Agony and Ecstasy: Game Seven

"Don't wait, Don't wait
The lights will flash and fade away
The days will pass you by
Don't wait"
Dashboard Confessional: "Don't Wait".

Game. Seven. Two words, three syllables, eleven innocuous letters.

But, at the same time, one of the greatest phrases in all of sports.


Game Sevens are, truly, like nothing else. Every bounce could make twenty players' dreams come true, every shot could be one that echoes down through the ages, and every pass could be the last building block in a dream...

There are few other sporting events on the planet which inspire such emotions, and such extremes. Few which have produced so many iconic images, so many iconic sounds. And few whose rarity only adds to their value (there have only been eight game sevens in the Stanley Cup Final in forty years).

And now the Pens are in one.

Luckily, they have players who have "form", as the British cops say. People who've been there before. More of them than the Red Wings, because in all their wins, the Wings haven't been pushed to a game seven of the final.

Ruslan Fedotenko scored both goals, including the Cup winner, last time he was here with Tampa Bay, as well as giving inspiration for Gary Thorne to produce an awesome bit of commentary...

"..Score!...HE'S GOT ANOTHER ONE! FED-O-TEN-KOOOO!"

Search it on youtube..."Fedotenko game 7"...:)

Craig Adams has won the cup with Carolina in a game 7 too...so history is (just) on the Pens' side...

By this time tomorrow, new legends will be born, and many tears of joy or celebration will have been cried in either Detroit or Pittsburgh. But either way, tonight is a moment in hockey history that comes along all too rarely. Savour it. Whoever wins.

That said...

GO PENS, GO!

Reaction to come tomorrow, either way...and then we might get back to events in the UK hockey scene sometime on Sunday or Monday...:)