Cup crazy

(Once again...if you're not a hockey fan, don't waste your time reading this.)

The big day has arrived. Kitchener against Spokane, winner gets the Memorial Cup.

There's one big difference between this year's Rangers, and the last Kitchener team to win the Cup (five years ago) - in 2003, Kitchener was dominant. There was the sense that something would have to go horribly, horribly wrong for that team not to win it all. This year, consensus is that the game could go either way - two great teams, and nobody's sure how the game will unfold.

In the interest of "I haven't seen anyone else do this", I'm going to go through some of the Rangers' best players from this year, and try to find their equivalent on the 2003 squad.

Justin Azevedo is quite clearly Derek Roy, probably the most obvious comparison there is. Both are noticeably smaller than the average hockey player, both are centres, both are in their final year of junior. Azevedo lead the team in scoring, Roy would have led in 2003 if he played the full season. They're also the two players who each received the brunt of the spotlight from the national media.

Mikael Boedker is Mike Richards. Both of their names are derivatives of 'Michael', both are/were eighteen years old in the Cup year, and they're both the huge prospect who broke out on a big stage during the Cup, coming to national attention for the first time.

Nick Spaling is Gregory Campbell. They're both solid contributors who got overlooked (both by fans and scouts) because of all the talent around them.

Nazim Kadri is, strangely, Scott Dickie. Although Kadri isn't a goalie, he is on his way out of Kitchener after the season, and all the fans know that today is their last chance to see his understated contributions to the team.

Yannick Weber is Andre Benoit - high scoring defenceman with Quebecois connections.

Mike Mascioli is Evan McGrath - rookie who you just know is going to be the top player on the team a couple years from now, but is getting lost in the shuffle at the moment.

Mike Duco is Adam Keefe - the fans love him far more than they would the average player of his ability.

T.J. Battani is Nathan O'Nabigon - solid player who was brought in to add more depth to a team that doesn't really need it. They also both have punctuation in their name.

Scott Timmins is Chad McCaffrey - an indispensable part of the team, but you sometimes forget he's even part of it.

Matt Pepe is Steve Eminger - consistent veteran defenceman.

And that's all I've got - the goalies don't really match up at all.

GO RANGERS GO!

--Ryan