Pen-Sational

I will give credit where credit is due and congratulate the youngest captain to win the cup in Sidney Crosby and the rest of Pittsburgh Penguins on winning the Stanley Cup. Also the fact that he grabbed the Conference Trophy and was not concerned with avoiding it or some sort of voodoo thing was good to see. In one of the best post seasons for the NHL in many, many years and for the game to go to a 7th game that was decided by 1 goal, even a Red Wings fan must admit it was a good series. Perhaps they aren't happy with the outcome (and who could blame them) but as a hockey fan and a fan of the league nobody could have asked for more.

With that said there are a few things that have come up that have, i don’t want to say tainted but as shed a bit of a bad light on the whole thing. The fact that the Red Wings feel that Crosby snubbed Nick Lidstrom in shaking his hand is a bit of a concern. I will give Sid the benefit of the doubt it was his first time raising the cup he is still young one can forgive him for being a little excited and maybe not being as prompt with protocol as perhaps he should have been but this is pretty minor. No real harm, no real foul. What is more of a concern is the poor officiating that took place. The whistles went away and the standard that was supposed to be set was thrown out the window. This is one good reason why the Pens may have had a bit of an advantage because their less mobile players had an advantage when it came to interference, plus the fact that the Jonathan Ericsson penalty that was called for interference was only called once and turned out to be a turning point in the series. It also goes the other way where Johan Franzen’s hit on Crosby in the 2nd period of game 7 was interference and it tweaked Crosby’s knee and essentially knocked him out of the game and could have become a big deal had Pittsburgh lost. The NHL has got to decide on rules and stick with them...pass interference in the first quarter of a pre-season game in the NFL is also a pass interference in the 4th quarter of the Super bowl. Nobody wants it to go back to the way it was in the mid 90’s (except maybe the New Jersey Devils)