I Can Quit Anytime...

My name is Cheryl, and I admit, I am addicted to hockey.

I didn’t expect it to be so tough to be away from hockey for a week. I should have known better. I followed the Canes games against Montreal during one flight and Florida during another via Twitter. Hell, I even had about 20 mins at the gate in CLT, which I deemed enough time to get out my laptop and listen to ChuckandtheletterK’s live streaming audio before I had to board. (Side note: CLT rocks for having free wifi in the terminals. DTW and terminal B of MCO- shame on you for trying to charge $8) I was in such hockey withdrawal, I met up with another Caniac for practice at the RBCC the morning after I landed. RecZone is great and all, but there’s something different about a full practice on our home ice. While we were there, we checked out the view from our seats for an upcoming game just behind the penalty box. Excited beyond words. Thank you, StubHub.

It feels like some sort of time warp happened over the week I was gone, because I came back to a different team. Sergei played against us for Florida as I was en route to RDU, and Carson had recently been picked up off waivers by Calgary. We reacquired Stillman and picked up Bryan Allen for Sergei, both from Florida, before the trade deadline. I noticed at the Buffalo game that the RBCC also stopped playing the “Smile” intro, which threw off the pre-game routine I’d been used to, but is much less crucial in the grand scheme of things. Thanks to our amazing hockey karma, the Caniac Girl Trio spent our reunion game in lower level seats—an amazing spot for an amazing game. Our boys played 3 whole periods (?!) and quite well, I might add. Unfortunately, Buffalo looked pretty good, too, and we ended up tied. Cue “Welcome to the Jungle” and a spike in my heart rate. I hate OT. With a passion. But Jamie saved the day, getting the game-winning goal less than a minute in, avoiding Buffalo catching us in the standings and any major cardiac damage.

The boys played my 2^nd favorite team in the NHL the next night, but I don’t wanna talk about it. Jay Harrison made an awesome save that made the SportsCenter Top Ten plays, but other than that, let’s just say it was the only time this season I heard too much Chelsea Dagger… With a break this weekend, we had to rely on other teams in the East helping us out by beating Buffalo and NY. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. At all. In fact, both the Sabres and Rangers had some ridiculous games. Buffalo beat Philly 5-3 Saturday, then went on to beat Minnesota in OT the next day. On Sunday, the Rangers had a ridiculous game against Philly. Callahan scored 4 goals in the Rangers shutout victory. 7-0 over Philly. What is happening?! Clearly, our Canes need to be focused and ready for every game ahead of them, because with our competition being this intense right now, we can’t afford to give up any potential points if we want to play more than three games in April. I’m starting to remember how much this final month of the regular season feels like perpetual OT…