Sadly, All Good Things Must Come to An End...

That was the title of a Twitter tweet I just shared...and we all knew this day was coming at some point, but many of us hope it never should really arrive.

Who are us?  Loyal fans of the Detroit Red Wings.

What is the day?  The day is the first time since the 1989-90 season that the Red Wings were mathematically eliminated from the 2016-17 NHL postseason.

I realize many will observe that the sadness that I, as well as many fans of Hockeytown, feel is just "wining" and misplaced sorrow.  And I can't necessarily disagree with that observation; as Wings fans we've had it good.  Real good as the following list illustrates:

• Four Stanley Cup Champion teams in 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008
• Six Stanley Cup Finals appearances in 1995 and 2009, plus the Cup winning years
• Third longest NHL playoff appearance streak, only behind fellow Original Six members the Bruins and the Blackhawks

As a Wings fan it's been a great ride and I feel privileged to have watched the Wings win four Stanley Cups in my lifetime.  Hopefully as the team goes forward they can rebuild into a contender once again and bring another Cup home to Hockeytown.

I'm going to see the Red Wings in Tampa tomorrow night and I couldn't be more excited.  I'll be sporting my #19 Steve Yzerman jersey, who ironically will be in the building as the Tampa Bay Lightening's General Manager.  Tampa is fighting for it's playoff life so it should be a good game and it's possible the Wings could be the spoiler.  Regardless, I'll be there for my team.

The Yahoo Puck Daddy blog has a nice piece on the incredible run of the Red Wings these past 25 years.