And so the dream ended for the Ottawa Senators last night. They fell to the Anaheim Ducks 6-2 in last night's game to give the Ducks the series 4 games to 1, and winning the NHL's highest trophy, the Stanley Cup.

I was disappointed in the Senators' loss to the Ducks last night, but the truth of the matter is that Ottawa was completely outplayed and outmatched by Anaheim in this series, and it showed, despite Ottawa's winning Game 3 in Ottawa by a score of 5-3. The Ducks deserve full credit for winning this Stanley Cup, and the Ottawa Senators learned a valuable lesson in this series.

This was the first trip to the finals for Ottawa in their modern history, and the lessons learned here will serve Ottawa well for the next few years, depending on how salary cap issues work out and all that. Ottawa was beaten by a team that was *made* for the Cup, that was put together to have such strengths as make the winning of Lord Stanley's cup probable. But the experience that the Senators gained in the five games of this series will serve them well when they get to this point again next season (and I have no doubt that they will).

Ottawa had a terrific season this year, and gave the fans of the nation's capitol a terrific, wildly exciting playoff ride. Sure, they didn't win the Stanley Cup, but they *did* show the fans that there's no reason that they can't win it when they play hard, play fast, and put their minds to it. I want to thank the Ottawa Senators for such a terrific season and congratulate them. They may have lost the Stanley Cup to a far superior team, but they are still winners in my book.

Go, Sens, Go! :)

So, the Conference finals begin in the NHL on the way to the Stanley Cup tonight.

Four teams are left - the Buffalo Sabres vs. the Ottawa Senators, and the Detroit Red Wings vs. the Anaheim Ducks. A lot of folks have been referring to the Senators as "Canada's Team", and I know that most of the folks in Canada who are hockey fans think of them this way. However, just because they're the only remaining team located in Canada during these NHL playoffs doesn't mean they're "Canada's team."

Consider this: There are 20 Canadian on the Anaheim roster, 13 on the Senator roster, 8 on the Sabre roster, and 7 on the Red Wing roster. Looked at this way, the Anaheim Ducks are "Canada's team", whose member include Ottawa natives Sean O'Donnell. Since the Detroit Red Wings have 15 Europeans on their team, I guess this makes them "Europe's team," right? And the New Jersey Devils are "the United States' team" since they have 13 Americans on their squad.

These are professional sports teams, not teams playing international hockey. I think it would be a good idea to reserve the appellation "Canada'a team" for those guys, including Shane Doan, who are playing in Russia at the moment.

Oh, and for the record, I'm saying Ottawa over Buffalo in six games. But it's going to be a very tough series for the most part.