Random Western Championship Ramblings

I sit here at 1:00 AM Mountian time, and there are still horns going off outside my window as people celebrate the Flames third Campbell Bowl victory. Quite honestly, I am still too wired, and in too much a state of shock and disbelief to go to bed, so here I am with some random factoids about the Flames playoff run that you can all use to amaze your friends with at random trivia parties. :wink

The Flames have become the first team in NHL history to defeat three division winners on their way to the final. To win the Cup, we would have to defeat a fourth.

The Flames are also the first Canadian team to make the finals since 1994.

Martain Gelinas has scored the series winning goal against Vancouver, Detroit and now San Jose. Beware the Eliminator, my Lightning or Flyer friends.

Rhett Warrener's rookie season was 1995-96, when the Panthers went to the SC Finals. He was traded to Buffalo in 1999, helping to bring the Sabres to the finals in his first year there as well. This year was his first year as a Flame, and here he is in the finals again. I suspect 29 teams will be interested in his services in the hope that this pattern holds.

Karma is a funny thing sometimes...

In game seven of the first round, Ed Jovonoski was jumping up and down like an idiot in the penalty box when the Canucks scored their controversial tying goal. He was still in the box when the Flames won the series on a powerplay goal.

In game six of the series vs Detroit, Derian Hatcher elbowed Matthiew Lombardi in the head - Lombardi hasnt played since. Gelinas was able to win the series when Hatcher completely failed to cover his man, choosing instead to stand in front of the crease uselessly.

In game three of this series, Alex Korolyuk did a little showboating on his empty netter. Tonight, he scored another empty netter - this time on his own goal as he missed a pass that would have set Patrick Marleau up for a golden chance to tie.

Just goes to show that bad people get what they deserve.