Winning Game 7 avenged losing the Cup to Detroit at Mellon Arena in 2008 and completed a remarkable turnaround by the Penguins. When Dan Bylsma was brought in to replace Michel Therrien as coach Feb. 15, they were five points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference standings.
Bylsma promptly led them to an 18-3-4 record during the stretch drive and rallied them from a 3-2 deficit in this series. He joins Al MacNeil as the only rookie coaches to win a Cup after getting his job during the season. MacNeil did it with Montreal in 1971.
The Penguins have won all three of their Cups on the road — they did it in Minnesota in 1991 and in Chicago in 1992 — and last night became the only road team to win a game in this series.
Doesn’t get any better than this! Horns honking, cheers, firecrackers, the sweet smell of burning sofas wafting across the Mon . . . .
Bruce Robison
Burning sofas? Is this a Pittsburgh special custom? (Congratulations!)
Whooo Hooo!!! The Superbowl and the Stanley Cup all in the same year! Okay, time for the Pirates to step up and show what they are really made of.
The Pirates have shown what they’re really made of. It’s unfortunate sandlot teams can’t compete in the big leagues.
And what about that Crosby boy – a professional athlete (hockey, no less) who speaks complete sentences coherently.
Last year, my brother who lives in Detroit graced us with a Red Wing Jersey – now it’s his turn to get a gift.
First the Stillers, then the Pens, and the Washington (PA) Wild Things are leading their division and soon it will be Archbishop Bob Duncan. Bruce is right, it doesn’t get much better than this.
We’ll get Stanley back next year!!!!
GO WINGS
The NHL missed a fantastic opportunity a few years back during the lockout season — contraction to a truly international, three-division league:
AMERICAN
Boston
New York
Pittsburgh
Detroit
Chicago
Denver
CANADIAN
Montreal
Toronto
Ottawa (or Winnipeg)
Calgary
Edmonton
Vancouver
EUROPEAN
Stockholm
Helsinki
St Petersburg
Moscow
Prague
Bratislava (or perhaps Berlin)
Top two teams in each division, plus two wild-cards go to quarter-finals … or better yet, the top team only, plus one wild-card, and start with the semis; hockey in June is creepy.
The calibre of play in such a league, especially if it adopted the Euro-scale rink, would be phenomenal and there’d be no need for mediocre players to get chippy.
Oh, well.