Jussi Couture

...Why do I get the sneaking feeling that if Carolina has a Stanley Cup hangover next year, you'll see half filled houses routinely at the RBC Center?

...As weird as it may sound, Carolina may have been playing for a contract for their coach, Peter Laviolette in Game 7. Although Canes management had made statements that they would have matched any offer to the free agent coach, with volatile Peter Karmanos as owner, who knows what would have happened if his team blew a 3-1 lead.

...So you're Bret Hedican. You've played in the league for thirteen years and been to the Cup Finals twice, losing both times. You finally climb that hill and win a championship, realizing a childhood dream. So could there be anything worse than being at the pinnacle than to have NBC's Pierre Maguire remind you during the live celebration that you're Mr. Kristi Yamaguchi?

Pop Quiz time. Multiple choice – The REAL reason that the Canes won was:

a) They were the better team man for man
b) When Edmonton got that 5-on-3 late in the second period and didn't score, they were done.
c) Ales Hemsky needs to go to the Alexander Ovechkin school of shooting.
d) The hockey gods refused to let a goalie named Jussi win the Cup.

I have it on good authority the answer is d. Having a Fernando on the team didn't help matters either.

So the Hurricanes win a championship after a dominating 112-point season and no one is talking dynasty.

We think we know why.

Yes, Cam Ward came of age in the Finals, but he was a 22-year-old rookie with 28 games under his belt when Peter Laviolette went to him in desperation after Martin "Baby Food" Gerber spit the bit after the first two games of the opening round against Montreal. Ward steadied the ship and matched save for save with New Jersey's Martin Brodeur and Buffalo's Ryan Miller to get to the Finals. But Ward could easily go the way of Jean Sebastian Giguere for all we know.

Quick, name the best Carolina defenseman.

Thought so.

For that matter, I'll give you $20 if you can name the top six defensemen for the Hurricanes. Names like Hedican, Mike Commodore and Aaron Ward don't remind anyone of the '71 Canadiens or '85 Oilers. The group is above average at best, so this team defeated the old axiom that you need veteran goaltending and stellar defense to win the Cup.

Where GM Jim Rutherford had sage wisdom was the acquisition of offensive talents like Mark Recchi and Doug Weight. Those veterans allowed Laviolette to roll four lines throughout the playoffs.

In the new NHL, you'll see one-way goal scorer types increase in value. That's why guys like Recchi and Ray Whitney, though undersized made this team the best. With the rule changes and parity arriving, offensive depth along the forward wall will be the differentiator.

Cam Ward had a nice playoff run, but he wasn't the Conn Smythe winner. Neither was Chris Pronger or Rod Brind'Amour. The unquestioned MVP of this year's playoffs were those incredible Edmonton fans. There were two sold out arenas on Monday night, one in Raleigh and the other, Rexall Place in Edmonton. Suffice to say that if the final game had been contested in Alberta, the RBC Center would have had just a few thousand through its doors.

It's well documented that the fervor surrounding these underdog Oilers eclipsed anything seen during the time when Gretzky and Messier ruled the roost. But if you watched those incredible group of fans heartily sing the Star Spangled Banner and then take over the rendition of O Canada and not get emotional, then you have no soul.

Times like those make this writer wish he could cover the game in a place where the game is a religion instead of a place where most games are televised on the Bicycle Race Network.

Let the image of those fans be the exclamation point on a comeback season for the NHL.
 

Dennis Bernstein, the man behind SCORE! Media, is a columnist for TheFourthPeriod.com and the Los Angeles Correspondent for The Fourth Period Magazine.