Quote:
Originally Posted by killer_carlson
Vancouver has the talent to win, but they are completely lost mentally.
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The Stanley Cup Final hangover really kicked this team in the teeth, and they couldn't recover. Those guys on that Cup team knew how many breaks they got, how long and draining mentally/emotionally/physically a playoff run is, and how hard it is to replicate that come playoff time...and how close they were to winning it, but how not winning it meant the long journey and sacrifice wasn't worth it in the end. That sort of mentality is somewhat flawed, but the results the last two years show that it may be the case.
The last two seasons, its almost as if they know how hard its going to be to win 15 games in the playoffs and get to the same position they were in 2 years ago, to change that result.
The Flames didn't quite have that after 2004. There was a season off, and the team was an underdog and then loaded up as a "have" team coming out of the lockout. Vancouver was a "have" team, and good enough to win, but choked it away. Regular seasons since, that talent has shown itself when the pressure is off...but with the pressure on and the long climb ahead of them to get to the finals and get into a Stanley Cup clinching game, that seems like miles and miles away for the roster, which they're not clearly ready for doing all it takes to take on that challenge.
But as a fan, I know I did have that desolate feeling that night in June 2004....getting within 1 goal and 1 period away...or an OT win away from the Cup, given the roller coaster of the playoffs, was going to be hard for any team to automatically duplicate, given injuries, bounces, etc every year. I knew the team was going to be better player wise in the years ahead, but that didn't automatically mean a better result if things went the other way at some point in the playoffs...and its been 9 years since.