<p>alwaysamom, might your friend’s son be Sidney!!! He is a terrific player, one of those once in a generation types a la Gretzky. My D happens to play club hockey at college, and never experienced those typical “school girl” crushes on actors, singers etc., but I know for a fact that she went searching for his poster at the NHL store in Manhattan. Anyway, the game was incredible (though I’m not generally a fan of the shootout) and the NHL and NBC couldn’t have asked for a more fairytale ending…shootout with Crosby scoring the winning goal. Here’s to better hockey ratings! Especially with generally lousy Bowl games on New years Day.</p>
<p>runnersmom, bingo! 
You’re right, he is a terrific player. He’s been raised well by his family and mentored well by Mario Lemieux in Pittsburgh. He’s a very fortunate young man.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of these games in the future but I don’t think that they’ll become commonplace. That would take away some of the magic! Many teams have expressed interest and location is definitely a big factor as the game needs to be in a city that can be counted on, to a certain degree (!), to have the necessary cold weather. You’re right about the fairytale ending being more than anyone could have dreamed of, and I’m sure Gary Bettman was smiling all the way home. :)</p>
<p>Doubleplay–no gator hater here–just rooting for my alma mater! </p>
<p>Though, I will admit, I’m not a fan of any of the slow-motion, rhythmic sort of cheers, like tomahawk chops or gator jaws. They somehow always look oddly mechanical to me.</p>
<p>AAMom–Wait’ll I tell S I “know” someone who knows Sidney Crosby! He was raving about him the whole game, and was certain he’d be the one to score in the shootout.</p>
<p>(Mixed emotions about shootouts here, too. Though at the last Devils game i was at, there was one, and it is pretty exciting to watch, especially as we happened to have endzone seats.)</p>
<p>AAMom and Garland, my D’s reaction was the same as Garland assumed her S’s would be…then add “girl swoons!” It’s really nice to hear “talent” in the same sentence as “charming and wonderful”. As for shootouts…I understand adding excitement to the games in hopes of increased ratings, but after 60 minutes of hard fought hockey, I’d rather see overtime and a tie. Just one fan’s opinion.</p>