Stanley Cup Champions

After the total meltdown by the Pittsburgh Penguins in game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals in which they lost 0-5 in Detroit going down 2 games to 3 I had an epiphany. I said during the meltdown last Saturday Night that the Detroit Red Wings just handed the Stanley Cup to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

When you are talking about Professional Athletes, the difference between the best team and the worst team in the league is actually very small. These are well trained professional Athletes and any team can beat any other team on any given day. Beating a team is one thing, embarrassing them is another, especially when you are playing them in a series with a Championship at stake.

The Penguins won game six in Pittsburgh setting up the game 7 in Detroit, the same arena they were embarrassed in just six days earlier. I knew last Saturday night that when the Pens walked into Joe Louis Arena last night that they would have an edge. Detroit was the defending Stanley Cup Champions and they were playing at home where they had beat the Pens by a combined score of 11-2 in the first three meetings in Detroit.

The stage was set I stood confidently by my prediction. When the final clock read 0:00 after three periods of play, it was the Penguins who held the 2-1 lead in the score and had just won Lord Stanley's Cup.

This was the first time in 30 years that a Championship had been won in a game seven by the visiting team rather than the home team. The last time it happened in any major sport? The 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pen's are now 5-0 all time in Game 7's.

The Pens made my epiphany a reality and are bringing the Cup home. Steelers defending Super Bowl Champions and the now the Pens Stanley Cup winners. It's been 30 years since Pittsburgh was first scribed "City of Champions", they once again hold that title.