RIC JACKMAN: STANLEY CUP WINNER

Congratulations to the former Penguin and reserve defenseman for the Ducks. Jackman may not have actually worked up a sweat in last night's clinching Game 5, but that's not atypical on a team where the top two D-men are each logging thirty minutes a game. And speaking of D-men, congratulations also to Randy Carlyle, the Ducks coach who was the best player on some lousy Penguins teams, and was so good, in fact, that Eddie Johnston was compelled to trade him to Winnipeg for a box of pucks to ensure the team would be lousy enough to draft Mario Lemieux.

So a West Coast team won the Cup for the first time and got to hold the best trophy presentation in all of sport before a home crowd? Let's hope that has some long-term impact in growing the sport. At the very least, the 17,372 who were there should be fans for life. I missed the Ducks' first two home games because I'm in the majority of Americans who doesn't get Versus, but the crowd seemed appreciative of the finer points of the game. And there's this: a vocal portion of them knew enough to boo Gary Bettman despite the fact that their team had won the Stanley Cup not five minutes beforehand.