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admin
Forum Admin
Canada
2338 Posts |
 Posted - 06/08/2004 : 09:49:50
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Contributed by: Harvey Rose
Well it's all over. Lord Stanley has a new home, a very warm home at that. Tampa Bay is a fine place to live. Maybe while hes' visiting he can teach our great American neighbours ("neighbors" for you Yankees) a thing or two about our game.
The Tampa Bay Lightning were by far the better team...at least for 50 minutes of the game. I, like many other hockey fans, asked myself (and the television gods) "Why couldn't the Flames play like they did in the last ten minutes for the whole game?" After all they played like that for the 25 games leading up to game 7. There are many answers to this question but the primary one is that they just ran out of gas.
Compare the 2 teams and you'll see that Calgary was by far the team with the most injuries. the loss of Donovan in game 5 was devastating by my opinion. They lost their secondary scoring punch and perhaps their fastest skater next to Clark. They had no one left to go to. They leaned heavily on guys like Iginla, Gelinas and Conroy. Don't get me wrong, the Flames have re-defined the word "TEAM" with a rounded effort from everyone but they don't have the fire power that Tampa Bay has with Lecavalier, St. Louis, Richards, Modin, Fedotenko...the list goes on.
On top of that although Kipper was absolutely amazing, Khabiboulin was just that much better...and the save he made against Leopold in the dying minutes of the 3rd was off the charts!
Many around me have said that the Flames had a good run but it's over now and they'll fade away like the Panthers, Mighty Ducks and Hurricanes. I don't think so. Assuming the League and the Players Association can work out a deal before October I believe we haven't seen the last of the Flames but they have to take a page out of the Tampa Bay Lightnings management book and keep this young group together. A few key acquisitions and signings and some good luck in the health department and we'll see them go deep again next year. This is just the beginning for the little team that could.
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puckdog
Top Prospect
USA
14 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2004 : 10:16:08
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Don't forget that the Flames got to game 7 fighting injuries throughout all 4 rounds. They lost Gauthier (arguably thier #1 d-man) in the first round, Tony Lydman for most of the playoffs, other various in and out injuries, and no Reinprect or Lombardi the whole playoffs. That in itself is quite a feat!
As a side note, Tampa had 20 000 fans for their Stanley Cup parade, and Calgary had 30 000 fans show up at their rally to celebrate a great season. Canada Rocks! |
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Ripley
PickupHockey Pro
USA
365 Posts |
Posted - 11/18/2005 : 19:17:47
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| Looks like Harvey's forecast of the Flames is turing out right...so far. |
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Just Ran Out Of Gas
Forum Locked
