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Lord Stanley and his Cup

Measuring 36 inches tall and weighing 35 pounds, the Stanley Cup is probably coveted more than an Olympic gold medal.  If you can outplay everyone else through 82 regular season games and then a minimum of 16 grueling playoff games where that guy in the other jersey is trying to take your head off in his quest for the Cup, then and only then can you lift 115 years of history over your head.

It can’t be any more appropriate that when the Stanley Cup is finally welcomed into the arms of Southern California it be at the hands of a team born from a movie.  And not just any movie, a Disney movie.  I now wonder if Lord Stanley denied the Ducks’ bid in 2003 because he didn’t want the MIGHTY Ducks of Anaheim stamped on his Cup.   Or is it just coincidence that the very year the organization shakes its final vestiges of anything Disney, renaming themselves The Anaheim Ducks, they win the Cup?

I would have given my right nut to see this final series go down between the Ducks and the Sabres.  Then again, I see it only fitting that the Ducks win this legacy against a Canadian team.  A team that has been around as long as the Cup.  Never mind that 60 year gap between seasons for the Ottawa Senators.

My hat is off to you, gentlemen.  Congratulations!  But no one deserves it more than you, Teemu.  Even if you are a Finn!  I can only hope tonight wasn’t your last game.

So how long do you think it will be before they rename themselves The Los Angeles Ducks of Anaheim?