Bittersweet

The last of the Hockey Posts... for now

Here are my thoughts on the post season
I am so sad that we lost, it is a bummer and I wanted to see 'my boys' go all the way and take the cup. They had a great season and overcame adversity, this would have made a nice finish to the season. That being said, in this series, they were totally outplayed, the Ducks wanted it more.

As the game ended in what was a foregone conclusion by mid 2nd period, I was sad and disappointed, but at the same time, I began to see what was unfolding on the screen. Two of the players on the Ducks are brothers (Niedermayer) and they kept showing a shot of thier mother in the stands cheering them on- very cool.

As each player hoisted the cup over their head, I was so struck by the years, the sweat, the dreams and the hopes that were wrapped up in that one moment. They were not grown men, getting paid millions of dollarsto play in fancy sports arenas to thousands of adoring fans.... what I saw tonight, was a group of little boys, in their back yard ponds and ice rinks or out on the driveway, celebrating every goal as if it was the stanley cup. Each of those players knew exactly what they would do when they hoisted the cup because they had each practised it 1000's of times in their minds.

To see the joy on their faces for the pure love of the game was amazing, and I think, a reminder of what it is about sports that captures our attention so much- especially hockey for Canadians.

On a side note, we can take pride in the fact that many of the players on the Ducks are Canadian Boys........so we won anyway!