My Favorite Time of Year...

So even though I should be passed out in bed right now, I'm sitting in my living room glued to my laptop listening to a Stanley Cup playoff game between my Dallas Stars and the San Jose Sharks. As I begin this blog, they're starting the second overtime, and hopefully they'll be done before I am!! If there's ever a time of the year that I look forward to the most, it's the Stanley Cup Playoffs. You don't have to worry about games ending in shootouts, and players really earn their paychecks in grueling, exciting, edge-of-your-seat, sudden-death overtime. Just today alone I watched the Penguins beat the Rangers in OT to advance to the conference finals before listening to the OT battle. It's time like these where I miss the Whalers the most, being able to hear Chuck Kaiton beautifully call the game as if we, the listeners, were there ourselves. There's only a select few play-by-play guys that will keep you glued to your TV or radio by the passion they put into the game. I've already immersed Ethan in playoff hockey from birth, putting him in his chair when he was just a few months old and watching Versus until every last game ended. In a way it's killing me that I'm not able to watch any playoff games right now unless they're on NBC, but at the same time it's rekindled my appreciation for listening to all those Whalers games on the radio growing up. I guarantee I probably won't roll out of bed until 6:30 to get in the shower tomorrow morning, but as long as the Stars win and advance to face the Red Wings, it will be all worth it. Even if they don't, and the Sharks force a game 7, that just gives me another chance to lose myself in one of the most exciting traditions in sports. Looks like I'm coming to an end for this blog, and the game rages on- just about halfway through the second overtime and no one wants to go home just yet. Looks like I'll be here for a while because I'm not going to miss that game-winning goal. Until next time...