Stanley Cup Final Recap

NHL Beats Covid and Hockey Fans Win!

James Cugno

The most-watched hockey event of the year, the Stanley Cup Final, was in jeopardy of not making an appearance this year due to COVID-19, as the virus hindered many pro sports schedules, such as the NBA and MLB. However, thanks to the NHL’s new changes and rules, they ultimately allowed for the playoffs and the Stanley Cup games to finish out this year’s season of pro hockey.

With the new difficulties surrounding COVID-19, the NHL had the option to either cancel the rest of the season or come up with a new idea that would allow for the a complete season with one team crowned the champions. After a long hiatus in which the players could not even practice together, the NHL implemented their newly formulated plan, “the bubble.” The bubble consisted of certain hotels for teams in specific acities, as they did not want to further contribute to the spread of COVID-19. With this, the NHL decided on Toronto and Edmonton as their two home cities for the bubble. Edmonton housed the Western Conference teams, while Toronto was the new home for the Eastern Conference teams. Each team had all of its personnel, players, coaches, and staff assigned to a certain floor of their hotel. In addition, all teams were also given access to training/practice facilities, various restaurants, and practice arenas. For league games, teams competed at Toronto’s Scotia Bank Arena and Edmonton’s Rogers Place Arena. Unfortunately for fans, there were no spectators allowed in the arenas; however, normal broadcasts of the live games showcased “live” broadcasters as well. Regular testing for COVID-19 was put in place for all individuals in the bubble and was done constantly throughout the course of the season. Other mandatory precautions such as mask-wearing and maintaining social distancing were heavily enforced. If a player, coach, or staff member did not follow the rules, they would be expelled from the bubble.

With this, after four months of zero professional hockey, the NHL came back to finish out the rest of the season. The bubble proved effective, as only a few players and staff were infected with the virus. Hockey fans from around the world were delighted to be back watching their favorite sport, thankful that the NHL found a safe way to bring play back to the ice. 

After multiple weeks of intense and entertaining hockey, two teams ultimately made it to the final, facing off against each other for the Stanley Cup. These two teams were the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Dallas Stars. Both teams proved to be powerhouses during their time in the bubble, as they stormed through the rest of the competition to make it to the finals. Miro Heiskanen from the Stars and Nikita Kucherov from the Lightning led their teams in points (goals and assists). These two teams earned their spot in the Stanley Cup Finals, thus making for an odd, but spectacular ending to the 2020 NHL season. 

The Stanley Cup Final is a best of 7 games and started off strong for the Dallas Stars. They took home the victory in Game 1, but the Lightning won game 2 with a close score of 3-2. This momentum coming out of the Game 2 win set the Lightning up for a 3 game winning streak, winning Games 3 and 4. The series was looking ugly for the Stars, but they managed to pull out a win in double overtime in Game 5. However, in the end, the Tampa Bay Lightning pulled away by a score of 6-2 in game 6, winning the 2020 Stanley Cup! Although COVID-19 engendered difficulties and unprecedented changes to the 2020 NHL hockey season, games were able to be put back in play, ending with an incredible series for the Stanley Cup.