The last domestic final played at Lord's will not take place in September. There will be no sense of summer's farewell, a last hurrah for careless heat before football recolonises sport. Such occasions belong to distant seasons, when Lancashire or Kent always seemed to be playing and St John's Wood was packed with supporters making a weekend of it in what was still the big city.

But if, as most neutrals hope, Saturday's Royal London game goes the distance in the manner of those fondly remembered BBC Saturdays, at least one player should know how to cope with the tension that became almost routine in the heyday of Jack Bond and Asif Iqbal.

Hampshire's Kyle Abbott is used to the big occasion and having missed the whole of Hampshire's triumphant Royal London Cup campaign last year because of an ankle problem he will be delighted to do more in 2019 than offer his support from cricket's most famous balcony.

"Obviously I'm looking forward to it," he said. "Having missed out last year with a pretty silly injury, I was motivated a bit more towards helping the team to get to Lord's this season. So yes, I'm pretty excited. I know the boys are up for it and the club certainly have a decent reputation when it comes to Lord's finals."

But things have changed at the Ageas Bowl since Hampshire beat Kent last June. Former head coach Craig White left in October and has been replaced by Adi Birrell, an appointment Abbott sees as vital in the club's development.

"There's been a big mindset change and it's one that's been driven by the coach," he said. "The players have begged to be challenged and so Adi's been telling us at the start of every session: 'Right you guys have asked to be challenged. Well, we need wickets, we need to do this or do that.'

"I don't think it's been a question of the lack of talent Hampshire have had over the years, I think there's sometimes been a lack of direction. People say we're professionals and we should know what to do but sometimes you get so involved and mentally tired that you need these reminders."

Fair enough, of course, but Hampshire's players have been challenged in a way they almost certainly did not welcome this week following Liam Dawson's selection in England's World Cup squad. Despite representations being made to the ICC on the club's behalf by the ECB both Dawson and James Vince will now be unavailable for the final.

"James and Liam have been huge in getting us to the final but so was Aiden Markram," said Abbott. "It's quite strange that some players' first games in this year's Royal London will be in the final but that provides an opportunity for those guys and I always feel that it's a question of who holds their nerves on the day. I'd say it's a 50-50 contest in finals.

"I think where Hampshire have the edge over Somerset is that we have been to a Lord's final and to T20 Finals Day a lot more regularly than they have. That will help us on Saturday because suddenly for somebody the occasion will become bigger than it should be. Instead of Taunton they will be at Lord's on a bigger stage and nerves show."

No one could accuse Abbott of being a spear carrier on the big stage - or, indeed, of being timid when it comes to the big decision. Although he has never played anything more than T20 cricket at Lord's, he has represented South Africa in even bigger matches than that he will play on Saturday.

"When you are two-all against India in India and you have to go out to perform, that's as big as it gets," he pointed out. "I've played in the quarter-final of the World Cup. That sort of occasion doesn't bother me. It will make Lord's a little bit more comfortable for me."

Abbott's reference to his career with South Africa and his obvious pride in his achievements when doing so only reinforces the magnitude of the choice he made in 2017 when he turned his back on international cricket and signed a Kolpak deal with Hampshire. Making that call was all the more difficult given that after a stuttering start his Test career appeared to be flourishing.

But Abbott was convinced his place was secure only because Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel were unfit and he had already been omitted from a World Cup semi-final, some suggested for partly political reasons, in favour of Vernon Philander. Many cricketers might claim that having made such the decision to step away from the international game, they had filed the matter as "case closed", but Abbott is too honest for such self-deluding escapes.

"I do sometimes think what might have been and from the outset I've always said I made the decision six months too early," he said. "But I'd rather have been six months too early than six months too late. Had I waited, I would have played in the Champions Trophy and I would have played in the England Test series in 2017.

"But things became very clear straight after that series when South Africa toured Bangladesh. Dale Steyn was straight back in the side and then Morne Morkel was straight back in. That's what I kept telling people. They said, 'You're going to have a run now,' but I replied, 'No, you don't understand how this works.'

