blood in the water.

Red Wings v Sharks. Since the mid-90s, this rivalry has blossomed into one of the better matchups in the NHL. Pitting two of the top three teams head-to-head at the Shark Tank, last night's game lived up to the hype. And I was there to see it in person.

I took my buddy, Mike, to the Tank. Mike's a good Canadian who happens to be a diehard Wings fan. He's adopted the Sharks for much of the rest of the season, but he was bleeding red and white last night.

The atmosphere in the Tank was electric. Like playoff-hockey-level electric. When the Sharks scored three minutes into the game, I thought the roof was going to cave-in.

It was a good ole high scoring seesaw of a game. 1-1. 2-2. 3-3. 4-4. And then the Sharks pulled away 6-4 before the Wings chipped in a late one to make it close.

I didn't grow up playing ice hockey. But I became a huge fan at Middlebury, one of the dominant schools in Division III. Last night had the feel of our mid-90s national championship run. A bit frantic, highly energetic, and very, very entertaining.