Pens Are Champs!

This past weekend saw the end of the 2008-2009 Hockey Season, with Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in Detroit with the home town Red Wings facing the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The odds were stacked up against the visiting Penguins, but they had battled hard to come this far. Many picked the Wings to run over the Pens, especially after Detroit jumped out to an early 2-0 series lead.

Pittsburgh would have to win 3 of their next 4 games if they wanted to capture the Stanley Cup, dethrone the defending champion Redwings and avoid a repeat of the previous year. It was a team performance, and in the end, as I'm sure everyone is well aware of, the Penguins prevailed to capture their 3rd Stanley Cup.

Sidney Crosby is the youngest captain in the history of the league to hoist the  cup, and Evgeny Malkin was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy, to cap off a stellar 2008-2009 campaign.

One thing that many people have been discussing is Crosby not shaking the hand of Detroit Redwing Captain Niklas Lidstrom. Lidstrom was waiting to congratulate Crosby at the end of the game, but the young Penguin Captain never came around. I think that Crosby has been criticized for this enough, hopefully he will learn from it.

With all the talk throughout the year about Crosby and Washington Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeny Malkin kind of slipped under the radar. It's remarkable that this guy does not seem to get any credit. He won the Art Ross trophy for most points in the regular season, and was arguably the Penguins best and most consistent player throughout the playoffs.  He was also the leading scorer in the playoffs.

Another thing that I observed and was impressed by was Malkin waiting for all of the veterans to hoist the cup before taking his turn. A true class act.

Hopefully now, with an Art Ross and Conn Smythe Stanley Cup ring under his bealt, Malkin can finally get some credit.