been a great playoffs from start to finish so far, but this should be the crowning moment.

10.) The rise of Igor

Igor Shestirken is almost assuredly winning the Vezina trophy. After a rough start to the Pittsburgh series, he reverted back to his other-worldly Vezina winning ways in the last three games as the Rangers clawed back from 1-3 down. He was brilliant in each of the Rangers four wins against Carolina and for the whole series put up just insane numbers, and is playing very much like the guy who is going to run away with the Vezina. The Rangers had exactly like two years of questionable goaltending between all-time Henrik Lundqvist and now Igor. Teams have ridden hot goalies for decades, and while we can argue he is not even the hottest goalie in this series, Igor gives this team more than a fighting chance.

9.) Mike Smith being weird

Darcy Kuemper is a perfectly acceptable goalie. Not great by any stretch but easily good enough. This is true to enough certainty that it doesn't look weird that he is the goalie of a Final four team. Well, Mike Smith, in the year of our lord 2022, does certainly fit that description. He did many years ago. He was excellent in his first two trips to the playoffs in 2011 and 2012. This is a good decade later, he's now 40. He's done bizarre things like give up a 150-foot goal that ranks among the worst ever conceded in the playoffs. But he also somehow has a .927 save percentage, and survived various shot barrages. Smith has become the reverse of many a great goalie in that he only seems to give up bad and soft goals, but has made key saves. His stickhandling is still decent htough even there he can get into adventures. The idea that 40-year old Mike Smith could conceivably be starting Stanley Cup Finals games is just bonkers but here we are!

8.) Can Tampa push forward

Tampa received a whole series of plaudits for adjusting their game without Brayden Point against Florida, understanding they innately were the less skilled team and played like it. We aren't sure if Point will be back, but they are the more skilled team, or at the very least its pretty close in this one. The Lightning need to switch up again here to how they played against Toronto. They'll have time and space and a good chunk of possession. Against a goalie like Shesterkin it will be interesting to see if the Lightning get frustrated or just play the course in a very different style series to the one they just dominated in.

7.) The Avalanche never-ending onslaught

The weirdest game of the entire postseason might be Game 2 of the Avalanche v. Blues series. In that game the Blues, in Colorado, controlled play for a majority of the game, outshooting the Avs and winning 4-1. And I'm sure at that moment there was a sense of "here we go again" to the series. But no, the Avalanche quickly regained control of the series and carried play throughout. The Avalanche's never ending waves of possession, control and shots. It is magical to watch. We expect it from the main line, but the 2nd Kadri line or even the depth lines. It helps when they have a never ending line of speedy, skilled guys, with defensemen that can absolutely carry play (more to come there). The Avs at their best are one of the most dominant teams I've seen, and while the Oilers can match their top skill players the depth edge the Avs have can absolutely tilt the series.

6.) The Lightning's commitment

Two points ago I talked about the Lightning being able to open up things. I clearly believe that to be true. But let's not look past the fact that the Lightning will likely still not have Brayden Point for a while, and their 1-3-1 zone defense has now stymied two top offenses. The Lightning's commitment to quickly reaching any dump-in, blocking shots, trying to make any zone entry by their opponent to have just one shot (often a blocked one) is so commendable. Not so much that they're doing anything novel, but doing it in such an exacting, continuous and peerless way. 

5.) The Rangers Kid Line

The Rangers have a lot of top tier players, from their soon-to-be Vezina winning goalie, to their Norris winning defenseman, to all-star caliber players like Artemi Panarin and Mike Zibanejad. The fact that they've leveled up here isn't so shocking. What is shocking is that they've done it without getting huge contributions from their 2019 #2 overall pick Kaapo Kakko and their very ballyhooed 2020 #1 pick Alexis Lafreniere. Kakko had just 18 points in 43 games, Lafreniere had 31 in 79. They're young. They still have more than enough time to develop. But Lafreniere has 7 points in the 14 playoffs games. Kakko doesn't but he's had his moments. Their line has been decent. The fact the Rangers are getting anything from these guys are just gravy, and maybe this is where they too could level up.

4.) Cale Makar

What is there to say. Makar may not win the Norris if the fact that Roman Josi nearly got 100 points sways a few people, but there is no doubt who is the best defenseman. Ok, maybe there is some doubt, but there is no doubt on who will be the best over the next five years. It is Cale Makar, easily. He had a relatively quiet 2nd round on the stat sheet, he was dominant in most possession and zone entry metrics. He plays at a speed that is so rare from a defenseman. He is a joy to watch, the defensive version of McDavid (yeah.... admittedly that might be a stretch). They'll depend on him (and a quick shout-out to Devon Toews) to slow down the McDavid-Draisaitl-Kane line mostly by just having the puck, and few can provide more success there than Makar.

