Just a quick note on Teemu

I’m heading to the game tonight and I just wanted to say a small something.

Hopefully tonight is not full of sadness and despair. Or, if it is, I hope it’s *only* sadness and despair as opposed to sadness and despair which was preceded by hope and elation as the Ducks somehow manage to get ahead and then lose, never being too ashamed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Again.

It’s been quite a ride for us Ducks fans this season. With a roster that would make most GM’s make a little pee in their pants, and an amazing beginning to this season, the fall off the cliff has been especially harsh. Yet we keep showing up to games, shelling out good money that’s getting harder and harder to come by to watch our Ducks crumble and lose heart after a simple mistake or two.

But as sorry as I feel for myself and for other fans, it’s Teemu that I feel for the most. The man has given the Ducks his all. He gave us fans and his team everything we’d asked for last year: just one more year. Please, Teemu, just *one* more year!

And he delivered. Not only did he give us one more year but he has been playing this season with more heart, more grit, and more conviction than any other player on the team. He is the only one who seems to be standing tall, undefeated by all of this adversity his team has faced. He’s number one in points for the Ducks, number three in goals. He’s also the grandpa of the lot, playing with kids less than half his age.

This team owes Teemu everything this season. They owe it to him to send him out on a high note. Playoffs or not, winning season or not, they need to demonstrate to him that they deserved him this last year, that they appreciated him this last year, and that, win or lose, they can show at least match the amount of heart, drive, focus, and ability to overcome that Teemu has shown.