Off-Topic Tuesday: The NHL Playoffs

If you watched the first 8 minutes of last night's Edmonton-Carolina Stanley Cup Finals Game 7 and you still don't like hockey, there is no hope for you. That was one of the most intense, exciting stretches of athletic competition that I have ever seen, and the fact that it was Edmonton and Carolina, and I was still going nuts... well, that just shows you (or me, rather) how great of a sport hockey is.

It's really a shame that the NHL Playoffs were getting lower ratings than NCAA Women's Softball at times this summer, but what can you do? If casual fans are only going to watch when big market teams are playing, or when the puck is glowing, then I say so be it. Real fans will keep watching, and loving it. Props to former Wolverine Aaron Ward for scoring the first goal of the game and giving the Hurricanes a lead that they would not relinquish. And props to the Carolina fans, who made more noise than I ever expected to hear outside of a Duke-Carolina b-ball game.