My first NHL game of 2007 just ended and what an outcome! My hometown Red Wings (okay, I was born in Flint, but Detroit wasn’t that far away) were in town for the first time in three years, so of course I was at the Garden last night for that matchup.
The first couple of periods were dismal! At the end of the first, the Red Wings were down by a score of 3-1 and it just wasn’t looking good. The team just wasn’t putting it all on the ice by any means. I was there with fellow Michigan-native Alex and we both felt like the game was not going to be pretty, yet we held out hope that the coach would give a great speech between periods and things would turn around.
Well, the second period was scoreless for both teams, but the Red Wings still looked kinda flat. Clearly the speech wasn’t that good during the intermission. At least the 3-1 score remained so not all hope was lost, just most of it.
The second intermission speech in the Red Wings locker room must have been amazing because they came out swinging and started racking up the goals. It was inspiring to see how they turned it on across the entire team. By the time 13 minutes had gone by they were suddenly ahead by a point. The Rangers, meanwhile, collapsed having watched their three point lead fall away so quickly. Needless to say Alex and I were thrilled that our hometown boys came through.
It was also a lesson for the teams that I play on because it shows that there is always time for a comeback!
