A Great Effort Falls Just Short

Assorted thoughts because I am too scatter brained and stunned to write an essay.

• First of all, congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks. Make no mistake about it, they earned this series and their championship.
  
• While I am appreciative of everything Michael Leighton did for the Flyers this year, if I never see him in a Flyers jersey again, my life will be better for it. He is a free agent this off-season,and I hope the Flyers opt not to resign him. As much as it pains me to say it, I would take Carey Price over Leighton. He is just not the goaltender the Flyers are looking for or need.
• In a way, having such a WTF ending to that game, Chicago fans sort of lost out on that instant feeling of winning. It’s certainly not the classiest thing to say or feel, but for all the arrogance the Chicago media has shown, it is an odd schadenfreude. They have no call to relive the greatness of (both Emrick and Hughson were clueless and when they did come around, gave uninspiring calls), and while that may not matter now, when they get older, they will have no call to look back on and relive with tears of joy. Also they did not have the ability to build up that celebration yell of greatness, not even a moment as short as a 2-on-1 or a breakaway. It just happened, everyone was clueless, and instead of a celebratory fan moment, it was a WTF moment. And you know what, I'm okay with all of that.
• Jonathan Toews won the Conn Smythe trophy. I will put up a disagreement here because I thought Toews pulled a disappearing act during the Finals. Now yes, I am aware that the Conn Smythe is MVP of the whole Playoffs, but I would be inclined to believe that even if someone was as good as Toews was for the first 3 rounds that a Conn Smythe winner would have to put it all together and at least be visible in the Cup Finals. For the entirety of the playoffs, I felt that Duncan Keith would have been the most deserving, but maybe the people who voted looked down upon the number of goals a shaky Antti Niemi gave up and penalized Keith for that. He was the most consistent player of the playoffs and I am surprised he did not get it.
• I will spend the rest of my life never buying, touching, or drinking a bottle of Amstel Light.
  
• The Chicago Blackhawks no longer have the longest Cup drought. With Patrick Kane's Cup-clinching goal, they have bestowed that honor upon the Toronto Maple Leafs.
  
• The Philadelphia Flyers never gave up. They never quit. They went down fighting until the end. And sometimes that is all you can ask for. You can't always expect victory. You can't always expect the greatest outcomes. But you can expect heart. You can expect desire. You can expect to see a team that will never quit no matter how bleak the situation may look. And the Flyers delivered in spades on that front.
• Remember this: the Philadelphia Flyers will still have a permanent banner raised in the Wachovia Center this October. They are the 2010 Eastern Conference Champions. There is nothing that can take away from that amazing feat. The team that was up and down in the regular season and needed a shootout victory against the greatest shootout goalie playing in the NHL just to make the playoffs can proudly call themselves champions. Sure it is not the championship title that they wanted or truly aspired to, but they are champions. They are not losers, they are winners. Let us not forget that. Even down a goal in the dying minutes of regulation of this game, they managed to tie it up. This team is incredible.
• For all the talk about the guy who vomited on the 11-year old girl, the beer drinking toddler, Taser Boy, the J.D. Drew batteries, and booing Santa Clause, something that will be utterly forgotten about is the class Flyers fans showed after the game tonight. Nothing was thrown on the ice at any point after the game, and after the realization of what had happened, the crowd immediately burst out in a chant of "LET'S GO FLYERS!," acknowledging their awesome run. The fans did boo Gary Bettman (though in the interest of full disclosure, Bud Selig got booed after the Phillies won the World Series; and even if it had been the Flyers winning Game 5 and the Cup tonight, I am willing to take an educated guess Bettman would have received the exact same treatment), but for the most part cheered the Blackhawks and cheered the Stanley Cup, even giving Toews a rather notable standing ovation upon his first hoisting of the cup.
  
• The Flyers accomplished what only 2 other hockey teams have ever accomplished, 3 if you involve all North American professional sports. They will be the inspiration of hockey teams, baseball teams, and basketball teams for generations to come. This team will not be forgotten. I am even willing to venture a bet that the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers will be seen more frequently on sports graphics than the 2010 Stanley Cup winning Chicago Blackhawks.
  
• I can proudly boast that I claim ownership to 3 of the 4 North American broadcasts of that Game 7. I am very hopeful that one day, maybe even one day soon, I can make that 4 of 4.
  
• I am not wild and crazy about putting other fan perspectives in my recaps, but I think this quote from a Broad Street Hockey commenter sums things up and echoes my feelings better than I ever could:
  

  Fifty years from now, what the Flyers did this post-season will be still be marveled at. That can never be, and never will be, taken away from us. The 2010 Chicago Blackhawks will be on a lengthy list of Stanley Cup Champions. But for as long as professional sports are a big part of American culture and society, the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers will never be forgotten, and will eternally be remembered for what they have done over the last several weeks. For as long as I live, I will never forget what I have seen over the past two months.

In case you missed it or want to relive the action, here are the highlights of Game 6.