The Stanley Cup in Canada

I'm up in Toronto for a meeting, which is fitting since Toronto is the Algonquin word meaning "meeting".

Anyway - last night I met our CTO at the sports bar Characters to catch the Yankees-Red Sox. By the time it was 10-2 in the 3rd - the CTO was ready to go back to his room to do some work and I was ready to turn my attention to the first game of the Stanley Cup championship.

I decided that Characters didn't have the right sort of feel for a real Torontonian experience and since it was a nice night, not yet dark - I set off to find a pub. I wond up at the Devil's Advocate where I sat at the bar.

By the time I sat down - it was already 2-0 Edmonton (which I think is the Algonquin word for "oil"). There were four guys at the bar and all of them were rooting for the Oilers. Me? I'm kinda split of the subject - I picked Carolina to win it all but I'm also rooting for my boy Sergie Samsonov. As I said - everyone else at the bar was definitely rooting for Edmonton.

A few minutes after I sat down, a little old lady who was sitting in back with another little old lady walked up to ask the bartender a question. I had no idea what she was going to ask but I must say I was surprised when she said to the bartender, "My eyes are a little weak - can you tell me how much time is left in the period?" The bartender said "Thirteen minutes" and the little old lady yelled back to her friend, "Thirteen minutes Bertie."

It went from a 3-0 lead for Edmonton to 3-1, then 3-2 and then 3-3 and you could tell that almost everyone in the bar now expected Edmonton to lose.

I had a question that was bugging me so I turned to the guy on my right and said, "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Sure - go ahead."

"If Buffalo had beaten Carolina - who would you be rooting for?" (Buffalo is almost right over the border from Toronto for those geographically challenged.)

"Oh that's a tough one. I think I'd still want Edmonton because they are a Canadian team although Buffalo is close by and they haven't won a cup yet."

"Well Carolina hasn't won a cup yet either and Carolina is much closer to Toronto than Edmonton."

The guy next to the guy I was talking to decided to join in the conversation, "Yeah but Edmonton is a Canadian team and Carolina is a newcomer to the league."

Me - "Actually Carolina is the old Hartford Whalers and they've been in the league as long as Edmonton."

First guy, "Oh hey - he's right."

The conversation then drifted into where I was from, the Bruins vs Canadians, Cam Neeley, Bobby Orr and the great Canadian teams of the 70's. However, long before the conversation was over I decided I was no longer on the fence. I was now rooting for Carolina to win the cup. It is much closer to Raleigh from Boston then it is to Edmonton.

Besides - Carolina is the American team.