"The convenor of selectors said Steyn and Morkel would have to prove themselves in first-class cricket but I said: 'They won't. They are world-class bowlers and they'll come straight back in.' And they did come in. I knew international cricket and I could read their minds from a mile off. I do miss international cricket. Even a Lord's final is not going to replicate an international match but I'm proud of the cricket I played for South Africa in those four years, the games I played in, the wickets I took."

It appears that Juwan Howard's hiring as Michigan coach will heal decades of wounds that had existed with the Wolverines program.

Former Fab Five member and current ESPN analyst Jalen Rose said during Get Up! on Thursday that the hiring of Howard resolves ongoing tension between the former teammates and with the school.

"There will be no splintering. There will be no disrespect," Rose said. "It's about following Juwan as the leader of the program."

Rose said the hiring specifically fixes issues that had existed with Chris Webber. The two had been at odds for nearly a decade, with one example of the divide being Webber's absence from ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary on the team that debuted in 2011.

But all that is in the past now, according to Rose, who said there is no more "beef" between them.

"We're not going to bring that to Ann Arbor's campus with Juwan Howard as our head coach," Rose said.

The Fab Five -- Rose, Webber, Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson -- was Michigan's 1991 recruiting class that would go on to national championship game appearances in 1992 and 1993. The school later removed those Final Four banners from Crisler Arena as part of self-imposed sanctions that stemmed from one of the NCAA's largest financial scandals, which included a six-figure sum given to Webber by a booster.

On Friday, Webber, now a TNT analyst, said that Howard's hiring would be great for the university and "would bring everyone back together." Howard was announced as Michigan coach on Wednesday.

Six years ago, when Christian Yelich was just a prospect looking forward to a long career as a Miami Marlin, an interviewer asked him a question:

MiLB.com: Do you consider yourself a five-tool player?

Yelich: That word's thrown around a lot. Everyone likes to categorize people as five-tool players, four-tool players or whatever. I just like to try and be a complete player and go out every night and give my team a chance to win. Whether you steal a bag, get on base or whatever, I think by the time a 140-game season is over, you look up my numbers and they are what they are.

In the past few weeks, as Yelich has established himself as one of the five best players in the game, he has been referred to as a five-tool player on at least a couple MLB game broadcasts. Last September, the league's digital media arm put together a sizzle reel for the 2018 MVP, under the heading "Yelich shows off all 5 tools."

Yelich is right: The phrase "five-tool player" is thrown around a lot, with fair reason, since this is arguably a golden age of five-tool stars. A pleasant side effect of MLB's Great Youthening -- 23 is the new 27 -- is that the stars of the game today tend to have "young" skill sets. They can run fast, and they can throw hard -- two skills that deteriorate quickly with age. The superstars of this era aren't 30-year-old mashers with thick thighs and first-baseman's gloves, but rather shortstops and center fielders and Gold Glove winners who steal bases and hit triples and dive and leap. They're highlight machines. Yelich, certainly, is a highlight machine.

But he's probably not actually a five-tool player. Traditionally, a five-tool player is meant to be average or better at hitting for average, hitting for power, running fast, catching baseballs and throwing hard. Yelich is absolutely elite at the first two, way above average in the third, probably good enough in the fourth. But his arm is below average. His "max effort" throw is about 85 mph, according to Statcast data. The typical outfielder's max-effort throws are around 90 mph. And his fastest throw, which wasn't very fast by fast-throw standards, came almost four years ago, so it's probably getting a little worse.

Does this change your opinion of Christian Yelich at all? It shouldn't. He's one of the five best players in baseball! But it should make you consider what we mean when we say "five tools," and how much of what we mean is based on misunderstanding it all.

