Sidney Crosby will be named Pittsburgh’s new captain at a press conference tomorrow afternoon, making him the youngest captain in NHL history…


…maybe now Mario will let him stay up until 10:00 on a school night.

Anyone who has watched more than one playoff series in their lives knows that Game 1 isn’t supposed to be that good – at least when compared to the rest of the series. The two teams are feeling each other out, learning the buttons to push and the tricks to use, adapting to and adjusting for the other teams’ strengths and weaknesses. Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals is usually even worse because you have two teams that have barely played one another, especially under the new NHL scheduling.

Well, someone forgot to tell the Senators and Ducks. Because if this game is the worst of the series, I’d say we’re in for a hell of a ride.

It’s not that it was a perfect game. There were mistakes and fluky bounces. There were bad goals and missed calls. There were timid moments to be sure.

But all in all it was pretty breathtaking. It was a close game throughout regardless of who held the lead and you just knew that one bounce, one penalty, one laser of a shot, and the lead could flip in an instant. It was physical, it was intense, it was full of animosity and hatred unheard of between two teams that haven’t met in over a year and a half…everything you want in a playoff game.

It’s no secret that this postseason has been great, at times spectacular. It’s only fitting that this series, as a culmination of the performances from these two teams, should be a treat for the eyes. To all you lucky people who were in attendance last night and to everyone holding a ticket for any of the games down the line, I have only this to say – hold on to those ticket stubs. You’re witnessing an instant classic, and those don’t come along everyday.

- Stepping aside from the sappiness for a moment, I’m pleased to announce that the Round 3 winner of the First Annual Blogger Playoff Pool is…

Ah, a Caps fan. There’s only 253 of us in the pool, you’d think one of the Caps’ faithful would have won before, but what can you do.

Anyways, keep an eye out for loving tributes to the Caps from the following people:

And as always I’ve got a pretty spreadsheet all ready with the current standings: Round 3
(By the way, compare these standings to Round 2 and tell me this isn’t anyone’s game…)

These are some happy teams, these Ducks and Senators. It’s time, therefore, to determine once and for all who the Stanley Cup Champion will be tonight by virtue of their smiles.

In this corner, representing Canada’s capital, Toronto’s native son, the young upstart…Jason Spezza!

It’s just not normal for a hockey player to have such perfect teeth.
2-1 Spezza. Batter up!

That one just looks painful…still 2-1.

Nice. Relaxed. Easy. 3-1.
Come on, Teemu, don’t make it a rout, show me something good!

Aw, see? Was that so hard? 3-2. Sens-boy:

Now that’s a man who looks ready for the Stanley Cup, isn’t it?
One last shot, Teemu, give us your best…

AAAACK!!

Okay, it’s no contest – sorry, Finnish Brad Pitt, when engaging in a battle of smiles always leave the creepy stuff at home.

The winner and still champion…Jason Spezza!
Looks like the Cup is coming back to Canada after all.

…but shucks, we knew that already…

(Anyone else ready for this damn series to start?)

It’s so quiet right now I swear I just saw tumbleweed fly across the NHL website. It’s that calm before the storm where everything about the upcoming series has been said, all the matchups analyzed and overanalyzed, all the key factors pointed out and pounded into our brains, and now all we can do…is wait.

Tap our fingers impatiently on the table.

Watch bad reality television.

Maybe hum a little tune.

Or we could *gasp* watch hockey! Now bear with me, because this may sound a little crazy, but did you know that not only is there hockey being played this very night, but said hockey is also of direct interest to Caps fans?

Capitals-related postseason hockey. I kid you not.

Tonight the Hershey Bears look to close out the sweep of the Manchester Monarchs and advance to the Calder Cup Finals for the second straight year. At the same time the Hamilton Bulldogs will attempt to take care of some unfinished business and do what they couldn’t do last night – eliminate the Chicago Wolves.

It’s just very exciting, kids. Lots of layers to this one, too:

- The Bears have only lost two games this postseason, both in overtime. Their opponents, the Manchester Monarchs, had up until this year never won a playoff series…so you have to think that everything else is just gravy and they’ll just roll over. (Hey, a girl can dream.)

- Meanwhile out West…ish…Hamilton is en route to their third Calder Cup Final appearance in franchise history, provided they can take care of those pesky Chicago Wolves, although we know them better as the baby Thrashers.

- Fun fact that I uncovered – the Bulldogs clinched their first appearance in the Finals with a win over Albany exactly ten years ago tomorrow. Their opponent in that championship series? The Hershey Bears. Freaky.

- More semi-interesting tidbits -

• 3 of the top 10 scorers in the AHL playoffs so far are from Hershey. That’s not completely unexpected, but consider the fact that the Bears have played 13 games, fewer than any of the other three remaining teams. The top two scorers are both from Chicago, while Manchester has 2 of the top 10 as well and poor Hamilton only has one. The Baby Pens and the Baby Bruins each somehow snuck a player in to the top 10…go figure.
• Of the top 20 scorers, Hershey has five: Fleischmann, Barney, Wilson, Steckel and Mike freakin’ Green. Love it.
• In the last two postseasons, Hershey has lost only 7 games – 3 of those losses came in overtime (including both losses this year), 2 losses were by one goal, and 2 were by two goals. Only once were they shutout. Is that good? That seems good to me. I don’t know.

Hot and spicy AHL action coming your way tonight, be sure to check it out on B2 Networks – time to cheer on those Bears to another Calder Cup!

- I’m sure everyone knows by now that Nicklas Backstrom has officially signed with the Caps and was introduced to the local media Monday afternoon. I was still out of town for that one but I did catch him on Washington Post Live yesterday and was pretty impressed.

Not with WaPo Live – holy crap, is that show booooring…

Anyways, Backstrom is obviously not going to be the flamboyant, spotlight-grabbing player that Ovechkin has been since day 1. You could tell he was nervous, but he was poised and modest, with a fair grasp of English to boot. Not a bad pitch out at RFK this weekend, either – did anyone make it out to the ballpark who can report back?

This is an exciting time for Caps fans, so naturally the local mainstream media is completely ignoring it – I won’t babble on about how unjust that is because as usual the boys at OFB beat me to it (and naturally did a better job than I would have…). NBC4.com did post their coverage on their website – a nice 2 minute segment with interviews and photo ops that you can see here. Check it out if you need a little MSM hockey fix.

- The Bears continue their AHL madness by taking a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals…on the other side of the bracket, we have the Hamilton Bulldogs going up 2-0 in their series against Chicago. I don’t want to jump the gun here, but a potential Calder Cup Final between the Baby Caps and the Baby Habs?

Beautiful.

- So it looks like we have a few days off before the big show commences Monday night: Sens vs. Ducks, for the whole enchilada…

East vs. West…

US vs. Canada…

Former Capitals assistant coach vs. Former Capitals coach…

Once crappy expansion team vs…well, once crappy expansion team…

Of course, this means we have at most seven hockey games left until we are plunged into a summer of darkness. Boo.