3.) The Avs Growing Up

The Avs are a great team. They've also been one for a few years. They were arguably the best team in the 2019-20 season (Boston is probably the other choice), and then blew a lead to Dallas in the bubble losing in seven in the second round. Admittedly it is hard to compare last year given the division-only schedules, the Avs were easily the best team in the 2020-21 regular season. They took a 2-0 lead in the second round, and Vegas popped them for four straight including a bit of an embarrassing loss in the clincher. The Avs had some baggage - but much like the Caps, Lightning, Blues, Sharks, etc., finally talent won out. That said, while they finally broke the seal on making the Conference Finals, a loss here to Edmonton will be a failure. The Avs pressure hasn't gone away.

2.) Connor McDavid, All of it

Quietly, Leon Draisaitl has caught Connor McDavid in points for the playoffs, matching him with 26 points in 12 games. Of course 'caught' is more to say Draisaitl went crazy in games 4-5 against Calgary. It isn't like Connor has slowed down. He hasn't slowed down a second in these playoffs. He has been insane. It isn't the goals, some where he seems to stop time and other where he's operating at a level quicker than ever. It isn't the passes. It's the puck control and body control. It is him pirouetting and shashaying his way around the ice in a way I haven't seen ever before - somewhat similar to prime Sidney Crosby but at a speed that Crosby couldn't match. McDavid's already done absolutely astonishing things, like leading a worse Edmonton team to Game 7 of the 2nd round in his second season, or getting 100 points in the 56-game season last year. If anything him ending with just 123 points this year is something of a disappointment. Well, nothing he's done these playoffs is a dissapointment, it has been incredible from the jump.

1.) The Lightning's Run to Glory

I've written enough about the Lightning. If they lose to the Rangers, this is already probably the best post-salary cap 8-year run, featuring three trips to the Finals, two Cups, (will be)three Conference Finals losses, etc., But if they win? And if they can finish this off? The last threepeat in baseball was the 1998-2000 Yankees. The last threepeat in basketball was the 2000-2002 Lakers. The last in hockey was the Islanders winning four straight from 1980-83. It's been a while, a long while. The Lightning are already further along the path than any team since (other than if you count the 1984 Islanders as going for a separate threepeat...). The two Oilers teams that won back-to-back reached the 2nd round and 1st roud. The '93 Penguins, '99 Red Wings and '18 Penguins all lost in teh 2nd round. The Lightning are in uncharted territory already, but man if they can do it? This is an all-time run within another longer all-time run. Cherish it, even if Prince Igor takes it away from them.

the Takeaways from the Lightning Sweep of the Panthers

This was the highest scoring NHL season since the mid-90's before the trap took hockey into their dead-puck era. It was the highest scoring 1st Round of the playoffs since the early-90's - and while that led to a reasonable amount of blowouts, it also led to some great games. It was a goals explosion, it was an ecstasy of a first round that resulted in five game 7s. 

And then the Lightning swept the Panthers, the highest scoring team since Mario Liemiuex's Penguins, to three goals in four games, choking the life out of them - and we have to ask, and more pointedly worry, if NHL teams will overlook everything right about this season (and of course what is still generally occurring in the Western Conference) and hyper-focus on the fact that the best scoring team got bottled up.

Obviously you can tell by the start that I'm very much on the side that we shouldn't over-react - that defense doesn't automatically own the playoffs (again, look at the damn Avalanche, or the Oilers!), but let's zone out a bit.

First of all, the idea that the Panthers were overrun by some defensive, "lock it down" team, is not true. The Lightning scored the 6th most goals in the NHL this year, and were generally higher ranked in previous years. Left to their devices, the Lightning players would absolutely run and gun - much like they did in their 6-game win over Florida last year. But they also have the ability to switch modes, especially with Brayden Point out for the series, to playing an incredibly detailed, perfect, version of defensive hockey.

The Lightning are just on another level right now at playoff hockey, specifically when they take a lead. Granted, in many ways they were overrun by Florida in Game 4, outshot 49-25, but very few of those were high danger chances. More so in the first three games of the series, they took leads (Game 2 aside) and then proceeded to play perfect defensive playoff hockey. They got to dump-ins first, limited the Panthers to one shot attempt, broke up the Panthers' cycling attempts. They squeezed the life out of the best offensive team we've seen in years.

On the Panthers side, yes Barkov and Huberdeau went silent, and their fringe players fell off similarly. Even if the first round they struggled at times against Washington. This was a disaster from them, but not on approach - as mentioned earlier we have to rewind just one year to see Florida lose to the exact same team despite playing open hockey and playing well offensively for the first five games of the series (the sixth game being the inevitably Vasilevsky shutout of course). They just have to play better, not just play differently.

They didn't take leads to begin with, to even see if they could play decent "playoff" hockey when ahead. Their power-play went through an all-time funk, and put that up to coaching if you want (at the end of the day Andrew Brunette is still a first-year coach) but it is still statistically improbable to ever repeat if they get that many power play chances again. They just seemed outclassed from the start. But for inspiration they can look across the ice at a team that much like them used to be the best offensive team year after year and took a while to win a cup.

