Told my buddies two weeks ago that Luongo would fold like a cheap suit. Was a little (a lot) worried to start out, but now I'm confident that the Hawks will pull it off.
I share Wild tickets and ended up with the last Dallas game and was kind of dreading going. Thought they'd choke big time and let Dallas in. Obviously, couldn't be happier that they helped out the Blackhawks.
I was hoping that they'd get (at least) to the second round so the weather improves and the wife and I could possibly ride there for a game and see the HD museum on the way back home.
Sidestory: When Minnesota came back and knocked off Colorado (when Andrew Brunette scored in OT on Patrick Roy) in their only playoff run, I was lucky enough to be sitting on the glass, right behind the goal--two down from the goal judge.
Went with buddies to game 6 in St. Paul, when they won in OT, I was ready to go to Denver and scalp tickets for game 7 the next night. None of my buddies believed that I'd go. I kept telling them "game 7, on the glass." Went outside of McGovern's and called the Denver ticketmaster number--got a recording saying they were offering tickets for Round 2, Denver against the Canucks. This of course pissed me off to the point that I almost had to go.
I own a little bar two hours west of the metro. I called my buddy that was bartending that night. He said he'd go. Two other guys that happened to be sitting at the bar when I called said they'd go. Picked them up at three in the morning (after shutting down the bars in St. Paul) and road-tripped to Denver. We found a hotel, crashed for a bit, then made our way to the arena.
A reporter from the Rocky Mountain News saw us walking up to the Arena in our Wild jerseys--he ended up doing his column about us. He directed us to the area where the scalpers "work." Haggled with a scalper for a while before he finally asked us what exactly we were looking for. He told us the game wasn't sold out and we could get on-the-glass seats inside.
Needless to say, on the glass, right behind the net is where we ended up. Most of my game-6 buddies watched the game back home in my bar. The entire place went nuts all night because we were on TV every time there was a scrum or replay near the net. And of course we were right there when he scored the winner in OT.
My brother still can't get over the fact that I called "on the glass" the night before, and Brunette scored the biggest goal in Wild history (so far) right in front of me.
Nothing like NHL playoff hockey! Go Blackhawks!