Thanks for a great year, everyone

It was tough to see the Ottawa Senators lose the way they did last night, but it's hard to be disappointed in the way the team competed through the season and into the playoffs. Considering the nightmare scenario that dogged the team through the summer, the lack of any respect heading into the season, and the question marks all around before the team even played a game, I think anyone who says they're disappointed in their team after what they did had unrealistic expectations. I've got to agree with what the Team 1200's Dean Brown said on his blog:

The overwhelming sense I got from the fans while listening on the web from my hotel room in Boston was that they were disappointed "for" the team and not disappointed "in" them. Two very small words which make a very big difference.

That's just about it.

Here at Silver Seven, though, we had a great year, too. Our community is now a little over a year old, and we've had our best numbers by far leading up to and through the Senators short playoff stint. To that, I owe thanks to all of the readers and members who come to see us every day, and join us in the comments to really build the strong community we have. I've also got to thank DarrenM for his help in managing the site, and Mark Parisi and Ryan Classic for their terrific contributions to the site.

So thanks to everyone who comes by, and keep coming through the summer; we're not going to stop writing. Through the rest of the playoffs, we'll be hosting some open threads for folks from our community to gripe about watching other teams in the playoffs, and cheer against the Penguins. We'll have analysis of some of the team's free agents, and looking at how the salary cap might shape up for next season. We'll take some looks at the team's prospects, including features about some of the college prospects, and what we might be able to expect from them. We'll have huge coverage of the NHL Awards, and SB Nation's going to be sending some folks to the NHL Draft this year, too. Plus, as we all found out last season, you never know what might happen in the off-season.

So stick around. And thanks for being such a huge part of such a great community; here's to even more in the coming months, and more success next season.