A Season To Remember
It feels like a horrible dream that we all wish we can wake up from. Unfortunately, the Flyers drought of not winning the cup has reached 29 years now. They made it to the Conference Finals since 2000, when they lost to the Devils in Game 7 then. But for once in Philadelphia, they didn't loose because of a goalie who wasn't good enough, it was because we simply got beat by a...younger, healthier team. As a Flyer fan I refuse to say Tampa was a better team. But they were in Game 7. The Boys gave it their all, and now the pain will start to sink in. But this time, we can look back on these playoff run and actually say they gave it their all. They gave us a thrilling run throughout the season. Maybe we had our top defensemen healthy (Desjardin, Ragnarsson) maybe we could have won. This season has been a great one, we saw a young goalie rise to the challenge and be outstanding, and we saw the pain, JR breaking his jaw, Primeau out two times this year. We can look back and say "they have done a good job." They won our hearts, and now we need to give them ours. This team played with heart and devotion from start to finish. They have had a lot of new faces this year, and those same faces won't be around next year. These guys know it. This season can always be looked on as a season of greatness, even though the Flyers are not in the Stanley Cup Finals. We set a 13 game unbeaten streak in the beginning of the year, and was arguably the best team for the first halph of the season. We saw a veteran goalie (Jeff Hackett) retire as a Flyer, but unfortunately not in a good fashion as he was suffering from Vertigo. We learned to over come the physiologic barrier of two teams we have had trouble with in the past. We found a way to beat the Devils, and the Ottawa Senators. We set and broke 4 NHL records in one game. When we faced Ottawa in March. We broke most penalties in minutes in a period by a team, most penalties in minutes in a game, most penalties in minutes set by both teams in a game, and most penalties in minutes in a period set my both teams. The Flyers won that Game 6-2, and even the goaltenders got involved as there was fight after fight for the last 2 minutes in the game. We saw a rookie goalie come in and hold the #1 Goaltending position while our #1 Goalie (Robert Esche) was out w/ a strained groin. We also saw that rookie goalie act like a hall-of-fame goalie as he won all three of those starts and only allowed one goal in each of those games. So maybe using five goalies in a season, isn't that bad, considering we found our number one goaltender, who for once, can be considered a keeper in Philly.
The Playoff run was an awesome one. Dethroning the former Stanley Cup Champions in five games, and Esche proving that he is on top of his game (considering he was letting bad goals get by last 5 games of the season). We saw an amazing semi-final round where the Flyers beat a tough gritty Toronto team in 6 games. What makes it more special is that they beat Toronto in their own arena, the Air Canada Centre, were it's a tough place to win in. We saw Sami Kapanen take a viscous hit into the boards, and watching him fall three or four times before he got back to the boards. The fans will remember that because Sami created a play taking that hit so Jeremy Roenick could get the puck and score gloves slide top shelf in Overtime to eliminate the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second year in a row. The Flyers also were forced to play Sami Kapanen, a small 5'7 fast forward on Defense, and he played it well! This is another thing us fans can embrace on. We played without our two top defensemen for 3 games in the quarter finals when Kim Johnsson broke a finger blocking a shot on Game 5 of the Quarter Finals, and for the final 4 games in the Conference Finals. Also, is fans will talk about how we saw Keith Primeau, our Captain, come through big time when we needed him most. We saw him score a hat-trick in Game 5 of the Semi-finals, and we saw him come through big for us in the conference finals, putting up big hits on Tampa Bay in many games, especially in Games 3, and 6; that was where he stood out the most. We also saw a great young goaltender, Robert Esche, stand on his head for his team in his first game 7, to keep the game 2-1, and keep the Flyers in it and hoping to give them a chance to come back. But all the emotion and willingness came out in Game 6, were the Flyers were down 4-3 to Tampa Bay. With a win the Lightening would have sent the Flyers home, but the Flyers weren't to be denied. With 5 minutes to go in regulation, the Flyers were putting the on the Tampa Bay Goalie, then with a little over 2 minutes to go, Keith Primeau scored on a rebound attempt off of Jeremy Roenick, and stuffed the puck in the back of the net, to tie the game up. In overtime, the Flyers controlled the Lightening, only giving them one shot on goal, and keeping the puck in the Tampa Bay Defensive zone. Again, with about 2 minutes to go, Simon Gange scored on the Tampa Bay Lightening and gave the Flyers the victory to force a Game 7 in Toronto. Even though we lost in Game 7, the Flyers gave it their all.
So, only the future will foretell the Flyers future. With a NHL lockout looming, and a Salary Cap almost guaranteed, a lot of these veterans might be thinking about retirement, considering Clarke will be looking to adjust to this Salary Cap. Veterans like LeClair, Amonte, Roenick, Malakhov, Zhamnov, Recchi, and others will be facing a hard pay cut, and a potential trade. Look for only 3 of those veterans back next year along side the all-star captain Primeau. The season has ended for Flyers, but as a Flyer Fan, I say Thank You for one hell of a year. It will certainly be a season to remember
James D. Bennett III
May 24th, 2004|11:35PM