But again, they should look at how the Lightning won those cups. The Lightning didn't transform themselves into the 2000s NJ Devils. They were 4th in scoring last year, and scored at a good clip against more "open" teams in the Panthers and Hurricanes in the first two rounds of the playoffs. They were also the highest scoring team in the 2019-20 season, and scored well throughout the playoffs until being somewhat slowed in the Final by the Stars. 

The Lightning are experts at playing defensive when they need to be, particularly because their top offensive players are good defensively when needed to. Even guys like Nikita Kucherov have taken it to another level in their back-checking, and of course the amount of shot blocking the Lightning did in that series was unparalleled. But really this is about commitment to what is needed - not necessarily commitment to being defensive.

At the end of the day, the Lightning are a machine. This is now 6 trips to the Eastern Conference Finals in 8 years - of which the last two they converted into Stanley Cup wins. Its 10 straight series. In this period they've beaten the President's Trophy winner twice ('15 Rangers, '22 Panthers), and a team that was on pace for the President's Trophy ('18 Bruins). They've beaten teams that earned (some adjusted for last year's 56-game season) 117 pts ('21 Hurricanes), 115 pts ('21 Panthers), 112 pts ('18 Bruins), 110 pts ('15 Canadiens) in this eight year stretch. There's no shame in losing to this team that has a realistic shot at finishing off a three-peat.

The Lightning started this run of now 10 series wins by being swept the year before, with the team that had set records for cap-era success and offense (much like Florida did this year). That swept was, if anything more embarrassing, though less about particularly offensive shortcomings but just a general sense that they lost their minds for four games against Columbus. The Panthers should take that example to say that staying the course with such a talented core is the learning they should take not remaking or reshaping the team. The 2019-20 Lightning on its face weren't too different than the 2018-19 team, other than the third line that they've already wholly remade. The 2022-23 Panthers hopefully will resemble much of the 2021-22 team - and hopefully for them the outcome will be better.

The Most Shocking Games in Memory

I was driving from my parent's place near Princeton to mine in Hoboken on Sunday afternoon, timed up to reach my house for effectively the 2nd half of the Game 7 between the Mavericks and Suns. I was content making just hte second half because worst case the Suns have a large lead like they've had in all the other three home games, and best case its a close game. I didn't even think of a scenario where the Mavericks led 57-27 at halftime, holding the Suns, one of the most exacting and efficient offenses all year long, to a devastatingly low 27 points!

The scores got more audacious in the second half. It got me thinking if this was the single most stunning game outcome I've ever seen. Certainly it is up there when you put the following things together:

= The Suns were the best team all season long, winning nine more games than anyone else going basically wire to wire with the best record; they were good offensively and defensively, were deep and balanced and seemingly had no real weakness

= They were at home in a Game 7, and while they looked bad at worst and disinterested at best in the games in Dallas in the series, as recently as Game 5 in Phoenix they looked dominant at home in all three games

= If any team seemed impervious to just disappearing in a game, Phoenix would be a good choice. There's many teams that would come to mind if you said "a team is down 57-27 at halftime of game 7" and Phoenix was nowhere on that list

Anyway, the longer it lasted, to a 45 points lead at one point, the less real it seemed truly. I tried even thinking of what were more shocking singular games, and it's not a long list given the particulars needed: a favorite at home (or neutral) just completely getting destroyed in a surprising, unbelievable way.

Hon. Mention 1: 2008 Final Four - Kansas over North Carolina

This fits a template that has happened a lot, whereby a team puts themself in the situation the Suns found themselves in, but is able to claw their way back to respectability. Here the Tar Heels were the #1 overall seed, had lost just two games all year (granted, Kansas had only lost three and by many metrics were the better team), and were seen as a truly great team. And they were down 40-12 about thirteen minutes in. The high watermark of embarrassment came with Kansas banging in a three to make it 38-10 and Billy Packer calling the game "over". It wasn't - as the Tar Heels closed to within four before losing steam. Annoyingly another game that fits this criteria is of course Super Bowl LI, which if the Falcons didn't blow like thirty different plays, would've fit this outline to a tee.

Hon. Mention 2: 2015 NFC Championship - Panthers 49  Cardinals 15

The huge issue with this as an option was the Panthers were at home, and were rightly favorites. But the Panthers were slight favorites, and this game was 17-0 after one quarter, 24-7 at halftime, at which point the Cardinals had turned it over four times, given up a 90-yard TD, had shown zero ability to stop Arizona and crumpled into a heap after being statistically hte best team in the NFL that aseason. Still, this was in Carolina, so it won't make the list, but seeing this game be a huge blowout was both surprising, and really sad as on paper this should have been a really great NFC Title Game.

5.) 2021 WS Game 6: Braves 7  @  Astros 0

So there's a few things that may bring this game down - firstly it was a Game 6 and not a Game 7, and the Braves were up in the series, but the Astros had outscored Atlanta to this point, had won the last game, was going home where they were great, and put up an absolute dud. Their ballyhooed lineup got embarrassingly shutout by Max Fried and others. They didn't even come close to putting up rallies. The Braves scored three runs in the third inning and it was more over than any 3-0 run had ever been in history. Again the biggest difference is this was not a clincher, but for the Astros to come home in front of a ridiculous crowd at Minute Maid to just do nothing was harrowing.

