[CaptainCrunch]

the players are all jetting off to parts unknown to start their long off season, the locker room is empty now.

The equipment is getting packed up, the ice is going to be coming out.

The Management team is going to retreat to their offices to get ready for the draft and the free agent frenzy.

the coaches are going to sleep in, wake up late, spend times with their families and try to relax.

As fans we're left with an empty feeling, much later then previous years, no hockey isn't over for the year, but it isn't hockey that we are emotionally invested in, its just hockey that we watch without the same level of passion that we feel when the Flames comes out of the tunnel and light the Sea of Red on fire.

Nothing is left now except for speculation, and opinions and hopes for next year, this year is now over.

thanks to Bingo and the Crew for giving us a great place to play and an even better place to share, to bicker, to brag, to celebrate and commiserate.

Thanks to every member of this place for your contributions and your humor and wit and your insight.

It was a great season, a season that ended too abruptly.

Training camp is too far away.

I know that next years team will be different, players with different numbers, favorites gone and forgotten, but the Flames will rise again, and light our hockey passions on fire.