1. The five tools -- originally called the five talents -- are primarily about scouting non-major leaguers.

In "Dollar Sign On The Muscle," the classic book about baseball scouting, author Kevin Kerrane describes the context of the five talents: "The business of baseball scouts is to describe the future, and the future is generally four years away. Consequently, their vocabulary emphasizes energies rather than static quantities."

Tools are very explicitly not about performance. They were about the innate abilities of the body being scouted. Branch Rickey -- often credited as the originator of "the five talents" -- thought that "power is inborn, and its control and explosive use is instinctive." An "arm" grade refers mostly to arm strength, not accuracy, because strength is innate while accuracy can be taught. "Speed," as a tool, means actual speed, not baserunning acumen, and a hit grade usually focuses on the physical attributes that are conducive to a high batting average, such as swing mechanics, plate coverage and pitch recognition. That's because scouts aren't concerned about what a player's batting average in college or High-A is, but what tools he has that can be developed for four years later. They're looking for the energy.

2. The concept of well-roundedness is, furthermore, much more valuable for prospects than it is for major leaguers.

For a prospect, the future is broad and unknowable: Some tools will develop, some will stagnate, some will regress, some will be lost to physical change or against more difficult competition. The more tools a player has, the more paths to success he could have, the more he can fall back on. A shortstop who shows five tools as a prospect could become a five-tool shortstop in the best case, but in less perfect cases he could settle in as a defense-only shortstop or a power-hitting third baseman or as superutility man who hits .275 or, heck, a relief pitcher. In this sense, well-roundedness is almost the metaskill that most predicts success; it's kind of a sixth tool.

For a major leaguer, well-roundedness is a false god. One- or two-tool players can have long careers, especially when those one or two tools are hitting and power. (Miguel Cabrera was a two-time two-tool MVP). For the most part, we use WAR as the best guide to player value, and WAR gives no extra points for well-roundedness.

No, in the majors, performance is all that matters. In 2011, when Ben Lindbergh used statistical performance to identify five-tool players in the majors, his search yielded (among others) Ryan Ludwick, a 32-year-old corner outfielder who, at that point, had seven career triples and 16 career steals, in 32 attempts. Ludwick was not remotely fast, not remotely. But he had been a good, smart baserunner in his career (at least, according to the metrics Lindbergh was using), which arguably made his tools irrelevant. Lindbergh's method turned up five-stat players, more than five-tool players, but in the majors it's the former that actually makes money.

3. The five tools are not all-encompassing.

There is, for instance, the glaring omission of plate discipline, the ability and willingness to draw a walk, which is no small part of the game. Joey Gallo has almost as many walks this season as he has hits -- his ability to walk is arguably more important than his inability to hit singles -- but there's no sixth tool to credit it. One doesn't need to walk a lot to be a great player, any more than one needs to hit for power, or be fast, but a player with all five tools who walks a lot is obviously more well-rounded than one who has all five tools but doesn't.

Again, though, it's only a misunderstanding of scouting jargon that treats these five tools as the whole package. For decades, scouting reports have (a) had more than five fields and (b) been expanding. A 1951 report had seven fields -- the main five, plus "hustle" and "habits." A 1968 report's seven fields (the five, plus baserunning and "miscellaneous," which referred to grit-type attributes) each have four different subfields, establishing 28 distinct skills. And when they scouted Bo Jackson in the 1980s, there were 10 fields -- not subcategories, but 10 distinct skills.

So while it makes sense for scouts to think of the five physical "tools" underlying physical projection, it's a fallacy to import that language to the majors and conclude those are the only five ways a baseball player contributes. Nor even the five most important ways.

Yelich is pretty close to a perfect ballplayer. So are Alex Bregman, Francisco Lindor and Cody Bellinger. Mookie Betts is probably even closer to perfect, and Mike Trout, though faintly imperfect, is most perfect-like of all. Given five lines on a sheet of paper, what would you use to capture the broadness of Trout's (and Lindor's) greatness?

