The Hollow Men

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

Words can hardly ring truer for Calgary Flames fans today. Their season came to a bitter end at the hands of the Duck's last night - and the Flames barely put up a fight.

Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion

Eliot was probably aiming at weightier subjects than hockey when he wrote this poem. However, it's so eerily appropriate, I couldn't resist applying it to Calgary's play-off efforts...

Paralysed force, indeed.

Billed as a relentlessly hard working team that tended to will itself to victory, despite their lack of scoring talent, the Flames instead looked like an apprehensive collection of rookies and weaklings for the most part. All during the most critical game of the season to boot. It was the way they began the season, and unfortuantely, the way they ended it as well.

Yup, even with all the "experience", the superior goaltending and the solid blueline corps, the Flames couldn't find a way to escape themselves. In the end, Flames(a), the Mr. Hyde version that tended to haunt the club all season long, was the squad that showed up in the pinch. It was the squad that couldn't muster a single decent scoring chance on back-up goaltenders or win a puck battle in the corner. And it's the squad that may linger in the memories of the hockey-world, despite the Flames rather successful regular season.

The hope only
Of empty men.

The third period of empty men, it seemed. Calgary never looked like they had the stuff to comeback. It appeared to me like a bunch of guys going through the motions with the knowledge that their actions would have no real impact.

Between the idea
And the reality[...]
Falls the Shadow

The idea, of course, was that Calgary would out hit and out work the Ducks in this series. The reality is they were beaten at their own game. The shadow of doubt cast between theory and execution was Calgary's own inconsistency (underscored by a lack of scoring talent) and the Duck's willingness and ability to adapt to Calgary's game plan and improve upon it. In the end, the Flames either didn't have the heart or the horses to accomplish their post-season goals, and now they are left lamenting their weaknesses.

This is the dead land...

And so the Flames end up in play-off purgatory: the land of "unfullfilled promise". Littered by other disappointments ("ahoy, Nashville!") choke-artists ("Greetings, Dallas!") and underachievers ("Afternoon, Detroit!"), and haunted by all the might've could-have-beens ("We would have won if Bertuzzi hadn't been suspended"). The skulls of past losers and the fresh corpses of recent victims litter this land. And it stinks...

Positives:

- None that I can think of.

Negatives:

- Zero Offense. The Power play was useless and the forecheck was laughable. Any rare opportunity that cropped up was squandered.

- Average defense. The Ducks gained the zone with relative ease most of the evening. Kipper was screened on both shots by his own players. The 2nd goal was caused by a horrible clearing attempt by Hamrlik.

- Effort. The Flames seemed to be stuck in neutral all night. They almost never won a puck battle or a puck race. They couldn't make it past the Duck's blueline half the time and couldn't string 2 passes together in sequence.

- Roman Hamrlik, Tony Amonte, Chuck Kobasew, Lombardi, Simon...all basically useless last night.

- Pre-mature end to the season.

Next up - A year in review.