Our trip across to Philadelphia went relatively smoothly, at least until we got into the city itself. Thankfully Leslie (Anna's car) had a navigation system so we weren't completely lost, but it was still an adventure trying to make our way through traffic towards the hotel.

We learnt all about how Max and Lucy had met while we drove. It was a cute story - running into each other several times in the lift before Max finally grew a pair and asked her out. She turned him down flat, much to Kris and Tyler's amusement, but that only spurred Max into camping out outside her door every possible day he could until she finally said yes.

Of course that persistent streak led me to think of Jordan and his tendency to always get his own way when it came to us. I'd never had any trouble letting guys down, or saying no, before, so why was this guy so different? I refused to believe it was just because I found him adorable, with that cheeky glint in his eyes never failing to get my heart rate up for a few beats.

I didn't get time to delve any deeper than that, however, because I was soon being dragged into a fantastically impressive hotel lobby. Forking over the information Jordan had left we were quickly checked in and assured that everything was already taken care of, so please enjoy our stay.

x

The Wachovia Center was a vastly different experience to Mellon. Lucy and I received a few jeers for wearing our Penguins gear, leading us fear a little for our safety if things went our boys' way, but other than that we had no trouble. I felt a little bad for my friends being thrown into a cauldron like this, but they seemed happy enough just to take in the scene.

A lot of the first period was spent explaining how the game worked, and obviously pointing out Jordan and Max. We weren't overly close, so they were mostly looking at the jumbotron, but they got the main idea of what the guys looked like.

There were a couple of close chances at either end around the five minute mark, adding to the intensity of the occasion. Aggressiveness was apparent on the ice, but remained under enough control that there was no need for penalties. Things seemed relatively even, until just before the period came to a close.

With just over two minutes left the Flyers made a breakout from behind their own net, flipping the puck towards the Penguins blueline. It was fumbled before Max found the small black disk on the end of his stick, barely getting a chance to register that fact when it was stolen from him. Flower made the first save, but Knuble was there before any of the defense for an easy rebound chance. To make matters worse, Lupul score less than a minute later, his snapshot sailing effortlessly past the goalie.

We were understandably a little quiet during the break, but the energy our our little group dropped dramatically when Sid, of all guys, was called for slashing, leading to an early power play goal for Danny Briere. Not that we had much time to let that sink in. Only fifteen seconds later Max was dropping his gloves to fight Carcillo, going down a little too quickly for our liking, but still proving himself the joker as he raised a finger to his lips and told the crowd to, "Shh," as he made his way to the box.

"And that would be my boyfriend," Lucy joked as the scene was replayed on the screens above us.

The crowd were amped, primed for a devastating blow to kill off the Penguins hope. Sadly for them, that energy worked against the locals. Geno made a great move from the back of the net, stuffing the puck forward, leaving a short rebound for Fedotenko to push past Biron. And then rugby invaded the ice, a ruck forming at the bottom of the right circle. Geno, Feds and Tanger all got involved in the action, with Geno and Coburn earning themselves roughing penalties.

Proving the tide had turned, Mark Eaton was wristing a deflection into the twine from mid air soon after. That settled down the period for a while, things only hotting up around ten minutes later when yet another puck was found in open air. This time it was the captain getting his stick up, after a great cross ice, end-to-end move from Billy G.

Second intermission was filled with excitement and a little abuse from the odd Flyers fan who could tell things probably weren't going to pick back up for their team after the visitors managed such a comeback. It was fun hearing that my friends were enjoying themselves too, despite their earlier nerves when the Penguins were down.

The result seemed to be sealed when Gonchar completed an end-to-end move from the top of the circles. The five of us were jumping up and down celebrating - anyone who didn't know better would've thought we'd already won the Cup. After we settled back down I realised that if the Flyers were kept scoreless the rest of the game then this would be the winning goal. It was a little unsettling not being able to tell if I was relieved by this or not, but I was too absorbed in the game to really care.

Aside from another visit to the naughty corner for Geno, the period settled into a few scrambling chances at each end, including a three-on-two led by Jordan that the Penguins couldn't quite pull off. An empty netter by Sid capped off the performance in style - stealing the puck in the neutral zone, chasing it down only to have his shot attempt bounce off the side of the net. But that was no problem; he simply leaned down, corralled the puck with his glove and made a circuit of the twine before sending the rubber over the line like it was planned that way all along. The remaining twenty-eight seconds were merely a formality.

x

Heading into the locker room it was apparent there had been a win. Smiles were everywhere as the guys relaxed knowing they were safely through to the next round.

I barely managed to make it halfway across the room before Jordan was tackling me. "Well done boy, but you didn't score," I smiled into his neck as I held on tightly. Soon enough he set me down with a frown apparently from my comment. Before he could protest, I turned back to the group I'd been with. "This crazy giant is Jordan. Jordan, these are Anna, Deanna, and Brenda. They're almost as crazy as you."

"You hurt her, you die," were the only words to come from Anna. It was quite funny seeing her try to glare up at him. We'd always been closest, Brenda and Deanna being her other best friends I'd been introduced to the first time I visited.

Once the formal introductions were done I left the girls to continue eye raping the team. They knew enough to not completely embarrass themselves, and Lucy dragged them over to Max and Kris soon after anyway.

"So," I began a little awkwardly with Jordan sitting in his stall continuing to shed the gear he hadn't managed to remove before the media invasion. "I believe this belongs to you."

Notes

So the Pens won the series, but Jordan didn't get the gwg. What's gunna happen now?