Hockey Fanatic Stanley Cup Endorsement 2008

I am starting to notice a trend here when I get to these Stanley Cup endorsement blogs. However, in order to be sure, I will wait until this off season to figure out if I am right.

My pick this year to win the Stanley Cup is... The Minnesota Wild.

You probably are surprised by this, as am I, but I will lay it out for you here as to why they are my dark horse team to make it all the way to the finals.

First off, they have loaded up for muscle just like the Anaheim Ducks did last season. If defense wins championships, then the Wild were built to rule the world. Jacques Lemaire runs a very defensive oriented system. If the Wild can control the tempo of the game, then Minnesota will sneak on through to the Conference finals.

Secondly, I am kinda biased towards the slovenský vyrovnanie. Gaborik, Demitra, and Radivojevic. It's hard for me not to cheer for them when they aren't playing against my hometown team.

It looks to be a tough road to hoe as the Wild will have to survive the rival Stars, Sharks, and Wings in the western conference. All of those teams are fresh off a hot season. Especially the "refuse to lose" Sharks.