several books on skiing and started a kids program in t

History is being made again in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

On the heels of the first back-to-back champions in two decades Brandon Guyer Cleveland Indians Jersey , the NHL will get a new champion in the salary-cap era that began in 2005. Among the Lightning, Capitals, Jets and Golden Knights, only Tampa Bay has won the Stanley Cup, making this the first time the final four teams have combined for one title or fewer.

Tampa Bay is in the Eastern Conference final for the third time in four years, and Washington has made the playoffs 10 out of the past 11 seasons. Yet after one of Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh lifted the Cup every time since 2009, this crop of new blood is refreshing.

”They’re all good stories,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. ”The same old story sometimes can get old. Once in a while a new chapter is written, and it’ll be good. This year there will be a new chapter.”

The next chapter begins with the Capitals visiting the Lightning on Friday night, followed by the Golden Knights at Winnipeg on Saturday night. It’s a full turnover from the final four teams last year: Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Nashville and Anaheim.

The Jets became the fourth and final team to reach the third round when they beat the defending Western Conference-champion Predators on the road in Game 7 on Thursday night. Winnipeg is the final hope for Canada’s first Cup celebration since Montreal in 1993 and is in the conference final for the first time in franchise history.

”Having some diversity amongst the league is great Adidas Corey Crawford Jersey , and I think it just shows the competitive balance throughout the league,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. ”Having good young players is a great place to start and you see that the teams that have good young players have gotten good fast. So I think it’s a good thing to have some fan bases have some extended postseason success. It just creates a better vibe.”

The Lightning are trying to create the vibe Hockey Bay hasn’t seen since winning the Cup in 2004. They fell short in a six-game loss to the Blackhawks in the 2015 final with this core, led by Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman.

Even after missing the playoffs last year when Stamkos was out long term with a knee injury, Tampa Bay has plenty of recent playoff experience from recent runs and the additions of ex-Rangers players Ryan McDonagh, Dan Girardi and J.T. Miller.

”We’ve been here in this situation before,” Stamkos said. ”There’s no panic or nervousness. We’re excited.”

Vegas hasn’t been in any situation before, building off the best inaugural season in NHL history by beating Los Angeles and San Jose to reach the West final. Among the four good stories remaining, none is as remarkable as the Golden Knights, who pieced together players from around the league to get further than anyone expected.

”I haven’t been around a team like this,” general manager George McPhee said. ”This feels like more of a team than any team I’ve ever been with at the NHL level.”

McPhee’s former team in Washington has the same feeling. The Capitals aren’t as deep or talented as in years past, but they’re in the East final for the first time since 1998, when McPhee was in his first season as their GM.

”I’ve had some teams that have been very, very talented and they weren’t necessarily the best teams,” said Trotz http://www.titansauthorizedshops.com/authentic-luke-falk-jersey , who is in the third round for the first time in 19 years as an NHL head coach. ”I think the belief in the group, or the chemistry in the group, is the intangible and this group has a good chemistry about it.”

What excites Jets coach Paul Maurice most about the fresh teams in the conference finals is the hope it keeps alive in the remaining cities. And each one can legitimately believe its team has a chance to win it all.

”That’s the great part about competition,” Maurice said. ”So that’s what’s the most exciting thing is you don’t know, right? There’s not a five-time Stanley Cup champion that’s just ran the first two series 4-0. It’s up for grabs. It’s right there.”

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AP Sports Writer Teresa M. Walker in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed.

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The plaque that rested for years on ski icon Bob Beattie’s desk was inscribed with a matter-of-fact motto: It can be done.

An all-too-fitting mantra for the ski racing pioneer who helped launch the World Cup circuit more than 50 years ago and was part of the commentary crew that called one of the most thrilling Alpine races at the 1976 Winter Games.

Beattie died Sunday in Fruita, Colorado, after dealing with various health issues. He was 85.

”Once he made up his mind something needed to happen, he would keep pounding away until he got it done,” his son, Zeno, said in a phone interview. ”He had a lot of friends and they always came up to him and said, `If it wasn’t for you Cheap Jamal Adams Jersey , I never would’ve accomplished whatever.’

”He never really thought about that too much. His whole world was about working really hard. And if you worked really hard at something and you did it as a team and not as an individual you can pretty much do anything you ever wanted to do.”

Known as ”Beats” or ”Coach” to his friends, Beattie’s career included stints as coach of the U.S. ski team and at the University of Colorado, where he led the Buffaloes to a pair of national titles.

In addition, Beattie was paired with Frank Gifford to call one of the Winter Olympics’ most famous ski races for ABC – Austrian great Franz Klammer’s electric downhill run to capture gold in `76.

”They realized Bob Beattie and I had a peculiar way of calling it,” the late Gifford once said in an interview with EmmyTVLegends.org. ”Bob loved ski racing. … He would get so excited at the race. My job was almost like `Monday Night Football,’ identify the players and let him go. He brought an unbelievable excitement to it.”

Beattie attended Middlebury College in Vermont, where he lettered in tennis, skiing, football and cross-country running. He became the ski coach following his graduation, where the team finished third at the NCAA championships in 1956.

Soon after, he went to Boulder, Colorado, to be an assistant football coach before taking over the ski program and turning it into a national power. The Buffaloes won the title in 1959 and again in ’60.

That gained him even more recognition and he oversaw the U.S. ski team at the 1964 Olympic Games, where Billy Kidd and Jimmie Heuga finished 2-3 in the slalom. It marked the first two Alpine medals captured by the American men at the Winter Olympics.

”The pressure was severe. We had promised everything – rightfully or wrongfully – we had promised everyone the world Kendall Wright Jersey Elite ,” Beattie told U.S. ski team historian Tom Kelly last summer. ”We loved each other. We were a team.”

In the mid-1960s, Beattie partnered with journalist Serge Lang and French coach Honore Bonnet to create the World Cup, with racers traveling the globe to compete. It’s still going strong with stars such as Lindsey Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin and Marcel Hirscher leading the way.

On Twitter, the racers showed their appreciation:

– ”So grateful I had the chance to meet this innovator, icon, and legend! Rest in peace Bob Beattie,” Shiffrin posted .

– ”R.I.P. Bob … such an amazing and charismatic man who did so much for ski racing. We will miss you!” Vonn wrote .

Over his career, Beattie worked four Winter Games, along with calling volleyball at the `84 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He also was involved with ABC’s Wide World of Sports and hosted a ski show for ESPN. In 1984, he was inducted into the U.S. ski and snowboard hall of fame .

Beattie also found time to author several books on skiing and started a kids program in the Aspen Valley that flourishes today. The family is planning a celebration with the ski club this fall.

”He influenced a lot of people,” his son said.

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