Edmonton.. so close

My heart goes out to those Oiler fans. So close. So fucking close to winning the Stanley Cup. The Stanley Cup is probably the hardest of all the professional sports championships to win, and yes , even harder than the Superbowl. Why harder than the superbowl? well for starters, you got to win 16 games over the course of 1.5-2 months to with the Stanley Cup. To win the superbowl you have to win 3, maybe 4 games, over the course of 1 month. But I'm getting sidetracked.. back to the Oilers

Why did they lose??

Simple.. they did not shoot the puck. Don Cherry said it best, what happened in Game 6 (a 4-0 whipping) was the worst kind of victory that could have happened because it totally exposed flaws in Carolina's game, and gave them plenty motivation to come out flying in Game 7. You can argue they would have done that anyways, but people perform differently after being embarrassed before. Edmonton, rather than executing their own gameplan and being aggressive as well, used up all their time to try to stifle the Carolina attack and ended up with something like 13 shots in the first 2 periods combined. They started crashing the net in the 3rd period, and Pisani got a nice goal (and almost scored another) but alas, too little, too late.

Edmonton was the best team in the playoffs, but I dont think it had the best players. Nor do I think they will make the Stanley Cup final again next year. This really was a missed opportunity. I can trace it back to 1 event - Game 1 of the finals. They blew a 3-0 lead int he third period and lost the game 5-4. Had they won that game, things would probably have been a lot different.
And in a parting slap tot he face, Chris Pronger requests a trade out of Edmonton not even a week after they've been eliminated. He did play his heart out for Edmonton during the season (unlike Peca) and playoffs so its not like he pulled a Vince Carter, but still.. has to hurt for the fans. But don't you worry Oilers fans, I'm sure you will get some good stuff in return for Pronger. He's still young, and put up a huge season/playoffs and would no doubt have won teh Conn Smythe Trophy if Edmonton won the Cup. Plus, think of all that cap room now and playoff revenue to spend on a free agent or two :)