The hunger intensifies as you draw closer to it, as you watch others kiss it and embrace it and hoist it above their heads.
I can’t imagine the number of dreams that hockey players have about it.
I can’t imagine how painfully frustrating it must be to fall just short.
James Neal knows such disappointment, having been a member of the Nashville Predators side that reached the Stanley Cup Final last year, losing in six games to Pittsburgh and then being left unprotected in the expansion draft to be selected by the Golden Knights.
He is back winning in the playoffs — Neal has 84 postseason games on his NHL resume — and is again among those counted on to lead Vegas as it opens a Western Conference semifinal against San Jose on Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena.