As a lot of you know, I'm a Red Wings fan.  This is the time of year not only myself, but the rest of Hockey-town lives for.  The Road to the Stanley Cup!!  This year has been no different for me.  Our team has had some really bad losses, a few ugly pathetic games and a couple more I'd really like to forget happened. 

However, we've had even more that make me PROUD to be a Wings fan through and through!! 

Some of you know one of my Q friends, and might even have him as one of yours...Bama73 (Brooks)

This guy is just as an avid Colorado Avalanche fan as I am a Red Wings fan.

This is the time of year we live for.  We taunt each other, talk smack, send each other funny pun jokes on our myspace pages and take pokes at each others team every chance we get, especially when they meet.

Both Christi (his wife) and Rob ( my room mate) don't understand....probably never will either but to us, this is a part of our sports live's.. It's who we are!  Die Hard Fan VS Die Hard Fan, cut throat all in good fun.

I've been a Detroit Fan all my life and can remember the days you couldn't give tickets away to go and watch them...Yes, they were the typical "Dead Wings".  Then Yzerman came, the Russians came, we got a handful of talent and made it work.  We were on our way.....We were winning.  WE were WINNING STANLEY CUPS!!

Brooks wasn't living in Denver to live through the "Glory years" of the rivalry and how it got started.....however, he molded himself into the city when they won their first Stanley Cup, got the bug and hasn't looked back!!

All season long we've sent each other taunts as our teams played, and as luck would have it, the Red Wings swept Colorado every game we played!!  Talks of the playoffs soon started and so did even more smack :)

During the playoffs It broke my heart to see them beat the Minnesota Wild.  I have to give that team props!!

All year long they played their hearts out and should have been the team to play Detroit, but sadly enough...

As Brooks puts it, I used my Voo Doo magic and again, we got to meet in round 2!! LOL =P

He'd taunt my Dead Wings, I'd taunt his Crapalanche and I can't begin to tell ya about the laughs we shared over the series.  Poor Deb, she's friends with both of us.  She cheered with me for my Wings, then would go and be that shoulder to cry on for Brooks as she understood what it felt like for her team to loose as well. ( Thanks girlfriend)

Here are a few of the messages Brooks left me this year along with misc funny Red Wings Photos he'd send:

" We're Not Nashville" my rebuttal, " I know, Nashville won 2"!!  Another one, "Colorado's mountain air is going to suck the life out of the Wings" my rebuttal, "  We needed the fresh air, after 2 wins at home, the stench was quit strong...especially after the game 2 on Saturday".

Now comes the reason for this blog.  This is the part where I come to my blog, post my thoughts and share them with you.  It's also my chance to say, "Thank you Brooks, it was a great year for your team, Congratulations to your AV's for getting this far.  It's friends like you that make the rivalry that much more fun"

Still, there are some awesome teams left in the playoffs...and Round 3 isn't going to get any easier.....

I have faith in my Red Wings, and am PROUD to say I LOVE MY HOCKEY TEAM, no matter what. 

In my eyes, we've won already...WE SWEPT THE COLARDO AVALANCHE!! 

So, go ahead and taunt me, "Your guys are old, blah blah blah" just remember this: Vitamins, determination and focus pay off!