In Full Bloom

As is typical with my long term memory (i.e. remembering useless sports info while forgetting important work related facts), I will never forget where I was when I found out that Marc-Andre Fleury (aka "the Flower") was drafted #1 by the Penguins in the 2003 NHL draft. I had just arrived at a friend's house in Brighton, MA to pick him up to play golf. His roommate was watching ESPN, and it was announced that the Pens had traded from #3 to #1 to draft Fleury. I had read a brief article that week comparing this 18 year-old phenom to fellow French-Canadian goaltending legends Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy. Needless to say, I was intrigued by this potential franchise goalie.

Any respectable Pens fan knows how the next five years transpired. Fleury came to camp in August 2003 and performed so well in training camp that he forced GM Craig Patrick and coach Eddie Olyck to bring him to Pittsburgh to start the season. He set the league abuzz, until he was sent to the World Junior tournament in December and blew the tournament and his confidence in one dramatic week. Financial considerations forced the team to send him to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton upon his return, where he again struggled in the playoffs. In typical “yinzer” fashion, the poor kid starts getting slammed back in Pittsburgh as a bust. Mind you, he was 19 years old and had played a collective 20 games in the NHL, but the always perceptive Pittsburgh media and astute fans were writing him off.

Because of the lost '04-'05 season, the fortuitous deliverance of Sidney Crosby in the 2005 draft and the unceremonious ending to Le Manifique's career, Fleury's '05-'06 season is hazy to me. All I remember is that he continued to bounce between Wilkes-Barre and Pittsburgh and played inconsistent hockey. The criticism often heard focused on his over-reliance on athleticism, instead of proper positioning, his poor stick-handling, and his struggles in big games. Again, the kid was barely able to drink legally in the States. Did not matter, he was a wasted pick. I'm sure Bob Smizik did a 3,000 word column discussing how Fleury was responsible for the financial ruin and imminent departure of the team.

'06-'07 was a great bounce back year for the Penguins organization, but in my mind, Fleury's strong season got lost in the Crosby/Malkin shuffle. He posted the organization’s second 40 win season and collected 5 shutouts. He certainly struggled during the five game first-round beatdown by the Ottawa Senators in the playoffs, but he was not alone in that department. Again, as a 22 year old at the game's toughest position, he helped lead a 47 point turnaround culminating in the team's first playoff birth in five seasons.

I'm rambling here, but all of this background brings us to my main point. Game 5 of the 2008 Stanley Cup finals was one of the 4-5 most exciting Pittsburgh sporting events I have ever watched. And with all of the excitement and drama (Malone's return from a slap shot to a broken nose, Gonchar slamming his back saving a goal and returning to record the 2nd assist on Sykora's OT winner, Sykora telling NBC's Pierre McGuire that he was going to score the OT winner, Michel Theirren playing a "hunch" and inserting eventual goal-scorer Max Talbot as the 6th attacker at the end of regulation, Detroit almost winning it with a barrage during the last 34 seconds of regulation, Jarko "Pittsburgh's Favorite Player" Ruutu ringing the iron with a rocket in the 1st OT, etc) the thing that I was most excited about was the otherworldly performance turned in by the Flower.

To call his performance a "coming of age" doesn't do it justice. A 23 year old goalie made 55 saves in an elimination game on the road in the Stanley Cup finals. On national TV. Against a veteran laden juggernaut. And the numbers alone do not do justice to his performance. It was a thing of beauty. Among his 24 OT saves were some of the most spectacular I have ever seen. With the glove, with the skate, with the stick, with the blocker, on his back, on his stomach…you get the point. Even ever-sardonic Hockey Night in Canada analyst Don Cherry was practically beside himself with excitement on ESPN immediately after the game. He called Fleury's performance one of the best he's ever seen in his long career. This comment from the guy who used Mario Lemieux as a punching bag for years. Clearly not someone easily impressed.

It was gratifying as someone who believed in and defended this kid for 5 years to watch him stand on his head, put his team on his back, and refuse to lose that epic Game 5 in Detroit. Losing the Stanley Cup tonight was tough to take, but it is great to know as a Penguins fan that the team's young goalie has blossomed before our very eyes.

Game 4 and the Infamous 5 on 3

As a sports fan, there are certain moments that are etched in your brain for all time. If you're lucky, more of them are glorious than infamous. In honor the Penguins' woeful 5 on 3 power play late in their Game 4 loss in the Stanley Cup finals, here are the most crushing moments that stick out to me in my twenty-five or so years of rooting for the Pittsburgh sports franchises:

-1985 AFC Conference Championship - based on that fact that I was eight years old, I don't remember much about the game, but I distinctly remember this game being the first time I felt the letdown of a big lose.
-1992 NLCS, Game 7 - Stan Belinda, Barry Bonds, and Francisco Cabrera are usually discussed in reference to this game, but the play that sticks out for me was Jose "Chico" Lind booting an easy ground ball with no outs in the bottom of the 9th. Jim Leyland proceeds to pull Doug Drabek, giving way to Belinda and history. I will go to my grave contending that Drabek would have finished the game and the Pirates would have won the World Series if the usually reliable Lind does not boot that ball.
-1993 Patrick Division Finals, Game 7 - I walked around in a daze for weeks after Ray Ferraro found Dave Volek in OT to end the dream of a Pens three-peat. That 1993 team was by far the best of the 1990's dynasty, but it could not overcome the fatigue of their record season-ending streak.
-1995 AFC Conference Championship - the sight of Alfred Pupunu streaking past Tim McKyer still haunts my dreams.
-Super Bowl XXX (1996) - it's funny, the moment that stands out for me in this game Levon Kirkland's huge sack on 3rd down to take the Cowboys out of field goal range late in the fourth quarter. That play should have set up the Steelers to run the ball right down the 'Boys throats (Bam Morris was fantastic in the 2nd half) for a four minute drive to seal the victory. Instead, Bill Cowher and Ron Erhardt decide to get cute and go five wide, thus Neil O'Donnell's place in Pittsburgh sports infamy.
-1998 AFC Conference Championship - the sight of Bill Romanowski mocking Kordell Stewart after his end zone interception right before halftime always brings back that nauseous feeling.
-2000 Eastern Conference Finals, Game 4 - Keith Primeau, five overtimes, enough said.
-2002 AFC Conference Championship - Stewart usually gets the lion's share of the ridicule for this game, and rightfully so, but if Troy "the Bust" Edwards doesn't run out of bounds on Josh Miller's 70+ yard punt, the Steelers face the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.
-2005 AFC Conference Championship - sensing a painful trend? Ugh. Two moments stand out from this horror show. First, watching Rodney Harrison very…slowly…return a Ben Roethlisberger interception 87 yards for a touchdown was a kick in the shin. Second, the one guy that perpetually drove me insane during his career, Plaxico Burress, drops a gimme touchdown to pull within seven in the fourth quarter. Fitting ending to his Steeler career.

Shockingly, there is only one Pirates moment here…