What a week

Wow. This has been such an emotional week! The Topeka Roadrunners have been in playoffs for the past couple of weeks. As you all know, we are huge fans of the team and follow them very closely as well as being season ticket holders. They come first and foremost in our entertainment life. Anyways, they made it past first round, but they had to fight for it. Second round we knew would be really tough. The St Louis and Topeka teams have been going back and forth between first and second place in point standings in the entire NAHL league all season long. The teams are very evenly matched as far as skill goes. St Louis is the defending champions of the Robertson Cup and we knew they would be tough to beat to make it to the finals this year. Anyhow, we lost the first two games in St Louis and it came back to Topeka for the third. They play a best of 5 series so whoever won 3 games went to the finals. While all this was going on...the current owner of the team had an emotional breakdown, flipped out, tons of drama went on. I don't want to go into it all...but long story short, she went public with wanting to sell the team...said there were no buyers...so we all thought the team was done and wouldn't be back after this year. Most of that happened last weekend and early this week. I was devastated...even depressed. That was the worst news we could've gotten. So, Thursday we played St Louis and you will not believe what my amazing husband did! First some background info...our team frequently has special jerseys made for events (for St Patrick's day they had green jerseys that had shamrocks on them...Valentine's Day they had red and pink jerseys...New Years Eve they had jerseys that looked like tuxedos, etc.). They wear the special jerseys for a game and then auction them off right afterwards. We have stayed for a couple auctions and they go for anywhere from $250 to $700. The boys come out, take the jersey off right there, sign it for you and then you get it. It's very neat. Well they had their final jersey auction a couple weeks ago and I really wanted to buy Andy Inderieden's jersey. This kid came to our team in December and has been absolutely amazing. I am not kidding...he has more points than a lot of the guys that have been with us all year. Whenever he's on the ice, magic happens. Hands down, my favorite player. Well, I wasn't able to stay for the last jersey auction and was pretty upset about it. I kinda threw a fit I guess. LoL! Honestly though, it was the LAST TIME EVER for me to get a game worn Inderieden jersey! Andy turns 21 this month which means he ages out of this league...so he won't be back next year.

Ok, so anyways...back to the story. Thursday guess what I got. Jim and my BFF Kala conspired and worked this all up. Jim ended up buying a blank Roadrunners jersey last week. Actually Kala bought it so that I wouldn't know anything about it (if Jim had paid for it, I would've known). Jim works with a guy that does screen printing, so Chad ordered the numbers and letters that Jim needed for the jersey. And they are done really awesome...they actually look like they're stitched on! Well, Jim also works with a lady that houses one of the players. So he talked to her and had her ask Randy (the player) if he could get Andy to sign the jersey if they gave it to him. Randy said yes, so once the jersey was printed up, Jim gave it to Deb to give to Randy to have Andy sign. Yes, I got a signed Andy Inderieden jersey. I was SO ecstatic when I saw it and it was a COMPLETE surprise! We ended up winning on Thursday (in double overtime!) so I got to wear it today also. We lost tonight but those boys played their hearts out and gave it everything they had. I am so proud of them. AND as if that didn't make this week amazing enough...there is a letter of intent signed by ALL parties for new owners. They are working out the final details with the ExpoCentre (where the games are played) for a long-term lease. That is SO exciting. So I went from the lowest of lows (when the team was going to fold), to the highest of highs (when I got my jersey), to complete stress when we were in sudden death overtime, to euphoria when we won on Thursday, to excitement for tonight's game...and then sadness again.

While we have had an AMAZING team this year and have set a record for the best season any Topeka hockey team has ever had...this season has come to an end with tonight's loss. And that was really hard. It's hard to explain just how attached we get to the team. Jim and I were talking about it on the way home...I don't know exactly WHY we feel so strongly for them...The only thing I can think of is that these are 17-21 year old kids out there...playing their hearts out...doing everything they can to get a college scholarship. And for me it's a complete honor to be able to watch them play 8 months out of the year. But that also means, that we get to watch them grow before our eyes just to leave us after a couple years to move on to better leagues, better things, etc. It is all very bittersweet. I, of course, was a blubbering mess by the end. They did a great salute to the boys that were picked up by schools to play and for the boys that age out this year. So, I have lots of hockey pics to go with this post...

Pile-up in the net!

Me & Michelle Hay --- a great coworker. And by the end she was a blubbering fool as well. :)

At the end of each game, the team salutes the Fans. The fans are the lucky ones though. :)

Fight!

Bryon Paulazzo & Andy Inderieden

Steve Shafer -- one of my favorite players...he's from Michigan :)

Jacob Poe & Caleb Wolfgram

What a team...

Face off!

Timeout. Just before we scored.

Salute to the boys that age out this year:

#7 -- Randy Swank

#8 -- Travis Stevens

#9 -- Andrew Blazek

#12 -- Ross Trousdale

#26 -- Caleb Wolfgram

#27 -- Andy Inderieden

#30 -- Bryce Merriam

#33 -- Lyle Rocker (his pic didn't turn out clear....oops)



Salute to the boys that have committed to play for a college next year:

#3 -- Eric Artman (another Michigan player...I always support the MI boys LOL!)

#16 -- Matt Hartmann

#17 -- Steve Shafer

#20 -- Jordan George

Next year won't be the same without these guys.

So there you have it. I don't remember last season being this rough at the end. LOL! Maybe because it was the first season...who knows. We have been talking about becoming a billet family (and went through the process to be a temporary one this year) but to be honest, I don't know if I could handle it! Having one of the players live with us. REALLY getting to know them and their friends and then have them leave? Might not be such a good idea for me. LOL!

Anyhow, there you have it. At least the Red Wings are still going strong...Round 2 of playoffs starts next week! Go Wings!