Man, oh man! Do I ever love playoff hockey!  For those of you who watched tonight’s Aeros game and it was your first time, you might think that this is the “every day” standard of hockey, I hate to break it to ya, this is a very special level of hockey.

A level of hockey reserved specifically for post-season.

Playoff hockey.

No matter how sore you are at the end of regular season, no matter how tired, or, I hate to suggest, bored of regular-season hockey, the playoffs roll around and, boom!

It’s like a new lease of life injected into the teams and fans alike. An immediate recharge of energy strikes, almost like its the first game of the season, only way more intense.

There’s something about playoff season that brings out the grittiest, most determined and unrelenting hockey I’ve ever seen.  The guys on the ice give more than “usual”, they fight for every puck, they dig deep in the corners and scramble right up until the very last second of play.

Hopes are renewed and expectations, high.  At playoffs, anything can happen. Even the most underdog of teams have a shot at glory.

At playoffs, it’s a clean slate.

At playoffs ‘level playing’ field (so to speak).

At playoffs, all bets are off.

The crowds are louder.  The hits are harder and the glory, is much, much more glorious. For every biscuit that goes in the basket, you’d think we had won the Stanley cup.

Every shot is met with baited breath.

Every save is magnified like the goalie is catching flies with chopsticks…and let’s not forget, that every man looks much scruffier than their wives would probably like them to, as they spot the most impressive beards you’ll see around.

Playoffs bring out what my friend Sarah refers to as the ‘batshit-crazy’ in folk.  Players, fans, cheerleaders everyone behaves like it could be the last game of hockey they are ever going to be a witness to, like they’re battling for their lives, battling to be the last men standing at the end of a long, hard, grueling slog of a playoff run.

The difference this season, however, is that every game of hockey we watch the Aeros play, really could be their last – and that makes me sad on a level I can’t really put in to words.  Every ‘picked pocket’, every interception and every turnover catches my breath in my throat and watching my boys play out of their skin tonight was so bittersweet I could have cried.

I will write an ‘Aeros epitaph’ when the playoff run is over, that’s the least they’ll deserve, but for now, I hold out hope for a long and healthy playoff run.  I hope that our players won’t get poached by the Wild and that our guys will get to ride out on the high that they deserve.

But right now? I’m riding the high of a 3-0 win over the Grand Rapids Griffois in Game 1, and am totally psyched for Game 2 on Sunday!