BlackMetalNinja
05-12-2007, 07:24 AM
Playoff pressure and curse factor loom over final four
<!-- mojo //--><!-- end pagetitle --> <!-- begin bylinebox --> <!-- Terry Frei --><!-- firstName = Terry --> <!-- lastName = Frei --> http://assets.espn.go.com/i/columnists/Frei_Terry_55.jpg (http://x.go.com/cgi/x.pl?goto=http://search.espn.go.com/keyword/search?searchString=terry_frei&name=SEARCH_m_archive&srvc=sz)
<!-- mug url = /i/columnists/frei_terry_55.jpg --> By Terry Frei
Special to ESPN.com
Archive (http://x.go.com/cgi/x.pl?goto=http://search.espn.go.com/keyword/search?searchString=terry_frei&name=SEARCH_m_archive&srvc=sz)
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<!-- begin text11 div --><!-- begin leftcol --> <!-- template inline -->Curses, foiled again.
(Bonus points for knowing the genesis of that quote. Hint: It wasn't Brett Hull (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/players/profile?playerId=395) ... or even Bobby Hull.)
Each of the NHL's final four teams is battling a burden, fighting a perception, attempting to overcome bad karma that to some extent can add to the otherwise significant pressure.
http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2007/0126/nfl_ap_norwood_195.jpg
AP Photo/Phil Sandlin
A Sabres' Cup win may help the city of Buffalo forget about Scott Norwood's failed attempt.
It's one more reason that when the Sabres, Senators, Ducks or Red Wings gather on the ice with the Stanley Cup and pose for the celebratory picture, they will have passed the most testing playoff process in sports.
Players sometimes care less about the precedents of history than we give them credit for. My favorites are when we cite the allegedly daunting precedent that a college team, in any sport, has lost three straight to an opponent -- but neglect to mention that the last meeting was during the Korean War.
In this case, it ties into the fans, too, and an overall dynamic.
In Buffalo, it involves close calls and no cigars.
It's about Bills kicker Scott Norwood and wide right at end of Super Bowl XXV against the Giants in Tampa, Fla., which is unfortunate for a lot of reasons, including the fact the Bills had staged a heart-thumping, clutch drive to get in position for the attempted field goal in the first place.
It's about Thurman Thomas not being able to find his helmet in the early moments of Super Bowl XXVI against Washington in Minnesota, and the subsequent blowout loss to the Redskins that left the Bills with the second of four consecutive losses in the game of Roman numerals.
It's about, yes, Brett Hull's skate in 1999 -- it was not wide right of the crease at the end of the Stars' Cup-clinching victory -- plus the "French Connection" line of Gilbert Perreault, Richard Martin and Rene Robert, and their teammates, coming up short against the Flyers in 1975. Their numbers are retired and hanging in the HSBC Arena rafters, looking down as the Sabres' attempt to finally get to the summit this season. The Sabres' seven-game loss to the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference finals last season can either be another inauspicious precedent or a piece of energizing motivation. The Sabres also came up one series short of making the finals in 1998 and 1980.
Fact is, passionate sports fans everywhere outside of the other three conference finals markets have plenty of reasons to identify with Buffalo fans and perhaps pull for the Sabres to finally bring the city a pro-sports championship. (With all due respect to Jack Kemp, who always rolled out to the offense's right wing, the back-to-back AFL titles in the pre-Super Bowl era don't count.)
The longer you look at this team -- and, yes, its market -- the more there is for outsiders to like.
Uh, well, cough ... even the uniforms, which were recently cited as the worst in the league in one unscientific rant by a fellow whose taste has to be considered suspect because he once drove a Pacer, the car that looked like an inverted fishbowl on wheels.
The Sabres have made it through bankruptcy, fan disillusion, deterioration of attendance and, ultimately, an ownership change and rejuvenation, both on and off the ice. In a sense, if this franchise had gone under, or gone somewhere else, it (even far more so than Pittsburgh and, yes, Ottawa, Quebec or Winnipeg) would have epitomized the problems that plagued the NHL.
