DaveZdyrko.com

Of all my sports teams, the one that I get excited about the least come playoff time would be the Philadelphia Flyers. The O’s haven’t made the MLB playoffs in something like 14 years (I’ve decided to include this season already) so they don’t really count. When the Dolphins actually make it, I get pumped even if I don’t expect them to go far. Same goes for the Celtics. The Flyers? Not so much.

This lack of excitement has nothing to do with the sport, either, cause I love me some hockey. The problem is that this team, more so than any of the others, have failed after getting my hopes up so many times that I won’t let myself get excited. A lot of this happened during the Lindros and “Legion of Doom” years where they’d dominated the regular season and then fall short in the playoffs, either because of goaltending or their 1st lines getting shut down.

All of the high hopes ending in failure has just taken a toll and as a result I can’t get excited. It’s a good thing because in years past I might have gotten excited by the team’s upset win in the first round. Thankfully, I didn’t and the fact that they’re now down 3-0 to Boston (the team playing in the city I currently live in) hasn’t phased me one bit. Hell, it didn’t even cross my mind to try and get tickets to see them play the Bruins in either of the 1st two games of this series. I may, however, think about getting seats to see the Bruins take on Crosby in the next round and if they win that series try and get tickets to a game in the Stanley Cup Finals.

As for Philly, I may get excited again some day. But it’ll take having 3 wins in the Stanley Cup finals and a multiple goal lead in the deciding game with less than 30 ticks remaining on the clock…

Even though the outcome wasn’t what I wanted, tonight’s Game 6 where the Detroit Red Wings won the Cup against the Pittsburgh Penguins was a joy to watch. I just really wish that puck would’ve found a way into the net with about a second and a half on the clock because that would’ve been an instant classic for the Wings to be seconds away from hoisting the Cup only to be denied for the 2nd straight game. It didn’t go in and Hockeytown is once again home of Lord Stanley’s Cup. I just wish we could’ve had a Game 7. Now that would’ve been bomb.

ESPN.com recently had a poll that asked which sport had the best Game 7 and the NHL finished 3rd with the NBA netting 2nd and the MLB coming in 1st. The results were obviously swayed by the overall popularity of each sport because if you’re an avid follower of all three, such as myself, then you’d agree that hockey deserved the top spot. And today’s contest between the Washington Capitals and my victorious Philadelphia Flyers was an excellent example of a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs at its finest.

I feel completely exhausted after watching that intense 3rd period and overtime. It was tied 2-2 going into the 3rd, so I was on the edge of my seat for every single one of the shots taken in the period and in OT. Not to mention the stomach-wrenching, heart-pounding, and nerve-wracking feeling I’d get every time Alexander Ovechkin handled the puck or took a shot. The man’s a beast and was clearly superior to everyone else on the ice. I’m just amazed we were able to keep him contained at all for a good chunk of this series. My hat goes off to Coburn and Timonen for their work in shutting him down because he’s everything I had expected Eric Lindros to be.

Anyway, the game was a blast and I’m triply excited about it because we were able to come out on top, especially after they played a game that made me HATE them as blogged about last night. For now, it’s time to celebrate this victory and then prepare for the potential for more heartbreak, hate and, quite possibly, more extreme joy in the next round match up with the Montreal Canadians.