Consider this a personal swing at the question, not definitive, but:

1. The ability to hit the ball over outfielders, best expressed in long extra-base hits and home runs.

2. The ability to play a position of value, which encompasses both a strong-enough arm and good-enough speed or agility.

3. The ability to control the strike zone, most often (but not always) expressed by a combination of low swing rates on pitches out of the zone and somewhat higher swing rates on pitches in the zone.

4. The ability to make solid contact, expressed in consistently high exit velocities and more line drives/productive fly balls than grounders and popups.

5. The ability to pressure defenses with speed, either as baserunner or as a batter.

Pretty close to the same list as scouting's five talents! But these five are all framed around performance, rather than tools. They're a bit closer to equal value, so that we don't go through the silly charade of treating a major leaguer's arm strength as being on the same level as his ability to hit for power. And they reflect a more modern understanding of how baseball is played, how performance is valued, and what we can measure at the major league level.

Ultimately, though, maybe it's not important to improve on the "five-tool" conversation. When we say Christian Yelich is a five-tool player, it has a literal meaning. But it also has an idiomatic meaning -- he's a superstar in the style of Mickey Mantle rather than of Mark McGwire -- and it's not uncommon for idioms to gradually lose connection with their original, literal meanings. There's a good chance we'll be calling guys five-tool players long after scouts have quit using the five tools at all. Fair enough: Christian Yelich is great. He is a complete player and he goes out every night and he gives his team a chance to win.

Bristol forward Nick Fenton-Wells has retired from playing rugby and been appointed as the Premiership club's team manager.

The South African, who has spent the past three seasons at Ashton Gate, will join Pat Lam's backroom team on 1 June.

The ex-Bedford, Saracens and Stormers flanker, 32, was named Premiership Community Player of the Year this week.

"Nick has a detailed understanding of our culture and vision," director of rugby Lam told the club website.

"He epitomises that commitment to our community and we believe he will be a phenomenal team manager.

"When we revealed the appointment to the squad in a team meeting, there was a fantastic reaction and a standing ovation for Nick - that underlines how much he is trusted and respected by the group."

Harlequins scrum-half Dave Lewis has retired from rugby at the age of 30.

The former Exeter and Gloucester player made 28 appearances for Quins after moving to the Stoop in 2017.

Lewis, who played in Exeter's first Premiership final in 2016, is taking up a role as a financial advisor with a London-based wealth management firm.

"Though ultimately I'm sad to leave the game, I'm really looking forward to starting my new role," Lewis told the Harlequins website.

"It's something I've been working towards for a while and I'm excited for what the future holds."

Lewis began his career as an academy player at Exeter before moving to Gloucester in 2007 and made his debut for the Cherry and Whites that September.

"Dave is an incredible professional who always gives his best," added Harlequins head of rugby Paul Gustard.

"He is a keen thinker of the game and has added significant value on and off the pitch.

"I know that whatever he chooses to do in life he will be a success as he works hard, is humble and is an all-round great guy."

The Indianapolis 500 isn’t called The Greatest Spectacle in Racing for no reason. Every year 33 of the greatest racers in the world converge on Indianapolis Motor Speedway to compete for the honor to be called Indianapolis 500 champion.

Everyone remembers the winners – Helio Castroneves, A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti and more – but we don’t always remember the drivers who competed in the Indianapolis 500.

Today we take another look at 10 drivers you may have forgotten competed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the Indianapolis 500.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Chase Stockon had tamed the Terre Haute Action Track multiple times during his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career, but he’d never won the Tony Hulman Classic.

That changed on Wednesday night as Stockon led all 30 laps to claim the 49^thrunning of the event at the historic half-mile dirt track.

“I’m about to cry,” Stockon exclaimed. “I’ve been wanting to win this one so bad. At this point, it’s probably the one I wanted to win the most. This rifle right here means everything. It’s awesome. This is the one that’s gotten away from us multiple times and we’re pretty proud to be able to put this one on the wall.”

