Playoffs

Playoffs is the best time of the year. It's the time when all the old cliches start to mean something again... because there still is "no I in team" and it still does "separate the men from the boys"... and everyone looks themselves in the mirror to ask the question... "Do I have what it takes?" It's when scorers start to hit, and hitters start to score, and everyone blocks shots, and everyone battles through injuries, and everyone does whatever they can, wherever they can to help their team win.
And I know this is incredibly biased but no other sport brings it out as much as hockey. And nothing brings all of this out as much as the NHL. And I couldn't even come close to comparing Holland to any of it. But our mediocre attempts at NHL intesity can still show glimpses of it every now and then. And that's why we play.
First of all, we have a totally non-grueling best of 7 schedule of Friday, Sunday, Friday, Sunday, Friday, Sunday, Wednesday. But maybe the fact that it's not a game every night fight through injuries and fatigue kinda series means everyone is playing at their top level when games do come around.
We lost friday at home for our first home loss of the season. One of our best defensemen got slashed and broke his finger in the process. At the end of the game the other team cheered just a little too loud and our players turned it into a "sort of" bench brawl on the ice. And I say only "sort of" a bench brawl because there were only a few fights, a few punches, and a lot of pushing and yelling. Sunday we came back with a win at Geleen to even the series and get back home ice advantage. This time the fights happened in the stands as Danelle and the whole section got beer thrown on them which resulted in her having front row seats to a "freakin mob fight." Scary times. Happily she's alright. Not a bad crazy weekend to the start playoffs.