well, it was a long season and i never posted anything! here's the short version: excellent regular season for the devils, record-breaking for brodeur, fail in the first round of the playoffs. starting to sound alllllll too familiar for devils fans! but i have moved on ... if you want to talk epic fail, you can only look to the boston bruins. i am not sure what their fans have done to deserve this sort of pain, but OUCH. now can i say that at least i'm not a bruins fan.

despite the sad loss, the race for lord stanley's cup has been stupendously exciting this year. and the resurgence of the montreal canadiens has been the most exciting thing of all to watch. the #8 habs scored a first-round victory over the #1 seed, president's trophy-winning washington capitals went seven games and followed it up with another seven-game triumph over #4 seed and defending stanley cup champions pittsburgh penguins. canadian rappers have made videos sampling journey's "don't stop believin'" about it. no, seriously. so now the #8 seed faces the #7 seed philadelphia flyers in the eastern conference finals, while in the west #1 san jose battles it out with #2 chicago blackhawks. and while i am excited about the western conference (go blackhawks!) as well -- hoping for an original six final! -- right now the spotlight is on the canadiens. ALLEZ LES HABITANTS!

it's june

so obviously a hockey fan's thoughts turn to ... the winter classic? rumors are brewin' that the bruins will host the flyers at fenway at the turn of 2010, and that it'll possibly be the first game of a doubleheader with the leafs traveling to calgary to play the flames later on new year's day. my take: two games is overkill. the league's done a great job with the winter classic thus far, turning it into a real must-see event. two games dilutes the attention, and the game already competes with a full slate of new year's day college bowl games. but we'll all have to stay tuned for the official announcement from bettman's office ....

pittsburgh is the new boston

well, the pens are the stanley cup champs! in a series that looked at times to be a foregone conclusion well in favor of the red wings, the pens did it! and although malkin was the conn smythe winner (and deservedly so for his amazing play throughout the playoffs), marc-andre fleury was the clear mvp of the finals. right down to the last second (literally).

the second round and the finals were so good that it almost -- but not quite -- makes me feel better about what happened in round one. which shall henceforth be known, a la j.k. rowling, as "that which shall not be mentioned". suffice to say it was enough to make me wonder if i can even continue to be a devils fan, and that says quite a bit.

back to the pens -- although i would have preferred the blackhawks, who stumbled badly against the wings in a very meh round three, the pens are exciting for a lot of reasons, not least of which is that they're a young team loaded with both talent and heart, and they have great ownership to keep things going for many years to come. not unlike that other world championship team in pittsburgh, the mighty steelers. mr. mario lemieux looked right at home on the ice last night, as well he should, but it seems to be he is poised to become a legend not only as one of the greatest players in the game, but as a great owner as well. it's remarkable what he and his group have done to bring the penguins back to championship form, so bravo, mr. lemieux.

so congratulations to the pittsburgh penguins, newly crowned stanley cup champs, giving the city of pittsburgh its second title of 2009 (and, let's face it, its last -- unless the pirates are a lot better than i think they are). you were fun to watch, and you kept me watching after the devastation of round one.

"have another doughnut, you fat pig"

last night marked the last game of referee don "doughnuts" koharski's career.  i've never been a fan, as he always seemed to be one of those officials who injected himself too much into the game by calling "makeup"/"equalizer" penalties, particularly late in close games -- just let the players play, buddy.  anyway, i think the most distinct aspect of koharski's career was the incident in the 1988 playoffs when then-devils head coach jim schoenfeld waited for him after a game and told him to "have another doughnut, you fat pig" -- HA!  so momentous that it is actually mentioned in articles recounting koharski's career.  also, in the movie "wayne's world", there is a cop in a doughnut shop named officer koharski, which mike myers has said is most definitely a reference to "doughnutgate".  tee hee.

p.s. must be nice to retire at 53.  

in other news, the devils got their 50th win last night in shootout over ottawa -- after their dreadful 6-game winless streak, they have won 3 of their last 4, which i hope means good things for the playoffs.  it's been a season of milestones, as 50 wins is a franchise record.  they also clinched the division (yawn) and at least a third seed in the playoffs.  and jarkko ruutu scored for the sens, which is not really all that noteworthy except that i really like saying jarkko ruutu.  oh finland, why are your names so fun to say?!  

the rangers and habs also clinched last night and the sabres were eliminated, which means the eastern conference playoff teams are set, although still yet to be seeded.  the western conference is still open, with nashville and minnesota still knocking on the door -- nashville, anaheim and st. louis all have 88 points but the blues and ducks have a game in hand.  minnesota is still in the mix with 85 points and two games left, and the preds and wild are playing head-to-head tonight.  and into the last weekend of the regular season we go ....

more on brodeur

excellent video clip of barry melrose breaking down brodeur's career. barry breaks down brodeur's career behind a stifling defense and how some of marty's contemporaries would have played behind the same defense. and comes to the conclusion that marty is, indeed, the best ever.

ok, with the playoffs approaching, i promise this blog will stop being a valentine to brodeur. or i'll try, anyway -- can't make that promise if he continues to be brilliant in net ....

not everyone's a fan

including the new jersey courts, apparently, which ruled that brodeur must pay $500,000 in alimony annually to his ex-wife, melanie dubois. remember her? the camera loved her in 2000 in the stanley cup finals win over the dallas stars. that $500,000 is in addition to the $9 million in assets and $132,000/year in child support. i guess that's what you get for having an affair with your sister-in-law. hope she was worth it ....

let the debate begin ....

is brodeur the best goalie in ice hockey history? thus far, the best and most interesting take i've seen about it is this one, which argues that by the time he's finished playing brodeur will so clearly be considered the most dominant goalie in nhl history that you can only even engage in the debate for a limited time, because pretty soon it'll be clear that he's "lapped" the field.

so enjoy arguing about it while you can, all. although there's little room for debate even now, if you ask me ....