Ask Me Anything! (#2)

Ask me anything, and hockey gets the love huh? That's fine by me.

Question from Don: "What makes you think Senators can't beat Redwings? They got the scoring, speed and age on them."

Make no mistake about it; I definitely think the Senators could beat the Red Wings. Granted, the Wings have to actually finish the series against the Ducks for that to even be the match-up.

The Sens have already contained the league's best forward (Sidney Crosby), beat the league's best goalie (Martin Brodeur), and are one game away from knocking off the league's best team (record wise, anyhow). And I must again point out that it has been no fluke; this team is the real deal.

I guess its just the lack of a true 3rd and 4th line that bothers me about Ottawa. Yes, they do have Chris Neil (177 penalty minutes this season), but this team is essentially a team that sends 4 scoring lines at you. Maybe it's just the hockey purist in me unwilling to appreciate the fact that in the new NHL, speed and skill conquer physicality and grit, but there's just something about the Kris Drapers and Kirk Maltbys and Tomas Holmstroms that feel right in the playoffs. Last year's Carolina team had a lot of speed and skill but also did an excellent job getting down and dirty on its 3rd and 4th lines.

There just seems to be something missing to me, maybe something that can only be exploited by a team like the Ducks or Wings. I certainly hope I'm wrong; I did bet Ottawa this pre-season to win it all, after all.

But Ottawa deserves all the respect in the world, and if Ray Emery stays strong, Canada just might have its first Stanley Cup winning team in 14 years.

Question from Nick: "i could probably just as easily look this up online.... but why in hockey to fans throw octopi (plural of octopus) out on the ice?"

Yep, you could have Nick. Thats exactly what I did... I knew it had something to do with 8 wins, but couldn't iron out the details. So after the good ol' web search, here's what wikipedia.org teaches us;

"This tradition, started on April 15th, 1952, when two brothers, Pete and Jerry Cusimano, who owned a fish market, decided to throw an octopus onto the ice at Olympia Stadium, with the eight tentacles of the octopus symbolizing the eight wins it took to win the Stanley Cup at the time. The Red Wings were a perfect 7-0 in the playoffs and were one win away from not only winning the Cup, but becoming the first perfect team in the NHL's post season history. Sure enough the Red Wings won that game, and the media made mention of the octopus "omen" in the papers the following day, thus establishing the octopus legend in the process. Fans have been throwing octopuses onto the ice at Red Wings games ever since. The tradition died down somewhat in the 1970s and 1980s during the Red Wings dismal seasons, but when the Red Wings became contenders again in the '90s, the tradition resumed."

Have to take what you find on wikipedia with a grain of salt; but that looks about right to me.

(To have your question answered, email me any questions you've got at socaltrojan31@aol.com OR simply leave a comment here and your question will be addressed in a new post. Don't be shy. "Anything" is a pretty broad topic. Sports related, of course.)