from Phil Mushnick of the New York Post,

Given that modern marketing strategies have not yet afflicted the NHL or have been rejected by coaches and players, no scored goals were followed by look-at-me demonstrations toward the nearest TV camera, a mime of a dog urinating on the boards (or opposing goalie) or the scorer grabbing his crotch (to soon be rewarded with Subway sandwich commercial endorsements).

Instead, the scorer immediately found the nearest teammate or the one who made the pass to express and share joy and thanks.

In fact, throughout the Cup, ESPN and Turner were stuck: No slow-mo (or any “mo”) replays of players in self-aggrandizing, chest-pounding mode to show en route to commercials, as per the mindless NFL TV norm.

Sunday’s second period included that commercial for Mass Mutual Insurance, the one with snippets of interviews with NHL players, all of them reflexively referencing themselves as part of a team. The close of the ad reminds us, “It’s never I. It’s we.”

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