Media Day highlights, motivational music and all the proteins as the championship comes to Las Vegas.
In a new limited series for THN.com, the EIC (editor-in-chief) takes you on a behind-the-scenes look at life on the road of a Stanley Cup final. It's going to be the good kind of weird, hopefully.
LAS VEGAS - "Did you write something on the shower door?" asks Mike Stephens, my fellow THN writer and road roomie for the next couple of weeks. "Something about Death?"
"Of course!" I replied. "True Til' Death."
It's Media Day in Las Vegas, the first official day of the Stanley Cup final. I have an enduring habit of writing punk and metal lyrics in fogged-up hotel bathrooms and I felt it was important to get this trip off on the right foot. We need Motivational Music before we head out for one of the most important days of the year. In this case, True Til' Death, the Chain of Strength song covered by San Diego hardcore band Jenny Piccolo with guest vocals from Jonas Rosen of Sweden's Asterisk*. It's raw, it's powerful, it's what we need right now.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxD_Aietl2Y[/embed]
The mission is straightforward: Get as many quotes as possible from as many players as possible because once the games start for real, the access gets a lot more focused on the here and now - and I need content that will last. Specifically, we at THN always go into the final on a dual track for the print side: One feature per team, where the winner is the spotlight in our Champions Issue and the runner-up goes in Yearbook (so if you ever wonder why the Stanley Cup winner isn't featured in the Yearbook, that's why: we already did about 20 pages on them in Champions. End rant).
I need Matthew Tkachuk quotes. I need Jack Eichel and Mark Stone quotes. But I also need lunch, which is free and another reason Media Day is beloved. The Vegas Golden Knights are hosting this year and come at us with a bevy of proteins and carbs: Shake Shack burgers, Levy hot dogs, burnt ends burritos, pizza and more. These are the calories I need as I run around the concourse, bouncing between podiums and filling up my recorder. But lunch runs concurrently with access, so time is of the essence. There is a break between the Vegas and Florida podiums, but I still want dessert, as is my birthright as a dirtbag journalist. High-end cookies provide the sugars I need to be the best of the best.
That Tkachuk has become the star of this playoff run is beyond doubt. Even People magazine did an interview with him. And why not? He's been one of the biggest stories of the year, alongside the playoff miracles of his goaltender, Sergei Bobrovsky. In Tkachuk, the Panthers acquired via trade a power forward who would immediately help change the dynamics of a team that won last year's Presidents' Trophy only to be exposed as a paper tiger in the playoffs. This year, it was practically the opposite, with Florida barely making it into the post-season before hijacking Boston's coronation in the first round and then steamrolling both Toronto and Carolina. Tkachuk's fingerprints are all over that turnaround.
"The biggest reason I wanted to come to Florida was to have this chance, hopefully for a long time," he said. "I know now what it takes to get to this point, and it ain't easy. That's why it's so hard to win this trophy. Seeing the dedication and what everyone has put into this, you almost want to win it for your teammates and everybody around you more than for yourself when you see what guys have played through."
Meanwhile on the Vegas side, Eichel is in the midst of his first NHL playoff appearance ever and is doing it in style with a team-leading 18 points in 17 games. He too came to his team via blockbuster trade, albeit last season via Buffalo.
"He's such a skilled player," said teammate Reilly Smith. "He's one of those rare guys in the league who can be a game-changer with a stride or a stick-handle. His 1-on-1 capability is top-five or top-10 in the league. When you have one of those guys on your team, it makes a big difference in close games. Off the ice, he came in and really integrated himself in the room. One of the biggest positives in our group is we don't have any egos, we're all pulling on the same rope. He came in immediately and wanted to be a part of the group in his time away from the rink, and that went a long way."
So now we kill time in a town that hides its clocks, waiting for Game 1 puck drop. Vegas is a lanyard city, constantly flushing through conventioneers of all stripes. We are the hockey press, and we came to cover the final series of the season, one in which a franchise that has never hoisted the Cup will get that honor in four-to-seven games. Cue the Motivational Music.