How the Open Scrimmage Helps me Gird for the Second Round

Jarmo Kekalainen's suggestion to open the scrimmage to the public yesterday drew about 5,500 CBJ fans.  I had intended to take some vacation and go; my wife already had the day off.  But I hurt my myself (upper body, day to day) and couldn't go.  But this break, and an event like that are helping me to get my edge back as a fan.

You see, I let it all hang out in that series against Tampa.  The notion of cheering hard when the least little thing went bad meant nothing to me.  The funny part of game 4, is that I don't even remember Tampa tying the game, we were cheering so hard.  Ears pinned back, letting it loose, particularly when things looked like they were going sideways.

For you see, no one could do anything to me that hadn't already been done in an opening round of the playoffs.  The precision of the Detroit sweep, the angst of the Penguins, the crushing losses to Washington, there just wasn't much that I hadn't seen.  The pundits predicted another Detroit-like sweep.  So I had nothing to lose.

But when the CBJ swept Tampa, I was hit with this overwhelming sense of joy and relief.  And I have struggled since then to regain my edge.  I now feel I have something to lose again in this next round, and I have to find a way to let go of that if I'm going to be the fan I need to be in this upcoming round. 

So the rest and recuperation has been helpful for me, after a trying season of fandom.  But I can feel it coming back now, the edge and the excitement.  I'll be ready to take on any disappointments with aplomb, keep my head in the game, and make Nationwide the most competitive environment I can.  I'm ready for it now, and we just need to get this Boston-Toronto game 7 out of the way so we can see ahead.

We pushed hard on Tampa, and they did not have an answer.  Our second round opponent will not be hampered by that problem, and will respond when pushed.  Likewise, we will be called on to do the same.  It is going to be fantastically fun, and I am really getting pumped.  But I needed the break for this one.  So thanks for sweeping them boys!

Round 2 starts later this week.  Uncharted territory.  It should be awesome!

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!! (up 2-0 in their own playoff series!)