Nothing We Can Do About It

I felt like I was in the Wizard of Oz last night and I had just woken up. I saw all the characters from the dreams I have had so many times. And they were wistfully skating around the ice with the cherished Lord Stanley’s Cup like in my dreams. All the familiar faces like Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Simon Gagne. Hell even John Stevens was there. But when I awoke these characters looked much different than I had remembered them. They donned black and silver and were so far away from the friendly confines of the Well that this couldn’t be them, but alas it was.

Although we all saw it coming. We knew the Kings were going to hoist the Cup this year. We got a sniff of it after they demolished Vancouver, but some wrote that off as well the Nucks always choke in the playoffs they just did it much earlier this year. True. Then they faced off against the second seeded Blues. And they swept them. That’s about where I started feeling that this was their year. They then handily dispatched the Yotes in 5 games in the West Finals on the way to the Cup. By this time I was prepared for the LA boys to win it all. It was inevitable. The problem is right up until it happened I felt prepared for it, but then when the buzzer went off it felt wrong. No longer were there feelings of well at least Hexy got his name on there. And long gone were the reminiscent images of Gags as a rookie and thinking ‘look at him now’. Now when I write the words Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, and Simon Gagne I will have to prelude it with the words Stanley Cup Champion. And I don’t own a Stanley Cup Champions shirt and hat. That idea right there should send a shiver down everyone’s spine in Philly. What could have been is now what is in LA and there’s nothing we can do about it. It feels like that scene in Goodfellas when Jimmy calls from a payphone outside a diner to see if Tommy’s initiation ceremony was over and he finds out he was actually whacked. That’s what the guy on the phone tells Jimmy “we tried to straighten it out but there was nothing we could do about it.” That more or less sums up the feelings of the whole situation. Flyers management really tried to make it work here, but they couldn’t and they hung on for a while just hoping it would all click. But it didn’t. And now Richards and Carter are top dogs in the NHL and there’s nothing we can do about it.

It just feels uncomfortable from a fans standpoint to watch something like this unfold mainly because I believe the trades WILL benefit us more then them. So far were down 1 Stanley Cup to none, since the trades, in that race so I know it looks bad right off the bat, but we have to give it time.  The Kings made trades in the offseason and during the season to win now. The Flyers made their moves last season to build for the future although the immediate future. With one move in the offseason – acquiring a top tier defensemen either through trade or free agency they can make a serious run this season, but then again as we’ve seen with almost every Stanley Cup the hot goalie will get you to the promised land. The hottest goalie come playoff time this year was Quick so the Kings skated away with the Cup and Richie, Carts and Gags get their rings. Just not in the jersey we expected.

-John LaMarra

Twitter – @popesnipes77

E-Mail – lamarrajunior@yahoo.com