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No question, hockey fans have been spoiled to a rather large degree with what we’ve witnessed in the first 2 rounds of the NHL playoffs.  3 series go to 7 games in the 2nd round, and we had 2 more deciding games in the opening round of the postseason.  With 3 more series remaining, the potential is there to tie or exceed the NHL record of 7 game 7’s in 1 playoff year.

But now it’s coming to an end and I fear I’m going to start going into withdrawl.  Now I realize the Western and Eastern Conference Finals still loom with the  Stanley Cup Finals on the horizon as well.  But I feel as if I’m going to be sapped of 2 things that have been so much fun the last month or so.  First, the sheer volume of hockey.  With 2 to 4 games a night on the NHL schedule on a nightly basis, I could get home from work, fire up the PVR and just watch and marvel.  Tonight will be the last night (most likely) we get more than 1 game on a single night until the regular season begins in October.

But it’s the second factor that I’m going to miss the most.  The sheer drama and theater of the first 2 rounds, coupled with the amount of it, is going to be sorely missed.  Can you think of a playoff year with this much straight up fun and conversation topics on a daily basis?  Just sit back and contemplate.  You can start in the first round when you’re flipping back and forth between a 2-1 game here and a comeback victory there.

Think of Monday night!  My usual routine is to PVR the games I want to watch, start watching them for the first period and a bit, head to the gym, finish watching the games at the gym and then go home and re-watch them on the PVR.  So Monday, I started watching the Caps-Pens game at home, went to the gym, saw Crosby score the tying marker right as I got there.  I hit the treadmill as OT started, took up a spot in between TV’s with TSN and CBC on it.  As the Caps were forcing a game 7 with David Steckel’s OT winner, the Canucks and Hawks were underway.  As the night went on, I was back on the treadmill for the 3rd period in Chi Town, watching Vancouver take the lead and Chicago tie it and eventually overtake the last Canadian hope.

Or think back to April 28th, the last night of the NHL’s 1st round!  The Capitals were in the midst of coming back from a 3-1 series deficit on one channel while the Devils were busy coughing up a 3rd period lead to the Canes on another.  Who would have thought you could finish watching the Caps complete an amazing series comeback and then flip to Newark and see the Devils hold a 1 goal 3rd period lead.  And within minutes, you see Tim Gleason’s series/season saving play to somehow get a puck to Joni Pitkanen, who somehow found Jussi “I Don’t Just Do Shootouts” Jokinen to the right of Martin Brodeur.  And then you’re all excited for OT right?  Well Eric Staal says no thankyou, ends the game in a fashion not one person thought was possible.

Tonight’s game 7’s are going to be incredible.  I can’t wait to chill out and watch things unfold in  Detroit and Boston.  And I cannot wait for the start of the WCF and ECF.  And I’m as excited as anyone else to see who gets crowned the 2009 Stanley Cup Champions.  Is the NHL postseason finished?  Not by a long shot.  But that doesn’t mean I (and many, many others) won’t miss the incredible first month.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 1:55 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.