The Greatest Games

With all due respect to the college bowl season which ESPN has dubbed the "Most Wonderful Week of the Year" in seasons past, we are entering the greatest time of the sports year for me. Playoff hockey season. Nothing is better than teams putting everything on the line and playing until someone wins. No more ties (and with BC there have been a LOT of those this year. No more kissing the sister. No more shootouts. Just play until one team has more goals than the other.

There is nothing better than watching two teams slug it out for 60 minutes and then have to go into overtime to move on. The tension, the excitement, the heartbreak, the elation. The ending of a good overtime playoff hockey game has got to be one of the greatest moments in sports. I remember Peter Nedved ending a 4OT game for the Pittsburgh Penguins. I can still picture him now on his knees with his arms raised in the air as the puck went in. It was early in the morning but all who cared were still there and still hoping. Krys Kolanos in 2001, Tom Ashe in 1994 in the Beanpot, Maine v. UNH in the 1999 Frozen Four.

If you want someone to see what hockey is all about, take them to an overtime playoff hockey game and if they aren't converted to being a hockey fan, they don't have a pulse.