Stanley Cup Finals! (from a sore winner)

after the game
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

Yes, the Chicago Blackhawks have made it to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1992! With an improbable (at least to all the people who said Blackhawks or Sharks in 7) 4-game sweep over the San Jose Sharks! (Who did not "choke" in the playoffs--c'mon, the Hawks games were close, and they nearly swept the Red Wings--but jokes about Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton's underperformance in this series are fair game). THE ONLY SWEEP OF THE 2010 PLAYOFFS!

And since I last posted, the Cincinnati Cyclones won the ECHL Kelly Cup after an incredible playoff run! And the AHL playoffs--well, aren't going quite how I'd like.

But...uh, I'm so negative about so many things right now I shouldn't post at all (I just thought I should get something up quickly). The two Blackhawks playoffs games I went to, one in each of the first rounds, were absolutely horrible. I didn't know if I'd make it to this round but then a ticket opportunity seemed to come up. I spent the week thinking I was going and then found out last-minute (well, too late time and money-wise to try to get another ticket) that I DIDN'T have the ticket. I was really hurt and angry. I definitely would have gone to Cincinnati for (what turned out to be) the Kelly Cup game if I'd known I'd wouldn't be going to Blackhawks. (Well, I maybe could have anyway, but I felt a little tired and I didn't think the weather there was good enough for a daytrip.)

Ending up seeing neither game (on top of a really horrible week personally, and I keep thinking I might get a little consolation if I post things like that on Twitter, but I don't) kind of made me the bitterest person on earth today. Not gonna lie, if I couldn't be at the United Center, I was hoping for a loss. I suppose this makes me a terrible person and bad sports fan, but it is what it is. (Oh, and still no NBC reception at home so I couldn't record the game either.)

I'm grudgingly starting to feel happy about the win, combined with hopelessness at whether I can get to a Stanley Cup game. After blogging about hockey nearly every day for over six months, after attending lots of home games and traveling to see the Blackhawks in five other cities, I don't know if I can get to a game. I guess I shouldn't worry about that now. I know, I know, fans of 27 other teams would love to be having this dilemma right now...

The hate the Blackhawks are starting to draw (from other than the few typical rivals) is starting to get to me (seriously, what is up with some of the Penguins fans?!), and the Marian Hossa curse jokes were tedious months ago. That's when to get off the Internet for a while, I suppose...so I will.

Oh, and the reason this has a nonsensical photo blogged from Flickr (though it is from my first Blackhawks game at the United Center) is because every time I've signed into Blogger and tried to upload this weekend, the computer has frozen and I've had to shut it off and lose stuff. I tried to get a Chicago Tribune typo posted right after the Friday game, no luck. I'll try again later. If anything, my computer is worse now than it was before I got it "fixed" weeks ago.