The Cups Are Cracked and Hooked
The Stanley Cup playoffs continue to surprise me. Not in a good way either. I expected the final a long and entertaining series full of highly skilled, exciting play. Instead it has been largely a snoozefest with Detroit embracing a boring defense-first system that is aided and abetted by referees who appear to have been instructed by the league to call it like it’s 1999.
On top of that, we have the sad ballad of Evgeni Malkin. Poor Evgeni is tired. It’s so hard to be a professional hockey player. Listen to his tale of woe from between games one and two in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
"I'm just tired," Malkin said. "Practice is long. The season is long. I feel bad."
Awww...poor guy. Imagine how he’d feel if the Pens had played more than two games over the minimum you can play in the first 3 rounds and make the final. In just a few days Malkin has gone from being the guy that some overzealous writers called “this generation’s Messier to Crosby’s Gretzky” to being the poster child proving every Don Cherry stereotype of European players.
On the bright side, the Memorial Cup was shown on a national US television outlet for the first time ever as far as I can recall (thank you NHL network!) and it was for the most part an excellent tournament with fast, hard-hitting hockey, several overtime games and ended with one of the most surprising things I’ve ever seen in the world of sports. Can you imagine how that kid must feel? You’ve just achieved the biggest thing in your young life so far. The pinnacle of everything you’ve dedicated your life to. They hand you the trophy and…
It falls apart.
Now imagine you’re that kid’s teammate. If you happen to be good enough you have a pro career ahead of you and you’re not the one who was holding that trophy you figure hey, I’m not jinxed, he is. I’ve still got a shot. If you don’t have a pro career to look forward to well, here is the biggest thing you’ve ever done in your life. Years of 4am trips with your mom or dad or both to the rink. Thousands of dollars spent on gear. Months spent away from family at a young age. Holidays missed, relationships sacrificed. All building up to that moment where it’s your turn to take a lap with the Cup. The symbol and reward of your life’s work to date.
And it’s broken.
So you let out a timid “whoo” and skate your lap feeling more than a little ridiculous while you hold the busted-up hardware aloft. It’s not like you thought it was going to be. While you practiced and sweated and worked out and sacrificed you felt in your heart of hearts that someday it would all pay off in a glorious moment when you held aloft a tangible symbol of success.
Instead you got half a trophy.
I don’t think it’s a stretch for most people to imagine the feeling if you think about it. Maybe you got your “dream job” or maybe it was when you graduated college or got that Master’s or got that doctorate or opened your own business or got your driver’s license or finally scored with that guy/gal or…..well it doesn’t matter really does it? Whatever it was, a little while after the Big Happening there was probably a moment where you paused and thought “This isn’t what I though it was going to be” and then that vague feeling of unfulfillment starts creeping into your gut. What then?
Easy.
Just do what the rest of us do. Just pick up your broken trophy, let out a little “whoo” and do a little lap. And then, like any good, striving, forward marching human being start working toward the next thing. That one, that’s the one that will be everything you dreamed. It must be. Right?
On top of that, we have the sad ballad of Evgeni Malkin. Poor Evgeni is tired. It’s so hard to be a professional hockey player. Listen to his tale of woe from between games one and two in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
"I'm just tired," Malkin said. "Practice is long. The season is long. I feel bad."
Awww...poor guy. Imagine how he’d feel if the Pens had played more than two games over the minimum you can play in the first 3 rounds and make the final. In just a few days Malkin has gone from being the guy that some overzealous writers called “this generation’s Messier to Crosby’s Gretzky” to being the poster child proving every Don Cherry stereotype of European players.
On the bright side, the Memorial Cup was shown on a national US television outlet for the first time ever as far as I can recall (thank you NHL network!) and it was for the most part an excellent tournament with fast, hard-hitting hockey, several overtime games and ended with one of the most surprising things I’ve ever seen in the world of sports. Can you imagine how that kid must feel? You’ve just achieved the biggest thing in your young life so far. The pinnacle of everything you’ve dedicated your life to. They hand you the trophy and…
It falls apart.
Now imagine you’re that kid’s teammate. If you happen to be good enough you have a pro career ahead of you and you’re not the one who was holding that trophy you figure hey, I’m not jinxed, he is. I’ve still got a shot. If you don’t have a pro career to look forward to well, here is the biggest thing you’ve ever done in your life. Years of 4am trips with your mom or dad or both to the rink. Thousands of dollars spent on gear. Months spent away from family at a young age. Holidays missed, relationships sacrificed. All building up to that moment where it’s your turn to take a lap with the Cup. The symbol and reward of your life’s work to date.
And it’s broken.
So you let out a timid “whoo” and skate your lap feeling more than a little ridiculous while you hold the busted-up hardware aloft. It’s not like you thought it was going to be. While you practiced and sweated and worked out and sacrificed you felt in your heart of hearts that someday it would all pay off in a glorious moment when you held aloft a tangible symbol of success.
Instead you got half a trophy.
I don’t think it’s a stretch for most people to imagine the feeling if you think about it. Maybe you got your “dream job” or maybe it was when you graduated college or got that Master’s or got that doctorate or opened your own business or got your driver’s license or finally scored with that guy/gal or…..well it doesn’t matter really does it? Whatever it was, a little while after the Big Happening there was probably a moment where you paused and thought “This isn’t what I though it was going to be” and then that vague feeling of unfulfillment starts creeping into your gut. What then?
Easy.
Just do what the rest of us do. Just pick up your broken trophy, let out a little “whoo” and do a little lap. And then, like any good, striving, forward marching human being start working toward the next thing. That one, that’s the one that will be everything you dreamed. It must be. Right?
Comments
It's not the 20th century NZT, but it's a conservative form of puck control that they're playing that involves a deliberate breakout and methodical, short, safe passes. It also involves a lot of obstruction in the netural zone (an aspect similar to the pre-lockout NZT) which causes turnovers which, rather than used against Pittsburgh in exciting odd man rushes are merely methodically passed around until the ideal scoring chance presents itself.
Tonight they've called a few of the obstructions and Pittsburgh has played more physically to recover more pucks which has led to their 2-0 lead as I write this at 925 pm ET.
Pittsburgh actually did quite well against the 21st century trap (which now features no obstruction since it is, or was called more frequently post-lockout but rather neutral zone turnovers caused by stick-in-the land good positioning pass interceptions or recovered dump ins which would lead to either to counterattack or dump in of your own depending on where one was in one's shift).
Whew, a technical dissection of hockey strategy. That'll put you to sleep, won't it?
Anyway, you're hat was put on the golf course by the Rangers of all teams. I think it can stay in the closet for now.