The Lesser of Two Evils: Cup Finals, 2010

Our beloved Penguins had an untimely end to their season this year, falling in a seven-game second-round series to the Montreal Canadiens. It was a disappointment all around the city, although the ending seemed somehow fated - this season was the final flight for the Igloo, and the very last game played within its walls ended the same as its first, Canadiens over the 'Guins.

However, despite their fire against the reigning Stanley Cup champs, the Canadiens couldn't pull off an Eastern Conference Finals win, and they fell to those nefarious Broad Street bullies, the Philadelphia Flyers, in just six short games.

I like to believe we've always hated the Flyers, but for me, it all comes down to one defining moment on May 6, 2000. We were playing the Flyers at home in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semi-finals, and we were up in the series, 2 games to 1. The game began on May 5, but went into overtime after goals from Alexei Kovalev and John LeClair, and stretched on long into the night, and long into the next morning... across five overtimes, to be exact. Those of us who suffered through the whole thing will never forget that early morning when it all came crashing down around us - Keith Primeau, who never seemed to score in important moments, slid the puck past goalie Ron Tugnutt, and ended the third longest game in the history of the NHL in favor of the Flyers.

I have never forgiven Keith Primeau for that. In fact, I don't believe that I ever will. To be quite honest, Keith Primeau could probably walk into my life right now, give me a million dollars, rescue my puppy from a tree, bake a cake for my grandma, and although I would thank him in the moment, I would probably still give him the finger the second he turned his back to leave.

(And I'm not the type of person who holds grudges, so you can imagine how others of that sort must feel.)

So, back to today, the Flyers are in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but as there are two teams competing, all should not be lost, right? Wrong. Where this typically would have led us Yinzers to simply declare we were rooting for the West Coast team in the Finals, the decision has not been such an easy one this year. Enter the Chicago Blackhawks, who haven't won a cup since the early 1960s. Playing on their team? Pittsburgh's Most Hated, one Marian Hossa.

The right-winger wasn't always hated around these parts. In fact, back in 2008, we loved the guy. That's because, for thirty-two games up to and including that failed Stanley Cup playoff run, he played right wing for the good guys. Us. He came in at the trade deadline as a sidekick for Sidney Crosby's line, and he produced well in the playoffs with twelve goals and twenty-six points. But, as everyone knows, the efforts of our boys weren't enough, and Detroit crushed our dreams of bringing home Lord Stanley with a game six win on our home ice.

That summer, Hossa was a free agent, and in one of the most-talked-about outrages in Penguins history, he signed with the Red Wings because he "would have a little better chance to win the Cup in Detroit."

Pittsburgh began to hate this man. It was nearly as bad as the time Sienna Miller dissed our city, and the staff of local restaurants and bars had anti-Sienna t-shirts made in the aftermath. But our revenge was sweet - when we faced the Red Wings in a second Stanley Cup Final matchup, we held Hossa scoreless and came out the champions at the end of a seven-game series. Many were the jokes at his expense (did you hear about the new drink at Starbucks? It's called a Hossa and it comes without a cup), t-shirts were found on street corners in the Strip District, and all around the city was a general feeling of, "That'll teach him to mess with the 'Burgh."

So here we are, the eve of game six, with the Blackhawks poised to win the Cup with a victory tomorrow night. Who do we choose? Who do we root for? The man who did us wrong, or the team who has been one of our arch-nemeses since the dawn of hockey time?

I've enjoyed watching people pick sides via Facebook statuses and blog posts. You can't really tell who's going to be on which side until the statement is made, and some decisions have very much surprised me. What's been consistent all around though is a preface to the statement. "I really hate the Flyers, but I can't stand to see Hossa get the cup..." "I'm still mad at Hossa for turning on us, but if those dirty Flyers touch Lord Stanley..." It's the lesser of two evils. You have to pick a side, because it's hockey, and there's just no other way. So who is it going to be? Who is truly evil, and who is just simply horrid?

As for me, I'm going to have to root for the Hawks. Yes, Hossa choose poorly when he left the 'Burgh for so-called Hockeytown, but I feel he's served his time. He's had to go through the trauma of two Stanley Cup Final losses in a row, transfer through four teams across three seasons, and a whole mess of dirty looks from us Yinzers should he set foot out of his hotel while his team is in town.

And besides, although he may have retired in 2006, there's always a chance that a bit of Keith Primeau's soul (and I'm going a long way here by assuming he has one) might yet be lingering around the Flyers' locker room, and, well, I just really don't think I can forgive that guy.