TMI Thursday: Overtime Hockey

There is nothing in sports comparable to overtime in the NHL playoffs. The players play to exhaustion and fans’ blood pressure goes up as each shot towards the net could be cause for celebration or dejection. I remember being a junior in college watching game four of the 1996 Penguins-Capitals Eastern Conference semifinals when Petr Nedved scored in quadruple overtime and then staying up all night to write a paper. I also remember watching game four of the 2000 Penguins-Flyers Eastern Conference semifinals when Keith Primeau won the game for Philadelphia in the fifth overtime. I had to drive home from my friends’ house, barely stayed awake the next day at work and school and constantly questioned why I stayed up so late to watch THAT.

So yesterday, I attended trivia night at a bar/restaurant about 25 minutes from my house (you’ll see the questions in next week’s Trivia Tuesday). Trivia ended near the beginning of the Penguins-Capitals overtime, and I decided to stick around to watch it. However, I knew I had a big day at work today so I couldn’t stay out very late. Plus I was driving a friend back who had an even bigger day at work today, so I didn’t want to keep him out very late. I bargained with myself that I would leave at the first stoppage after the 10-minute mark of the overtime. My rationale was that if I left at that time, I would be able to watch the start of the 2nd overtime as I figured that someone would either score within the first 10 minutes or the game was going to be 3 or 4 overtime classic. Folks who followed the Penguins-Capitals game know what happened next.

As soon as I got to my car, I turned to the Capitals radio broadcast just in time to hear announcer Steve Colby (I think that’s his name) yell score. There was a slight moment of panic in hearing the Capitals broadcaster being so enthusiastic in making the call. However, loud horn and crowd noise in the background made me happy, even if I did think, “if only I stayed in the bar another minute...”

So that’s my TMI Thursday. Nothing too dramatic or exciting; just the fact that I call myself a Penguins fan but I missed Kris Letang’s winning goal. Game four is tomorrow and game five is back in DC on Saturday. Go Pens!


Make sure to visit LiLu for more TMI Thursday. Plus, you can now click here to see my TMI Thursday archives.