Is This You?

So, maybe you're a hockey fan, who follows an Original Six team - because everyone knows those are the teams with the rich history - and whose mood can be measured by how well your team did in their last game.

And possibly this has been a good playoffs for you and your team so far, as you both worked hard together to win an early series or two, and started allowing the Stanley Cup Dream to start forming, just a little bit, in that brain of yours.

So when your team found themselves tied going into Game 5, you knew this was the pivotal match that would likely determine the outcome of this key step in the Quest for the Cup. With less than a minute to go in that crucial game, and your team up by a goal, you had every reason to believe that you and the boys were well on their way to Something Special.

Except that your opponents in this series had other ideas, and a late tying goal sent Game 5 into Overtime. Bad turned to worse, as you knew it had to, and suddenly your fortunes were reversed faster than you could say, "Jeremy Irons!" Instead of being up 3-2, you were faced with the prospect of having to fight off elimination for one game, or two, if you were lucky.

And when Game 6 was over, and despite a Hell of a comeback attempt by your team late, your team had lost both the battle and the war, you couldn't help but sit back and think, "But... we were so close!"

Was that you? If, like me, you're a New York Rangers fan, then it was. And, as of tonight, it was also you if you leak Detroit Red Wing crimson when you bleed... You know who you are. And I share your pain.