Buccigross: Tune in, hockey fans

1:09 PM ET

Music versus hockey.

If you could choose only one of these art forms for the rest of your days, which do you choose? One would stay and the other would be violently sucked into a black hole of nothingness never to be seen or heard from again. Which do you choose?

Jack Eichel or Jack White?Patrick Kane or Big Daddy Kane? Led Zeppelin or Nick Leddy? The Avett Brothers or the Benn brothers? Father John Misty or Father John Scott?The King or Prince?

My brain hurts and my heart aches thinking about it so I won’t. Instead, let’s legally marry the two as we have done over the years with the likes of U2 and Blink-182.

The artist that is currently dominating my eardrums at the gym, my 1795 farmhouse, my truck as I drive around my small, rural town of Ellington, Connecticut, and during my 45-minute commute to and from ESPN is Sturgill Simpson. I hadn’t heard of Simpson until I received the following text at 7:56 p.m. ET on March 10 (I still have the text thread, hence the accuracy). It was from a hockey-and-music-loving friend, Jason Burch, in Columbus, Ohio:

“I hesitate to put my perfect record on the line with the country genre, but I am hooked on the album ‘Metamodern Sounds In Country Music’ by Sturgill Simpson. Great voice, lyrically unique, and an epic cover [of] ‘The Promise.’ Give it a shot and let me know if it grabs you.”

Grab me? It now owns me. After downloading the 2014 album that night and listening to it on my wicked smahtphone as I lay in bed, I sent Jason the following reply to his initial text above at 2:44 a.m. (and now March 11) in the morning:

“It’s 2:44 and I’m listening to Sturgill Simpson imagining drinking bourbon in an Ohio dive bar.”

And Jason responded to my text after he woke up the following morning with:

“Ill take that as a positive review. Burch’s record remains intact.”

I’ve often written that we can’t see or hear every book, song, movie or game. Things — like great new artists or music — can slip by us. Life does not sit back in a 1-2-2. Life forechecks aggressively and noisily and badgers us into hearing Luke Bryan but missing beautiful things that can truly enrich our lives.

Music enriches my life in an emotional and spiritual way. I’m an energy freak and I like to be moved by sport, music, great writing and fun, beautiful or smart people. (An occasional energy drink/Snickers sugar-rush combo at 5 p.m. also ignites me for my night job or my night fun. I might have been raised by deer with a penchant for sugar blocks left by you humans.)

Simpson, born in Kentucky in 1978, slipped by me until Jason’s text. Simpson’s first album was 2013’s “High Top Mountain,” which was followed by his sweeping 2014 construction. As I devoured “Metamodern Sounds In Country Music” I learned that he was about to release a new album on April 15: “A Sailor’s Guide To Earth.”

So, for the last seven weeks I’ve been consuming the 19 songs from Simpson’s second and third albums. (I bought his debut the day I wrote this blogumn.) This joyful music discovery has coincided with spring, a new life in a new/old house and the fertile canvas of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Music and sports. It dominates my DNA like it does many of yours.

Sturgill Simpson’s “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth” is the No. 1 country album in America this week. Suzanne Cordeiro/Getty Images

So Sturgill Simpson and the Stanley Cup Playoffs are presently inescapably married. Thus, this blogumn mixes Simpson lyrics with impressions of the 16 NHL playoff teams. The eight that are gone and the eight that remain. You know the drill. In alphabetical order:

Anaheim Ducks

“Been getting to the bottom of the bottom getting to me Been holding up the mirror to everything I don’t want to see But it ain’t all flowers, sometimes you gotta feel the thorns And when you play with the Devil you know you gonna get the horns”

There is a lot of introspection in Sturgill Simpon’s songwriting, and that’s where Anaheim is after losing a disappointing series to Nashville. The Ducks lost the first two games and the last two games, which is surprising given their Big 3 of experienced and playoff-gritty players like Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler. One can’t imagine that coach Bruce Boudreau will survive this bad start to a season and really bad finish.

Chicago Blackhawks

“Woke up today and decided to kill my ego It aint ever done me no good no how Gonna break through and blast off to the Bardo In them flowers of light far away from the here and now”

This lyric is from what will probably always be my No. 1 Simpson cut, “Just Let Go.” I have instructed my daughter, Malorie, to play it at my Funeral/Memorial when my clock expires.

The Hawks pay two players (Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane) 10.5 million each in salary cap money. That 21 million combined will always make it challenging unless the cap goes up, which the Hawks would obviously love/need. Players like Brandon Saad will be missed in the playoffs going forward. Having May off will probably be good for this team in the long run, especially since the World Cup in September will make the season even longer next year for players who make their nation’s squad.

The Hawks’ window is still open. As long as Nos. 88 and 19 are in their 20s, life and ratings will be good. Filling the cracks with quality — as the Hawks did with Artemi Panarin — is the key to Cup No. 4. Enjoy it now, ‘Hawks fans, because Chicago hockey has never been this good. And when the window closes it will come crashing down.

Dallas Stars

“Says my son, it’s all been done and someday yer gonna wake up old and gray So go and try to have some fun showing warmth to everyone You meet and greet and cheat along the way”

“Turtles All The Way Down” is an instant classic. A story of an altered state, with no repeated lyrics. A quick musing about philosophy and longing and opinions. The kind of late-night conversations some us have when the combination of beverage and environment make the synapses in our brains fly like Jamie Benn clappers.

Dallas is a fun, let-it-fly team whose most important fun and fuel injector, Tyler Sequin, is sidelined with an Achilles injury. With a healthy Sequin, the Stars are a legitimate Stanley Cup Champion threat. They are deep and experienced enough.

Detroit Red Wings

“I’m sorry, but I’m just thinking of the right words to say I know they don’t sound the way I planned them to be But if you wait around a while, I’ll make you fall for me I promise, I promise you I will”

Simpson’s remake of When In Rome’s 1988 beaut is one of the best covers of this century. Emo’s roots were in 1988 songs like “The Promise.” In 1988, it was masked in a …

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