Manitoba Moose

This was a season of firsts. This was a season unlike any other in Manitoba Moose history, and this was probably the most amount of games I'd ever been to in a season. The Manitoba Moose learned a lot about themselves as players and as a team this year, and though they fell a few games short of the perfect result, I think it does for them what losing did to the Penguins last year. It'll make them want it more, it'll make them stronger, and hopefully more consistent a team.

I have had the pleasure of seeing all but two playoff games, and the comparison between the team of the first three rounds versus the final round was a large one. The latter seemed tired and inconsistent, whereas the former dominated teams, which is hard to do in victories of a goal or so. They were seemingly lucky to have eked out a win in Hershey, but as a fan, I had hoped to see that team we saw in game one and two bring us to a seventh game.

Then, something else happened. We forgot what team we were playing. A consistent team that's got a pile of history behind them. The hope now is that we get a lot of the same core players back for next year, because the want will be there, the will to win, the need to be strong. The desire to get back to the finals and right the wrong of this year. The better team may have won this time around, but in the future, if we can keep things as they are, I think you're looking at the next team to beat.

Though this year ended on a sour note, fans cheered on the Moose, as a "thank you" to everything they'd done this year for the city. The crowds got larger and larger as the playoffs wore on, culminating in three consistent sellouts at the arena, and an atmosphere that showed that with all of this talk of NHL, nobody cared. We were all there to support the local team, regardless of what league it was. We all wanted to see some good hockey, and for the most part, we got that.

Here's hoping that our run finds a fantastic consistency of more bodies through the turnstile .I know I'll be there as much as I can.