Until October
Sadly, the run is over. Despite being ranked among the bottom teams by most of the experts at the beginning of this season (we don't need no stinkin' stars), Buffalo had an amazing season capped by a super-human effort during playoffs. I still believe that Buffalo was/is the better team in this series, but so much of the playoffs is about which team can withstand the grueling schedule and hold-off injuries long enough to make it to the finish. The Sabres couldn't do it. First Connolly, then Numminen, then Kalinin, then Numminen, then Tallinder, then Numminen, then Numminen again, and, finally, McKee. It was too much for one team to take, even a team as deep as Buffalo.
Rather than recap the game, which you can read about here and here and here, I'd rather talk about my favorite moment in the playoffs, my favorite moment in every playoffs. The handshake -- is there anything more amazing than the handshake at the conclusion of each playoff series? There's something so civil, so quaint, about seeing grown men lining up to shake hands with and, in some cases, embrace their opponents. You'll not see anything like it in any of the other major professional sports, and it always makes me proud to be a hockey fan. In a world where we villanize anyone who disagrees with us and there no longer seems to be any middle ground, it serves to remind and reassure us all that this is only a game. Besides, there's always next season.
Well, since Siva posted some of his favorite photos of the season, I thought I'd do the same. Here are Eleanor and Peter rooting the Sabres on to victory against the dreaded Flyers.
Go Sabres, y'all.
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