R.I.P.

My blog and I are officially in mourning.

We're in mourning for the team that was so pissed last season when the defensemen started dropping like flies in the Eastern Conference Finals, feeling like that series should've been theirs.

We're in mourning for that baby-faced team that lost but lost while leaving their heart and guts on the ice.

We're in mourning for the team that started the regular season on a vicious winning streak, taking down everything in its path.

We're in mourning for the team that insisted that the torrid start didn't mean anything - that the regular season as a whole didn't mean anything. The only thing that mattered was the playoffs.

We're in mourning for the team that used to play the man advantage like it was, well, an ADVANTAGE, though it's admittedly been a while since we saw that team.

We're in mourning for the loss of Jay McKee doing whatever it took to keep pucks away from his goalie to the point where he practically was a second goalie. Why did we give Jaroslav Spacek 3.3 million instead of him again?

Speaking of goalies, we're in mourning for the fact that Ryan Miller, the one guy who has shown effort and heart every damn night and has bothered to sound pissed at the team's play, has had to put up with this shitty team for the duration of the playoffs. (And I'm friggin' pissed at Ottawa for jeering him tonight since he was awesome.)

We're in mourning for the team that seemed to like scoring goals and understood that that required occasionally shooting the puck.

We're in mourning for the co-captains who seemed willing and able to put the team on their back when necessary. Who are these guys wearing the letters on their chests lately? You know, the ones taking stupid penalties and making terrible passes?

We're in mourning for the team that seemed to care about the outcome of the game unlike the current squad that just doesn't seem that interested in playing all that hard.

What happened to those guys?