Washington Capitals: Have a Cigar…

I would like to offer congratulations to the Washington Capitals for capturing the Southeast Division crown this year. Even though the Hurricanes beat them heads up with a record of 4-3-1, the Caps won the games that they needed to win down the stretch and certainly deserved the title.

If Bruce Boudreau doesn’t win the Jack Adams, something is seriously wrong.

I admit that I enjoy watching Alexander Ovechkin play and I hope his passion for the game never changes. The turn-around this year for the Caps is a great story. Now that the Canes have retired for the season, I’ll be quietly pulling for Washington to continue their quest for the Cup. It would be nice to see the Southeast capture another championship.

Capitals fans are in for a real treat. The deeper you go into the playoffs, the hotter the fever will get and more and more fans will be jumping on the bandwagon. Embrace them all, because one of the sweetest things about a playoff run is that some people who were never hockey fans before will catch interest and be fans for the rest of their lives.

To my loyal readers and friends of the Canes Country Blog, I say thanks for visiting and please keep coming back. The blog was very active all off-season last year, and we will be again this time around. There always seems to be something going on that is Hurricanes related and we will also follow what’s going on around the league. Some up and coming topics include….

• Will Jim Rutherford stay or go?
• What will the team look like next year?
• How far will Albany go in their playoff push?
• Besides the injuries, what went wrong this year?
• Who should the Hurricanes draft?

Speaking of draft, the draft lottery will be on Versus on Monday night. More about that tomorrow.

It’s a surreal feeling to be a Caniac right now. Last year seemed so much easier to accept because everyone knew that the last game was really going to be the last game. This year, no one thought that Friday’s game was going to be the last. Fans had been planning on attending the playoffs for weeks. Tickets had been bought and paid for. It just seems like there was no chance for closure.

But this too will pass Caniacs. As old Hartford Whalers fans used to say, “there is always next year”. As dark a day as today was, we can still be thankful that we have NHL hockey to follow and so many great players to watch night in and night out. For whatever reason, this year just wasn’t meant to be.

Pink Floyd