A little bit of a different blog today, less analytical and newsy and more just what I am feeling as the Colorado Avalanche approach game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals with a 3-1 lead, it is with great pleasure that I introduce to you, a fans notes.
I’m nervous. Oh so nervous, the Colorado Avalanche are one game away from Stanley Cup Glory.
Yet I am nervous, almost flustered. For one, Lightning coach John Cooper has been whining about a phantom to many men on the ice call for exactly 13 hours now, and that sort of worries me, because behind closed doors he’s probably preparing an onslaught the likes of which we haven’t seen.
I still of course have great confidence in my Avs but one thing is crystal clear to me, game 5 is a MUST WIN GAME.
Now I know I have basically called every game in this series a must win game, but hey, I actually truly believe game 5 is a MUST WIN GAME. There is just no way on God’s green earth that the Tampa Bay Lightning are losing in Tampa if they get back to Amalie Arena for a game 6.
I cannot go through a game 7. For several different reasons. One, the sports gods wish maximum heartbreak upon me, because I so often root for maximum heartbreak for other teams what goes around comes around.
Two, I have to work at four in the morning on Wednesday, because precisely all of my coworkers are taking a vacation at the exact same time next week. Suffice to say, if the Avs do win game 7, I will likely not be sleeping. I also have double shifts most of next week, it’s going to be a grind but one I am weirdly excited about and cannot wait to complete. Maybe I will just get my sleep this weekend and go next week on will power and dirty chai lattes. I truly look forward to the grind, I want these proving grounds. About the journey, but that’s just a personal aside.
Three, I love game 7’s but I hate game 7’s my team is involved with. This is just a fact, I cannot stand the anxiety and nerves it brings on.
So, for all those reasons, it would behoove the Avs to win in game five on Friday night, so I can live out the rest of my summer in the glow of victory. Oh, how I need the glow of victory.
I feel nervous though, I think I have mentioned that a few times. Some things give me confidence though, for one the fact game five is on home ice and the Avs are heading back to a comfortable spot to play in, with ice that they know and love. Kadri called Tampa’s ice “Garbage”, I will believe that assessment.
Avs just skate faster at home, they play harder, they are more confident. Denver has a home ice advantage at the Ball like simply no other and it can truly tilt the scales.
Standing in the way and making me nervous though, Andrei Vasilevskiy, a man who just played out of his mind on Wednesday night. The Kadri goal was perfect, it found the only conceivable sliver in Vassy’s defense and exploited it. Right under his elbow and into the top of the net.
Surely Andrei will be at the top of his game on Friday night, impenetrable in net. This makes me nervous.
My confidence though is stoked by Darcy Kuemper. Darcy, a man I have been critical of, seems to have gotten it together at the end. Game four was his best performance of the entire season. He played with confidence and swagger, he did what all great goalies do, he played big.
I know he can bring that kind of performance in game five and if he does he will become a legend amongst Avs fans.
So here I sit, nervous, on the edge of pure joy, yet with the potential of great failure. 3-1 is a precarious place to be. It’s truly the most dangerous lead in sports.