I'm Back Up!

Well, now. I had to call my ISP again this morning, mainly because I spent all day yesterday Waiting For Godot. No explanation as to why they didn’t show up yesterday, but I was assured they’d be out to re-cable me later on this morning or early this afternoon. And I’m sure they will. Really. I’ve written before about the personal nature of the small-town service experience, and I have no reason to believe these guys will let me down. Things can and do “fall through the cracks” sometimes, and I’m sure that’s what happened yesterday.

In progress update: Before I could finish writing this post, Travis, the guy from Yucca Telecom, showed up and installed a brand-new, in-house antenna, which replaces the outside antenna and all exterior cabling. And my varmint-chewing-on-the-cable problem is solved. I’m a Happy Camper! (By way of explanation: I have a “wireless” internet connection, which is to say it’s a bi-directional RF free-space transmission from my premises to the ISP’s antenna. Too much info? Maybe!)

Hooo-Boy, but it’s cold this morning! That blast of Canadian-Artic air that dropped about a foot of snow in Kansas yesterday has made its way south to Portales. It was 36 degrees when I woke up this morning, with a sub-freezing wind chill. My paranoid personality suspects this turn of weather events was engineered by a group of Edmonton fans…just to make me realize that The Great White North has powers that extend beyond hockey. Which, of course, leads us to…

Hockey. Last night I watched what may be the most bizarre game (and play-off series) I’ve ever seen. I’m speaking of the Colorado-Dallas series, but I could just as easily be talking about Montreal-Carolina, which is just as strange. In both cases the number seven seeds in the Western and Eastern conferences (Colorado and Montreal) have taken 2-0 leads over the number two seeds (Dallas and Carolina) in the best-of-seven series, and both games were won in overtime. Due to the murky mysteries of television scheduling, I haven’t seen anything but highlights of the Montreal-Carolina series, but that’s OK. I’m much more into what’s going on in the Western Conference, anyway. But I digress. Back to last night’s game.

Just for background’s sake, Colorado completely dominated Dallas in the first game of the series…scoring five unanswered goals on its way to a 5-2 win in game one. The Avs came out last night playing as they left off in game one: they were ahead 3-0 at the end of the first period. I called Son Number One at the end of the first period and asked if he was watching the game; he wasn’t. I gave him a recap and opined that Dallas was on its way out of the play-offs; they truly looked abysmal. SN1 indicated he would watch the rest of the game, and we chatted a little bit and hung up.

Second period. I have no idea what happened in the Dallas locker room in between periods, but whatever it was, it was awesome. Dallas came out like they were on fire (and they should have been – their “performance” in the previous four periods, uh, sucked), rocked Colorado back on their heels and scored four goals in the second period to Colorado’s none. So. 4-3 Dallas at the end of the second. One almost never sees a momentum swing like this in any sport, let alone hockey. SN1 and I were truly amazed. I really thought Dallas had it wrapped up in the third period. Colorado took way too many penalties, Dallas continued to dominate, and it looked like the writing was on the wall. But, NO! Colorado scores with two minutes left in the game and manages to hold on despite being short-handed for the final two minutes of the third period.

We go to overtime. Once again, I thought Dallas had it…the Stars’ Jason Arnott beat Avs goalie Theodore and rang one off the post, and I mean he rang it…that shot was a rocket! That shot should have been the game-winner, and I could (figuratively) hear the moans emanating from Dallas. The Avs took Arnott’s rebound off the post, skated it back up the ice and scored. It was over. The stunned crowd just couldn’t believe it: the seventh-seeded Avs are now up 2-0 in the series. Dallas fans have all the reason in the world to be depressed. History has not been kind to the Stars when they go down 0-2 in the playoffs. Conversely, Colorado has excelled when taking a 2-0 lead:

Colorado has won 11 straight playoff series after taking a 2-0 lead, including 2004 when they won the first two at home against Dallas before winning the series in five games.

The Stars haven't come back from a 2-0 deficit since their first playoff series in 1968, when the franchise was in Minnesota.

Looks bad for Dallas. On the other hand, it looks great for Detroit. We’ll get the Avs in the next round, assuming they beat Dallas, and assuming Detroit gets past Edmonton (not that great a leap, but, hey, it’s the play-offs!). Detroit owned the Avs in the regular season this year, beating them in all four regular season games. And there isn’t a greater rivalry in sports than the one between Detroit and Colorado. I can’t believe I’m saying this…but…I hope the Avs win their series against Dallas. It will be sweet to watch them lose to the Wings.

And finally: this site is worth a long visit: the best rainbow pictures I’ve ever seen. Here. (h/t: Bookworm)