Fudge! Preds fan realizes he's won free Stanley Cup tickets... in July

Imagine the elation of winning free tickets to see your favourite team in the Stanley Cup final.

Now, imagine the heartbreak of only realizing you'd won five weeks after the fact.

That's what happened to Predators fan Andrew Fudge, who entered a Twitter contest for free tickets to Game 6 on "a hail mary," he told Yahoo! Sports.

An infrequent user of the social media site, and assuming he wouldn't win anyway, he only logged backed on Monday, when he saw a direct message from the Predators.

"I thought it was some spam junk saying I won something," Fudge told Yahoo! Sports. "And then I realized what it was."

Fudge ended up watching Game 6 in his home. A diehard Preds fan, he didn't want to pay the exorbitant ticket prices on the secondary market, so instead he took his shot on Twitter.

When he realized what had happened, Fudge could only react in one way.

"I died inside," he told Yahoo! Sports.

If it's any consolation, the Predators lost Game 6 and had to watch the Penguins lift the Cup and celebrate on their home ice. At least Fudge didn't have to bear that.

On Tuesday, Fudge received another message from the Predators inviting him to opening night on Oct. 10, where Nashville will raise its Western Conference Champions banner for the first time. That's something he'll be able to celebrate.