Nine Reasons Why I Love the NHL Playoffs

The time is 9 AM and the birds are starting to chirp louder and louder, as I wake up for a long and restful sleep. I do not feel groggy, my eyes are not heavy or red, my speech is dandy, and I'm in a wonderful mood to top it all off. As we know it, the nice day of spring has arrived. I get up and look outside the window, as I can see the snow melting out in my front yard, and I start seeing some green grass. I can finally see the sidewalk.

As I make my way downstairs, I look out another window and what once was full of snow, is now gone. All gone. In a way, I miss it; I miss the snow banks and the slippery roads.

I make my way downstairs and look around, my family isn't home. I have the place to myself for now. I plop down on the couch and turn on the TV. I go straight for TSN (The Sports Network in Canada) and start watching hockey highlights. I see the first game and nothing surprising, I see the second game, nothing exciting, I see the third game, and I jump out of my seat and watch the highlights. I start rooting and cheering as loud as I can, almost as loud as yesterday when the game was actually on TV, live.

Folks, it's playoff time. It's not cold, it's not snowing (in most areas) and tempers are at an all-time high. Your close friends become distant friends for the playoffs. No Montreal in Toronto, no Pittsburgh in Philadelphia. It's time for business.

You're twice as loud now, and you're cheering like a mad man. You cannot wait for the next game. Last night was a brutal and heart wrenching. Off the post, through the crease, bobbling long shots, bad turnovers, big hits, high sticks, cross checks, injury, maybe not an injury and everything else in between.

This is playoff hockey. You can feel each emotion going through you in one hockey game. These are 9 reasons to love playoff hockey.

9) Commercials/Contests:http://youtube.com/watch?v=xG1nyk990R0 (0:30)

Whether they have knock off jerseys or not, the NHL comes up with very creative ideas for fans to get involved. In this one, you are able to send in videos and get a new NHL shrine of your favourite team or the company-sponsoring hockey, which is CBC. This is a wonderful idea to get fans involved. If you search "Bring Home The Cup", you will see many videos appear. Many dedicated fans show their heart and pour their souls onto their shrines. If anything is valuable, it's your own hockey team. It's almost like being one country. Just ask any Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and the teams go on and on.

Sidenote: If you search "hockey commercials" you will notice a flurry of great hockey commercials from past years.

8) Cheering:http://youtube.com/watch?v=K1JJ8yUvSz4 (0:32)

Shoddy video, but this is what it sounds like when you're in the arena during a playoff game. This is first game of the Pittsburgh Penguins, in Pittsburgh, since 2001. 6 years later, they are in. Can you even hear yourself? I can barely hear myself think when I watch the video. I get goose bumps. I might've lost my voice at one point or another, cheering. And that was at home. When I'm at the game, I lose my voice and my hearing from cheering and booing so loud. This is excitement, this is what we, as fans, bring to the table. I have never, and I mean never seen basketball fans be like that. Ever.

7) National Anthems:http://youtube.com/watch?v=PEkQcu-g6II&mode=related&search= (9:52)

When I hear the crowd roaring before both National Anthems start, I already start getting excited. The nerves and jitters go through my body like nothing else. When I hear the crowd singing the American anthem, like they were Americans themselves, it made the whole experience extra special. But, as a Canadian and when O' Canada came up, the crowd absolutely erupted into applause and cheers. It's nothing like I've seen before. As a proud Canadian I still, to this day, cannot get over this display of patriotism and respect, for both nations. When I watch this video or even hear O Canada, I stand up and sing loud and proud. You're telling me you don't feel tingly after watching this? Imagine being there, imagine watching this live on TV. What an amazing experience, a feeling that will never go away. What a wonderful thing to hear. Do you hear how proud 17, 000 fans are? Wow. This is what the playoffs are, this is what the playoffs mean to all of the diehard hockey fans.

6) Goals/Saves/Hits:http://youtube.com/watch?v=xG1nyk990R0 (3:57)

The 2004 NHL Playoffs showed what the NHL would be into the future. The future is now and the game is healthier than ever. What can I say about that year? Nothing. Just watch it.

