There’s always something special about the spring time, sans 2005 of course. Many people always cite chirping birds, rain showers, flowers blooming, lawns growing, warmer weather, etc., but they are all wrong. Wrong I tell you!  Just wrong.  The Spring is only good for one reason and that’s the Stanley Cup Playoffs are in full effect.

We hockey fans are an unusual breed of people. We’re the type that get hit with pucks and walk back to the rink to because there’s a hockey game playing. I’ll rehash an old story of mine from when I worked for a minor league hockey team to illustrate this to the nonbelievers, hockey infidels if you will.

I distinctly remember one fan getting hit with a puck. It was during the playoffs when a puck hit off of an opposing players stick and went into the stands and hit this lady right in the face. As I was standing maybe 60 yards away from her at the time, I heard a loud smack and immediately saw her clutching her face in pain. The puck didn’t hit in a cheek, chin or forehead, but rather it hit on the bridge of her nose causing racoon eyes to form almost immediately. Everyone could see the birds flying around her head and they weren’t just cartoons either.  Pucks are frozen so they move on the ice therefore they aren’t just pieces of rubber that some people believe.  Oh ye hockey infidels I curse you!
She refused to be taken by an ambulance and she was in no condition to drive.  In fact we had to almost force her to go to the hospital.  She didn’t want to miss a puck drop.  A representative of the team dropped her off at the hospital, and after being told she would be there for at least a couple of hours, he came back to the game because he had work to do.

About two hours after the incident happened, this same fan walked through a side entrance, down the ramp where the Zamboni entered and exited the ice and said hello to me. She looked like she had been through hell and back and her racoon eyes had grown darker to the point where she could have robbed a bank and the teller would have said she had a zorro mask on. When I asked her why she walked from the hospital to the game (this was only about one mile mind you) and was not still at the hospital she replied “and miss the game?”

Only hockey fans would have done something like this. We are a rare breed. While there’s mutual respect between Colorado and Dallas fans, I think that respect is hinged on the fact we both hate everything the Red Wings stand for.  Forget the Steve Yzerman playing his last season media hype.  It’s not as if he hasn’t already won the Cup.  The Wings deserve to lose.

The 2006 Stanley Cup finals started last night and the Dallas Stars start today in a day game. I’ll be happy as long as the Detroit Red Wings lose quickly, first round is preferable, and Dallas makes it to the Conference Finals. My prediction is Calgary versus New Jersey for the Cup with Calgary winning in game 6, but we’ll see.