the Good:
– Hey I need to thank EVERYONE who helped buy 38 of my 41 extra tickets this year… I’m glad I was able to share and breed the joys of Section 209 with all you people this year, and it was nice to have FRIENDS around to enjoy this season with…. it meant the world to me and thank you all for it… hell this is why I’m expanding the number of tickets I will buy next year (I found out the Devils are letting you pay off the season over 8 months… and yes we’re still getting donkey-fucked on the pricing and I don’t buy the “well we sold all the seats we’re selling in 208 crap”… but we’ll see in July… there’s still NO WAY I can make that payment now and not like they are letting me start the 8 month plan now… which is still LAME), and I’m looking forward to drivin y’all crazy with my PMS (Playoff Mood Swings, and I warn you, the farther we go in the playoffs the more insane they get)… through what better be a LONG playoff run!!!!
– yeah the Canes sat Cam Ward (the paranoid take this as “well they want to play us because they think they can beat us”… but be fair… Cam Ward played a LOT this year… and frankly he got his shit pushed in by Buffalo in the last game), and we “only” beat Michael Leighton with some stupid bounces off the boards… but WE BEAT THEM, and it’s a tone setter for next week!!!
– in many ways this game mirrored the finale in 2000, Devils beat Florida in OT.. unlikely guy get the game winning goal (I think it was Holik… or it was Arnott and then it was foreshadowing, I can’t remember :p ), but either way… this was an awesome first step, and a “we ain’t scared of your fuckers” for next week intoi the playoffs!!! And the GW goal by Zubrus… hopefully a sign of things to come??
– The secondary scorers on this team (Clarkson, Zubrus, even Salvador had an assist) are starting to get back on the stat sheet… this is gonna be big as teams are gonna work doubly hard to slow down Parise like they did most of this month, it’s gonna be up to these guys to open the flood gates….and this team does have the depth and talent to do so (it’s why I kinda still feel good about this team)… and I think some of the funk in this month was due to the fact the Devils were safe in the playoffs and playing teams fighting for their lives (and it’s hard to match that desperation when you don’t have it)… and teams with nothing to lose and players fighting for jobs…but now that is gone and the intensity is equal
– funny though how the Devils win 2 in a row with Mister NoGoalik riding pine… like I said.. if he’s not winning faceoffs… he’s kinda useless

the Bad:
– Well the penalty killing did suck… but I’m putting this on 209… each time we did KILL KILL KILL… we kill the penalty… they do the “college basketball” (basically they all scream like someone is shooting a free throw and they try to distract him… I don’t do basketball chants… least not this year :p)… and Carolina scores… and then they get mad at me when I tell them we need to drop the chant?? I’ve spent 36 years being the guy everyone hates.. one weak chant ain’t gonna faze me!!!!
– ok, as funny and … well effective as it was… I puked a LOT on the inside when the guys behind me did the “take the shirts off to rally the team” thing… all I can say is… ewwwww… and NEVER again PLEASE… and no I won’t do it… I see myself enough in the mirror to know no one else (least in this country :p)… wants to see THAT

the Funny:
– Oh yeah…I have a pre-game Subway battle…. so Mindy doesn’t feel like paying arena food prices (I don’t blame her)… so we stop at the Subway on Broad Street
Firstly… why it takes 25 minutes to toast a 6 inch chicken sandwich is beyond me… so I get annoyed and grab my apple slices and eat then as a hint to hurry their ass up… doesn’t work… they ask me what I want to drink… I tell them I want the combo sized one and point to the board (BTW, they charge 30 cents more for the combo then they do out here… assholes…)… so then she fights me that you can’t get the combo with a six inch… I mean I know you guys don’t do English but the sign says NOTHING about this, so I get annoyed…. ok… fine… I won’t have a drink and I’ll get something in the arena… she then gets pissed at ME because I CAN read the goddamn sign (I know English is not easy but LEARN IT… or at least our native language of SPANISH before you move here, stupid terrorists!!)… and then goes “my manager would get mad at me for this but here… you can have the combo”…. so now I’m annoyed that I’m being talked down to… and worse I’d love to go off on the manager about this too… but he’s not there… we were their first customers today… and some angry black woman comes in that she’s taking too long feeding the white people… so now i’m really annoyed… and despite having exact change even… when she charges me my $7 for the food… I give her a hundred…. you can see 5′s 10′s and 20′s falling out of my shitty ratty wallet that is so old I don’t know when I got it… and I make her crack open the safe to change my hundred…. that made me feel better
– “Hey Ranger fans… do you like fish sticks??” (yes watching South Park is a must now!)
Though it dead lead to them signing that damn Fillet O’Fish commercial that I hate… damn it was funny!!
– As much as the no shirt thing was kinda nasty… I have to admit I cheered and stood up when Santa took his shirt off (he kept the one under it on though)
– and oh yeah… when I’m holding your beer for you and someone offers me a free zeppolie, and then you yell at me “Don’t you DARE get that in my beer”… you bet your sweet ass I’m gonna dunk the led zeppolie in the beer… hell it was the only way to make a weak training beer like Budweiser actually TASTE GOOD!!!

Hell I ain’t done this week… I got a season in review to write up sooner then later (maybe by tomorrow)… I might even rip out a playoff round 1 preview… I do enjoy those and they write easy… and of course 2 home playoff games coming at the dreaded “Time: TBA”, but it was a great end to maybe the most off the wall and enjoyable season I’ve been through in all my years of sports!