Most of us remember it like it was yesterday. It was June 7th, 2004. A pair of Ruslan Fedotenko goals had the Tampa Bay Lightning leading the Calgary Flames 2-1 in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. With 23 seconds left, 40 year old Tampa Bay captain Dave Andreychuk was sent to the penalty box for tripping. The 22 year veteran looked on as one final Calgary shot was turned aside by Nikolai Khabibulin and the clock ticked down to zero.
The wait was over. A few minutes later, Andreychuk triumphantly raised the Stanley Cup over his head and took a sweet victory skate around the ice with it. It was his first and only Stanley Cup, and he waited a long time for his moment.
Perhaps what I remember just as much is the roar of the crowd at the St. Pete Times Forum. 20,000 plus gathered inside, many more who couldn’t score tickets looked on from a watch party outside. Dave Andreychuk was finally a champion. The Tampa Bay Lightning were finally champions. And we all rejoiced in celebration…together.
The waiting is the hardest part
Fast forward 16 years and we find ourselves in unprecedented times. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought sports leagues around the world to a screeching halt. We should be watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs right now. Instead, we find ourselves taking precautions with staying at home, social distancing, and avoiding large gatherings. We sit and wait, hoping soon for some indication of even a partial return to normalcy.
No one truly knows when and if the NHL season will resume. No one even knows how it will happen. We don’t even know if a 2019-2020 Cup Champion will be crowned. But one idea that has been floated around is finishing the season and subsequent playoffs in empty arenas. While we all chomp at the bit for ANY hockey, even just televised, I can’t help but think about the players.
Can you imagine?
Wouldn’t it be something? That is, if this was finally the year for the Bolts. After 12 years, 3 Eastern Conference Finals game 7 heartbreaks, and falling short to the Blackhawks in 6 games in 2015, Steven Stamkos finally gets his moment. The clock reads zeroes, gloves and sticks go flying in celebration, and out comes Gary Bettman. He congratulations the Lightning on a hard fought series and hands the most coveted trophy in all of sports to Captain Stamkos. And in what could be his only championship, Stamkos takes a victory skate with the cup in front of absolutely no fans.
Sure, he would happy to have achieved his lifelong dream. Fans would be happy getting to see their favorite team win a Stanley Cup. The season would be official and in the record books and another banner would hang from the rafters at Amalie Arena.
But is that really what we all want? Is that what the players want? To look back on something so historic and remember it all happening in an empty building? I want hockey (and all sports) back just as much as the next guy, but I’m just not sure it should happen this way.
I am certainly no expert on infectious diseases and I don’t know what the answer is, but as much as we would all win if hockey returns soon, something about the idea of empty arenas feels like a giant loss.
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