The city of Chicago has been unquestionably turned into a hockey town as two million fans celebrated with the Chicago Blackhawks after winning the Stanley Cup. Only a few years ago the Blackhawks were voted the worst franchise in professional sports and now they are the toast of the town. The majority of fans probably couldn’t even remember the last time the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 1961. The Hawks are set up to be title contenders for years to come with young stars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, so fans in Chicago could expect a lot more success. Toews shaved his raggedy beard for the parade, but Kane kept his curly hockey mullet for all the festivities. When a city like Chicago becomes re-energized about hockey it’s good for the NHL. Rivals like Detroit and St. Louis will want to beat the Blackhawks even more now that their Stanley Cup champs. Although some may be sore over their team not winning the cup this year, in the end, Chicago finally bringing home a Stanley Cup is good for the NHL and hockey in the US.

It’s hard to say who has more momentum heading into game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers. The Blackhawks were a much superior team during the regular season, having finished in second place in the Western Conference. The Flyers had to win the last game of their regular season to even make it into the playoffs. The Broad Street Bullies went on to surprise the top seeded New Jersey Devils in just five games, made hockey history coming from behind 3-0 to defeat the Boston Bruins in 7, and dispatch fellow Cinderalla-story Montreal Canadiens without breaking a sweat. In the Western Conference, the Nashville gave the Hawks all they could handle in their first series of the postseason, but Jonathan Toews and company were able to edge out the Predators in six. Since then, the Hawks have looked unstoppable. Youngsters Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Dustin Byfuglien will be hoping to bring the first Stanley Cup to Chicago since 1961.

When two teams step out on the ice anything can happen, regardless of what pundits and fans  prophesize before any given game. Wednesday night the 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs got off to a surprising start with four upsets. The San Jose Sharks, the top seed in the Western Conference, were shocked by the Colorado when 40-year-old Rob Blake scored a goal with fifty seconds remaining to give the Avalanche a victory in the first game of the series. The Avalanche had to fight their way to get into the playoffs, so perhaps that win-or-go-home mindset will be advantage in the postseason. The Ottawa Senators finished the season just one spot behind the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins, but most people didn’t expect them to come out of the Mellon arena with a win last night. The Senators showed their goal scoring prowess, out-gunning the Penguins 5-4, featuring five different goal scorers. In an old school Eastern Conference match-up, the Philadelphia Flyers took down the second seed New Jersey Devils in game one in Newark in a goaltender duel won by Philly’s Brian Boucher. Finally, in a game that really wasn’t a true upset, but even though the Phoenix Coyotes had a better regular season than the Detroit Red Wings this year, many expected the Wings to prevail due to their extensive playoff experience. Hockeytown met a harsh reality in the desert last night falling 3-2 and giving the Coyotes their first playoff win in eight years. We shall see if the unexpected will continue with three games tonight.

This weekend I decided to get my 2009 Stanley Cup playoff tickets. I had decided earlier in the weekend to take a look at the playoff race and this is what I found. The playoff setup seems to be really taking shape in the last week or so. We can finally see that some teams have clinched something and other teams have been eliminated. Let’s start in the Eastern Conference. Boston, Washington and New Jersey are in. This is quite a coup, especially for Washington, as they have struggled more in recent years, so making the playoffs at position #2 is an especially exciting event for them. Philadelphia, Carolina and Pittsburgh will have to mess up big-time to get bumped from the postseason. In the West, San Jose and Detroit are for sure in, but Calgary, Chicago, and Vancouver are looking very good too. It’s going to be a great postseason!