4.) 2004 ALCS Game 7: Red Sox 10 @ Yankees 3

There is one issue with this in that the Red Sox had infamously crawled back from an 0-3 series deficit, so they had hte momentum and whatnot. But still, it was a Game 7 in New York, where just a year earlier the Yankees ripped the hearts out of Boston. It was Yankees vs. Red Sox, a still accursed team at the time. And it was 6-0 after two innings after a Big Papi 2-run shot and then a Grand Slam by Johnny Damon. The whole game was played out in a surreal manner in a completely silent, funeral atmosphere in New York. If anything rivaled this in terms of soulless-ness, this was the closest game. Looking back, the Red Sox cleanly won the World Series and have added three more since, so it doesn't seem weird, but the Red Sox winning hte game easily and scoring the winning runs in the second inning just didn't seem like it was an option as an outcome heading into the game.

3.) 2008 NFC Divisional - Panthers 33 @ Cardinals 14

I'm sure there is a different, better, football example. Certainly there were more embarrassing losses, but other than my game at #1 of this list, nothing was this 'shocking.' The Cardinals were the first poor record, poor point differential team to make a real run, so the idea that this 9-7 team that outscored their opponents by one point would go on the road in a divisional round game and blow the pants off a team that went 8-0 at home. The Panthers weren't a great team, but they were significantly better than the Cardinals to that point, were heavy favorites and melted down. Delhomme infamously threw five interceptions. Their incredible running game had no chance. Their defense couldn't stop the one receiver the Cardinals had (Boldin missed the game with an injury, and still Fitzgerald dominated). The Cardinals came damn close to a Super Bowl, and this version of the Panthers team was going 2-14 just two years later, so in retrospect this didn't seem so weird, but at the time it was mesmerizingly shocking.

2.) 2009 NHL 2nd Round Game 7: Penguins 6 @ Capitals 2

I forgot about this one until a Twitter friend pointed it out as an example, and I think it is a great one as a counter example. Here's the lowdown - this series was wildly entertaining through 6 games. The Capitals led 2-0 in the series after winning their first two at home. The first six games were all 1-goal games, including three straight in OT, so that is quite different than what happened in the Suns series, but Game 7 set-up as a game the Capitals were rightly favored in, and then it all went to hell quickly. It's hockey, so the scoring is just a different magnitude than the NBA, but it was 2-0 Penguins after one period, and 5-0 halfway through the game. Ovechkin scored late in the 2nd but even then it led to nothing. It was over, it was desolate. The Capitals had yet to get a choker label - if anything this might have been the start of it. Here it is more the score and level of outright domination than the fact the Penguins beat the Capitals, but still it fits the bill in terms of "Is this really happening?"

1.) Super Bowl XLVIII: Seahawks 43  Broncos 8

It's annoying that two of these are specifically games that impacted my teams. Granted, it could also just be that I'm forgetting more obvious examples because this, or the Astros game, are just more present in my mind. Anyway, this takes the cake, and aside from it being a neutral site game vs. the Suns being at home, I think this is the best example. The Broncos were the favorite, and while it was a rather slight edge, I don't think anyone in their mind would've expected the Seahawks to keep Denver out of the end zone until the late 3rd quarter, when already up 29-0. The Seahawks got a safety on a botched snap on the first play and it got worse from there. It was stunning to see a record setting offense that had one of its best days in the AFC Championship just go away in flames of punts, fumbles, interceptions, missed catches, etc. It was a haunting game that I wanted to just switch off at halftime but couldn't as I was hosting friends, but I'm sure that is exactly how people in that stadium, or anyone hosting a watch party for the Suns was feeling as that lead ballooned to 30 before halftime. Even that peice was similar - as here despite how bad it started it was still just 8-0 into the second quarter. Then the TD, then the pick-6, and then the kickoff return TD to open the 2nd half it the embarrassment was complete.

Ramblings on the Stanley Cup Playoffs - Ahead of seven Game-6s

Last week I wrote about how ridiculous this Stanley Cup Playoffs was set up to be. Incredible closeness on the East. Some great series out West. And of course there's always some normal goalie-inspired chicanery with underdogs and the like. Well, aside from Colorado doing what they seem to do often - blasting away first round opponents before finding this a bit harder later on (TBD), this playoffs have lived up to every thought. The other seven series are all 3-2 - we could have up to seven Game 7s, which would be insane. Likely we end up with 3-4 or something, but anyway, here we go...

