Hello New York and everywhere else, welcome to the Birdcage. The following is a continuation of the previous article, Game Day. A sequel if you will.

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As the puck drops you can't wait to get that first shot on goal out of the way. Will it be a good night or a bad one? Stopping that first one will help you to think it'll be a good night. It's been a long season with it's ups and downs but you've helped get your team to the finals. You made the big stops that gave your team confidence so that they could take chances without worrying that a single mistake would become a goal against. Two minutes into the game and you still haven't seen a shot. Teams trade possession time and time again with the puck coming in the zone but going right back out again.

Finally the puck gets loose in your zone and you cover it with your glove and get the whistle. Your guys needed a change and you needed to touch the puck. Off the face-off an opposing defenseman lets one rip but you can see it the whole way. Without thinking your right pad kicks out directing the puck into the boards allowing a teammate to get it out of the zone. There, the first stop is under your belt and you feel that it's going to be your night.

With the puck down the other end of the ice for long periods of time your mind begins to wonder a bit. You glance at the clock and then the bench. Just then you realize trouble is headed your way, a breakaway. You glide out as far as you dare showing little if any net. As he comes in on you fast you move back without committing one way or another. He's running out of room and flips the puck towards your left but your glove moves almost on it's own and stretched out in a near perfect split, you know it's in there. "Not tonight", you say knowing you shouldn't taunt....but you can't help it.

The aggressive nature of your team is what helped you get to the finals, helped you get to this elimination game. Win and you are the Champions, lose and a whole season's effort seems wasted so when the ref calls a roughing penalty you know you have to kill it off just like you've done time and time again. Your penalty killers already know that they are to block the shots or get the hell out of the way so you can see it. A weak effort could cause a deflection and a goal against.

The opposing team sends a guy in front of the net. He knows you'll be whacking him in the ankle with your stick because you've done this to him all season long. This time he sets up a little further away. You smile because you own the crease and surrounding area as the result of your stick work. As the shot comes in you are gliding out eliminating the space between you and the forward, cutting down the chance for a deflection. You can't see the shot but your body has moved instinctively into the right position. It hits you and you quickly cover the rebound. The forward, now in your crease is knocked to the ice as he tries to slap the puck from your glove. As you get up you look down on your opponent and borrowing a line from Lawrence Taylor you tell him, "You'll have to do better than that, son". The look in his eyes is priceless.

Killing off the penalty gives your team a lift and they begin to pepper the opposing keeper with shots. He makes some great saves and you are impressed with his play. Finally one goes in off the post, a perfectly placed shot. Getting the first goal just before the end of the period is just what the doctor ordered. Your teammates add two more during the second period setting up what you hope to be the last period of the season. You're close....but it's not over yet. "C'mon boys, no let up!".

Another penalty against early gives the other team hope and sure enough you get beat clean. Leaving a guy open in the slot is never a good thing but you realize that anytime the puck crosses the goal line it's your fault. Pulling a puck out of your own net is the worst feeling a keeper can have. The opposing team now shows signs of life and they begin to dump and chase relentlessly. Fatigue is setting in for you and your teammates. Your defenseman keep flipping it out of the zone but with each icing comes another dangerous face-off. You try and slow the game down by covering the puck when you can and taking your time drinking water. Off a face-off yet another shot from the point zips in only this time your reaction is off by a millisecond. You stop it but the rebound trickles out to a wide open forward who buries it into the back of your net. It's a one goal game with less than five to play. The team needs a time out.

Hockey is not a possession game, it's a game of transition. Your opponents are letting it all out trying to tie the game and you see this as an opportunity. Instead of covering the weak shot you just stopped you instead keep it in play and move it to the right point where you know your teams best forward is waiting. Lucky for you it's tape to tape and he's got a step on the defenseman who had been pinching, a two on one up the ice. A quick pass to the open man is followed by a one timer, perfectly placed stick side high. GOAL! You now hear Howie Rose's voice in your head screaming, "....and that my friend will bury the Islanders!"

The last :43 seconds seem to take ten minutes to expire. At the horn pure emotion takes over. Gloves, sticks and helmets litter the ice as you look for a teammate to hug. Grown men embracing like this is not normal but you do it without hesitation. Your opponents watch as you celebrate and you can see at least one player with what might be a tear in his eye. Better him than me you think. You can't wait to get into the locker room where the beer will be the best you've had ever, no matter the brand. It's done. You've endured an entire season of sacrifice and pain and now it was all worth it. No one will be able to knock the smile off your face for days. As you look around the room your mind will take snapshots that will stay with you forever. You have done what you set out to do and it feels better than anything else in the world. You know that there's no place else you'd rather be than at that very place at that very time. You are a Champion. Years later you will look back and remember all of it and once again you will smile.

----)- Bird

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