A week or so ago, when the Northwestern/Arizona Women's NCAA Softball Championship got more viewers than the Stanley Cup Finals (it's true), I vowed to not watch Hockey again.

See I grew up watching the Washington Capitals battle teams like the Pittsburgh Penguins and the old Detroit Red Wings. I remember those teams being amazing and when the playoffs came it was electric. Well the Red Wings are still the Red Wings, but the Caps and Pens are the two worst teams in Hockey. In fact, the Pens/Caps rivalry was so strong back in the day that when my boss (a Restaurant Manager at the Sheraton) "Spent the Night" with Kevin Stevens...I didn't talk to her for three weeks, and I don't think anyone else did either.

Well fast forward to last night. I was actually dreading watching the game, but came to the decision that I was either watching that or Freddie....and I was not going to be watching Freddie. Another big factor was HDTV....watching sports on HD is like I've died and gone to heaven. Hockey on HD is especially amazing.

Low and behold.....it was a good game, and I actually watched the majority of it. All of it except when The Hills came on MTV. I am mesmerized by that train-wreck of a human being Heidi. The highlight for me came when she added to her Outlook Calendar....9:00 AM- Start Work, 6:00 PM- End Work. Just classic....but I digress....

The game itself was fairly exciting (besides the 2nd period). It was one of those games where you knew it was going to Overtime, and I thought Eric Staal was going to get a third goal and ride off into the sunset with Lord Stanley's Cup. This seemed almost guaranteed when the Oilers threw a shot of the post and on the counter the Canes got a power play. Well there seemed to be one guy on the ice that wouldn't let that happen. Ex-Islander Michael Peca started flying around and disrupting the Canes setup for the start of the Power Play. And the Somehow, a guy I've never heard of (Fernando Pisani), got a steal at the blueline and put a shot top shelf on Cam Ward. Great Shot/Great Ending/Great Game.

Not Since Kevin Stevens getting caught with a Prostitute and Crack (which he bought with stolen lunch money from the Rangers) have I been this excited about Hockey. Might be too little too late though.

Interesting Side Note: Eric Staal scored his first two goals of the finals for Carolina, which had a chance to win its first Stanley Cup on home ice and even went to the trouble of freezing a gold dollar under center ice for good luck.

Edmonton's Ryan Smyth spotted the coin and dug it up during the morning skate, but the Hurricanes apparently stuck another one just under the ice before the game, "like a dog burying a bone," MacTavish quipped.

Back later with our Awful Announcer.....one DeCovan Kadell "Dee" Brown.