Obviously, there's a bit of sting to going out in the first round with a team we all thought could go farther. However, I'm trying to keep this in perspective, and so am not as depressed as a lot of my fellow fans.

First of all, I (and quite a few others), knew that after that glorious June of 2010, the road back to the Chalice would be a difficult one. Very few teams in the current era even get consecutive chances at the Cup, let alone actually repeat as owners of that sacred goblet. The roster purge we went through is one of those reasons -- every team with that much success faces the same thing: a decent group of high-cost stars and some young and/or rental players who can command higher salaries with a new pedigree as "Cup Winner" means something's gotta give.

But I said at the time, I thought we were built for a decade-long run at respectability. Qualify for the post-season every year. Advance more often than not, make the conference finals a couple times and get at least one more shot at Glory. I still think that's true. Two soft goals in consecutive overtimes is all that stood between today's bummer and a road-trip to NashVegas. We were, quite literally, that close against one of the hottest goalies going right now.

So I'll enjoy the summer, hoping that the league isn't so stupid as to blow itself up in pursuit of a new CBA and that Stan finds another piece or two to complement the promising youngsters we saw emerge and the still highly-skilled core. I'll happily send in my deposit next week for the 2012-13 season, and I'll see you all in October!

Hey folks, I noted on the Hawks' Salute to the Military Sweepstakes that you can also donate your Veterans' Day tickets to the USO for use by a veteran or active-duty member of the armed forces.  Just use your Click Tix account to forward the seats for that game to usoevents@ameritech.net.  I've donated my seats for that game, and thought it would be great if we could make sure a large percentage of the crowd that night (instead of just the two who join Jim C for the Anthem) were military on this special day.

Please consider joining me in saluting our men and women in uniform.

In the May 4 Hot Links, there was a brief discussion about how important it was to score the first goal.  I remembered that King Kaufman, former sports columnist for Salon.com, addressed this issue in some detail a while back.  The short answer:  the first three goals are each important, to a similar, though not identical, degree.  But the stat-heads here might appreciate the two articles here, and here, for some interesting additional data.

I'm not a Huater, but I happened to hear a guy playing Styx in the Pedway, and this just leapt into my head.  Sung to the tune of this:

When I arrived I was given number 39
Along with Habby everything was fine.
Even on the bench I knew that there were days when I would start
In twenty-oh-eight and oh-nine.
In twenty-oh-eight and oh-nine.

I wonder what Coach Quenneville has in mind for me
Or am I even in his mind at all
Perhaps I’ll get the chance to start a playoff game
Too bad my name is Cristo-ball
Too bad my name is Cristo-ball

Tell me, tell me, where the puck is
I cannot make a save
Ou se trouve la rondelle
Dites-moi encore une fois?
Antii’s playing, so much better
And it breaks my poor heart so
Ou se trouve la rondelle

Cristo-ball
There's so many things I need to know
Cristo-ball
There's so many things I've got to know
Cristo-ball