Finally.

16 months ago, the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the depleted Philadelphia Flyers in seven grueling games, bringing an end to the most amazing six weeks of playoff hockey I'd ever seen. What followed was a combination of greed, misjudgement, and the necessity to solve a problem that had existed for far too long, as the NHL became the first professional sports league to cancel an entire season as the result of a lockout.

Now, after months of watching and rewatching our VHS tapes of old playoff games, it is time to lace up the skates, tape the sticks, and drop the puck once again. But as we keep an eye on the clock and count the hours until tonight's games, we remember that our team, our league, our sport, has a completely new look.

1: The rules. The two-line pass is gone, tag-up offsides is back, and a shoot-out will be employed to determine the winner of tie games. The clutch-and-grab and infamous Trap style of defense that so effectively won the New Jersey dEVILs a Stanley Cup, while simultaneously sending hockey fans away in droves, will become virtually extinct as a result of tougher obstruction calls, removal of the red line, and a smaller neutral zone. (For an easy to understand run-through of the new and improved hockey rules, check this out.)

2. The league. After players and owners agreed upon a new CBA, teams had to readjust their lineups to fit with the new salary cap structure. GMs quickly cut big name players with big money contracts as they scrambled to sign guys who would keep them under the new low cap. After more than a year away from the ice, the face of the NHL looks significantly different; the Thrashers and Senators swapped Hossa and Heatley, Roenick is in LA, Recchi and LeClair are in Pittsburgh, Lindros is a Maple Leaf, and Peter Forsberg is finally a member of...

3. The Flyers - Stick a pin through my fingertip, and you're sure to find a drop of orange tinted blood. Sure, I love the Eagles, I adore the Red Sox, and I have a special spot in my heart for the 76ers. But there is nothing quite like the Flyers. I went to my first game when I was 6, and can remember doodling the names of my favorite Flyers' players in my notebook, practicing the spelling of names like Poulin, Propp, Zezel and Tocchet. I dressed up as a Flyer for Halloween and wrote a letter to President Regan asking why women weren't allowed in the NHL (For the record, I was not, even at age 8, satisfied with his response: a White House picture book.)

As I grew up, my friends changed, my tastes changed, and my hobbies changed, but the Flyers were always right there with me. Every year from 1988 until 1996, I attended the Flyers Wives Fight for Wives Carnival, seeking autographs and posing for pictures with players like Brad Marsh and Mark Recchi. My sweet sixteen birthday party was a suprise party at the restaurant in the Spectrum after a Flyers game, a table full of glossy eyed girls watching curiously as I bounced with excitement as Mikael Renberg walked by. Fittingly, the year I graduated from high school, the Flyers went to the Cup finals. If all had gone according to plan, I would have gone straight from the ceremony, still in cap and gown, to the Spectrum for game 6. (The Flyers, who were swept in 4 games, had other plans.) For my 18th birthday, my first away at college, my parents had a cake decorated with a Flyers logo delievered to my dorm room. My 21st birthday was spent at a bar watching the Flyers defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 3 of the conference semi-finals. On my 25th birthday, my friends told me we could spend the day any way I wanted. And so, we sat in my living room, eyes on the TV as the Flyers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in an important playoff game.

As time has passed, my passion for the Flyers hasn't changed, though the team has. There have been loads of different coaches behind the bench and different players to wear the "Flying P" emblem, but never before have there been as many changes in such a short peroid as there were in the past few months. Gone are longtime favorites John LeClair and Mark Recchi, two players who have personified the Flyers for years. Jeremy Roenick and Tony Amonte were also moved, making room for Derian Hatcher, Mike Rathje, Mike Knuble, Jon Sim, Turner Stevenson, Brian Savage, and Peter Forsberg. The Flyers also have a slew of highly touted rookies (Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, and Antero Niittymaki) that helped the Flyers minor league team, the Phantoms, skate to a championship while the NHL was locked out.

Though many agree that the Flyers are, on paper, an clear favorite to skate the Cup come June, anything can happen in the next nine months. That's why, this morning, our palms were wet with anticipation, our hearts beating faster with nervous energy. The next nine months will be filled with wicked slapshots, crisp passes, and lightening fast glove saves. Goaltenders will stand on their heads, defensemen will sacrifice their bodies, and centers will fight through piles of bodies to put the puck in the net. No one knows who will be the one team left standing after every game has been played, but there will be plenty of heart-stopping, mind-boggling, brilliantly executed, beautiful plays along the way. Tonight, as the sun begins to drop and the sky begins to turn from blue to red and red to black, hockey will be played in arenas across North America.

Finally.