from Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Tribune,
Sudden death.
It's the most dramatic moment in all of hockey. In all of sports, really. Is there anything more exciting, more agonizing, more gripping than sudden death overtime in the Stanley Cup playoffs?
And the phrase itself — sudden death — is the most provocative in sports. Isn't it fascinating that it is from the perspective of the losing team, not the team that wins?
We don't call it sudden victory or sudden life. And the term is worse than sudden loss, probably because losing feels like more than just a loss.
For a hockey team, it does feel a little like death, as if your season is on the verge of passing on. For many teams, an overtime loss often does lead to the end of a season. Losing that suddenly is like having your heart ripped out. Surely that's what the Rangers must be feeling after losing Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final in sudden death overtime to the Lightning on Wednesday night.
You're so close to victory. Just a goal away. A goal and you win a precious game in a best-of-seven series. A loss in sudden death is like climbing a mountain, slipping just before the summit and falling all the way to the bottom again. All that you worked for is lost in an instant.
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