June 12th, 2009

This will never fail to make my day.

Lord Stanley,
Lord Stanley,
Get me the Brandy!

I’m watching the NHL Network replay of Game 7 right now, and I am choosing to believe that the red jerseys belong to 2010 Blackhawks. I wonder who will win!

on NHL Netwoek Right Now~
I still get that sinking feeling in my stomach when I see Sid get hurt…Even though it was only a “Charley horse,” on the the replay, it looks like it could be a number of devasting injuries (ACL, broken leg, ect.).
Anyways, awesome effin game! Of course, Talbo scores both goals. IF it would’ve been Geno or Sid, it would’ve just looked like the NHL had scripted it…(wait should I not say that?! lol).

I was deployed in the Middle East watching it with like 50 Wings fans. One of the best moments of my life as a sports fan. After game 5 (which I didn’t see cause I was flying that night) they all were so cocky. They made fun of me saying it was a repeat of the year before. After game 6 they all were ‘confident’ but you could tell they were scared. It was amazing to watch them all in shock when Flower made that save!

Fantastic memories and here’s to 2010-2011. I also re-watched the game this week and am sad, on the one hand, that a repeat wasn’t possible this postseason. But this was still wonderful.

What’s lost in the scramble at the end is the amazing save Flower made on Zetteburg also. It was his shot, through all that traffic, that Flower got the pads on that rebounded out to Lidstrom.

I love watching Osgood off his angle and Superstar sniping that corner it never gets old.

Yes, I enjoyed watching it, too. It seems like only yesterday.
I felt sad and remorseful yet strangley satisfied with watching the Hawks celebrate and line up for the group photo…remembering the Pens last year.

I am soooooooooooooooooooo thankful the Pens won in 2009 and that Sid is the youngest Captin—EVER!—to hoist the Stanely Cup: because if they had not won last year, Toews would be the youngest Captin—think about it! Now, at least, no one can ever take that away from Sid.

Thank God! And timing, and skill, and some luck, and whatever else we can name.

Here’s to more Cup wins by our Pens!

What’s funny is I pulled up this post while sitting on the same couch that I was on for the game one year ago. Maybe a cushion or two over, but still the same couch. And I’m seeing some of the same people today who were there with me to watch the game. Good times.

I can remember that night like it was yesterday. It was a particularly hot and muggy evening in NW Pennsylvania; you could almost taste the sweetness that evening would soon produce. We had been at the bar pre-gaming since early that afternoon it seemed. On this particular night, I felt the need to wear my Talbot shirt to watch the game, I’m glad I did. The moment they crowded Fleury, gloves and helmets flying, the celebration began for us too. My 6’5" frame jumped wildly, at one point jumping directly into the spinning blades of an overhead ceiling fan, but I’m a hockey fan, and I partied through the pain. I spent a lot of money I didn’t have on shots for people I didn’t know. I woke up in the morning with the aftermath of jagerbombs and a ceiling fan pounding in my head. It was the greatest night of my life, and I shall always remember for the rest of my years!

I still remember how intense it was for me. It really surprised me, because all my really emotional sports memories had been about NASCAR. But of all those, I think only Tony Stewart finally winning Indy, his home track, really matches how I felt when Crosby lifted the Cup.

I was sitting next to my Beloved, a Wings fan, on the couch. More precisely, we were on the edge of the couch. We held hands, but we dug our nails into each others’ palms so hard it took a week to fully heal.

We had friends over, including a man who loves the Wings and his young daughter who loves the Pens. That Wings shot rang off the post, and we all got tense. Then the final buzzer went off, and I didn’t know whether to cry or laugh, so I did a bit of both. The girl ran to me, and we hugged, squealed and jumped like I was a little girl, too. The Wings fans we loved didn’t even stay pissed for long. They smiled at us and our happiness.

I know a lot of Pens fans watched that game and enjoyed reliving it again. Me, I couldn’t. I didn’t want to overwrite that moment in my head, if that makes sense. It’s too perfect just the way it is. I don’t know what another Cup next year or the year after that will feel like, but I can’t wait to find out.

We started the day by hitting the road around 5am. Got to Detroit around noon and saw this down the block from our hotel:

.
Got to the MGM Grand and our room wasn’t ready. Walked through the casino to the food places and had lunch. I was in line behind Mike Lange. Told him I had a good feeling about the game and he agreed. Would have gotten my picture taken with him but the wife was getting her food from one of the other places and she had the camera. Got this really fuzzy picture of him having lunch and studying his notes:

.
Went back to the front desk and room still wasn’t ready, so they upgraded us to the Rain Man Suite:

.
Headed over to Joe Louis Arena. Took major abuse from Wings fans, but there were LOTS of Pens fans there. Good times. Security took our camera. Almost game time. Muhammad Ali was there. I wasn’t impressed. Got our signs on nbc as the players were coming out of the tunnel. Didn’t know about Pensburgh yet or you guys would have been on the sign too:

.
Talbot scored. Talbot scored again. Can’t remember much after that until the last few seconds. Pens won. We went nuts. Drunken Pens fan wouldn’t listen to security so he got himself tossed. We managed to get into the team Cup picture:

.
Finally got our camera back in time to take a shot of the scoreboard:

.
Left the arena before they had to throw us out. One last victory shot on the steps of the Joe:

.
Left town the next morning. Waved bye to the Joe on the way out:

.
Got home. Celebrated with trip to Duck, NC:

.
The End.
.
Best.
Day.
Ever.