= The greatest story all season has been the Florida Panthers, and while they're up 3-2 it has been just a crazy turn of events. They were a barely missed empty net goal away from being down 3-1 to Washington, but now find themselves up 3-2 after coming back from 3-0 down in Game 5. The Panthers are fast, they're skilled, they're everything any casual fan should love, but something just isn't right about a team needing some miracles to go up against the nominal 8th seed in the East

= Toronto Tampa has been everything we could have imagined, if not super close all the time before the wildly entertaining Game 5. I just hope Game 6, and a potential Game 7, resembles that and not the evenly matched blowouts that were Games 1-4. I don't remember a first round series that had more incredible competing storylines, from Toronto on the verge of true madness if they were to lose, but with enough talent to win it all, to of course the Lightning with a chance for a threepeat - something that hasn't happened since the Islanders four in a row from 1980-83. And Game 5 seemed to have all of that - from the experienced Lightning going up to the Leafs clawing back. Two more of those please.

= The best West series has clearly been Blues v Wild, which is an underrated playoff rivalry having happened 3-4 times so far. Generally the lower ranked team has won (a weird case of nearly all Central Division playoff series), but in this one they're basically so damn even. Kaprizoff is a miracle. Tarasenko surviving wanting to leave the team to just then end up scoring a hat-trick is crazy. Both teams have the ability to push the Avalanche in what should be a stellar 2nd round matchup - I just hope they don't tire each other out ahead of it even starting.

= Kings v. Oilers is a weird version of Lightning v. Leafs, in that the Oilers have so much pressure only to find themselves down 2-3 going to LA. The Kings may not be back to back champs, but they still have Kopitar and Quick, who have their two rings and have seemingly aged back to 2014 in the series. The Leafs faced their Fight or Flight moment down 0-2 early in Game 5, staring a Game 6 in Tampa in the face. This is even more dire, staring a game in LA in the face, and personally I hope they bring it back to Edmonton to what will be an entirely too nervous building (as will Toronto if that goes to seven of course)

= I truly hope Crosby is not seriously hurt, and he's back in time for Game 6 (or 7). The Penguins dominance behind Crosby having a ridiculous series, through four games was so cool to see. Maybe it was around the time that the Devils stopped making the playoffs that I started to appreciate Crosby (and Malkin to some extent) more, and seeing them both play so well this year has been fun to watch. Seeing them dominate even more in this series has been even better. I just hope it doesn't end with a tinge of sadness.

= I personally haven't seen too much of Boston v Carolina, mainly because it has gone head to head a bit too often with Toronto v Tampa, a more compelling matchup. The Bruins are a great team but have been largely undressed a better one. The Hurricanes ability to play solid defense in front of any number of replacement goaltenders is commendable - their dominance in the forecheck against one of the best top lines is even more so. The Hurricanes by all accounts should have already won this series, but I would sign up for a raucous home crowd in Raleigh. One of the few regrets from my project in Raleigh was not making it out for a game. That 2019 season through the Covid break brought us the storm surge and so much else, and they've only built further off of that.

= I really don't know what to say about Stars v. Flames other than there's a meaning behind why I'm writing about them last. Well, two meanings. First is they were the last two to play a Game 5, and second, becuase i just haven't been able to really get into this series. While the rest of them have generally kept up the high scoring from the regular season, this one has decidedly not. No surprise really since stylistically this fits what Stars vs. Flames would be, but it is still a bit sad. I love the energy in the Saddledome, the Red Mile, all of it in Calgary, but the play hasn't really warranted the lunacy that comes with that place (similar, in a sense, in Edmonton)

= On the whole, this first round has been amazing - I hope we get at least three Game-7s out of this, especially fun would be ones in Toronto (will be a really angsty building), Edmonton (ditto), Calgary (even more ditto) and New York (the only one that might have a 'nothing to lose' mindset as they would be the one Game-7 that comes after a team had a 3-1 lead). In the end the Stanley Cup Playoffs are almost always insane, but the best are years like this where it all seems possible, heading into what could be just an epic four nights of Game-6s/7s

Re-Post: Nostalgia Diaries, Pt. 15 - The 2008 Playoffs Out West

 I'm a late night owl. I can probably count the times I've slept before the clock turns over to a new day on one hand each year. On weekends, my normal sleeping time is between 2-3 AM. On weekdays, between 12-1. I don't get up too late (if I get up past 10AM on weekends, I'm generally upset at myself). I don't know where this started, but I think some part of it has to do with being a sports fan, always jealous of my friends on the West Coast, who were watching games long before my childhood self had his head hit the pillow.

As a child of the 90's, I grew up with the newspaper being my daily sports bible, and I always hated the fact that the West Coast games ended too late to get the scores printed in the next days paper. Given that I have lived most of my life in the internet age, and today can cue up any baseball or hockey game with HD quality on my computer, this seems almost ancient. But it was true.

Prior to 2008, the Western Conference Playoffs were always some mythical experience that started at bedtime, and ended way afterwards, I may have snuck a few games in here or there, but never enough to really enjoy San Jose, or Anaheim, or LA, or Vancouver, or Calgary, or so many others. In 2008 that all changed, to disastrous effects which I'll get too.

