Captain Clutch

Every team, from Little League Baseball to the National Hockey League, needs a player who typifies its heart and soul. Someone who leads by example, shouldering an increasingly heavier load as the season wears on. Someone who can will a team to win. Simply, someone who isn't afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve.

In Dallas, that player is Brenden Morrow.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Morrow sent Dallas onto the Western Conference finals early (very early) this morning when he scored with 9:03 left in the game's fourth overtime, lifting the Stars to a 2-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks. Morrow's goal, his seventh of the playoffs and second OT winner in the series, ended the eighth-longest NHL playoff game.

The goal, too, also goes a long way to cementing that the Stars, who open the championship series Thursday in Detroit, have truly become Morrow's team. For the longest time, it was Mike Modano who drove Dallas' bus. Like Mark Messier was to the New York Rangers, Morrow is not only buckled in, but he's got a death grip on the Stars' steering wheel.

And though his naming as the Stars' captain may have ruffled some feathers within Big D a couple of seasons ago, Morrow's leadership, and not just against the Sharks, shows that, indeed, the pick was on the mark.

The Habs have it

It seems that fans of the Montreal Canadiens have discovered this little old blog of mine. How do I know? That's easy. As the latest Hound Central 3.0 poll wound down, there was a last-minute push in picking the Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup.

That's not to say, though, that it was a landslide. It seems, too, that other visitors felt that another team, one not made available within the poll's choices, would end the season skating laps with hockey's hallowed hardware lifted to the heavens.

I was a bit surprised, too, that the Detroit Red Wings, who finished the 2007-08 regular season with the league's best record, didn't fare better in the poll. Then again, winning the Presidents' Trophy, which the Red Wings did for the sixth time, does not automatically guarantee success deep into June. Just ask the Buffalo Sabres.

Who's going to win the Cup? It's hard telling. Montreal does appear to be pretty stout, especially with rookie goalie Carey Price doing his best imitation of another rookie goalie who once led the Habs to the promised land. Still, though, I'm sure folks in other corners of the hockey universe, especially those in Pittsburgh, might beg to differ.

Question: Who will win the Stanley Cup?

Montreal Canadiens: 23 out of 49 votes cast (46.9 percent)
Another team: 17 out of 49 (34.7 percent)
San Jose Sharks: 4 out of 49 (8.1 percent)
Ottawa Senators: 3 out of 49 (6.1 percent)
Detroit Red Wings: 2 out of 49 (4 percent)

All the way from San Jose

Colin always gets a thrill whenever he receives any sort of mail. Most times, it's a card from his Nana and Babop, back in New England, with a couple of dollars for a treat from the neighborhood ice cream truck.

Now, when he told me that he got some mail yesterday, I'll have to admit that I got a little excited, especially when he said it came from San Jose's Matt Carle, part of the fourth round of Hound Central 3.0's TTM project this season.

In my book, Carle, a former Hobey Baker Award winner, has the potential to be a star defenseman in the NHL.

Haste means waste

It's not that I'm complaining or anything, but one of the risks of getting autographs through the mail is receiving a smudged card. Despite my best efforts to rub down a card and make it more receptive to ink, a player's haste, especially when dropping freshly signed cards back into the stamped, self-addressed envelope, can lead to less-than-perfect signatures.

Want proof? Take a look at these four cards received in yesterday's mail from San Jose's Steve Bernier. While we're most appreciative that he took the time to honor our request, three of the four autographs are smudged.

Still, though, no major quibbling. Bernier is the third player overall, and the first of the second round of mailings, to send back signed cards.

San Jose batting .500

Maybe it's just me, but I'm disappointed in the San Jose Sharks. How a team can go from a tremendous upgrade in its logo to these butt-ugly RBK Edge jerseys is beyond comprehension. There's something hideous about that burnt orange striping.