In the midst of one of the more memorable moments in NBA history, the less watched, yet remarkably captivating, Stanley Cup finals were materializing into something memorable as well.

Ottawa and Anaheim put on a dazzling rendition of Saturday evening hockey filled with eight total goals, five alone in the second period, vicious hits, one suspension, and an ugly fight in game that shows why hockey playoffs stand alone as the best playoffs out of the four major sports.

The 20,000 screaming Canadians, 99 percent of whom were wearing red Senators jerseys, thoroughly enjoyed watching two teams that hadn’t played each other all year, reveal no indecisiveness concerning beating the shit out of each other

Alright, I understand hockey is not the most popular sport. But this is how I look at it. Take how men deal with women. Some men like blonde’s. Some like brunettes. Short. Tall. Little meat on the bones. Busty. Flat. Well you get the idea.

Now every guy has two questions they ask to themselves, their buddies, brothers, etc. when they’re debating the appearance of a certain women.

1) Hey man, you think she’s hot?

And…

2) Would you?

Now the answer to the first question could easily be “No.”.  Right? Now there are certain exceptions, for obvious reasons, but with men, the answer to the second question is usually, “Yea…probably.”

Which brings me to my point. You might not like hockey (girl) on a regular basis (sober). But for the Stanley Cup finals, a special occasion (hammered)…………

Would you?

Yes. Of course

One reason why hockey generates a better post-season is because the way the league handles players talking shit. Which can/should become prevalent during seven game series. Take basketball for example. If you dunk it over somebody, in a blow out, in a tight game, or whatever, and then you talk shit. You’ll get a technical. Same holds true in football. There are taunting penalties and we all know about the celebration penalties.

Hockey doesn’t give a shit.

And it was justified last night.

When Ottawa mad-man Chris Neil was checked from behind near the Anaheim bench, a huge brawl broke out which filtered into about three or four one-on-one scrums. Ottawa’s Mike Fisher formed tackled Ryan Getzlaf to the ice during the two’s personal wrestling match.

After the fights were being reconciled, Fisher was sticking his forearm firmly against Getzlaf’s neck, pinning him to the ice. An ice-level camera was directly in-front of the two players. You had a great HD view of Fisher’s visor nestled up against Getzlaf face, and the shit coming out of his mouth.

The referee was three inches away. Watching. Listening. Enjoying.

It’s part of the game. And it’s awesome

Anyway,

For Anaheim, the lost hurt worse today when they found out that their all-star defensemen, Chris Pronger, has been suspended for the second time this post-season. Pronger hit Ottawa’s Dean McAmmond with a vicious elbow as McAmmond skating through the zone during Game 3, sending him sliding into the boards head first.

No penalty was called.

Dropping both games in Anaheim didn’t leave much room for error in Ottawa if the Senators were planning on alleviating the pain in Canada stemming from the countries 14 year Stanley Cup championship drought.

Ottawa played hard. They played with tenacity and bite. Signs of desperations led to timely goals. And a frustrated Anaheim team led to Ottawa power plays.

The series is still young. And it’s only going to get better.

Monday: Anaheim at Ottawa, 8:00 ET NBC

Come on.