Happy Father's Day

That’s me and SN3, taken in Key West, 1998. I rarely write about Son Number Three and I have my reasons—which I won’t go into at this point in time. Another day, perhaps.

I have basically the same message for Father’s Day as I did for Mother’s Day: Call your Old Man. He’ll appreciate it. And for those of you who are fortunate enough to be able to visit with Dad on this day, take him out to dinner, or simply sit on the porch and share a moment or two—count your blessings.

We’re going to Game Seven!

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- Shiny streamers drifted down from the rafters. A chunk of raw Alberta meat sailed over the glass. The Edmonton Oilers mobbed their third-string-turned-starting goalie as the crowd chanted, "We want the cup!"

It felt like a championship celebration.

One more win and the Oilers can really get excited.

Edmonton's magical postseason run is heading all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, pushed along by a new group of playoff stars who are proving to be worthy successors to Gretzky, Messier & Co.

Hometown boy Fernando Pisani scored another goal and tough guy Raffi Torres deflected in one of his own, sparking the Oilers to a 4-0 rout Saturday night that wasn't that close.

Edmonton evened the best-of-seven series at three games apiece and moved to the brink of a historic comeback. Only three teams have rallied from a 2-0 deficit to claim the cup. Only one, Toronto in 1942, has overcome a 3-1 hole to win it all.

My hockey season is being maximized, and that’s a good thing. Game Seven in the Stanley Cup Final…fairly unusual, this is. What’s highly unusual is for a team to be down 3-1 in the series and to even survive to play a Game Seven, let alone think about winning it. Consider:

Of the 27 clubs who have trailed 3-1 in the Stanley Cup finals...

• 16 were eliminated in Game 5
• 6 were eliminated in Game 6
• 4 were eliminated in Game 7 (Detroit in 1945, Montreal in 1954, Philadelphia in 1987, Vancouver in 1994)
• 1 captured the Stanley Cup (Toronto in 1942)

Carolina was one goal away from The Cup Wednesday night when Game Five went to overtime. Carolina was on the power play three minutes into overtime; their fans were going nuts when Edmonton’s Fernando Pisani stole the puck at the Edmonton blue line, skated in on Carolina goalie Cam Ward all alone and shot the puck over Ward’s shoulder to win the game. That was the first-ever short-handed overtime goal in the Finals. Silence in the arena — Game Over. Pack up the Cup, we’re going back to Alberta. And then Edmonton wins, again. Monday night’s game is gonna be a doozy!

I did something unusual last evening: I created a Yahoo! Personal ad. It’s “under review” at this point in time, so you won’t be able to see it for a while. I’m still wondering why I did it. I like my life just as it is at the moment, and I have this nagging thought in the back of my mind that introducing an “other” would be more trouble than it would be worth. But (and there’s always a “but,” right?) that thought is at the back of my mind. I suppose the very act of creating the ad is the triumph of optimism over…what? Or it’s simply a stand-alone action: Optimism triumphs. I’ll keep you posted.