from Adam Proteau of The Hockey News,

Before I say what I’m about to say, let me be clear: I’m not, in any way shape or form, a jingoistic Canadian hockey fan who thinks it’s a tragedy when one of my country’s teams fails to win at the elite international level, or who believes the number of Canadians on any NHL roster is an accurate metric for their capability to win. Good hockey is good hockey, and hockey fans ought to be happy with any display of the sport that is highly-skilled and passionately-contested.

With that out of the way, this is a plea to the Hockey Gods: it’s been 26 years since the last Cup Final between two Canadian teams. We’re long past due for another. And this year would be as great a year as any for it to come to pass.

Entering Wednesday’s action, there’s a very real possibility the NHL could have five of the seven Canadian franchises involved in its post-season action this year. Some pieces still need to fall a certain way for such a scenario to materialize, but with Los Angeles’ stunning loss to Edmonton Tuesday and Ottawa’s resilient 4-3 overtime win over Pittsburgh, the odds have risen that the Jets, Flames and Sens make it in and join Montreal and Vancouver to put five Canadian teams in the 16-team tournament. And when you take a few minutes to consider what would have to take place to wind up with an all-Canadian Final, it makes you root that much more for it to happen.

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