Hello friends,

Well it looks like the Los Angeles Lakers and the Detroit Red Wings could be celebrating titles and re-establishing their long time dynasties again. The Lakers much to my chagrin as a San Antonio Spurs fan have proven to be the younger and more athletic team and they are gaining experience fast in this series and while it is only the Western Conference Finals they are on the way to dethroning the defebding champion Spurs and should be favored in the East against the PIstons or Celtics although they are good teams as well. They just havent beaten teams like the ones that the Lakers and Spurs face in the Western Conference. Kobe Bryant with help from Pal Gasol, Derek Fisher and Lamar Odom has reestablished this as his team and Phil Jackson is once again the ringleader as coach though he is brilliant as well.

The Detroit Red Wings are on their way to winning a fourth Stanley Cup in the last 11 years. This was supposed to be a dream matchup with Sidney Crosby and the young and upstart Pittsburgh Penguins. In a few years it might be once the Penguins get a little more experience. To this point it is a nice story for them and hockey but the Wings are also too dominant at this point. Of course at the time of this writing it is not over for either the Lakers or Red Wings but I look for both to be having championship parades in June. As always we'll see what happens. As for now it's almost time for a changing of the guard and watching the re-established champions in Detroit and Los Angeles come back to take their throne. Take care and best wishes friends. Have a great and productive day. fenfan

P.S. That being said I also give credit to the refs for the non call on the Brent Barry shot and possible foul at the end of Game 4 against the Lakers. There is always to much speculations with calls by referees in the NBA . Barry got bumped by Derek Fisher and then shot the ball afterward hoping it would go in to win the game or at the very least get the call. To Brent Barry's credit he said while he looked for the call as a player he didn't expect to get it and took it respectfully. I as a Spurs fan don't want to win cheaply and if the Lakers win the series as I said I'll be satisfied with the way the outcome happened and say congratulations.

Hello friends,

Well were into the conference finals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and boy they're going fast this year where it  takes the NBA two or three weeks to get out of a series. Anyway we've got a good mix of teams for the fans who love the game and also three traditional cities are involved as well so lets go.

The Eastern Conference should be a tough physical series between two fast but well built teams in the Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators. Ottawa is the capital city of Canada and Buffalo is right across the border so the passion will be there. I'm rooting for Ottawa as the Canadian team even though I don't really like them that much otherwise, but Buffalo has a nice history and story as well and that city is looking for it's first major pro sports championship so I'll pick them to go to the finals in 6 or 7 games.

In the Western Conference it's also a good matchup between two well skilled teams in the Detroit Red Wings and Anaheim Ducks am I the only one who thinks their name sounds better since they dropped it from Mighty "Mickey Mouse" Ducks. Ducks is more professional. Anyway it will be a good series as well but Detroit has some injury issues especially with Matthew Schnieder out and I think Anaheim is a little bigger and physical with the Niedermayer (Scott and Rob) brothers and Chris Pronger especially. I'll pick the Ducks in 6 games .

That would make it a Sabres Ducks final which would have the bigger Ducks against the smaller quicker Sabres and even though the Sabres are quick I think Anaheim can adapt to both physical and speedy play so I'd pick Anaheim to win the Stanley Cup. But back to the Final Four I think we have good quality teams and players in passionate cities mostly. Lets hope some fans watch and we'll have a good and exciting conclusion to the Stanley Cup playoffs. If your team is still playing I hope they do well. If not just enjoy hockey and hopefully more people will see what a fast and excting game it really is. Have a great a productive day and best wishes friends.

Hello Sports Friends,

Well March Madness will be concluding in a few weeks and my brackets weren't the best this year I picked too many upsets. Also baseball will be starting soon and I'm excited about that until summer when football arrives. April also brings the NBA and Stanley Cup playoffs and I've been wondering which Canadian or Original Six team is going to come along to create some interest in the hockey playoffs that is as much interest as the casual fan has.

Now there are 30 teams in the National Hockey League but with all due respect to the other great and not so great teams there are only 10 teams which fall into the category of Canadian or Original Six. First the Canadian teams which include two Original Six teams the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens as well as the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks and Ottawa Senators. The Other Original Six teams which were the original six NHL clubs until expansion occured in 1967 include American city teams such as the Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks along with Toronto and Montreal listed above.

So what makes these 10 teams more interesting or special than the other 20 teams in the NHL?  History and tradition and the love of the game which is mostly strongest in the Canadian and Original Six cities. Now I know there are great passionate fans in cities like Buffalo, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Minnesota,  Colorado,  Dallas and other cities. You can make your arguements but the hockey playoffs and games are most interesting when a Canadian or Original Six team is involved. Take the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals between the Original Six team the New York Rangers and the Canadian team the Vancouver Canucks. Now add the backdrop that the Rangers and captain Mark Messier who had previously won five Stanley Cups in Edmonton with Wayne Gretzky in the 80s were trying to win the Rangers first Stanley Cup sice 1940, 54 years at the time and the final series went the full seven games with the final game being decided by one goal and you had a lot of passion. I heard there were riots in Vancouver and celebration in New York and that is what makes great rivalry and passion and interest for the game. Also incidentally that series reached tv ratings that the NHL: hasn't seen before or since. The only other hockey ratings bonanza I can think of is the Miracle on Ice USA beats the Soviets game in the 1980 Winter Olympics.

Otherwise you hear about 1.1 and 0.7 type ratings for NHL hockey games even the playoff ones except in Canada of course which doesn't count with the US media so I always hope we'll have a Canadian or Original Six team to create some interest if not ratings because that is where the game is most passionate with all due respect to the other great teams and hockey cities. It was fun the last two hockey seasons to see Canadian teams in the finals, Edmonton in 2006 and Calgary and 2004. We won't mention much about the lockout in between which hurt the game of hockey even more. But even though Edmonton lost to the Carolina Hurricanes and Calgary lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning both in the seventh game of the finals and both were on the road,  but still it was more exciting because you had cities and a country Canada where the passion of hockey mattered the most. It was better viewing than Colorado vs Florida or Anaheim vs New Jersey which were a couple of the less exciting Stanley Cup  matchups as far as the overall interest of the fans in recent years.

So I'm wondering who is this years Edmonton, Calgary or New York Rangers team to get me excited about the playoffs? None of the Canadian teams look really strong to make either the playoffs or a deep run to the finals and for the Original Six teams only the Detroit Red Wings from Hockeytown, Detroit a great American hockey city located ten miles from the Canadian border is in a strong postion to get into the playoffs and make a playoff run.

Now I have nothing against these other non Canadian and Original Six teams.In fact I root for my local area team the Dallas Stars where interest is surprisingly high in southern and sunny Texas, but I also like to watch the games where the interest is the highest. That is what I think attracts the casual fans with all due repect to the non traditional and Sun Belt market teams. So lets enjoy the games and hope there are some interesting teams and stories to follow which will make hockey a more interesting and enjoyable game to the general public and no I'm not asking for baseball, football and basketball type ratings. Please stop comparing hockey to those games, especially the ratings obsessed media who doesn't want to see small market Canadian teams. What do you want to see Anaheim vs New Jersey? Yawn, and I'm not talking just about the players on the ice but the lack of passion in the cities where interest isn't the highest. So enough rambling for today and have great and productive days and let me know what you think as always. Best wishes. fenfan67