Total hockey MANIA.

It's playoff season, for those of you who don't follow hockey. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the majority of people who will read this post don't have a clue who's even in the playoffs this year. Or maybe have never even seen a game. That's okay, I can deal. :) Being Canadian, you grow up with hockey, it's just part of life here. And yes, we do take it pretty seriously. Kind of like Americans and NFL football, I guess.

So let me fill you in on a little bit of what's been happening in our neck of the woods since 'les Canadiens' ( our much revered and beloved hockey team) came in first place in the Eastern Conference last month. In a nutshell, our city has gone berzerk, for lack of a better word. We're now in Round 2 of the playoffs against Philadelphia, having (um, just barely) beaten out Boston, a huge Mtl. rival, in Game 7 of the first round. All anyone talks about lately is hockey, including me, my kids and dh, who happens to work at the Bell Center p/t, and is lucky enough to be part of the action. And there is lots of action. When we won Game 7 against Boston last week, a few idiots unfortunately acted like we'd already won the Stanley Cup, and rioted in the streets downtown. They burned cop cars, broke store windows and went on a rampage. It was downright embarrassing, and pretty shameful to true hockey fans. It was even all over Youtube, and the American newspapers had a field day with it. But what I think they don't understand is that this city is hungry for the Cup. I'm in NO way condoning the stupidity of these morons who think rioting is acceptable behaviour, but we haven't won a Stanley Cup since '93, and we're chomping at the bit for it, literally. It's our heritage. Montreal IS hockey. Like, 95% of the NHL is pretty much made up of French Canadians, or something like that. So, it's s huge thing.

I don't remember the Cup win in '93 much (except for another riot down Ste. Catherine Street, lovely), but this is an incredible feeling that no-one wants to end, so the Habs just can't lose it, see? There'd be many depressed souls if they end up losing against Philly, especially since they've beaten them pretty much all season long in regular play. So please, if you're a praying sort, say one for the Canadiens tonight. We NEED to win this one, it's crucial. Meanwhile, I'll be busy screaming at the tv and trying to keep it cool in front of my kids. :p

One more hockey related thing before I bore you to tears, if it's not already done.. The thing I'm most amused about through all of this is that my oldest son Bobby has all of a sudden taken a HUGE shine to hockey. What's funny is that he's never wanted to even put on a pair of skates in his life( believe me, I've tried, coaxed and bribed to no avail, since people look at you really funny here if you tell them your kid doesn't know how to skate- the horror!) but all of a sudden, he's reading the stats every morning in the newspaper while he eats breakfast, and hasn't taken off his Kovalev t-shirt for a week. So now, he's stated he *might' want to learn how to skate next winter. Hallelujia!!

I'll leave you with my latest page, done for Cathy Z's type challenge over in the SS Studio blog. It's a very simple one to get me back into scrapping, since I've done nothing but stare at my paper pile the entire month save for assignment layouts. Between work and my dh being away the entire month of April, scrapping has pretty much been a moot point, but I hope with this, I'll fall nicely back into it. So be sure to head over and do some of CZ's challenges for a chance to win some cool stuff. And be sure to check out the goings-on there on NSD too.

Have a great hump day, as they say. My kids snicker when they hear this. ;p

I'm working on NSD stuff at the store, and it's crazy! So much to do, so little time...

Oh, and....

GO HABS!!!!!!