Stanley Cup Finals: Youth vs. Experience

For only a moment, allow us a bit of back-patting. Before the National Hockey League playoffs started, we said that the Pittsburgh Penguins would face the Detroit Red Wings for the Stanley Cup, Well, here we are.

The Red Wings are one of the oldest and most dominant franchises in the history of the NHL, but they haven't won the Cup since 2002. The Penguins, who almost made Hamilton, Ontario and Kansas City their new home before they got a new arena, last won theirs in 1992. That was back when Mario Lemiuex played for the team instead of owning it.

In the last few years (save for the lockout in 2005), the Cup matchup was between a team from the American Sunbelt (Carolina, Tampa Bay, Anaheim), and a team from a small Canadian city (Edmonton, Ottawa, Calgary). No offense to those fine communities, but those series didn't do much for the NHL's image and American TV ratings. Detroit and Pittsburgh, however, are bona-fide hockey towns. And they're much closer to the Canadian border than, say, Tampa, Florida.

It'll be youth vs. experience in this Cup Final. The Penguins have all the young talent, starting with Sidney Crosby (the next Lemieux), Evgeni Malkin, and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. The Red Wings are led by veterans Niklas Lidstrom, Tomas Holmstrom and goaltender Chris Osgood.

The Penguins blew through the playoffs, losing only two games so far. The Red Wings had trouble putting away Nashville and Dallas before finally doing so.

This will be one of the best series in years. But experience will win out in the end, and Detroit skates off with the Stanley Cup in six games.