AAAAAAAHHHHH. PUCK THE SYSTEM. AAAAAAAHHHHH. PUCK THE SYSTEM PUCK THE SYSTEM.
The season is now over.
It is not over because the Stanley Cup champion has been crowned, but rather because the Flyers have been eliminated from play. They just happenned to make it this far.
I shall later put up a post recapping the season, looking at my outlandish predictions, etc.
This post is for the Flyers.
The team hang in all year long. They were never outstanding, they were never awful, they just kept on keeping on.
The Flyers had a midseason coaching change and numerous goalie changes -- some due to injuries. Preseason single year contract goalie Ray Emery went down fairly early with a possibly season ending injury, worked his ass to get back, and went down for the count when the injury flared back up.
Brian Boucher, who's peak was in the earlier part of the decade, was just supposed to be a backup, a spot starter. Michael Leighton, league journeyman, was claimed off waivers mid season. Both came up HUGE in the playoffs. Which bugs me that I even ask the question "What if?" when thinking about the goaltending. What if Emery hadn't gotten hurt in the season and had been available in the post-season? Would they have made the post-season? What if Boucher hadn't gotten hurt in the series against the Bruins? He goaltended them into the playoffs and exorcised the demons of his rookie year, beating the Devils in the first round 4-1, losing the series in 2000 after being up 3-1. Not to mention the Flyers were in the middle of a series comeback against the Bruins when he got hurt. What if Michael Leighton had been better at plugging his 5 hole? He had 3 post-season shutouts.
In the end, it appears the Flyers hopes and dreams went along with their defense. When their defense played well, when Pronger stayed on the ice, they did well. The Flyers have 4 defenders that could be in any other teams top Defensive pairing -- Pronger, Carle, Timmonen, and Coburn. What if the other 2 had stepped up to the plate better? Parent had played well all season and post-season, until it was apparent he wasn't fast enough to keep up with the blackhawks, and was scratched from the rest of the series.
The forwards, I have no complaints about. Perhaps they had too much depth -- any game could have different 3 or 4th liners scratched. When Laperriere went down, Carcillo stepped into his role fine -- fine enough to raise questions when Laperriere returned, it was either Carcillo or Van Riemsdyk who had to not dress. Briere and Carter scored when the team needed points. Richards led the team hard, pounding both ends of the ice. Hartnell didn't stop, couldn't stop, won't stop.
In the end it just wasn't enough to win the cup, and that's fine. This team was the underdog in every single series they were in. They were almost swept in the second round by the Bruins, before they made one of the most memorable comebacks in sports history. The fact that they made it to the playoffs was an accomplishment enough, given they didn't have a berth until they beat the Rangers in a shootout on the last day.
The only bad coincidence is that the Phillies also made it to the Finals and lost (also in 6 games).
-- Knuttel
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