Last night’s overtime loss was disappointing, but you cannot be too upset about losing a great series against a great team to end a charmed playoffs. I watched more hockey this year than ever before, and I’ll have these fond memories of the season for a long time:
- Wondering why on earth successful goaltenders Biron and Niittymaki were allowed to leave and replaced by questionable Ray Emery and career backup Brian Boucher.
- Coach John Stevens being replaced by Peter Laviolette, under whom the team struggled for weeks before adjusting to his scheme.
- Playing the NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park and losing on a goal by former Flyers star Mark Recchi.
- Watching Richards, Pronger, Timonen, and Tollefsen competing in the Olympics.
- Dan Carcillo figuring out how to control himself and turning out to be a pretty talented winger, while still having more fun than anyone else on the rink.
- Emery getting hurt, then his replacement Leighton, then *his* replacement Boucher, then !his! replacement Backlund, then Boucher getting hurt a second time on the day that Leighton returned from injury.
- Blair Betts and Ian Laperriere’s superb penalty killing.
- Leighton nearly scoring an own goal, hitting the post while trying to direct the puck behind his net.
- Nervously watching the standings as the Flyers seemed to skid out of playoff contention through the last month of the season, eventually winning their last game in a shootout for the 7th seed.
- Losing Carter, Gagne, and Laperriere all in the first round and thinking we had no chance of moving on without them.
- Unknown rookie Ville Leino playing like a superstar throughout the playoffs.
- Losing the first 3 games of the series against Boston, improbably evening the series, going down 3-0 in the first period of game 7, and clawing back to win the game and the series 4-3.
- The 7th seeded Flyers and 8th seeded Canadiens making the Eastern Conference finals.
- Winning two of four tightly contested games in the Stanley Cup finals before falling apart in game 5 and rallying to tie what had been a poor performance in game 6 before eventually losing.