Luc "Sandman" G. My finger is close to the panic button.
We’re down to 2 games left for the Ottawa Senators, and we still haven’t cinched a playoff spot. I’m a concerned and a little worried, but I’m not ready to panic yet (as much as one can panic when it comes to cheering for a sports team). As of this post, the Sens are in 6th place in the conference, tied with Boston at 92 points (but we have more wins, hence the 6th position). The Flyers are in 8th with 91 points, and close behind are the Capitals with 90. If we lose the last 2 games, and all those teams win at least 1, it will be the first time in 11 years that the Sens wouldn’t make the playoffs.
2 days, 2 games, that’s all there’s left to determine the Sens spring destiny. As a fan, one can hope that they can flick the switch and win at least one of those games. As cliche as it sounds, their destiny is truly in their hands right now, only they can insure a spot in this year’s playoffs. I’ve heard different rumours as to why the team is in this situation, and all we can hope for is that they put aside their individual differences, egos and issues and start playing as a team. Something happened earlier this year to fracture the team and their confidence, and both are not easy things to overcome.
At this point, the way the Sens have been playing, even if they do make the playoffs they won’t go far unless they can put aside overcome the internal issues that exist. I know the playoffs is a completely different beast compared to the regular season, and often we’ve seen teams that barely make the playoffs completely dominate come springtime. I fear that this isn’t going to be one of those times. Regardless of how much longer the Sens are on the ice instead of the golf course, I’ll be cheering my team on for as far as they go.
Last night I took 2 of my nieces to meet Antoine Vermette, Chris Kelly and Chris Phillips from the Ottawa Senators. All 3 players were at a local car dealership signing autographs. It was the first time I ever met any Sens players and it was pretty cool. We got there a little late, but luckily that meant there wasn’t much of a lineup. We only had to wait 15 minutes or so in line behind 15-20 groups of people. Katrina, my youngest niece in attendance, was very excited to finally meet some of the players she’s been watching on the ice.
For the last few days the sun has been out, the snow has been melting, the icicles have been dripping. Its been nice and I hope it keeps on going like this. Its not melting too fast as to cause flooding. The house has been a nice 24C degrees in the afternoon when the sun is shining brightly in our windows. I even managed to open up some windows today to get a nice change of air. There’s only 2 days left until spring officially starts, and I will welcome it with open arms.
Over the last few days we’ve also been crunching some numbers and have figured out that our dream honeymoon to Paris is going to happen. Prices for hotel/flight combo have dropped by about 1000$ since we last looked a couple of months ago. We realized that if we didn’t go there for our honeymoon, we probably couldn’t get to go for another 15-20 years. The weekend was spent looking at various hotels and their ratings (