I've written about 2008 a few times, whether it being my learning to love soccer wholeheartedly in Euro 2008, or my unabashed joy of the 2008 NFL Season. But the other aspect of that magical year was me watching those night games, the Calgary's, the Anaheim's, the San Jose's, and all the rest. By May or so, 2008, I had finished my AP Exams, which essentially meant I finsihed those classes in school. I had a license. My parents decided to first travel to the Balkans, and then to India. I was alone at home (something I mentioned in the Euro 2008 post). Some would say that this was iraresponsible of them, but truly, I was the only irresponsible one, watching NHL playoff games past midnight on what were ostensibly school nights.

I can picture it now, me sprawled out on my family room couched, all the lights off, with the playoffs in Calgary or Vancouver on the TV, on what was at the time the 'Vs' Network. I knew little of these Western Teams, aside from my pull for the Sharks. But what I quickly learned was the game was a little bit different out West - faster, more skilled, more loud, more exciting.

The Goal Horns are deeper, punching the air with bellowing pitch. The crowds are just as good, if not better. Nowadays, every team does the 'have all fans wear the same color' gag, but it was started by teams out West during this era, the Flames and Oilers and so many more.

I have no idea if the hockey was better, but just the time itself made it more exciting. At the time, I had to technically get up around 6:45 to get to school by 7:40. But that didn't stop me from enjoying every second. If I wasn't alone at home sprawled on the couch, I was on my bed watching a stream of a game at a time when watching a stream meant shaking hands with the computer virus devil, and closing every ad and pop-up and rapid-fire pace. Streams are so much better now, but I do miss the old-days of vagabond sites that forced you to learn which of the three 'x' buttons was real.

Let's get to the disastrous effect. In 2008, my school band, of which I was the tuba player for (a story for another day), had a concert tour to Virginia in the May period. My parents were vacationing in the Balkans. I was supposed to go to my neighbors house the next morning around 7:00 for them to drop me off to school to catch the bus to Virginia. I decided to watch the playoffs the night before, once again sprawled out on the couch - never leaving that position until late AM.

I awoke to my neighbor in my house, yelling (more our of concern) for me to get up, woken to a stupor - one of the last 'woken up in a stupor' moments that had no alcohol involved in my life. Apparently I overslept various alarms, various phone calls. Somehow, my neighbor reached my parents in Croatia, who gave her the garage door code. I was late, probably reached around 8:00 instead of 7:30 - though I will say was definitely not the last person to arrive to teh school that day - maybe someone else was watching late night hockey too.

I can say surprisingly little about the 2008 playoffs out West. I do know the Sharks beat the Flames in seven games, a time when they were still seen as choking chokers (something they would skid into the next round losing in six to Dallas). The Avalanche beat the Wild, something that was fairly common back in teh day. The Stars beat the defending champion Ducks. I remember little about the actual games. I have no idea which late game it was that I was watching the night I should have been resting before our band trip.

One forgotten aspect that increased the joy of watching these games was that at the time since NBC was reticent to put any money into the NHL coverage, most of the late games were simulcasts of Canadian broadcasts, be it CBC or TSN. They had Canadian announcers, Canadian music, Canadian joy of hockey, most importantly. It was a great indoctrination into hockey for real.

By 2010, I was in college, a time when my earliest class went from 8:00 my first semester, to 2:00pm by 2nd semester Junion Year, I was routinely watching late night hockey. In fact, I coveted it. If anything, I wanted those late nigth games to go to triple OT, ending around 3am EST. I didn't want the intensity, the joy of the game, to end. I would cherish that first day of playoff hockey, when the last game would start at 10:30 or 11:00, and I could be up until 2:00am watching hockey, instead of mindlessly browsing the internet (let's be real, 'being asleep' wasn't a real alternative by then).

If anything, the worst part of getting to the Conference Finals round was that there were no more 10:00pm or later start-times. Things would be normal, would be sane. But I wanted the insane, the late nights, and it all started because I was able to experience it the year I finished my school effectively in April. So much of my life, be it my love of driving, the friend group I still have, my love of football, is due to my highschool life, from an academic pressure standpoint, more or less ending in early May, 2008. The first gift that period of my life bestowed upon me was the ability to stay up to watch the games I never could, and love hockey more than ever before.

The Zion Chronicles, Pt. 2

Zion is known for hikes - not a real surprise, not a real statement here. It is a canyon, it has mountains, it has incredible mountain-hugging, winding, roads. It has all of this, and we didn't try to do anything fancy, with just took advantage of these aspects of Zion.

We didn't do Angel's Landing, the most notable hike that reaches its apex at a dangerously thin mountain edge - a hike so popular that you have to apply for a permit lottery to be allowed to hike it, and so dangerous that they had to install a wire-rail on the thinnest stretch. We both didn't have the stomach, the desire, nor the willingness to play with the lottery gods, to consider Angel's Landing as a serious option. 

Instead we did two hikes, one standard in that it was a winding traipse up and down to a natural lookout that stood high above the whole park, and the other as abnormal as it was great, a galoshing walk through the Virgin River on The Narrows hike. Both great, and adding to my overall love of Zion.

