the puck stops here

it's game five of the stanley cup playoffs. the game has been on since 8 and i've only stopped to breathe between periods.

i love this game

hockey has got to be one of the most passionate pursuits a human can partake in (aside from singing, writing and sex). it requires an intense level of vigilance, flexibility, speed, instinct, tolerance for pain, singularity of vision.

think the fact that it's all on skates is the kicker. so much to be in control of as an athlete as it is and then to do it all while running across a sleek surface on blades of one inch steel!

being a bit of a girly girl i must admit that the manliness of the men who play the sport is a big part of the attraction to it. love a metrosexual when i want to unwind from my day and have my feet rubbed and my life's work validated, but there's something about seeing a pack of six foot, broadshouldered, able to grow a beard in a day, scarred from skating with a broken hand for two periods, men, that just does it for me.

love the way that, when interviewed, most can talk about three generations worth of players that inspired them both on the ice and off. love the history, the legacy, the admiration for their peers and their willingness to push themselves to their physical limits.

can barely type now. the ducks have just won and my heart is in my throat. teemu selanne has been playing for fifteen years and has won his first cup. the guys are all hugging one another, leaping for joy, grinning, teary-eyed. the ottawa players seem stricken. exhausted, defeated. aware that a trip to the playoffs sometimes comes only once in a career.

one of the only times where we see men publicly embrace, cry, show affection for one another, show vulnerability, when openly weep with disappointment. have watched every round of the playoffs so feel like i've taken the journey with them.

here i go again, scott neidermeyer just awarded the con smythe trophy. sporting a full beard and camera going to mom in the audience. am balling like a fool.

love the tradition. love that there are still things that mean something to us. love that hard work and endurance (unlike on survivor!) are rewarded.

has been an incredible series. could tell the players have enjoyed being well matched with true competition. love the way that every moment counted and that even when sticks were broken in the middle of a pass the play was completed.

pretty incredible,eh?