The amazing Cinderella story of the Vegas Golden Knights continues to add additional chapters to their magical story and none of their players seem to shy away from the approaching "midnight" hour. This stunning fairy tale seems to have no end in sight as "Sin City' continues to accomplish the impossible, beating talented well established teams with their fast paced style of play, smothering defence and tremendous anticipation, not to mention a high level of skill. Not bad for a team and franchise that didn't even exist a year ago!
These bunch of castoffs have their sights firmly on Lord Stanley's mug as they head into their third round of the playoffs. They now have a glorious opportunity to become the first team in NHL history to win three playoff series in their inaugural season, they are already only the third first year team to win two rounds. Trivia time, name those two other teams? (one is hard, the other one is just plain nasty, unless you're a centenarian).
Yo-Yo series
Everyone knew it wouldn't be easy considering that the two teams, Nashville and Winnipeg, finished 1-2 in the NHL points race (117-114). It's only fair and right that it comes down to game 7 in "Smashville", so let's hope the Jets rebound from their dismal performance in game 6 and keep the "Whiteout" crowd alive. Called the "Yo-Yo" series because of all the up and downs (with each team taking turns stinking the joint out), it should be the Jets turn, who are carrying our nation on their shoulders, to come up big. Even if the Jets do lose, the winner of this series will finally end the Golden Knights search for the elusive Holy Grail.
Over in the Eastern Conference we have Washington finally getting rid of their nemesis, the Penguins, which entitles them to face Tampa Bay. This should be a really good series that features plenty of offence (Ovie vs Stamkos) and some great goaltending (Holtby vs Vasilevskiy). The Lightning will win this series over the Capitals but it will take them seven games to do it.
Licking the opponent
A lot of hockey fans are very disappointed, and they should be, that the NHL head office didn't penalize Brad Marchand for all his Neanderthal antics on the ice, namely the licking of an opposition player’s face. It started off against the Maple Leafs when he tongue-washed Leo Komarov's face and the refs and league did nothing, absolutely shameful. The team supposedly gave him a verbal warning not to do it again but it obviously fell on deaf ears because in the next round against Tampa Bay, he gave Ryan Callahan a real "chin to nose" lick, an extra-long tongue slurp and once again the stunned refs called nothing.
I guess "Stripes" and the league brass have never heard of certain rules, like maybe unsportsmanlike conduct, because the gutless SOB's only issued another meaningless verbal reprimand. I can tell you one thing, this would not have been tolerated 20 years ago because the players themselves would have policed this vulgar, grotesque action in their own special way, if you know what I mean (wink...wink).
Team Canada
The IIHF World Hockey Championships are underway in Denmark and Team Canada seems to be cruising right along. Look for a Team USA-Team Canada showdown with the Canucks naturally emerging as victors.
Baseball
Canadian James Paxton, who is from BC and pitches for the Seattle Mariners, threw a no-hitter this week against the only Canadian team in MLB, the Blue Jays. Things won't get any easier for the Jays as their ace closer Roberto Osuna has been suspended for a week after he was charged with assault. We'll see how he pitches his way out of this jam?
The SWBL has released their schedule and the Virden Oilers see their first action on the road as they go to Elkhorn and Reston on May 23 and 25, respectfully. Their first home games will be a double header on Sunday, June 3 at 1:00 and 6:00 p.m. when the Souris Cardinals and the Wawanesa Brewers come to town.
Trivia answer, the 1918 Toronto Arenas and the 1968 St. Louis Blues. Until next time....
