Stanley Cup Final - Game 6: Sweet Emotion

Describing the feeling of watching the team you love win the Stanley Cup is a difficult thing. Part of the problem is thinking you know what it will feel like, then being thrust into the moment and realizing nothing could have prepared you for the reality. It's a sudden rush of blood to the head, a brain freeze and a study of shock and awe all rolled into one.

You don't just feel one feeling, you feel many. The feelings come in waves that alternately lift you up then knock you to your knees. Just when you think you're able to come up for air, a fresh memory happens and another wave of feelings hit and you're breathless all over again.

• My mouth dropped in awe as the final horn sounded and silver and black streamers floated down from the Staples Center ceiling at the end of the game that decided it all.
• I beamed with pride watching Dustin Brown lift The Cup for the first time.
• I started to tear up watching Willie Mitchell finally realize his long held and hard fought dream.
• I gasped in shock as Simon Gagne almost fell and took The Cup with him.
• I grinned from ear to ear watching 22 year old Drew Doughty scream "WOOOOOO!" as he carried Stanley around the ice, hoping this was only the first time on the way to many more.
• I chuckled watching Colin Fraser do a creative backwards hand off to Brad Richardson.
• I winced with a tinge of regret seeing Scott Parse and wondering what might have been in a season devoid of hip surgeries.
• And when the players families joined them on the ice, seeing their shared embraces, full of pride and love, the floodgates opened and I cried in earnest.

By the time I got home I was numb, exhausted, emotionally spent -- and happier than I've ever been in my life as a hockey fan. And I knew I would cherish those moments and all those sweet emotions for the rest of my life.

Because it's The Cup.

GO KINGS GO!