Drop The Biscuit!

For the first time ever, the last four Stanley Cup Champions are in the Conference Finals

The conference finals are set, folks...and the teams should look familiar.  Last year's champions, the Los Angeles Kings square off against 2010 champs, the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference.  Out in the east, 2011 champions, the Boston Bruins are locked up with the 2009 champs, the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Jeremy has it from a reliable source on the internets somewhere that the last 4 consecutive Stanley Cup winning teams have never make it to the Conference Finals.  

Whether or not that little fact is true, I haven't exactly been bothered to figure out, so that's left as an exercise for the reader.  What I do know is that the Conference Finals will both be a display of contrasting styles.  The Penguins and Blackhawks feature smaller, fast teams capable of scoring in bunches while the Kings and Bruins are bigger, tougher teams which feature stronger defenses and much better goaltending.  It's the proverbial irresistible force and immovable object set to collide.  We'll see what comes of that for the Cup Finals. 

One thing we won't see is much of a contrast in colors for the Eastern Conference...as both teams' uniforms are black, white, and yellow.  This will be the 83rd time in NHL history that teams with identical uniform colors face off in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.