The post-94 lockout NHL was dominated by four teams: Detroit, Colorado, Dallas and New Jersey. They won EVERY Stanley Cup championship over a 9-year stretch, after 7 of 9 president's trophies.
The build up was intense. The #1 seed from the East (with plenty of two-cup vets) vs. the #1 seed in the league.
yeah, i feel exactly the same way. what was the previous 1 vs 2 SCF? calgary/montreal in '89?
that series had
- the single player that almost any fan wanted to see win the cup if their own team couldn't win it
- the defending champs, now armed with their first ever offensive superstar (elias, who finished 3rd in league scoring)
- the MVP (who finished 2nd in scoring)
- the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th best defensemen in the league, according to norris voting
- roy vs brodeur
- even the benches were star-studded—larry robinson and slava fetisov on new jersey, bryan trottier on colorado
- you had the great set up of NJ again flexing their defensive muscles by making quick work of the pittsburgh jaromieux and on the other side deadmarsh eliminating detroit
and storylines aside, sakic making a monkey of scott stevens, colorado coming back from a 2-3 deficit, tanguay's beautiful 1-0 goal in game seven, that series was unbelievable.
as an aside, for all our complaints about low scoring boring hockey, we were spoiled with HHOF goalie matchups in those years. roy vs belfour two years in a row in 1999 and 2000, hasek vs belfour in '99, brodeur vs belfour in '00, roy vs brodeur in '01, and then finally at last the matchup everyone wanted: roy vs hasek in '02.