Last night my Chicago Blackhawks won in double-overtime against the LA Kings.
LA was up three games to one, and the Hawks were (and remain) on the brink of elimination. Next goal wins. Next goal ends the season for the defending Stanley Cup champions.
Three thoughts:
- There is nothing more exciting in sports than playoff hockey. The speed, the sprints, the breathtaking elegance and physicality, and the fact that so many games end on sudden-death overtime goals. I’m a bigger fan of football and basketball than I am of hockey, but for “most exciting action” give me the NHL playoffs any day.
- The Hawks were down 4-3 in the third period, their season on the line. And they didn’t give up. They persevered. They fought. They scored. They tied the game. And then they won. When it looks bleak. When it looks dark. When it looks difficult. Keep fighting. Market. Make the sale. Win the game!
- In sports, in life, and in business, nothing is more important than staying in the game. Stay alive. Never quit. Next goal wins.
As Thomas Edison said in 1877, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”