1) Congrats to the RedWings and their organization for obtaining their 11th Cup (4th in the past 11 years) last night. There is no doubt they were deserving of winning. Like they have for each of the 6 games, the Wings outplayed the Penguins. To the credit of the home town Pens, they never gave up, even after falling behind by 2 goals late, and nearly pulled even in the waning seconds as a Sid Crosby shot was stopped by Chris Osgood to secure the victory.

2) Not to beat a dead horse, but goaltending was overall a non factor in all but Game 5 when Fleury was the difference in the Pens victory. Last night he was ordinary, and could be held directly responsible for the 3rd Detroit goal. On the other side of the ice Osgood saw little rubber of quality most of the night, but did make a couple of nice stops, most notably the aforementioned last gasp Crosby attempt. Certainly he was not the reason they won.

3) Nice to see the first European captain finally carry the Cup. If someone were to listen to Lidstrom interviewed and didn't know he was a native Swede, they probably wouldn't be able to tell listening to him. He has little detectable accent, and sounds more like a western Canadian than a European. With his 4th Cup, and next week his 6th Norris his name will probably (and deservedly so) be placed among the all time greats of defensemen of all time with Orr, Potvin, Bourque, Coffey, etc. Additionally he performs this quality with class and without having to resort to Chris Pronger-like tactics

4) On a side note it was classy for Pens fans to stay and to applaud politely as the Wings circled the ice with their booty, but it always seems a bit anti-climatic when a visiting team wins the Cup. The raucous atmosphere of a home win can never be duplicated. Additionally were we the only ones who thought that Gary Bettman felt unusually uncomfortable out there? He was twitching even more than usual, and he seemed like he had a plane to catch when he quickly gave Lidstrom the Cup and almost sprinted off the ice.

5) All this quickly brings us the the off season. No meaningful NHL games until October, 4 months away. Between now and then we have some important dates.

• First are the awards ceremonies next week.
• Followed by the NHL draft when there are sure to be many a deal.
• Following this the free agent season commences. This year will probably not be as interesting as last with so few quality players available, but some important players will be changing uniforms for sure.
• Summer rookie player camps usually take place in mid July for those of us who need a quick hockey fix.
• Training camps in mid September

6) As such we at FAUXRUMORS will probably not be posting quite as frequently over the summer. However, look for regular updates as the rumor mills begin to churn in earnest now that the season is over for all 30 teams. We have a post soon about officiating, and one we are working on about Power forwards. Look for them in the upcoming days/weeks. As always, keep it here for all the latest!