Cory's Story: Keeping it low-key after Game 1

Canucks goaltender Cory Schneider has one of the best seats in the house for the Stanley Cup Final. As a backup, the native of Marblehead, Mass., gets to watch every second from the end of the bench, soaking in the tension in nearly the same way a fan would. He made an appearance in Game 6 of the conference quarterfinals, playing well before leaving during the third period with an injury against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Schneider is one the best young goaltenders in the League, and he'll be sharing his experiences throughout this series against the Bruins with NHL.com in his blog, Cory's Story. Following Game 1, he talked about his hectic day and first experience with the Stanley Cup Final.

VANCOUVER -- After last night's game, the mood in the locker room was so much fun. To have Raffi Torres get that goal as our only guy with Stanley Cup experience made it really special.

But after that, I just kept it low-key. I went out to dinner with my dad and my girlfriend and back home to relax. Even if you're not playing, it's pretty emotionally exhausting just to go through a game like that. All I wanted to do was get a good night's sleep before practice today.

Before bed, I watched some highlights of the game. I listened to the analysis just to see what they had to say. That's always fun to do after a win, but when you lose it's not as much fun to watch that stuff. When that happens, you have to just turn it off.

A lot of people from back home got in touch with me after the game -- a lot of texts and calls about the exciting finish. It was cool that so many people back East stayed up late to catch the end of the game and it was nice to see how happy they were for me. A couple of people sent me texts that said, "Look alive!" because apparently I was getting a lot of camera time on the bench. They were telling me to wake up. Other than that, it was all good stuff.

Tonight, it will probably be more low-key stuff for me. Things are pretty busy today for everyone with the media after practice, but after that, I'll spend some more time with my father while he's out here. We'll grab some dinner and check out the city of Vancouver for a little bit. With all the stress of the Final, it's good to keep things relaxed.