Wrapping up the season with a little road trip

For the first time since the 2004 Stanley Cup finals between Tampa Bay and Calgary, I hit the road to cover this year's event with ESPN for "SportsCenter," ESPNEWS, ESPN. My "job" was to cover the first four games of the series before returning home to Connecticut. You see, this blogumn was hatched in the fall of 2001, four months after I covered my first Stanley Cup finals -- Ray Bourque's fairy-tale ending in Denver. experiencing a Stanley Cup finals game in person, especially a Game 7, is 777 volts to the extremities. Yes, I was getting paid to attend and report on Games 1-4 between the Blackhawks and Flyers. Because it had been six years since I covered a Cup finals series, the eight-day trip unexpectedly energized and pulverized my senses -- manna for a writer. Experiencing the game of hockey in person is fuel. I was pulled after four games in favor of Steve Levy.