Beginning of the end

Tomorrow marks the first day of the Stanley Cup Finals, and in a few weeks there will be a new Stanley Cup Champion. For the first time in a while, I am really not looking forward to the series. I don't like Boston or Vancouver. It's easy for me to come up with reasons why I don't like the Bruins, but when it comes to the Canucks it's hard to put my finger on it. Maybe it's kind of like a sibling rivalry...the Canucks are our "sister" team as they were the other team that was founded in 1970. I'm not sure if that has something to do with it, but it probably does. Either way, I don't want to see either team hoisting the Cup. So that puts me in quite the conundrum, doesn't it? I suppose I will just have to see how the series plays out until I can decisively figure out which team I dislike the least.

Meanwhile, the Sabres are still well into the offseason and I really haven't missed them... After the elimination, I think every fan goes through a depression where they think, "What am I supposed to do now?! What is my purpose in life?!" And believe me, I felt like that. I couldn't imagine going through months with no Sabres hockey, especially considering how much fun that season was. But the depression comes and goes, and eventually I realize that I sort of embrace the offseaon because it's time to put the Sabres on the back burner and enjoy other things that I like to do. And that's what I've been doing. Enjoying not having to go to class and complete assignments, enjoying going out with my friends, planning little getaways, going to concerts and festivals, and everything else that the summer brings.

And then Sabres.com posted a story about the locker room renovations. I thought to myself, "Hey, that's pretty cool. Everything sounds like it's going to be a kickass facility for the players." And then I saw this picture on the team's official Facebook page. And my heart did a little back flip.



It's Ryan Miller!!! Going over the locker room plans with Terry Pegula!! When the season ends, the players all disperse and go their seperate ways, and I know that it will be months until I get to see their faces again. So when I get a picture of Ryan Miller right in the thick of the offseason going over the locker room plans with Terry Pegula, it's just like a little bonus for me! And it may or may not have made my day when I saw it. If I had more shame I would probably be a little embarrassed admitting that, but...I don't.

So even when I think that I don't really miss the Sabres, I do. And me getting excited over this picture just proves that there's no way that I can stop liking this team, even if I wanted to.

And I'm not going to lie, the picture of Darcy Regier and Ted Black breaking the locker room wall was pretty awesome too:




I will be sure to update as soon as I figure which team I hate less in the Finals, as I'm sure you're all eager to find out.