Disappointment... For now.

Well, it certainly was a nail-biter... Vancouver came on so strong that I thought maybe the Flames forgot to show up for the game. By the middle of the second period, the Canucks had Calgary on the ropes with a 4-0 lead. I couldn't believe it. All the old feelings of frustration watching the Flames miss the playoffs came back like evil deja vu. During a commercial, I went to tell my girlfriend that the Flames of old had returned. I was sure there was no way for Calgary to come back.

Yet, comeback they did... with a vengeance. Coach Darryl Sutter called a timeout after the fourth unanswered goal to get his guys settled down. After that, Calgary went on a tear. Four unanswered goals of their own later, we went into overtime. And, at long last, the refs decided to put away their whistles and really let them grind it out. Back and forth, chance after chance, one a amazing stop after another. I was literally vibrating from the stress!

Then, the other shoe fell... It took a little over 2 overtime periods for it to happen, but Vancouver scored. Calgary lost a battle for the puck down low that let Canuck Brendan Morrison walk out in front and slide the puck past Flame goalie Miika Kiprusoff. A game that started at 8:00pm with the Flames looking to eliminate the Canucks finally ended at 12:35am with Calgary and Vancouver looking forward to Game 7 on Monday night.

I'm exhausted... That game really took a round out of me. I'm off to bed now, but you can be sure there will be more overtime periods in Dreamland.