2013 SCH Gif Tournament: Harding Division Final

The Division Final rounds close out with our Harding finalists.

Toews and Kane. Kane and Toews. They've been linked since their rookie seasons, and they're linked again here, going head to head in our Harding Division Final. Given how competitive they've admitted to being with each other, it seems awfully appropriate that our final Final comes down to a matchup between these two young superstars. They defeated two incredibly strong opponents--drunk Harry Caray and Sad Boston Fan--to get this far, and they just might go the distance.

When interviewed about his former teammate, Antti Niemi said (and I paraphrase): There are a lot of competitive guys out there, but Tazer, he throws ping-pong paddles when he loses at table tennis. Given that kind of background, I can only imagine that his glorious strike illustrated in our first gif was due to hours of practice, effort, and willing himself to be the best at Bowling For Teammates. Perfect form. Lovely follow-through. Head up and eyes on the prize.

Patrick Kane brings that black magic witchcraft to every game he plays in, whether he's scoring or not. You can almost see the opposing team inhale nervously when he gets anywhere near the puck. And we expect all kinds of flash, fancy footwork, jukes and fakes and dirty dirty dangles in the shootout, but it's rare you see someone attempt the spin-o-rama during regulation time. Yes, they were already ahead by an absurd margin in this game, but still. Balls. Big brass ones. Sometimes I wonder how he manages to skate, carrying those things around with him.