Nashville, TN – Well it’s over. The true “Cinderella” of the National Hockey League, our Nashville Predators, have bowed out. Losing last night 2-0, the Penguins win the series and hoist Lord Stanley’s cup for the second year in a row.
I was there, and I didn’t like it one bit.
Honestly, I’m so exhausted I can barely hold my head up. This playoff series, while exciting as hell, has taken me physically, mentally and financially. I was ready for this to be over a couple of weeks ago.
I’m going to try and put all of this in perspective as best I can, without mentioning the officiating. I’ll leave that for another column.
We beat the Blues and all of sudden we believe we can actually win the Stanley Cup.
Anaheim was next and that was a brutally tough series. Probably the dirtiest hockey team in the league, the Ducks beat us up unmercifully, but guess what? We were still standing.
Nashville overachieved time and time again, as players were injured and we were filling positions with kids who spent most of the season in the minor league.
This just added to the mesmerizing affect that this run had on an entire state. Not just Nashville and surrounding counties, but this team took hold of everybody. I was even in Florida on vacation a couple of weeks ago and people were hollering, “Go Preds” at us as we were wearing our colors.
The celebrities who came to games and sang the National Anthem, the Tennessee Titans who came to “pump” up the crowd. They were ALL into it! And it was glorious!
I’m proud of this team. I’m proud of the fans and I’m proud of the fact that the Predators gave so many of us an opportunity of a lifetime. To attend a Stanley Cup Final. IN OUR CITY!
I won’t dwell on all the negative, for now, I’ll just say that I had the most fun I’ve had at a sporting event in a long time. The friends I made in the stands were priceless. The experience itself was overwhelming.
So, maybe next year.
We’ve got the team and returning veterans, so who knows. We can only hope.
I’m thankful for this team, this city and it’s fans, and most of all, I’m thankful I don’t live in Pittsburgh. *mic drop*