Last year, Stockon led 20 laps before he was passed by Tyler Courtney with nine laps remaining, ultimately finishing fifth. Two years ago, Stockon led the first 27 laps before being passed by Kevin Thomas Jr. with three to go, ending up third.

This one wasn’t going to slip from the grip. It was Stockon’s first victory since the 2018 season opener, ending a 46-race winless streak.

“It’s tough,” Stockon admitted. “Everybody keeps getting quicker and quicker. We’ve been really good here the last five or six years here and have had a couple slip away from us.  I like these big fast half miles, but we struggled being tight all night tonight and (crew chief) D.J. (Ott) made the call after the heat race of what he wanted to do to the car, and I was like, ‘You know what, if you want to do it, it’s in your hands. I’ll just drive it.’ Luckily, I held up my end of the deal for him.”

Stockon started the main event from the outside of the front row, blitzing around pole sitter Carson Short for the lead on the opening lap. Meanwhile, Chris Windom ripped past the inside of Brady Bacon off turn two on the second lap for third, then constructed a déjà vu moment on lap four with nearly the same move on Short once more to get to second.

Windom appeared hooked up on the surface that saw heavy early morning showers and seemed poise to threaten Stockon’s status for the top spot. However, that was about as close as Windom got following a handful of restarts.

Seventh-running Thomas broke on lap seven, slowing the pace for the initial time, putting him out for the remainder of the evening.  Short stopped in turn four on the 11th lap, like Thomas, running seventh. Nate McMillin stopped in turn three on lap 20 while running 15th.

With 11 laps remaining, the showdown for the rifle consisted of Stockon, Windom and Courtney. The mover on the restart was Robert Ballou, who secured sixth off turn four on the 20th circuit as he and Bacon banged wheels. Ballou, then whipped by Justin Grant for fifth on lap 22 just before point leader and fourth place running C.J. Leary lost a right-rear tire on lap 23 to bring out the final yellow.

Stockon’s good run of restarts had no inkling of ending on the final one on lap 23 as he immediately broke away to a six car-length advantage by the time the front runners hit the back stretch with Courtney working to the inside of Windom briefly in turn three. Windom withstood the challenge to secure the runner-up spot.

Stockon edged away in the final laps, defeating Windom by 1.963 seconds while Courtney, Ballou and Grant rounded out the top five.

To see full results, turn to the next page.

Zdeno Chara doesn't like the word "rookie." The Boston Bruins captain is quick to correct the media if they use it in a conversation; Chara prefers the term "first-year player."

The 42-year-old Slovak has been in the league since 1997, and he has seen hundreds of players come from different countries, different backgrounds and, frankly, different sizes too (while the 6-foot-9 defenseman still exerts a physical presence, the league, as a whole, has trended much shorter as of late).

"Since a very young age, I didn't like the separation in a team between young players and older players, [or] players who have accomplished something or players that are just coming into the league," Chara told reporters in Boston this week. "I don't like to use the word 'rookie.' They are our teammates. I just don't like to separate. I don't think that's the right thing to do. Once you're a team, you're a team regardless of the age, or accomplishments. We have to treat each other with respect and the same way."

With deference to Chara, there are no "rookie" references in this article. However, it is a compelling exercise to dissect the makeup of both Stanley Cup Final teams. Where do the players come from and, perhaps just as important, how did they end up on the roster? While many hockey players don't see nationality -- often, they just see personality -- it's interesting to note the Blues are a decidedly more Canadian roster while Boston skews American. Here are some other notes that we found.

Note: For purposes of this story, we counted only players who have appeared in at least one playoff game this spring.

Age

• The average age of a Blues player? 26.9. The Bruins? 26.8. Pretty close! Chara -- at age 42, the oldest Stanley Cup Final participant -- helps skew Boston a tad older, while St. Louis has the Final's youngest player in 19-year-old Robert Thomas.

• Most common age for both teams? There are six players (three on each) who are 27.

