Thursday, June 7, 2007

They're Lovin' It in Stewart Valley!

Travis Moen hoists the Stanley Cup. Captured from the CBC Sports broadcast
Last night, the Anaheim Ducks defeated the Ottawa Senators 6-2 at the Honda Center to win the Stanley Cup in five games. For the first time ever in the NHL's modern history, the Cup is in the west coast. For the first time ever, the cup is in California. For the 13th consecutive season, the Cup is in the United States of America.

But none of that matters. The important thing is the Cup is coming to the Southwest!

Travis Moen, a farm boy from up the road, got credit for two goals last night, including the misplay by Chris Phillips that stood up to be the Cup winner. He was also the game's number one star. All to the delight of the 120 or so residents of Stewart Valley, who were all in the community school watching it unfold on a 50" plasmatic TV, and the thousands more in the Southwest watching in their homes. Just four years ago, the village erected a huge "Home of Travis Moen: NHL" sign just next to the highway. Already they have to modify it to read "2007 Stanley Cup Champion"

Of course, this is not just an American team by any means, just because they're based in Southern California. 19 players on the squad are from Canada, including 5 players from Saskatchewan, among all the others from various parts of the world. It's proof that it doesn't matter where your team plays its home games, its how well the team plays every game. And the Ducks, throughout the playoffs and the regular season before it, played like champions.

I can't wait until Travis gets his day with the Cup. Hopefully I can be there for it. It will be the third time I have been close to hockey's greatest prize, but the first time I didn't have to travel a long ways east to see it.

1 comment:

beep said...

It's like the movie "The Mighty Ducks 2", without Emilio Estevesz