CCHA final game.

OK, its time for me to discuss our final CCHA game ever, fitting that it was the CCHA final.

Few things will draw me into a  major city on St. Patrick's Day. Michigan Hockey is one of them. No one wanted to come with me so I purchased my seat the day of and drove to my favorite free parking spot in Detroit. (I am obsessed with free parking. Oddly it is also one of the safest places in the city to leave a car.)

Anyway, I head into the Joe Louis arena and take my second row seat. You know you have a good seat when the players obstruct your view. The atmosphere was odd because I honestly beleive there were more Western Michigan Fans than Michigan fans there, and they got loud. Our students still came out in what the media refereed to as "The lunatic section." Honestly, I liked the atmosphere and it was wonderful to get the Blues Brothers Intro going just one more time.
That being said, some times I just can't stand our team. We were so on-point during the first ten minutes. Then we just messed up once and lost our touch. We couldn't connect, and we couldn't disrupt. We didn't get it back until we were down two men and three goals with about ten minutes to go. Then, we lit a fire under our butts and pulled out a short-handed goal followed by a power play-goal on a major penalty. Then we threatened to score until the end of the game. We still lost, but I was hoping that the fire was reignited for the NCAA tournament. It was not.

I just don't know about this team. I honestly beleive that the players rely a little too much on their talent and don't actually start playing as a team until they are backed against the wall. I am kind of sick of it. I suppose I could rant quite a bit about this but a lot of people have.

What I will say is that I will be back next year. There is nothing like Michigan Hockey at Yost. I love that classic feeling of the old hockey barn. I love the band and the mandatory dancing. I love that win or lose we back our team. I love that we still create taunts on the fly. I love that there are people passionate about a sport that is not football.  Honestly, there were few things better than leaving work on a Friday night and biking across town to catch a hockey game to start the weekend. An I love that I can skate on that ice every week. Hockey has been a wild ride with our crazy wins, losses and climbing back. I'm not sure if I can handle another year of heart wrenching disappointment. However, I know that we are already a contender for next year. I think it would be slightly easier if we weren't expected to go deep every year, but that is the price that we pay.

This weekend I will be heading down to Columbus early Saturday morning to cheer on our women's rowing team. I'd invite you to come with me, but I will be probably heading to a wedding on the way back.