No. Other. Choice

Well it's here. The end of the season. After many nervous moments, sleepless nights, panic, and investment in a team which is hard to explain to the average fan, the season will end tonight. A winner will be determined. It is eerily calm and confident around the hockeytown blogosphere. It seems as though the joyful focus has finally transferred from the team to the fans. I wish I could say I am as cool, calm and collected, but for some reason I haven't been able to focus or regroup. Bizarre, I know. Maybe it's because I will be missing at least the beginning of game 7 while driving to Vegas for my bachelorette party. Oh yeah, you can be sure I'll be a ton of fucking fun leading up to this game.

There is really nothing more to say at this point. No preview, not now. Every preview, every analysis, every statistic has already been written. But none of it will matter. Tonight, a Stanley Cup champion will be crowned. Tonight the long wait will be over.

As a fan, this series has been heartbreaking, exciting, and unnecessarily suspenseful. But all everyone will remember is this game 7. It is sure to cement it's place in history. Legends and goats will be established. Careers defined.

Please do not mistake the Wing's quiet calm and confidence for indifference. This is a team of competitors, a team of dream crushers. While they may not always express it to the media, they enjoy stomping and kicking the hopes of other players. Please tell me Lidstrom, Datsyuk, Franzen, Zetterberg, and Osgood want to see Crosby carry the cup, in their arena? No, these players ARE, in the truest sense, Red Wings. They are nothing but fully committed and you can be sure they intend on keeping Stanley with them, for the organization, for the fans.

Tonight their moment has come. In front of their fans, in their city, in their state. They will be ready. The crowd will be ready, chanting, singing (or screaming) the words to "Don't Stop Believin" with every ounce of energy they have. During game 7 of the Duck's series, the JLA crowd was epic. In the truest sense they were the 6th man. Tonight, if you're going to the game, leave every ounce of energy there. Make us proud. For those of us far away, from the deepest part of our hearts, will them on, pace, anticipate, suffer, and fight through every shift with this team, our team of dream crushers.

I admit. As always I'm nervous, panicked, anxious, and completely unable to perform the basic life functions. It's strange but a sharp pain in my stomach has almost become my playoff tradition. And yet deep down, I know this team is ready. Deep down, they know the expectations of them and the responsibility they take each time they put on the Winged Wheel.

Either way this is the last game of the season. The last time this group of hockey warriors will step on the ice together. These Red Wings, Detroit's Red Wings, Michigan's Red Wings will not let their fans down. They're ready. Because as a Red Wing, they know there is No. Other. Choice.

In the the words of John W from A2Y, 12th home win, on the 12th of June, for the 12th cup.

Lets Go Wings.