sstrang

"Go Flames Go!"

Okotoks, AB • Canada •

The Outcome We Expected but Never Wanted

The Wings win in 6 games.

Before everyone gets on my case about this blog, remember one thing - I'm a fan and I'm going to tell it how I saw it. You may disagree but this is what I saw. The reasons we lost this series:

1. Detroit was the better team. Forechecking, passing, defensive play - they played all 6 games the same and lost 2 by one goal which were winnable for them.

2. The Calgary coaching staff and players failed to adapt to the Wings style of play and find a way to defeat it. Yes, we won 2 games but in those 2 games our style of play didn't win it for us. We didn't come out with a game plan for the Wings style of play.

3. The momentum coming out of the regular season didn't exactly inflate the team's enthusiasm for the playoffs. This team limped in with 4 losses in a row and facing a tough team like the Wings - it wasn't exactly a recipe for the 2nd round.

4. Dominik Hasek. Why did the Oilers beat the Wings last year? I believe Legace. Why did we beat the Wings in '04? Joseph. I'm not saying they are the only reason but come on, Hasek is an amazing goalie and like it or not, his unorthodox style of goaltending is working.

So go ahead and bash me for telling you why the Flames did not deserve to win it. I'm not taking anything away from the Wings but watching most of last night's game, it was like a pee-wee team taking on an NHL team.

I wanted to find the life-support plug and just put us fans out of our misery. 22 shots in 4+ periods of play? We needed a miracle last night to win it and we didn't get it (and don't think I wasn't praying for one either!).

Thank you Kiprusoff for your outstanding effort in this series - maybe next year we will have a coaching staff that knows how to deal with the rest of the game.