"There was money only for one of the two boys to play hockey and Sami Salo had the benefit of being the younger one, who had the advantage of a few more earning years for his father.

His big brother still teases him about it. Why Sami? Why not Juha? Maybe he would have become the big hockey star. But he is proud of Sami, too, because his baby brother has a chance tonight to win the Stanley Cup.

It's a difficult thing to fathom. You spend your life dreaming of something that seems so out of reach. And then one day it's there in front of you. If the Vancouver Canucks don't see the Stanley Cup on their way into the Garden today, they'll probably feel its holy presence in the building. All they have to do is take it. Just beat the Boston Bruins one more time and it's theirs.

The concept is both beautiful and terrifying. You don't dare stare at something this immense straight on. You keep your eyes down respectfully and stay in the moment. There is still Game 6.

Don't look past the first shift. Don't think about anything outside the boards. Don't look back or ahead.

At 36, Salo is the oldest Canuck. He is so ready for the opportunity.

But in quiet moments over the last two months, he couldn't help but think about the hard road he travelled to reach his first Stanley Cup Final — the many serious injuries he has overcome, the playoff disappointments, the times when it was hard to get back up. And often he has thought about the father who never got to see his son's journey, to share the euphoria and the pain.

"My dad's name was Toivu, but we called him Topi," Salo explained after Friday's 1-0 win. "My son's second name is Tobias, for my dad. I started [hockey] when I was six or seven and he took me. My older brother never had a chance to play hockey because it was too expensive. I don't know why I got to play. I never asked him why I got the chance to play and not my brother."