It was a weekend of winners as the NBA and NHL crowned new champions over the weekend while at the same time EA SPORTS looks at crowning some gaming winners over the next few weeks as well.

Congratulations go out to Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins as they overcame a 3-2 series deficit to go FTW in the final two games and earn the right to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup in Detroit, winning only their second game in Hockeytown in the last two years. 

After being chased out of game 5, Marc-Andre Fleury came up with two career games and received a little help from the crossbar near the end of game seven letting in only two goals in game six and seven to backstop the Pens to the Cup.  With Sid injuring his knee in the first period of game seven, the team rallied behind their captain as Maxime Talbot scored two of his biggest goals to give the Pens the scoring needed to win. 

It was quite the moment for Sid the Kid as he shared the ice with owner Mario Lemiuex who hadn’t hoisted the cup since ’92 when he won his second in a row as a player.  Sid was so much into the moment that he almost forgot about shaking the hands of last year’s champions leaving some of the Red Wings to patiently wait for him to shake his hand.  Did he snub the team or was he just into the moment?  I’ll say that patience is a virtue and even for the Wings, though it had to be bitter watching the Kid celebrate, those are the breaks when it comes to winning a championship.

Kobe can now remove the kryptonite from his shorts as he shook a monkey off his back (or a gorilla named “Shaq”) winning his fourth Larry O’Brien Trophy and confidently leading the LA Lakers to the NBA Championship over NBA LIVE 10 cover athlete Dwight “Superman” Howard and the Orlando Magic. 

The Black Mamba was double-teamed throughout game five which left other Lakers shooters open.  The team delivered hitting 50% of their shots from the arc and hitting 75% from the line to disappoint the home side looking to extend the series to a sixth game.  It was a big 16-0 run following a confrontation between Trevor Ariza and Hedo Turkoglu that was the difference in the game.

The championship was also head coach Phil Jackson’s tenth and there was no shortage of celebration as he remains undefeated when his teams win the first game of a championship series.

With these championships in the book, EA SPORTS looks to crown its own champions as we kick off the NHL 09 EASHL Invitational in a couple of weeks.  For months, the EASHL has been running strong and hundreds of teams have played thousands of games and have climbed the leaderboards to earn the right to be invited to our first post-season tournament.

Congratulations go out to the two regular season console champions:  Shammers United who finished the season playing 3235 games and amassing 8234 points on the Xbox 360 while the No CryBabys played 1278 games and earned 7135 points to clinch first place on the PlayStation 3.  These are the first teams that have received invites to the tournament and we will announce the other seven teams per console this Wednesday.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, you have to see the EA SPORTS ‘Joy’ commercial that aired at the NBA Finals last week.  Coinciding with the commercial is our Welcome to the Win webpage from EA SPORTS Beta highlighting athletes’ wins in their respective sports.  We will also be sharing our gamers’ wins as well so stay tuned to the site and look for new areas to unlock in the near future.

To close, congrats go to local swimmer Brent Hayden of Vancouver who went FTW and defeated Olympic Gold Champion Michel Phelps during the Santa Clara International Grand Prix swim meet over the weekend.  Hayden swam a personal best of 48.44 seconds in the 100-metre freestyle to edge Phelps who clocked in at the finish at 48.87 seconds. 

Ask these guys if every second counts, and you’ll appreciate what it takes to be a champion.

On Sunday, St. Louis Blues beat the Colorado Avalanche 1-0 and with that win launched themselves into 6th place in the Western Conference and finally locked down the remaining match-ups for this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs beginning on Wednesday.  With that game completed late Sunday afternoon, the EA Sports NHL 09 Simulation team began with simulating each series all the way through the Stanley Cup Championships and the results have predicted that the Boston Bruins will win their first cup in 37 years by defeating the Chicago Blackhawks in six games.

The NHL 09 computerized simulation is conducted using artificial intelligence that uses real-life data from each team, such as player ratings and line combinations, and includes variances such as injuries and hot streaks to predict a realistic outcome of each game and series. For the official run-down of the prediction check it out on EA SPORTS World:  NHL 09 Playoff Simulation.

In what's looking like some of the most exciting match-ups in playoff memory, this hockey fan will be busy watching games online and putting the DVR on overdrive.  Though the sim has Montreal losing in six to Boston, that will be the renewal of one fantastic rivalry made for the playoffs.  Personally, I see this going seven games with Boston winning in a coin toss.  You've also got Ovechkin in Madison Square Gardens and you know he'll be putting on a show.  I agree with the sim here going seven games.  Will Sid the Kid stay hot and propel the Pens past the fiesty Flyers in the first round?  I'm guessing they'll make a run like last year.  With Brodeur ending off the season looking average, I can see the Devils falling in the first round.

In the West, the big upset the sim is calling for sees Columbus, behind the netminding of Steve Mason, pulling off the series win in seven over the Detroit Red Wings.  Possible?  That's up for debate, though with the sims better than 75% this year, it may well just happen.  San Jose looks strong though some will argue they coasted into the playoffs after an incredible first half of the season.  No matter what anyone says, in my book, if you finish first overall, you're not going to lose in the first round.  Don't be surprised to see a sweep here.  Chicago could very well hand Calgary home in the first round as the Flames are dealing with injury issues that had them fall out of the top spot in the Division at the end of the regular season.  I wouldn't be surprised to see the 'hawks carry their momentum gained from the end of the season right through the Flames and the first-round.  Will they go on to the finals as predicted in the sim?  That's another question. 

As for the Canucks-Blues series, take the Canucks as the prediction says.  Personally, I'm not going to go out on a limb here because I don't want to jinx them ;)

We will re-sim the second round based on teams that actually make it...that is, if the simulation makes any errors.  In the meantme, let the debate begin and check out these screens (click to enlarge) of who could very well be the next Stanley Cup Champions!