A Game For the Ages

(A great article written by my good friend William Carrigan that I thought deserved some face time and hockey has been a little lacking lately. Enjoy)

It is a clear Tuesday night in mid-November. Two titans come together for a much-anticipated rematch of an epic playoff meeting not too many moons ago. The one team: a well-oiled machine of veteran players and measured rising stars – the undisputed heavy weight champion of the world and large favorite in this prize-fight having stolen one of their challenger’s best players only months before. The other: the youthful challenger still hearing the ring from the final bell of the two’s last meeting fresh in their heads, the sting of that night all too real in their minds. They seek revenge, and they seek it on enemy ground. The stage is set. It is time for war.

The young challengers jump first with a beautiful pass finished with a dazzling display of athleticism to take the lead. The crowd is silent. This is not how they thought it would turn out. It is not long before they are given something to cheer about. Their home warriors show their grit and produce not one, not two, but three unanswered scores. The youthful opponents are visibly shaken. Halfway through the night, the veteran home team has a comfortable two score lead on the seemingly inept squad that had the nerve to challenge their supremacy and they aren’t losing any steam. It looks to be a long trip home for the visitors tonight. They aren’t done. The machine churns out one more. Three scores and time is running short. A minute goes by. The challengers cut into the lead by one. Two minutes. Another cut. Only one score separates the two teams with time to spare. A glimmer of hope! It fades. The machine will not be undone. They score again. Nice try. See you next time. The challengers for some reason keep trying. They make a solid attempt, but the machine’s defenses show no cracks. Well, one. The challengers score with five minutes remaining. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. The defense will not give an inch. Forty-five seconds. Thirty-seconds. It’s not over. With only twenty-three seconds to spare, the challengers make a hail mary attempt that somehow works. The game is tied. The faces on the crowd say simply: You have got to be kidding me.
Overtime. Five minutes on the clock. No one is sitting down. For a few minutes neither team gives way. Just over two minutes remaining. One of the young warrior intercepts one of the machine’s powerful members. Everyone holds their breath. A pass. Only one defender to beat. A prayer. It’s over. The challengers have brought the champions to their knees in spectacular fashion. They have proven that they will not be tossed aside. This year will be different. They are coming for the title they came so close to last year. God save anyone who stands in their way.

When the dust has settled the final score stands:
Pittsburgh Penguins – 7
Detroit Red Wings – 6

The drama and excitement of this game will be hard to top in ANY sport this season, let alone in hockey. And yes, mark my words the Penguins are out for blood. This hockey fan would love nothing more than a rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup Final to grace television this spring. The board is set. The pieces are moving. Who will come out on top? We’ll see.

For now, I could not be more proud of my Penguins.

In case you missed it:

http://www.nhl.com/ice/boxscore.htm?id=2008020216

Another Video

I just felt like adding another one of the videos I worked on in my spare time. Enjoy!

Beef with the BCS

Rich DeVita

So I have been thinking about the current BCS system. I have never liked it and after hearing Chris Berman interview Obama at the halftime of Monday Night Football last week, it seems that everyone has an opinion on this. It is a great water cooler discussion but it seems like a playoff is light years away. Here is something to think about. 

Should Penn State be jumped by a Texas Tech team after Tech beat #1 Texas? At first I thought to myself "of course they should! They just bet the #1 team in the country and have not lost this year. " But then I thought more about it. Penn State has won every game so far this season by 2 touchdowns or more. Should they be punished because they had an off week? This has been discussed all week on ESPN and other media outlets. I was wondering what everyone out there thinks. Is it just me or was anyone else surprised when they saw the current rankings this past week?

 

Another topic of discussion that has come up is the National Championship. Should a one loss team from conferences such as the SEC or the Big 12 get the nod instead of an undefeated Big 10 school? You can only play who is on your schedule. Has Ohio State's past failures hurt chances for other teams in their conference?

The computers also get on my nerves sometimes. I believe that voters should have the final say in the polls. If a good portion of sports writers vote a team #2 yet the computers have them at #4 because of strength of schedule and average win margin then the team can end up number 3 and possibly miss out on accomplishing the ultimate goal of winning a championship.

For once in my life I agree with President-elect Barack Obama. We need an 8 team playoff system in college football. Forget this voting nonsense. Have the top 8 teams at the end of the year put into a bracket and have the national champion be decided on the gridiron, just like it should be. We would probably have some of the most intriguing games in recent history. 

Reactions? Comments and opinions? Let me know.

Luck number 13

This will be short. So I was in the bar last night and caught the 2nd and 3rd Periods of the Vancouver and Anaheim game, and I must say that it ranks as maybe the best game I've seen this year as far as offense. Going into the second, the Ducks had a 2-1 lead. I go get another beer, look back and its 3-2 Canucks, in about 2 minutes, they scored twice. Next two minutes, its 2-2, and then Vancouver goes on a Blitz, scoring three times in a little over 2 minutes. Games over right? NO, Anaheim comes back and scores three times in the next 5 minutes to tie it up at 5 all. Third Period, and the Canucks go up by one with about 9 minutes left. Anaheim keeps pushing and with 52 seconds ties it up again. OT and nothing so we go to the shoot out. 13 rounds it goes, 13 ROUNDS! Vancuver finally scores the last shot in the 13th round, what could be better than to win a game on Halloween in the 13th round?