• We often note that Boston has an aging core but has been able to retool on the fly. To that point, there are seven players (including the six who remain from the 2011 Stanley Cup team) 30 or older. There are also seven 23 or younger. The Blues have six players 30 and over, and just five 23 or under. Boston has three players (Connor Clifton, Jake DeBrusk, Karson Kuhlman) playing on their entry-level contracts, while St. Louis has two (Vince Dunn and Robert Thomas).

Drafting

• There are 10 Bruins players who were Bruins draft picks, and three who went undrafted (Torey Krug, Noel Acciari and Karson Kuhlman).

• There are 12 Blues players who were Blues draft picks and one who was undrafted (Tyler Bozak, though he initially signed with the Maple Leafs in 2009).

• Average draft round of players who have suited up for the Bruins this spring? 2.5. That includes six first-round picks and none drafted in the sixth round or later (excluding the undrafted guys).

• Average draft round of Blues players this spring? 2.4. That includes nine first-round picks and three drafted in the sixth or seventh rounds (and excluding Bozak).

• Among both teams, the most common draft position is the first round (16 combined players), then the second round (nine players), then third round (eight players). The fifth round features just three players -- all on the Bruins -- and the fourth round has two players, again, all on the Bruins. The Blues feature the only two sixth-round picks and the only seventh-round pick (shout-out to you, Carl Gunnarsson!).

• Now for the not-so-fun stuff for some of the wistful teams watching at home: There are two San Jose draft picks playing (2010 first-rounder Charlie Coyle and 2011 fifth-rounder Sean Kuraly), two Anaheim picks (fourth-rounder Steven Kampfer, fifth-rounder Chris Wagner), two Pittsburgh picks (third-rounders Robert Bortuzzo and Oskar Sundqvist), two Washington picks (second-rounder Zach Sanford and first-rounder Marcus Johansson). And we must mention that the Toronto Maple Leafs have a former first-round draft pick in net for the Bruins in Tuukka Rask. Things might have shaped differently over the past decade if they kept that guy. Then again, who knows?

How they ended up here

• The Bruins have only four players who were acquired by trade. That includes two from this year's trade deadline -- Charlie Coyle and Marcus Johansson -- as well as two acquired a while ago (Rask came from Toronto in 2006, and reserve defenseman Kampfer from Anaheim in 2010).

• The Blues have acquired eight of their players via trade, a group that includes some important players: Ryan O'Reilly, Brayden Schenn, Alexander Steen, Gunnarsson, Sundqvist, Bortuzzo, Jay Bouwmeester and Zach Sanford.

• The biggest makeup difference here? While nine Bruins players arrived as free agents, only three Blues players did. And for St. Louis, that technically includes 2007 first-round Blues draft pick David Perron, whose transaction history is fascinating. Despite playing for five teams in a 12-year NHL career, Perron has signed contracts only with the Blues. This is his fourth contract with the team, and third stint overall.

• There are a whopping 12 players on the Bruins who played college hockey, but just four on the Blues. (As you'll see below, that's likely due to the American versus Canadian makeups.) There are lots of Boston connections, too. Three Bruins players suited up at Boston University. St. Louis' Sanford played for Boston College, while Noel Acciari played for nearby Providence and Clifton played for near(ish)by Quinnipiac.

Nationality

• Just like the Vegas Golden Knights last year, the Blues are pretty much Canada's team. Of the 21 players who have suited up this spring, 16 are from the Great North. Two players (Vladimir Tarasenko and Ivan Barbashev) are Russian, two are Swedish (Gunnarsson and Sundqvist) and there are just two Americans, though their origin stories are quite poetic: Patrick Maroon is a native of the St. Louis area, while Sanford grew up in Salem, Massachusetts, and went to Boston College.

