My favourite of professional sport entertainments is ice hockey.

And just as my hockey pool predicted, Ottawa lost in the final to the Calgary Flames “Mighty” Ducks of Anaheim.

MVP was Scott Niedermayer, putting him, perhaps, at the pinnacle of the NHL Hall of Fame.

Win baby win, that’s all Niedermayer has ever known, Aside from his three previous Cup rings in New Jersey, the 33-year-old native of Cranbrook, B.C., had done it all: world junior gold, Memorial Cup title, men’s world championship gold, Olympic gold and World Cup of Hockey title — the only player in hockey history to have won all six titles.

globeandmail.com: Scott Niedermayer awarded Conn Smythe Trophy

Recall the Great One went to Los Angeles to bring ice hockey to the Yanks. But they could not win it all with Gretzky.

This is the first time a team from the West Coast has won the Stanley Cup. And they were captained by Scott Niedermayer.

(How many at Disneyland tomorrow morning would even recognize his name, I wonder.)

He went to the team (for a lower salary) to play with his brother. That’s cool too.

Wikipedia

Comparisons with Michael Jordan are obvious.

But James is only 22-years-old.

He may be the greatest basketball player of all time.

I really thought about looking up incredible in the thesaurus, and emptying the contents on this page. Among the words that could describe what I just witnessed LeBron James do to the Detroit Pistons: absurd, implausible, improbable, inconceivable, ridiculous, and unimaginable.

For those of you that missed one of the single greatest performances in NBA playoff history, LeBron dropped 48 points on the Pistons, and the Cavs prevailed in a double-overtime thriller, 109-107. LeBron had all of Cleveland’s 18 points in the two overtimes, many on dunks. Some on insane jumpers. He even made a clutch steal in double-overtime.

LeBron James’ 48 Stun Pistons in 2 OT Classic, 109-107

I still don’t see Scottie Pippin beside him. Cleveland can’t win it all … yet.

source

Some movie posters have been floating around the internet of late modified by Flames fans.

Thanks George.

Star #1 = Miikka Kiprusoff
Star #2 = Miikka Kiprusoff
Star #3 = Daymond Langkow

is Miikka Kiprusoff any good? Yikes. The Red Wings must be wondering what they have to do to beat this guy in the Flames net. “He’s our brick wall back there,” said Flames d-man Andrei Zyuzin.

Calgary Flames Blog » From the press box: The brick wall

Click on the thumbnail image to see our National Hockey League playoff predictions.

We picked a few underdogs. And hope to come off better than that dratted Maggie the Monkey.

GO FLAMES.

Vegas odds – NHL bracket

Upsetting the Red Wings won’t be easy, here are the six keys for Calgary

CANOE — SLAM! Sports – Hockey NHL – Calgary – Can the Flames win?

I wouldn’t trade Iggy for any other hockey player in the NHL.

(OK. Maybe Sydney Crosby.)

original photo

Not many are giving my team much chance in the first round of the playoffs: Red Wings’ Grit Should Snuff Out Flames.

But I’m cheering. Go Flames!