I’m Going to…

When Patrick Roy hoisted the Stanley Cup for the first time in 1993 as a member of the Montreal Canadiens (incidentally the last time the Cup was in Canada), he screamed into the camera – “I’m Going to Disneyland!” What, pray tell, do you think Ducks’ Captain Scott Niedermayer was to scream – “Everyone loves Marineland!”  Or perhaps, “I’m off to Canada’s Wonderland!” I mean I can’t imagine that he was to scream “I’m going to Disneyland – someone call me a cab.”

I am disappointed that the Stanley Cup is again in the Southern United States where they had a hard time getting press, even in the Stanley Cup final. Al Michaels said it best when speaking of American knowledge of the game; “People didn’t know the difference between a blue line and a clothes line." In the meantime we are all hockey mad here in Canada. This means that the Cup has now for the last three seasons been to Anaheim, Carolina, and Tampa Bay! Sounds like hockey mad environments to me. Temmu Selanne who has played over 1100 NHL games was rewarded tonight for his efforts with the Cup Victory.  He was once a hero in a place called Winnipeg where sold out crowds cheered on their team night after night. Temmu would be noticed if h went out on public for anything. He was a hero. In Anaheim most people would have no idea who he is. Hockey left Winnipeg as rising salaries killed hockey in good hockey towns. The team landed in hockey mad Phoenix! Québec City also left for the thin air of Colorado.  Well for better or worse the Cup remains in the south.

It was very heartwarming to see Scott Niedermayer hand the cup off to his brother Rob. It was a great moment. That warm moment over I will now have to sit and wait till October to get my hockey fix again. October when there is Hockey. CFL Football, and Baseball all happening it will be great! But Hockey is king. Stephen Leacock wrote “Hockey captures the essence of Canadian experience in the New World.  In a land so inescapably and inhospitably cold, hockey is the chance of life, and an affirmation that despite the deathly chill of winter we are alive.”