Well, that's all folks. Another year slips away as Calgary plays their final two games of their 30th anniversary season. Funny how the mention of losing Cammalleri still comes up all this time later, Mike being described as a huge impact on the entire Flames unit, or now the lack thereof. I read an interview with Craig Conroy earlier and he mentions that the loss of a 40 goal scorer with the capability of hitting the net more times than not has it's repercussions on an entire team; well I could have told you that before Darryl took on Olli Jokinen as his "prize". If we go as far back as last season any true fan would remember the dynamic team that was unfortunately riddled with injury, the only reason the Calgary Flames couldn't perform during the playoff season. My question then is how do we think all of the changes we made this year to our roster were even necessary?
Where do our serious problems lay with this team? Does anyone else think it's ridiculously unfair to scrutinize Jarome Iginla for the lack of effort it seems this current roster displays? How does a captain maintain an entire team of mediocre men when he has very little to work with besides a few incredibly talented defensemen and a delightfully acrobatic net minder? They are already doing their jobs as well as possible and the heart and drive you see from those small hand fulls exceed expectation already. In my opinion, that is where our concerns should be facing. If Rene Bourque, Mark Giordano, Mikka Kipprusoff, Nigel Dawes, and Ian White are all playing to their full potential and creating more opportunities than usual, scoring season highs or at least meeting their past season highs then what is the rest of the team doing? Slacking off? If each and every guy on our roster played to their own expectations and experience levels we wouldn't be in the predicament of having to play two last games knowing they don't mean a damn thing to anyone anymore.
I was listening to the Fan 960 while I was out running errands yesterday afternoon, which is what I always listen to when I'm in the car, and there was a discussion about who should be taking the heat for our team this year. Of course Jarome was on the top of that list and their reasoning was that he could handle the heat and was always calm under pressure. Fantastic, except for the fact that he is still doing what everyone expects of him. The trouble with Jarome Iginla is that for some reason Calgarians and hockey fans all over have somehow come to the conclusion that he is not a regular human being, he has super hero skills that should enable him to score 50-60 goals a year no matter what the rest of his team mates are doing. This would work if he had his "twin sister" on the ice with him for every game, or a line he was used to that worked WITH him and not every man for himself. Henrik Sedin scores as many goals as he does not only because he is a fantastic hockey player, but because his team knows they can depend on him and thus plays are created with that sense in mind. Vancouver is in the playoffs because of their top scorers and the plays they enable for themselves that are tried and true, not because they started from scratch with one month left of the regular season.
Jarome and Mike scored often when they played together, both leaders by nature and goal scorers by talent. Now that Cammy is gone we have expected Jarome Iginla to take that entire weight and make up for decisions that were made by the higher up factors. Also, since around November of last season all eyes have been on Rene Bourque and have gone hungry with unbelievable public standards, finger pointing with a need for someone new to blame for our faults. Is Rene Bourque more than capable of scoring? Yes. Can Rene Bourque score hat tricks? Yes. Is he capable of creating scoring chances? Yes. Does he score more often than not on his break away opportunities? Yes. Then what more can we expect from him? Open your eyes people, our top players are not those who we need to be pointing our fingers at, yes we are concerned, possibly even angry, however we lost a top player that has left our team somewhat in the balance and now we are ok with the consideration of losing Jarome? Letting go of Mark Giordano? Blaming Rene Bourque for being one of the top players on our team? What is wrong with that picture?
In case we all forgot this is a team sport. There are six players on the ice for all teams at all times, minus of course penalties/power plays and any other exception such as shoot out, overtime...etc. How does the majority of fans right now think that any one players deserves to lose their position on our team more than the other when it comes to blame. We were diagnosed with a catastrophe and shipped off so many perfectly good men in exchange for new "healthier" ones, per se, when all we really needed were a few sutures here and there and a bit of change in our practice routines. Any one team who dissects an entire roster with a month left in the season has to give up their hopes for a playoff spot right then and there, not the exact opposite.
If you've read more of my blogs you know how I feel about band wagon jumpers and flimsy fans already. At this point, yes I too am disappointed like the rest of you, but understand and hear me out. The last thing I'm going to do is join those who feel any one guy deserves the boot for what has happened here, especially if that one guy is on our Calgary Flames Roster. I would openly say how foolish it would be to even consider losing Jarome Iginla for so many reasons that are most likely unbeknownst to those who feel he is our best target for shooting practice. Jarome takes pay CUTS to help salvage whatever money we can in our salary cap, he is a huge believer in our team year in and year out no matter what we do and where we are, he is a huge help in our city and to the community, and he is the leader who makes a difference to our Calgary Flames. He is loyal and has been with our team from his very first season in the NHL, and now even though he has never won a Stanley Cup in his 10+ years as a professional, he still manages to find it in his heart to stay with us...maybe we should just get rid of him? Don't forget who worked his butt of in the Olympics to help carry our Canadian men to Gold. Who was behind Sydney Crosby's winning overtime goal against the USA for our Gold Medals? That's right, Jarome Iginla took that assist. He was right where he should have been, he is always right where he should have been. What he creates goes unnoticed unless the rest of his team is on board. THAT is our mistake, not his.
I'm tired of hearing who blames this and who gets the blame for that. It's a game and someone has to win, someone has to lose. We might not like what happened this season but I guarantee all of those people with their blaming eyes and unkind words will be right back in the stands next year, especially when playoff season is right around the corner. If you are a true hockey fan and love the sport this entire post made sense to you and you nodded your head the entire read. If you didn't and you're outraged... perhaps you need to look behind the scenes a little, then you'd really see where our troubles are. We can't win all the time, and if the entire city put as much pressure on YOU as they did Jarome Iginla to do YOUR job to the most outrageous standard of expectation, you might find yourself behind the game too.
On a lighter note, I bought my CRAIG CONROY JERSEY LAST NIGHT!!! Should be here in 7-10 business days and I'll be about the happiest girl in the world! Good Luck, Connie! I'd love to have you stay for one more season but I know that there are wonderful opportunities for you on the horizon.
Let's play like we love the game tonight, boys... because that's what it's really about at the end of the day.
GO FLAMES GO!!
T
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment