Tomorrow night, the battle for the most beautiful Cup in sports begins. 35.25 inches tall and 34.5 pounds of glorious silver and nickel alloy, Lord Stanley’s Cup. Every year, players go through a rollercoaster 82-game regular season all for just a small chance at expanding their season into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Now, after weeks of some of the best hockey we have ever seen, we are on the precipice of the Final Round. The Stanley Cup Finals.
This year we will have the pleasure of watching the Colorado Avalanche take on the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are aiming to win back-to-back-to-back Stanley Cups. And baby, the Colorado Avalanche are gonna win.
I refuse to accept any other outcome. If you know me, you know that the Tampa Bay Lightning are my arch nemesis therefore abandon all hope ye who enter here if ye be for the Lightning.
The Avalanche have been wistfully watching the Stanley Cup playoffs from their couches for the past few years as they had trouble getting past the second round. Now, it’s the eve of the Stanley Cup Finals and they will be taking on a tough customer. The Lightning have won the past three Stanley Cups but the Avalanche have been preparing for this all season. They came out of the standings on top of the West by a healthy 6 points with a 56-19-7 record. Of those 56 wins, two were against the Lightning where the Avs outscored the Bolts 7-5. The Avalanche have faced plenty of adversity this season and they still stayed on their A-game. No matter what challenges they faced they found a way to work through them and stay on top. That’s definitely thanks to the veteran leadership the Avalanche have. Gabriel Landeskog, Erik Johnson, Andrew Cogliano, Pavel Francouz, Darcy Kuemper, Nazem Kadri (despite being injured) Josh Manson, and Jack Johnson are all guys who have been through the trenches. In that collective, they’ve really seen it all. And it’s not just the oldest guys who lead this team. Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, JT Compher, Mikko Rantanen, and Sammy Girard (despite being injured) might be younger but they’ve all seen some shit, every time they rally the troops and pull out a win. This team is cohesive, they’re a brotherhood. They’ve seen so much dark and they’re ready for some time in the light.
I am just so amped to get this series started. It’s going to be thrilling and I am so excited to watch these teams play for blood out there. Game 1 is just hours under 24 hours away and it will be glorious. Go Avs Go!
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Featured Image: Colorado Avalanche Twitter
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