Congratulations on a great playoff run to the Calgary Flames, and congratulations to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Game 7 was good, though the last 10 minutes or so was pretty heart pounding. Tampa played their best game tonight, and to their credit, their best was enough. Calgary seemed a little sluggish for most of the game. Jarome elevated his play at times, but it wasn’t quite enough. I’ll admit that at some points in the last five minutes, it looked like Calgary might tie it (wouldn’t that have been exciting?)

So, also congratulations to the group of us for putting up a great record predicting series. We had one person finish below .500, but he was a little distracted to make any picks after the first round. Five of us finished at 11-4, which is pretty incredible. Congratulations to everyone. Now, we have to hope there will be more hockey greeting us next fall, and not a work stoppage.

Enduring image of the 2004 playoffs: Ville Nieminen singing the Canadian National Anthem before each game.

Tampa Bay beat Calgary on Saturday, as I’m sure you’re aware. Tonight is game 7, so I’ll be firing up the projector, and kicking back to watch some desperate hockey. I’m still picking Calgary. When Jarome has turned up his intensity, it’s like a giant spotlight has been shined on him, and Tampa’s players can’t seem to handle the light. It’s almost like watching a guy play “NHL Hitz” and putting his player “On Fire.” I expect that we’ll see more of the same tonight, and the legend of Jarome Iginla will continue. It won’t hurt that Donovan will be back (they sure missed his speed Saturday night) and Kiprusoff will likely bring his “A” game.

It’s too bad that it will have to come down to a couple of bad bounces. Both teams have played pretty well, and it’s a shame that one of them has to lose.

Saturday afternoon, we went out to a couple of garage sales. No real reason why, but it was good to get out of the house and enjoy some of that sun. Saturday night, I played in the annual Cups tournament (this year they called it the Stanley Cups tournament) which was supposed to get underway at 6:00. Very few games got played before the hockey game was done. We did ok, winning 3 of 5 games.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “I’ve gotta get out of this rut, and back into the groove.” - Homer