Congratulations to the New Jersey Devils for winning yet another Stanley Cup. I'm an Islander fan, it's true, but the Devils were the most local team in the Finals, so I had to root for them. Plus, I'm a huge fan of Martin Brodeur (I predicted a 4-0 win in Game 7, and it would have been so had Turner Stevenson not prematurely celebrated a goal; the puck danced along the red line and was swept away as he skated by, celebrating a goal that wasn't).

Even though Mighty Ducks' goalie Jean-Sebastian Giguere won the Conn Smythe trophy as the playoffs' Most Valuable Player, Brodeur showed how great he is by registering his third shutout of the series. Giguere deserved the honor, as the Ducks would not have made it to the Finals without him, but Brodeur proved that he's the best goalie in hockey; the fact that he recorded a shutout in Game 7 after being pulled during Game 6 (a miserable Devil's loss) shows true championship form.

It should be said that the Ducks did a lot for hockey in California. The last (and first) time California hockey got such a shot in the arm was when Wayne Gretzky led the LA Kings to the Finals in 1993). The fact that this team can now be mentioned in the same sentence as "Stanley Cup" and "Wayne Gretzky" is no small achievement.