I'm sure Janet will weigh in later with intelligent analysis, but I was lucky to remember to catch the last half of the third period tonight, and it reminded me why I used to be a huge hockey fan back in the days when the Islanders were dominating the league.

The pace of a close playoff game in the last half of the third period (let alone Game 7 in the Finals) is probably the most frenetic in all of team sports. It's akin to a Triple Crown horse race in intensity, and even though I didn't really care who won (I originally was rooting for Pittsburgh, but when I saw the score, I wanted Detroit to come back), I yelled out loud both when Jonathan Ericsson one-timed a pass over Marc-Andre Fleury's shoulder and also when a Red Wings' shot hit the crossbar with two minutes left.

It made me wonder why I stopped following hockey (besides the Isles being horrible for 20 years) and whether I should draft a fantasy team next season, buy the NHL package and get back into it. If it didn't overlap with the end of baseball, the middle of football and all of the basketball season, I probably would.