Abel to Yzerman
Ingredients Required To Repeat
by IwoCPO on 02/18/09 at 07:55 AM ET
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Interesting read from Philadelphia, of all places. Rich Hoffman devotes quite a bit of time and space to the ‘97 and ‘98 Wings as he discusses the possibility of a repeat performance from his hometown Phillies.
If it was the Konstantinov tragedy that bonded them spiritually, it was a typical mad-scientist move by the great Scotty Bowman upon which the second Cup run was built. Bowman changed goalies. Chris Osgood and Mike Vernon were both on the roster in the 1996-97 season, pretty much splitting time, but when the playoffs began, Vernon played just about all the time and ended up winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.
So what did Bowman do? He traded Vernon, and Osgood ended up starting and winning the second Cup. Neither guy was viewed as spectacular - the team and the coach were spectacular - but there is no more visible change than the goaltender. And it worked.
Ozzie in ‘97/‘98? A .913 save percentage and GAA of 2.21…in case any of you were chomping at the bit to draw a comparison and start with the Osgood defense strategies.
Hoffman makes a real good point though. What’s the motivation? Between you and me, I’m not real sure there needs to be some sort of obvious “win it for…” type of deal. Vladdie was a whole different scenario, of course. But lots of people say the Wings were in it to win for Dallas Drake last year.
Really? Do you think Dan Cleary wanted to win it for Drake, or for Dan Cleary and for the Wing organ-I-zation that brought him back from the hockey hell he’d buried himself in.
When Hank Zetterberg was shutting Gary’s Baby Bitch of a Boy down and giving him nightmares, do you think he had Dallas Drake in mind and the boxes of Shreddies he’d pour into the Cup in August? No.
Hockey players win Stanley Cups because they are driven, because the team itself plays well together and because of talent realized at the right time. If there is some sort of external motivation, that will help. But, winning a faceoff in your own zone, nursing a one-goal lead with 40 seconds left in Game 4 of a second-round series doesn’t boil down to who you want to win it for.
So, yeah. Nice theory and, yeah, I think Vladdie had a lot to do ‘with 98. But that was an exceptional case. In other words, I don’t think that when the Wings win it this June they’ll all be wearing “We Did It For The Conk” t-shirts. Of course, that won’t be the major story anyway. When the Wings reach the Finals (defeating Dallas in the WCF again, by the way), it’s going to be all about Hossa. Even that storyline, “let’s win it for the guy who sacrificed so much to get here”, will be a little contrived. Again, do you think Homer’s going to be playing harder these playoffs to get a Cup for Hossa, or because that’s just who Holmstrom is?
If a team really needs external motivation to win the greatest trophy in sports, then they probably aren’t going to get close enough to touch it. Know what I mean?
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