This weekend, the sports world turns its attention to the race for the most coveted prize in all of professional athletics: The Stanley Cup. The 2010 version of the NHL playoffs have been absolutely thrilling, featuring a number of incredible upsets (including the unlikely run of the Montreal Canadiens, who upset both the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins before falling to the Philadelphia Flyers) and thrilling series (the second round battle between the Flyers and the Boston Bruins was a stunning war of attrition). Starting Saturday night (May 29) on NBC, the Flyers and the Chicago Blackhawks will kick off their seven-game series, with the winner earning the right to hoist the Cup over their heads at the end.
The Flyers’ run to the championship has been incredible. Having barely made their way into the playoffs, the Flyers ran through an otherwise hot New Jersey Devils team in the first round. They then had the incredible series with the Bruins, which saw Philadelphia fall behind three games to none before rallying to take down Boston in four straight games. They then ran through the otherwise on fire Canadiens to make their way into the finals.
Comparably speaking, the Blackhawks’ road through the playoffs has been relatively smooth. They narrowly missed being the top seed in the Western Conference (they ended up a single point behind top-seeded San Jose) and plowed through the Nashville Predators and the Vancouver Canucks before sweeping the Sharks to win the West. It’s their first trip to the Stanley Cup Finals since 1992 (they were swept by a Mario Lemieux-fueled Penguins team), which is notable because at least one thing hasn’t changed in the 18 years since the Hawks competed for a Cup: Christina Aguilera is still a big deal. Back in 1992, when Aguilera was only 11 years old, the now-famous singer performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the second game of the Stanley Cup Finals that year (the game was in Pittsburgh, and Aguilera grew up in nearby Wexford, Pennsylvania).
Source: MTV News
