Back to the Blog for Game 6

The only upside to Islanders not being in the Stanley Cup playoffs/finals? Jones Beach being the alternative to the Coliseum. 

Whoa has it been a long time since my last post. Since then Angie has left the NYIslesScene building and I wish her well. The blog took on more of a formal sports writing approach when Angie joined in and to be honest, writing in that format was like pulling teeth and although to Angie it came natural and she was really good at it, I fully admit I sucked at that process. I'm actually glad I sucked at it because it's not how I understand hockey and more importantly, not how I enjoy the game as an observer. As a fan of the Isles since the 1st Isles season in (holy sh*t I'm kinda old!) (44 and fabulous though), hockey has always been an experience, not just a game. I can remember as a kid feeling nervous in my stomach with excitement and having trouble focusing in school on the day of a game that I was going to. Amazing thing is, even after all these years I still get that way today. 

Also, there are tons of blogs/websites that already cover aspects of the NHL like game reviews, stats, draft picks etc...and bloggers/writers out there much better at those parts. I enjoy reading their perspective and learning from them. Overall, my creative mind does not belong trying to condense 60 minutes of hockey into a blog post or spouting off about what I don't know well enough or enjoy knowing about so from now on I'll just be hockey fan me and take a more ADD type approach to blogging...snippets here and there, photos here and there, commentary here and there and whatever else comes up in the time that I have to write/post.

Tonight is game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the LA Kings and NJ Devils. I am rooting for LA because winning the SC would be a 1st for the franchise and I'm rooting for the NJ Devils because being 44, I love when older players kick ass like Martin Brodeur and it cracks me up that it wasn't so long ago some were saying his career was coming to a close, which made me wonder if they were watching him play at all before making that statement. Who would have thought these two teams would surpass the others who ended up higher (for LA, much higher) in league standings at the end of the regular season? That's the great thing about this competition (and I suspect frustrating for teams), NHL teams charge forward into 82 games that demand so much of each player on so many levels, come out of the regular season on top or near the top and then POOF! no Stanley Cup for you! 

For this game I'd say LA has the edge, they are on home ice and now are (or should be) desperate to win whereas NJ wants to win this game to make it to game 7. LA has to figure out whether the pain their bodies are going to endure is greater than or less than the pain of a game 7. I don't know about you but if it were me, I would do anything to avoid a game 7...that would be my mindset...striking the fear in myself of having to play another game after playing what must be over 100 games total to date.  And then there's NJ...who seems to have a hockey dessert pocket that made itself known against the Rangers in round 3. The threatening thing about that dessert pocket is no one knows where it comes from and if it can be manufactured as opposed to being automatic. I don't know where it comes from...I don't think the Rangers knew and the LA Kings know now...it just exists and it fuels NJ somehow and I'd bet not even the Devils can say for sure where that energy is coming from. Something just seems to be carrying them out there on the ice in addition to their own volition. In any case I find it fascinating. LA has got to figure out a way to shatter that energy so that they can get beyond it and put some pucks in the net in the 1st period, enough to give them a lead they feel a great need to protect. Good luck getting past Broduer who at age 40, seems to be the most disciplined, focused and conditioned athlete out there on the ice. The LA Kings can take all the shots on goal they want but I suspect it is the player who will be at the right place at the right time in front of Brodeur who helps his team the greatest in winning the Stanley Cup tonight. Devils? Well all they have to do is continue to play their game, it's worked so far in getting them this far...I don't think for the Devils it will be about what they do as much as it will be about what the Kings don't do. That's where the Devils have a chance to force a game 7.

In summary...

I have NO IDEA who is going to win the Stanley Cup and that is the BEST part of this match-up!!