Noble gesture

Fan proposes to girlfriend despite Ducks' Game 7 loss

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- There was a lot riding on Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals for Mighty Ducks fan Christina SerVoss, and not all of it was on the ice.

Her longtime boyfriend Steve De Sena said he would ask for her hand in marriage if the Ducks won the Stanley Cup. After the surprising Ducks lost 3-0 to the New Jersey Devils on Monday night, it looked like another fairy tale might not have a happy ending.

With a national television audience watching the postgame festivities, De Sena got on bended knee and proposed to a tearful SerVoss. She said yes.

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"I feel like we're living the Cinderella story right now," De Sena, 32, of Mission Viejo, had said earlier to the Los Angeles Times. "Only the glass slipper is in the shape of a duck foot."

The couple have known each other for seven years, and dated for five. De Sena was a chronic procrastinator but told SerVoss before the playoffs that if the Ducks won the Stanley Cup, he would marry her.

What followed was not expected. The Ducks managed to knock off the Detroit Red Wings, the Dallas Stars and then the Minnesota Wild.

With the Ducks down 2-0 against the Devils, it appears that SerVoss, 30, might not get what she wanted. What she didn't know is that De Sena had already made up his mind.

"I think I decided this in Game 3," De Sena told the Times. "I just knew it was the time; I knew it was right."

The couple's wager became a big hit with media outlets, some offering tickets to the games. ESPN and ABC Sports flew them to New Jersey for Game 7. A radio station offered to pay for the wedding.

De Sena also passed on an offer by an ABC network reporter who told him during Game 4 that if he wanted to propose to his girlfriend on live TV, he could. However, the moment was not right and he didn't have a diamond ring in hand.

On Monday, De Sena gave SerVoss a pear-shaped diamond ring he had put in his wallet. They had made one other wager Sunday before the deciding Stanley Cup game: $10 that De Sena wouldn't have a ring if the Ducks won.

At least for these two Ducks fans, it was a magical night.

"I think it's reality television at its best," SerVoss said. "There's so many people out there who can relate to this."

 

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