LCS: Hey Look, We Can Watch!

LCS: Video Review
Stanley Cup Greatness
By Jennifer Chu, Book/Video Reviewer

Another time, another season... This year kind of sucked, didn't it? Nothing too exciting happened. Goal-scoring is down. There were tons of ties. And the officiating was not too brilliant.
But that's okay, because the playoffs start Wednesday, and I love the playoffs. Amazingly, the one thing that didn't really suck this season has been the playoff race. Since the standings keep a-changin', every one of these last games counts. Plus, some teams are finally going to get their first chance at Lord Stanley's chalice. That's pretty cool.
So, in honor of the playoffs, in honor of Lord Stanley, and in honor of my friend Alice whose birthday was last week, I reviewed a Stanley Cup video. There's a Stanley Cup book out there somewhere, but hey, sometimes those books are just hard to come by.
The Stanley Cup: A Century of Magic Moments (Quality Video) is a nice retrospective that was issued when the Cup celebrated its 100th birthday in 1993. Actually, I just watched the Legends of Hockey series on ESPN, and this video is sort of styled in that way. The video talks about the historical roots of the Cup as well as some great Cup winning teams. Lots of kooky facts about the run to the Cup--the year it was canceled because of Spanish influenza, how it was left by the side of a road, how it was almost stolen....I heard somewhere that Patrick Roy baptized one of his children in the Cup..but I digress.
It is narrated by Ken Dryden and includes great old footage and interesting interviews. In a very poetic way, Ken Dryden talks about the bearing of pain, the struggles, the awful mistakes, the joy, and the amazing feats that go into winning a Cup. All the teams and memorable moments are covered with good detail. One thing I liked was that every time they talked about a team or a player, they would show the part of the Cup their name is engraved on. My favorite interview was the one of the family who makes the Cup. The Peterson family used to work on the Cup, but now the Boffey family of Montreal does.
It has been called the greatest trophy in professional sports today, and I have to agree (okay, I'm biased, so sue me). It is the only trophy that has royal ties to it, isn't it? The history behind the great silver trophy, the wacky things that went into it, and hey, just the way the thing looks should be enough to convince the world that the Stanley Cup is the coolest. It's pretty heavy, too.
Bottom Line: This video gets five big Cullens. Speaking of the LCS hero, I hope he gets well soon.