An Original Six Final

The Stanley Cup Finals start tonight, and they pit two Original Six teams, the Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins.  This is the first matchup in the finals between Original Six teams (Chicago, Boston, the New York Rangers, the Detroit Red Wings, the Montreal Canadiens, and the Toronto Maple Leafs for all you prototypical redneck Americans out there) since 1979.  It also guarantees that for the 20th straight year, the Stanley Cup will be held by a team based in the United States (I was tempted to say America just to get some Canadian blood boiling).

I can't really pick any favorites here, because I kind of dislike both teams.  However, considering that Boston has won championships in every sport in the last 10 years, I guess I'd feel better about the Blackhawks pulling off the win.  It sucks when you only have teams you hate left to root for.  It becomes a lesser evil deal.  Thanks to the Cubs amazing suckitutde, Chicago is a lesser evil:

Mike Leake combined with Aroldis Chapman on a three-hitter and Todd Frazier hit a tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning against Travis Wood, leading the Cincinnati Reds over the Chicago Cubs 2-1 Wednesday for their record 12th straight win at Wrigley Field.

Leake (6-3) won for the fourth time in five decisions, allowing Nate Schierholtz's second-inning home run into the right-field bleachers, his eighth of the season. Chapman struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 17th save in 19 chances.

The previous record for consecutive wins by a visitor at Wrigley was 10, a mark set by the St. Louis Cardinals (1943-44) and matched by the New York Giants (1950-51) and Montreal (1982-83), according to STATS.
Cincinnati is 10-2 overall against the Cubs this season and 25-6 dating to Sept. 13, 2011. Leake improved to 6-2 with a 3.24 ERA in 13 career starts against Chicago.

Utter domination.  Ricketts tears make me a happy man.