Taking Us to the Brink, but Don’t Hit That Panic Button Yet

By: Patrice L. Leonard

Beads of sweat dot foreheads. Breathing becomes shallow and shaky. Knuckles are white as sheets. Do you feel it? This, my friends is NHL hockey. This is the power of the most electrifying game on earth. It is wide open. The speed is exhilarating. The hits are bone jarring. The ending, well, you just cannot write this stuff. I am not reviewing the latest action movie out of Hollywood. I am not raving about the newest John Grisham novel. I am talking about the last month of the hockey season. The only unpleasant part is that the “good guys” do not always win.
The Flyers, as of late, have had trouble winning games. They are not only losing, they are losing with panache. When they play poorly, it is hard to watch. This is not an expansion team. This is not a beer league team playing in a smelly, old arena. This is one of the elite teams in the NHL. So why then are they so bad right now? I do not have the answers. I wish I had. They have the talent. They have the determination. They have the skill. They have the coach. Maybe someone has to remind them of that. Peter Forsberg did it after their loss to Buffalo on Saturday. He was angry. He did not try to hide it. He blasted his team, not excluding himself. Sami Kapanen did it after an atrocious loss to the NJ Devils.

Robert Esche, Derian Hatcher, and Mike Knuble have done it. Who has to step up next? What will it take for this team to wake up and realize that the magic carpet ride is almost over?

As a fan, it is hard not to panic. You watch every game faithfully. You put all the emotion you have into this team for three hours, and for what? Well, recently, a lot of heartache it would seem. The trade deadline came and went without the Flyers really addressing any of their serious problems. The defenseman they picked up, Denis Gauthier, will fit in fine. We all love a bruiser in this town. The other guy, Nikko Dimitrakos, will need prodding to be effective. But, where’s our speed? We have guys who are fast to be sure. We do not have anyone with barn burning speed. We don’t have anyone other players fear. Donald Brashear used to have that effect on the opposition, but with the “new” NHL, his style is no longer helpful.

The power play is a joke. They proved that in the game against Pittsburgh when the Flyers had a seven-minute power play. Not only did they not score, they only tallied ONE shot on goal. The Penguins had the worst penalty killing percentage in the league. I have never seen such a pathetic attempt at offense in the twenty plus years I have been watching hockey. I can only hope that Ken Hitchcock closed the doors and ripped into this team like there was no tomorrow. Wake up guys. The sands are slipping out of your hourglass! Now, it is common knowledge that hockey players are quite different from other professional athletes. They still play for love of the game and for pride. They do not get the endorsements and such that certain NBA players receive. They are not “America’s” favorites like certain MLB players are. They are to me and to many who do feel passionately about the NHL, but the spotlight is usually on others. Something, somewhere has to tap into that part of their brains and remind them of why they are here. Remind them of why they play the toughest sport there is. Once that happens they need to play like men possessed. They need to perform at the level they are expected to. Then, and only then, can they shake off these demons.

There is still time to right this ship. They will be in the playoffs, that’s a given. Even they cannot screw that up. When the regular season ends, and new season begins. It is anyone’s game from that point on. Every team starts with the same record. The strong will survive to see another day, and another series. Only one can raise the Stanley Cup. Everybody else goes home a loser. It is brutal but it is the truth. My finger is hovering, shaking above that bright red panic button. I’m just not ready to push it yet. Neither should you.