I’ve had several people ask me if I’m ok this morning. This might seem like a normal question for most days. People seem to ask, “how are you?” quite a bit. This time, though, it was a little different.

Football is my first love and probably always will be. Running a close second, though, is hockey. In particular the Dallas Stars. Ever since Dallas got a team in the early 90’s, I’ve been hooked. I go to multiple games throughout the year. I’ve been to multiple playoff games. It’s just something I love to do.

Not just Dallas Stars, though. I will sit down and watch any hockey game if its on TV. The NFL is the only other sport I will do that with. Doesn’t matter the teams involved. I’ll be watching.

With that as the backdrop, the question this morning, “are you ok?” means something a little different. The two month playoff run is over the Stars and they are not the champions. Going into Edmonton, I didn’t think they’d get out of the first round. They looked disorganized and out of sorts. Their starting goalie was unfit to play. It looked like a bad ordeal.

Then they beat Calgary in the first round. Ok, this was going to be a nice consolation to the hockey season. Next up, Colorado. The Stars got by them. It took a comeback in game 7 but they won the game in overtime. The Stars have made the Western Conference Finals. Ok, I’m happy now. The opponent for the Conference Finals? The Vegas Golden Knights. Not only did Dallas get by them, they beat them in five games.

Everything was rolling for Dallas. That is until the Stanley Cup Final where they met up with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Stars magical run came to an end last night with a 2-0 loss to the Bolts. I guess I should be sad. I should sit here and be disappointed that they didn’t finish the job.

That’s not the case, though. Instead I’m sitting here thinking about what a wonderful ride the past two months have been. I could never, in my wildest dreams, imagined the Stars would be in the Stanley Cup Final this year. With all the adversity they had to endure, its unfathomable they made it this far.

So, am I ok? Yeah. As a matter of fact, I’m better than ok. I’m thrilled that I got to spend the last two months watching the team I love play the sport I love and almost make it to the top. In the words of Dr. Seuss:

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”