• The Bruins have only four Canadians on the roster (Marchand, Bergeron, Danton Heinen and DeBrusk). They are one of the NHL's most American teams, with 13 players hailing from the U.S. There is also one Finn (Rask), two Swedes (Johansson and Joakim Nordstrom), a Slovak (Chara) and two Czechs (David Pastrnak and Krejci).

• For context, according to the website Quanthockey, 43.5 percent of the NHL this season was Canadian. Americans accounted for 28.6 percent, Swedes 9.7 percent, Finns 4.9 percent, Czechs 4.0 percent, Russians were 3.9 percent and Slovaks were just 1.1 percent (Chara is one of 11 in the league).

Height

• Despite having the tallest player on the ice in Chara, the Bruins are actually the shorter team on average (blame 5-foot-9ers Brad Marchand and Krug, good friends who are constantly chirping each other about who is shorter). The average height of a Bruins player is 72.7 inches, just below 6-foot-1.

• The Blues average out at 73.6 inches, just below 6-foot-2.

• Boston has three players under 6 feet. The Blues don't have any.

• St. Louis has eight players 6-foot-3 or taller, while the Bruins have five.

The Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues aren't just two well-matched teams meeting in the Stanley Cup Final. They're two teams with a collection of storylines that could elevate this series into an instant classic.

Haven't been paying too much attention? Was your team already knocked out? We'll help you decide whether to root for the Blues or the Bruins, with a look at all the sweeping narratives and overlooked angles in this championship round matchup, which begins Monday night in Boston.

St. Louis Blues

The drought

The Blues entered the NHL in 1967. They emerged from their expansion team-laden conference in three straight seasons to play for the Stanley Cup, losing twice to Montreal and once to Boston, all of them in sweeps. (The Blues are the only team to appear in multiple Stanley Cup Finals and not win a single game.) But after 1970 ... nothing. They made the conference final three times over the next 48 years, before finally advancing to the Final again this season. To say generations of Blues fans have been waiting for this moment is not an overstatement.

Worst to first

On New Year's Day, the Blues were tied with the Ottawa Senators for the lowest point total in the NHL standings. The reversal of those fortunes -- thanks to a new coach in Craig Berube, a hot goalie in Jordan Binnington and better team chemistry -- was one of the most unexpected stories of the season. The Blues are the fourth team in the expansion era to have reached the Final after ranking among the bottom three in the standings at any point after their 20th game. Only the 1968 Canadiens went on to win the Stanley Cup, for what it's worth.

"Gloria"

The late Laura Branigan's 1982 pop classic "Gloria" has become synonymous with this Blues team since they adopted it as their victory song. It started when a few players were in a bar in Philadelphia, watching the NFC wild-card game between the Eagles and Bears, and the DJ kept spinning "Gloria" during the ad breaks. The players decided to make the ear worm their victory song. It's now heard in the arena after victories (and well into the evening), on radio stations during 24-hour stunts, blaring from cars in St. Louis and inside the head of center Ryan O'Reilly. "It's our anthem here," he said. "It's so cool how it's brought the team and the fans that much closer."

David Backes is back

In 2016, Backes left the Blues as a free agent for the Bruins, having played in St. Louis for 10 seasons and having served as captain for half of that tenure. He's chasing his first Stanley Cup in the same series as his former team, and teammates, are chasing theirs. Will friendships, like the one Backes has with current captain Alex Pietrangelo, be tested? "I told him I love him now and will love him after, but I'm going to hate him for the next three weeks here. That's a mutual decision; we're going to battle our butts off for this ultimate prize and we'll patch up whatever needs to be patched up afterwards," Backes said Wednesday.

Jordan Binnington, former Bruin?

The 25-year-old rookie goalie sensation, who helped resurrect the Blues' season and earned a Calder Trophy nomination it the process, lingered in the AHL for nearly six years before finally getting his shot at the Blues' crease. That included a 28-game stint with the Providence Bruins in 2017-18, where St. Louis loaned him after Binnington told the Blues he would not report to an ECHL team. Among his teammates: Current Bruins Connor Clifton and Matt Grzelcyk.

