That has been the make-up of things the last month or so. It might sound like one hell of a boring routine but believe me it isn’t and the reason it isn’t is one of the elements in that list — Playoff Hockey. I have been addicted to playoff hockey since the first puck dropped in early April. Here we are in early-mid May and we’re only halfway through the competition. The first round is over, the conference semi-final’s are 80% complete and the tournament is set to run until early-June. Fantastic.

I am a Philadelphia Flyers fan in the N.H.L. The reason why is a simple story but one I am sure I have told many times before, but the bare bones of the story is that they were the first team I seen on the TV one day circa 1999. The Flyers went out in the first round however to their state rivals Pittsburgh Penguins and so I have hopped bandwagons with drastic speed and landed on the one driven by Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. Alex Ovechkin is the games best player, he scores goals, he throws hits and he has a wonderful personality in front of the camera. It is hard not to like him and so I’ve been spending every other night plonked in front of the TV cheering on the Capitals.

As I write this The Capitals trail their best of seven series by three games to two. As I submit this blog I will shut down the computer head to bed and begin the wonderful routine: Sleep . . . Work . . . and Playoff Hockey. By 7 p.m. tomorrow evening I’ll be back on the sofa cranking up the T.V.’s sound to about level 30 — loud enough to hear the boards crash as Ovechkin sends another man onto his back-side, but quiet enough to stop the neighbor banging on the wall. The Capitals will be back on again and they will be in Pittsburgh looking to force a game seven. I hope that happens for two reason: I’m cheering for the Capitals now and because I want the games to go as long as possible.

I mean that for all the series’. The other Eastern Final is between Boston and Carolina with Carolina also leading three games to two following Boston’s win tonight in their must-win-game. In the West, Detroit and Chicago lead Anaheim and Vancouver 3-2 respectively meaning that there is a good chance at least one or two of the match-ups will go the seven games and maybe even all of them. I sure as heck hope so because it will then mean less nights of zero hockey before the Conference finals begin for another seven game set. Indeed, all these games, a minimum of 16 wins required to win the cup and a maximum potential of 28 games, all within a two month span and you begin to see why the Stanley Cup might well be the most grueling of trophies to win in all of team sports. Yep, and I haven’t even mentioned the physical element and injuries incurred during this two month battle.

For me getting to watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs with such intensity has been a first. I have loved and followed the great game of hockey for 10-years now and certainly at a serious level for 8-9 years, but for the first time in my life I have been in the time-zone that matters when watching the NHL. The days of sitting up to midnight to see the first of the evenings games before getting to sleep around 3 a.m. and sauntering into work like a zombie are over. I can now get to bed at a respectable hour having watched my fill of playoff hockey for the evening. It is brilliant.

If you’re still with me and reading at this stage and wondering what all this playoff stuff is about, look up your TV guide and find if it is on. Visit NHL.com for indepth guides to the teams and what it is all about. Of course if you are already hooked on it then you have just wated your time reading this because you will not only agree with every word I have said but you will know it all already, long before I began to write it.

It’s 10.23 p.m. now and I could do with some sleep . . . The nights hockey is over and I need all the energy I can get, because other than a run out in the gym from 6-7 tomorrow night I’ll be sweating and cheering on the Capitals as they look to survive against the Penguins and then pushing myself past midnight for the second game of the evening.

I love playoff hockey.

Time zone stuff…

On the subject: NHL | ALL SUBJECTS |

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