FINALLY, IT'S OVER.

UGH.

CANADA 5 U.S.A. 1

CANADA WINS GOLD

For those bloggers in the single digits who have been following my "coverage" of the 2007 World Women's World Hockey Championship, it was a long road to Tuesday's gold medal final.

The leadup to an event like this is staggering. Countless hours spent researching on the Web, interviewing on the phone, in meetings planning coverage strategies...

Then compiling all that information as you go and writing, endless writing.

Writing for supplements, covering press conferences for months before the first puck is dropped or football is kicked or homerun is hit or three-point shot is made.

Joining the Canadian team in a small town a few hours away and getting to know them, letting them get to know you, doing features on them, a week before they even start competing.

Then another whole week of reporting on the games themselves, leading up to Tuesday night's predictable final between the Canadians and Americans and yet another Canuck victory.



And now, it's over.

Aside from sleeping and just trying to come down from the forced adrenaline rush that covering these kinds of big events always requires, there's some reflection about it all.


There's a final look at the media accreditation pass, a thing that's been virtually stapled around my neck for the past week, that will make you completely persona non grata if you don't have it...

And then the filing away of it, along with the other credentials for past Olympic Games, World Cup qualifiers, NHL Stanley Cup finals, Canadian Football League Grey Cup championships, etc.

Then a couple of days off, then it's back into something else.

See you in a day or two. Hopefully spring will have actually arrived by then. I wouldn't know.