The End of the Season

Well, the Red Wings put up a helluva fight over the course of the season.  The Wings fans witnessed an off season in which two veteran defensemen retired and another thankfully signed with San Jose.  The fan base was prepared by all the pro analysts that they would have trouble making it into the post season for the twenty second straight season.  And they truly did have a tough go the entire season.  They won out their last four games to make it in as the seven seed.  They drew Anaheim in the first round and mounted a great comeback in the series to win it in seven games.  Shortly afterwards, they started round two against President's Trophy winning Chicago.  A great team you cannot deny that.  I don't like any team from the city of Chicago, but I do respect the Blackhawks (except Bryan Bickell, he could not play another game in the NHL and I would be okay with that).  Doesn't mean I like them.  They are a formidable opponent and I would rather see my beloved Wings lose to an Original Six team than a team from California.

Anyway, as it is when your team loses in the playoffs, you get overwhelmed by emotion.  I have a tendency to go through all seven stages in a period of about an hour.  Here's what I felt shortly after they lost and their season ended.

• Disbelief:  I can't believe they gave up a 3-1 series lead. 
• Denial:  There's no way they should have lost this series.  What kind of collapse was that?
• Anger:  How could they not win just one more game?!
• Bargaining:  Are you sure they can't play a nine game series?
• Guilt: Maybe if I sat in the exact same spot for every single game they would have won one of those remaining games.  Did I gloat too much after they won the fourth game of the series?  Are the sports gods punishing the team for that?
• Depression:  How long until the next season starts?  I don't know if I can handle this. 
• Acceptance: Ya know, Chicago was the best team all year.  They weren't suppose to be much of a match up against them anyways.  And there's always next year.

Overall, I am very happy with how the season went.  I know that the ultimate goal is to win the Stanley Cup, but getting to the playoffs and winning a series is great.  Yes, they did just lose and are now out, however they pushed Chicago to a seventh game and it did go into overtime.  I can feel good about the team.  There were plenty of younger players that really grew up during the season and I feel that the future for the team is going up and there should be little decline with a full season next year.  All I ask is for Nick Lindstrom to come back and teach Brenden Smith how to play defense for a full sixty minutes.