#mccaptain

[kuu-ukkeli]

Gryba😁

[kuu-ukkeli]

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Drink the pink

[kuu-ukkeli]

Uhh babe..

[kuu-ukkeli]

Why I love twitter?

[nimmybrah]

Why was I just made aware today that Connor Mcdavid has a song too????

[filppadelphia]

Aaaaand I go from watching the leafs lose 7-2 to watching the stars lose 5-1. I'm bad luck? Sorry not sorry

[authoranna]

I don’t wanna say good-bye tomorrow

Tomorrow is Game 4 of the Missouri Mavericks - Quad City Mallards series. The Mallards are down 3-0. Missouri is the top team in the league, and we’re the final playoff spot of the conference, yet we’re still playing with them and being so close to winning. All three games have been close; even though one we lost 6-3, it was a couple empty netters that put it up so high (we were down by 1 until then). They just can’t get the full 60 minutes of the game; it’s always 40 minutes, 50 minutes, and then they think the game is over.

But that isn’t important. Tomorrow may be the last game for our captain.

He’s been our captain for 6 years, through times when we thought we weren’t going to have a team back in the CHL days when we changed owners every season, through the winstreaks and the losing streaks and the amazing victories. Darren McMillan isn’t an offensive defenseman; he plays damn good defense and is always exactly where he needs to be; that’s why we love him. He’s been the best we could have asked for. And tomorrow we may be saying farewell to McCaptain.

I became a Mallards fan late in the 2010-2011 season by pure luck: I won four tickets in a raffle at a benefit and sat in section 103, row 20 at the game. For me, Darren McMillan is The Captain; he's the only captain I've known. Through all the ups and downs of college and life, the Mallards and a Canadian blue-liner with a “C” on his chest have been constants. I could always count on going to the games, seeing number 6 on the ice, and being surrounded by people who all had the same thing in their hearts: this is where I belong, at the Marsh. That consistency, the belonging, the emotions, are what I love and live for.

In a way, I almost hope that if we lose this series, it’s this weekend. Because Saturday is Game 5, and after that it’s down to Missouri for 6 and 7. I think we’d like to be able to watch our Captain’s last game and tell him goodbye at home, at the Marsh. A first round exit isn’t what we want; we want the Kelly Cup, for our Captain, for us all. But we might not be lucky enough to be able to win 4 straight games.

I know I’ll be crying when the final horn sounds at the last game we see this season, whether it’s tomorrow, Saturday, or a game on the road. I’m sure other people will be doing the same. 

It'll be so different next season when McMillan is no longer playing; I hope he is still involved in some way with the Mallards. But if he isn't, I wish him the best of luck and all the blessings upon him and his family.