5) Marathon Overtimes (Heroes):

Uwe Krupp:http://youtube.com/watch?v=AymjQ2Ko6YI (3:20)

Jason Arnott:http://youtube.com/watch?v=UzXnmn8sjhs (0:20)

Keith Primeau:http://youtube.com/watch?v=UzXnmn8sjhs (0:09)

Petr Nedved:http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qhrt8CrvBB8 (2:52)

Marathon overtimes are a treat you do not get in the regular season. Obviously, it's meant for the playoffs because there needs to be a winner. I've been through all sorts of overtimes, whether it was Montreal scoring 9 seconds in to end the game, or Uwe Krupp scoring the game winning goal in the 3^rd overtime in the fourth game, to give the Colorado Avalanche the Stanley Cup, or Keith Primeau ending it in 4 overtimes against Pittsburgh, and this year, when Henrik Sedin ended a game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Dallas Stars on the very first game between them, in 4 overtimes. I've been through all the highs and lows of overtime. Cheering like crazy, or throwing my remote control out of anger. Or even sitting their, depressed, and wondering, "what if....?" for a few hours.

4) Great goal turns into great celebrations:

Theoren Fleury:http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qhrt8CrvBB8 (0:15)

Darius Kasparaitis:http://youtube.com/watch?v=vuVy1sk3Kds (0:36)

Anyone who has been watching hockey for a long time will always remember Theoren Fleury coming in and scoring and then celebrating for almost a whole sheet of ice. Jumping and sliding, fist pumping at the same time. The emotion it delivers in some people. In the regular season if he scored this goal, would he have done the same? I don't think so. He would've done a fist pump and that was that, but this is the playoffs. Everything is more intense, and every little thing you do right, you show your emotions ten times than what it would be. I will always love this emotion and love for the game that players show.

3) Heroes:http://youtube.com/watch?v=cGovDkf6JHs (4:01)

If you weren't a Colorado Avalanche player, you still wanted Ray Bourque to win a Cup. This man poured his heart about for over 20 seasons and came close, twice in his career, but could never win the Cup. After being traded to Colorado, he spent two seasons there and in his second season, the Avalanche finally did what Bourque wanted them do. A classy player in Joe Sakic didn't lift Lord Stanley like he's supposed to, he gave it over to Ray Bourque to lift first. As he was crying, I know a ton of hockey fans cried with him that day, out of happiness. This is only one example of a hero in the NHL Playoffs. A hero could a game winning goal late in overtime, or someone who scores tons of goals. A hero isn't only one thing in the playoffs, it's everything.

2) Courage/Bravery:http://youtube.com/watch?v=SA7gfd9CqA4 (5:20)

Steve Yzerman, on one knee, not only helped Team Canada win a Gold Medal in 2002, but helped the Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup in the same year. Basically on one knee. After refusing surgery, and doctor's orders, Yzerman went out there to play his heart and soul out, for his fans and for Detroit. He wanted another Stanley Cup. He already had two, why another one you might ask? Because this is an example of how dedicated and courageous hockey players are. Some people might think that it's silly to do that over a trophy, but you have to be a hockey fan to realize the beauty that is Lord Stanley's Mug. A beautiful trophy. No one is going to stop to get it. I've heard stories of people with torn rib cartilage and still play. Bobby Baun broke his foot, froze it up, came back and scored the game-winning goal to give the Toronto Maple Leafs the Stanley Cup. That is bravery, and the fans fall in love with that type of story, but more so with that kind of heart.

1) Lord Stanley:http://youtube.com/watch?v=JBfadHi-qyw (3:08)

A short clip of what Lord Stanley's Cup means to the players.

As a person who loves watching and playing hockey, I will never get near the Stanley Cup like players do. BUT I have had the chance to take my picture with Lord Stanley's Mug, and it wasn't the replica, it was the real thing. I was speechless at what I was looking at. I looked at all the teams, I looked for my idol's name. You look up and down at it, and I gave it a nice kiss and hug.

This is my NHL.