The first hike was to Observation Point, of which the trailhead we started at was actually tucked away at one corner of the resort to the East of Zion that our AirBNB was nominally in. It has a truly small parking lot so we took the shuttle that the resort offered (for a fee, nothing was free at the Zion Ponderosa Resort) to the trailhead.

The trail to Observation Point is 7 miles out and back, with an elevation gain of about 700 feet, so not super difficult. The only real difficult stretch is the last mile or so on the way out, which is very downhill and therefore the first mile on the way back is a full uphill sprint for a mile. It was brutal, made worse by the elevation. But that one mile stretch shouldn't ruin the rest of hte hike which was relatively fine, and of course the great view from the end point. Observation point is more a crest of a hill or cliff, with many great views of the canyon park in all directions. It is not as surreal a view of say the Grand Canyon, but isn't too far off.

Anyway, enough about Observation Point, let's get to the real highlight, the incredible walk through The Narrows. What do you get if you conbine the Siq of Petra, with the beauty of the American west? Well, you get the Narrows, which is in the deepest part of the Park at ground level. It starts with a mile or so paved walk alongside the river.

After that mile, you have to enter the river, and you will be in and out of the river, only escapting for little stretches of land that are on the banks and various curves, for miles. Technically you can go about 3.5 miles of river until a point where it reaches a waterfall. We didn't go that far, because it is astounding how slow you go wading through a river (even if it isn't really "hard" in any way), but we did go about a mile in the river before turning back and it was amazing.

We rented airtight socks and shoes which kept the feet relatively dry throughout, even as the water often goes above the knees. We rented a stick which helped stay somewhat in structure despite at times some pretty strong currents. It was just a fascinating experience, made better by being in this river with canyon walls on either side. Truly the photos are beautiful but don't come close to capturing the beauty of just how it looked and felt.

There are way more hikes in Zion, way more that are probably all great and amazing and beautiful, but I'm so happy we pushed through to do The Narrows. Wading through a canyon river was better than I expected, and it sounded great. In theory we turned back before the views got even better, but you know what? I'll live with knowing maybe I do more when I inevitably go back.

The Zion Chronicles, Pt. 1 - Vegas & Springdale

I took a trip with 3-4 friends end of last week (three the first night, four the remainder), out to Zion National Park. The trip was nominally to explore the park, one of America's most famous, and most interesting, a weird medium between say the Grand Canyon and a Yellowstone. The trip though started in Las Vegas.

This was due to it being the most logical entry point into a trip eventually to Zion. Las Vegas is the closest major city - despite being a good three hours away. Not to mind, none of us were going to abjectly say no to a night in Vegas. Two of my three friends who joined me had been to Vegas a handful of times as adults, something that your trusted world traveler somehow had yet to find time to do. 

One night is probably not enough to truly give a good overview of Vegas, but a quick jaunt through the heart of the strip was enough to probably want to come back and do it right one time. We went to the Bacchanal buffet in Caesers, which was great if overpriced (somewhat a tag-line for Vegas, really). Their top dishes were truly top, like a great meat carving station, good Mexican food, great raw bar seafood and of course a giant island of desserts, but there was also a lot of fluff.

We did a bit of gambling. which was a bit too rich for my taste. I did end up around $400, mostly by dumbly winning one of those ridiculous side bets in Blackjack that paid me $500 for $10 on getting two King of Diamonds (again, ridiculous). But despite that one moment of glory, it was a bit sad, to be honest, that I was priced out of the nicer casinos from a gambling perspective. We were not from a club perspective, going to the main indoor/outdoor club in the Encore (we stayed in the Cosmopolitan - both hotels didn't exist when I last visited Vegas as a nice young 13 year old).

Vegas was nice, but Zion was the real treat, and after a few aborted attempts to get out of Las Vegas in a timely fashion on Thursday (in the end, left a 4pm PT - 5pm Zion time), we finally hit the open dessert, stopped at a giant Walmart in Hurricane, UT, to load up on grilling supplies and beers, and then went through the winding road that cuts through Zion to the other side on the way to our AirBNB.

The only mistake we probably made in our trip planning was getting an AirBNB on the Esatern side of Zion - it was close enough to the East entrance, but to do any of the hikes in the park, you need to be near the West entrance to catch the shuttles. Anyway, it got is very familiar with the winding Zion Park Drive, from its unannounced process of turning a 2-way tunnel into a 1-way tunnel in peak hours, and innately used to how stunning it is in daylight, and haunting it is at night.

The AirBNB was a beautiful, large, 5-bedroom log-cabin style house, with a large deck with grill, fire-pit in the backyard. It was stunning, it was spacious, it worked for us - hitting our main criteria of having a bedroom for all of us. Anyway, we had grilled burgers the first night, but the real lasting legacy - or at least one half of it - of Zion was the food in the town of Springdale.

Springdale is the town right outside the West entrance of Zion - closer to where we probably should have stayed. But anway, the town itself is the same one-lane road that then goes through the park, The are some views of the giant hills and canyons that give Zion its name. It is a picturesque little town, reminding me at first of Sedona - but unlike Sedona - overpriced, overcrowded and way too toursity, Springdale was just perfect all around. 

