Over the past year, there have been some absolutely horrific, heart rending losses (or wins, depending on who you were cheering for) in hockey, and I was just wondering how they might rank in your minds.

When you consider this question, lay aside your own personal rooting interests, and put yourself in the fanbase of the losing team, and judge which one hurts the most..

 1) As a Red Wings fan, I died a little bit last year with game 5 of the SCF, when Phil Pritchard (sp?) had his white gloves on, the cup was ready to roll onto the ice at the Joe Louis Arena, less than a minute remained, and the crowd was deafening in anticipation of that finall buzzer, ready to unleash their joy to the rafters. And then Maxime Talbot tied the game with 34.3 second to go. And then we all lost a couple of years off our lives as we sweated our way through to the third OT, and Sykora sent you guys to bed happy with his game winner.

 2) Just three weeks ago, Miami University had a 3-1 lead in the last minute of the NCAA Championship game. They had the heavily favored Boston Terriers on the ropes, scoring a knockout blow with 4 minute to go, to give them a cushion that should have led to the first national championship in ANY sport for the boys from Oxford, Ohio. Except...they gave up a goal with 59 seconds to go, to give Boston U a sliver of hope. And the Terriers grabbed it with all the tenacity their nickname suggests, and tied it up with a mere 17 seconds to go, now an eternity separating the Redhawks from that trophy. The game went into overtime, but the end result might as well have been mailed in, Solby Coehn took a shot, which hit the hip of a sliding forward trying to block it, and the puck tumbled end over end, over the shoulder of an oblivious goalie, and settled into the corner of the net. Game over, dream denied for Miami.

 3) And last night....Game 7, Jersey had been hanging on to a one goal lead from midway through the second period, and their defense is solid (not that I got to see any of the game), and Brodeur is making that goal stand up....until with about a minute and change to go, the Canes break through that wall, and tie it up, and all of a sudden, it's time to buck up boys, yeah, sure they scored, when we thought we had it wrapped up, but dammit, we're pros, and this is it, overtime in the Stanley Cup Playoofs, and it doesn't get any better than that! WHOO! Except, of course, it never got there....Carolina potted another goal just a few seconds later, going from a 1 goal deficit with a minute and a half to go, to a stunning, incredible, OMFG victory, on the road, no less, and New Jersey went from dreams of seeing the White House (as tourists when the play the caps, and maybe as visitors with a cup in tow), to the ashes of the golf course in one unbelievable minute of hockey action.

Personally, I rank them 2, 3 and then 1. The Miami tragedy can't be touched, because it's kids, it's a college national championship, it's a two goal lead with a minute to play, and thereafter, they were dead men skating, waiting for the axe to fall. The Jersey whacking ranks second in my book because it was, after all, Game 7, their bags were metaphorically packed to go face the Caps, and all of a sudden, Carolina blew in and booked themselces a trip to Boston, leaving NJ crying at the train station. And the Red Wings, as excruciating as that was, personally, there's still a banner hanging at the Joe commemorating the outcome of the series. It was brutal when it happened, but the sight of Nick Lidstrom hoisting the Cup two days later took away a lot of the sting....

Curious to know what you guys think?