Stories From The Penalty Box, Also Known As Summer
The best day of the year is when the NHL season starts. The next best day—which is also a bad day in its own way—is the last game of the Stanley Cup Finals. The champion is crowned, 2nd place is forgotten a week later, and the long, hot days of summer are enough to cause some of us to want to cross-check that annoying guy in the office right into the water cooler. Better not do that, however, as most companies generally hand out more than a 2-minute minor for such infractions.
A couple of days ago the temps vaulted over one hundred degrees, and my mood sank when I walked outside and thought I'd walked into an oven. Something had to give. I went back inside and opened the freezer and stuck my head inside. It was time for serious thinking and I had to come up with something soon or I was going to go mad.
That's when it hit me. I'd watched the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals on DISH Network, and still had Games 5 & 6 on my DVR. I was positively beaming when I remembered I had those games saved. I had to hurry and close the freezer so I didn't melt the Otter Pops.
I busted out my fan gear—jersey, hat, hockey pants, hockey stick—and turned on Game 6, the final game of the Cup series. I said it back in June and I'm gonna say it again, If you missed Game 6 in Philadelphia you'd better have a damn good reason.
Enough time had passed since the final game that a lot of the action felt new. I mean I knew the Blackhawks beat the Flyers in Philly to grab their first cup since 1961! That's like 50 years ago! (Okay, 49, but who's counting?) About halfway through Game 6 on my DVR I remembered that the game had gone into overtime, and since it was the last game, and I already knew who won, I just skipped ahead and watched from the beginning of the OT period until Patrick Kane dumped in the Cup-winning goal at the 4:06 mark.
I rewound it a few times, played it frame-by-frame, and then reset the DVR to the beginning of the OT period and watched those four minutes and six seconds again. By then my wife had had enough of my much-needed off-season constitutional, but by then I didn't care. I'd gotten my NHL fix, and it'll probably be enough to hold me until September, when goalies and rookies report to camp.
See you next month, and remember to keep your stick on the ice!