The forecheck

The Blues love to dictate terms to opponents via their forecheck, which can take over games when it's working. Like, for example, the majority of their final three games against the San Jose Sharks, when the Blues outscored them 12-2 and absolutely dominated them for great stretches of those wins. (The Sharks' injuries obviously played a role in that, too.)

Winning for everyone else

Besides one another and the Blues' long-suffering fans, there are plenty of other people St. Louis players are battling for in the Stanley Cup Final. There's Laila Anderson, the young girl with a rare disease called HLH, whose indelible presence at Blues games in the Western Conference finals was touching. There's Charles Glenn, their anthem singer retiring because of multiple sclerosis, whose stint has been extended by three rounds already. Then there are the many Blues alumni who still live in St. Louis and are around the team, from tough guy Kelly Chase, who was openly weeping after Game 6, to Bob Plager, an original Blues player who has been waiting over 50 years for "his parade."

Boston Bruins

Tuukka's redemption tour

As recently as this season, there was a faction of Bruins fans that didn't trust Boston goalie Tuukka Rask in big games; the distrust probably began when he was in net as the Bruins blew a 3-0 series lead against the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010; never mind that he played tremendously in the 2013 Stanley Cup Final run and then won a Vezina Trophy in 2014. Rask has been the hottest goalie in these playoffs, especially in games when Boston has a chance to eliminate opponents. He has gone 3-0 in those contests, stopping 95 of 96 shots (.990 save percentage).

One last squeeze for this core

Five regulars remain from the 2011 Cup-winning Bruins roster: Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, David Krejci, Brad Marchand and Rask. Bergeron is probably going down as one of the greatest Bruins of all time. Ditto Chara, who at 42 is already a legend. Boston did a masterful job of retooling on the fly to get one more quality shot for this group, though let's note Rask and Krejci are under contract through 2020-21, Bergeron through 2021-22, and opponents are stuck seeing Marchand in a B's uniform until 2025.

The city that won't stop winning

The Celtics blew Boston's chance to hit a City Slam (winning titles in all four major sports, consecutively), but don't let that obscure the fact that Boston teams have been obnoxiously good lately. A Bruins win would mean 13 championships in 18 years for the city. But hey, at least the folks there are aware of how ridiculous this run has been.

Resetting a trend

We know the NHL is a copycat league (what league isn't a copycat league these days?). That means other general managers might try to emulate Boston's winning formula next season. One thing GM Don Sweeney did exceptionally well: hit on two middle-six forwards at the trade deadline. Charlie Coyle and Marcus Johansson have been excellent for the Bruins. Perhaps at the 2020 deadline we'll see GMs of contenders not swing for the buzziest names, but instead try to land top-end forwards who would be better suited playing a role deeper in the lineup.

Too much rest?

We admit, this will only be a storyline until, at most, the first period of Game 2. But the Bruins will have had 10 days between games, and recent history suggests that's not always an advantage. Look at the strange trend in the East this postseason, where teams who swept one round got swept in the next round. The Vegas Golden Knights had a week off before last year's Final, then looked flat against the Washington Capitals in the early going.

Sizzling power play

A red-hot power play isn't a requirement for winning the Stanley Cup -- the Bruins' playoff power play in 2011 was actually not very good at all, hitting at about 11 percent -- but it sure strikes fear in an opponent. The 2019 playoff Bruins have a historically good power play. They're at 34 percent through 17 games; only one team has played at least 15 playoff games and did better: the 1981 New York Islanders (37.8 percent).

Balanced scoring

Hey, it's not all that different than the Blues, but one of the reasons Boston has advanced this far is because all four lines are clicking. Nineteen different Bruins have scored this postseason. The uber-talented top line of Bergeron, Marchand and David Pastrnak has scored 22 of the team's 57 goals, but there were times other players carried the team (especially earlier in the playoffs, when the top line wasn't together, and certainly not playing the way it is now).