Full Article (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs2007/columns/story?columnist=frei_terry&id=2866203)
<!-- mojo //--><!-- end pagetitle --> <!-- begin bylinebox --> <!-- Terry Frei --><!-- firstName = Terry --> <!-- lastName = Frei --> http://assets.espn.go.com/i/columnists/Frei_Terry_55.jpg (http://x.go.com/cgi/x.pl?goto=http://search.espn.go.com/keyword/search?searchString=terry_frei&name=SEARCH_m_archive&srvc=sz)
<!-- mug url = /i/columnists/frei_terry_55.jpg --> By Terry Frei
Special to ESPN.com
Archive (http://x.go.com/cgi/x.pl?goto=http://search.espn.go.com/keyword/search?searchString=terry_frei&name=SEARCH_m_archive&srvc=sz)
<!-- begin presby2 --><!-- end presby2 -->
<!-- end bylinebox -->
<!-- begin text11 div --><!-- begin leftcol --> <!-- template inline -->Curses, foiled again.
(Bonus points for knowing the genesis of that quote. Hint: It wasn't Brett Hull (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/players/profile?playerId=395) ... or even Bobby Hull.)
Each of the NHL's final four teams is battling a burden, fighting a perception, attempting to overcome bad karma that to some extent can add to the otherwise significant pressure.
http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2007/0126/nfl_ap_norwood_195.jpg
AP Photo/Phil Sandlin
A Sabres' Cup win may help the city of Buffalo forget about Scott Norwood's failed attempt.
It's one more reason that when the Sabres, Senators, Ducks or Red Wings gather on the ice with the Stanley Cup and pose for the celebratory picture, they will have passed the most testing playoff process in sports.
Players sometimes care less about the precedents of history than we give them credit for. My favorites are when we cite the allegedly daunting precedent that a college team, in any sport, has lost three straight to an opponent -- but neglect to mention that the last meeting was during the Korean War.
In this case, it ties into the fans, too, and an overall dynamic.
In Buffalo, it involves close calls and no cigars.
It's about Bills kicker Scott Norwood and wide right at end of Super Bowl XXV against the Giants in Tampa, Fla., which is unfortunate for a lot of reasons, including the fact the Bills had staged a heart-thumping, clutch drive to get in position for the attempted field goal in the first place.
It's about Thurman Thomas not being able to find his helmet in the early moments of Super Bowl XXVI against Washington in Minnesota, and the subsequent blowout loss to the Redskins that left the Bills with the second of four consecutive losses in the game of Roman numerals.
It's about, yes, Brett Hull's skate in 1999 -- it was not wide right of the crease at the end of the Stars' Cup-clinching victory -- plus the "French Connection" line of Gilbert Perreault, Richard Martin and Rene Robert, and their teammates, coming up short against the Flyers in 1975. Their numbers are retired and hanging in the HSBC Arena rafters, looking down as the Sabres' attempt to finally get to the summit this season. The Sabres' seven-game loss to the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference finals last season can either be another inauspicious precedent or a piece of energizing motivation. The Sabres also came up one series short of making the finals in 1998 and 1980.
Fact is, passionate sports fans everywhere outside of the other three conference finals markets have plenty of reasons to identify with Buffalo fans and perhaps pull for the Sabres to finally bring the city a pro-sports championship. (With all due respect to Jack Kemp, who always rolled out to the offense's right wing, the back-to-back AFL titles in the pre-Super Bowl era don't count.)
The longer you look at this team -- and, yes, its market -- the more there is for outsiders to like.
Uh, well, cough ... even the uniforms, which were recently cited as the worst in the league in one unscientific rant by a fellow whose taste has to be considered suspect because he once drove a Pacer, the car that looked like an inverted fishbowl on wheels.
The Sabres have made it through bankruptcy, fan disillusion, deterioration of attendance and, ultimately, an ownership change and rejuvenation, both on and off the ice. In a sense, if this franchise had gone under, or gone somewhere else, it (even far more so than Pittsburgh and, yes, Ottawa, Quebec or Winnipeg) would have epitomized the problems that plagued the NHL.
Full Article (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs2007/columns/story?columnist=frei_terry&id=2866203)