Great small coffee shops. Great options of breakfast (brunch really, we don;'t get up early) and dinner. We went for lunch and dinner on Saturday, sandwhiching a trip down the Narrows. Lunch was at Meme's Cafe, which was perfectly decent, but also relatively low priced for a fairly well placed spot a few mere meters away from the park entrance. I had a nice made Crispy Buffalo Chicken sandwhich, and shared a truly nice, light banana and honey crepe with my friend. The coffee was nice, the decor nice, and the fact it was the worst food of the four meals in Springdale said more about the other three.

The other lunch was at a coffee and breakfast szot where I got a really nice dish of biscuts and sausage gravy with scrambled eggs. but the star meals were the dinners, and the thing that made me fall in love with Springdale. The first was Zion Pizza & Noodle Co., which had a 35-min wait on a Saturday, and was fairly slow when we did get seated. They had a really nice, long, curated beer selection of local Utah-ian breweries. We split a couple 'Angel Fire Sticks' which were breadsticks with a strange but great combo of ranch, cheese and hot sauce. Then two pizzas which were both of th4e interesting flavor that places like this can do long - one in the style of a burrito, the other a Thai peanut chicken curry, and both were great.

Dinner on Friday night was at Bit & Spur Saloon, which had a corny name, a corny sign, but turned out to just be awesome. It serves mostly Mexican food, with some Italian pastas thrown in for fun. Not sure why, but one of us five got a pasta and said it was excellent. Truly everything they made was good, both interesting dishes (far from 'standard' Mexican - had a friend get grouper tacos, another get sweet potato tamales with eggplant) and great presentation and taste. 

They had one of the better shishito peppers I've ever had. They had a great quesadilla of brie, walnuts, apples, and jalaneno relish. My dish of a chile verde pork pot pie, topped with pobalno biscuit, was incredible - truly just great bite after great bite. I wouldn't make a trip to Zion to eat here (they also had another great beer selection - served with incredibly chilled glasses - as well as a long margarita list), but if you go to Zion, you must eat here.

More to come - on why when you add the actual nature, and hikes, and beauty, Zion is truly up there...

The 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Set for Greatness

This was a weird year, where the NBA playoffs started a good two weeks before the NHL playoffs did. Generally it is the other way around (though the gap is normally less than two weeks). It was odd as someone used to the rhythms of late April and early May, but finally we're getting our Stanley Cup Playoffs, and I think just in time to showcase how great this sport is. It's always great in the playoffs but this year maybe moreso than usual.

Firstly, there's a normal playoff structure, back to our four mini tournaments in each division before the Final 4. There's no all Canada division this year. We get our normal rivalry matchups after a year on missing quite a few. There's also full arenas evrerywhere. At the start of the NHL Playoffs last year, basically only the Florida teams were playing to full houses, and while most American cities were close to full by the second or third rounds, we still had capacity limits in the Canada games, including the Final games in Montreal.

Not so this year, all arenas are back full. The atmosphere should be insane from the go. This should be a celebration of the sport, particularly as the sport was played at a much more enjoyable level in this season than the prior two - even pandemic issues aside.

Scoring was up this year, to its highest level since the mid-90's before the league entered a ~20 year morass known as the 'dead puck' era. A slight blip post the cancelled season was little by little chipped away at till we reached a new low point in the early-to-mid 10's. Slowly scoring started creeping back up towards the back half of last decade, but the pause and the odd format last year was met with a drop in scoring again.

Then this year things exploded. It exploded early (when scoring often is a bit higher than it is through the season), and continued throughout. It hit a fake high in the middle of the season as the Omicron waved surged through the NHL, and teams started playing street goalies and the like, but even as things calmed down, the goals did not. We end with a team scoring 340 goals (Florida) the most in nearly 30 years. Overall scoring the highest in 26 years. A 60-goal scorer, eight 100-point scorers, etc. It was beautiful. It should portend great things, as while scoring does often drop in the playoffs, it doesn't as much as you would think.

Also, this year is just so even. We say that often, and upsets happen often in the NHL, certainly more than the NBA (which for all the 'parity' and 'wide-open-ness' of the season, we have the top-4 seeds in both Conferences advancing). This year is something special though.

The eight teams in the East all had at least 100 points. Yes, part of the reason that is possible is the eight non-playoff teams in the East were woefully bad. But those top eight were all really good, and only one series (Florida vs. Washington) seems to be anything other than a potential 7-game war. The West is nearly as good, with a potential classic in St. Louis vs. Minnesota, two teams with a surprisingly lengthy playoff history, and an even more surprising offense-first, fast, exciting way of playing this season.

This season was such a joy to follow given the scoring, the pace, the greatness of teams like Colorado and Florida, and performances like Auston Matthews' 60 goals, or McDavid's 122 points, but in the end we have what we always do: a perfect postseason tournament, for a perfect championship trophy. The road to the Cup starts today, and while that road is always incredibly fun, it is far more so than even this year.