Tampa, Florida					Thursday, September 09, 2010

THE CINDERELLA MEN ON ICE
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
TAMPA—Call them The Cinderella Men. Why? Because repeatedly, they did not turn into pumpkins at midnight. Because they rose to the zenith when they had do—like last July in San Jose. . . like last Saturday night at the Forum in Tampa when Martin St. Louis scored the winning dream goal in a manner dreamed of by every kid who ever fantasized on a frozen pond, like a half dozen times in this just ending season when the Cinderella Men laced up their skates little tighter and played like the Stanley Cup champions they are still. They were down, they were often dazed, they were seldom as consistent as their Stanley Cup season of two seasons ago, but they were never out. So now the Cinderella Men of the National Hockey League have scrapped their way into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, not always a given, and may have about as good a shot at keeping the Cup as any of this assorted lot of candidates, if, if, if, their two goal keepers, John Grahame and Sean Burke, can share duties, as they will be asked by Coach John Tortorella to do, and merge into one of verve and quality. That, Mr. Watson, is the question. In truth, this is one neat team of hockey players. It has stars, almost stars, workmen, hitters, toughs, enough speed, plenty of desire in a crisis, with only the goal tending genuinely unpredictable. It is the burden of the head coach to get the right hunch on who’s who and who’s not. But that can be a wining or losing hunch, all know. Lightning General Manager Ron Campbell took exception when one of his associates suggested the Cinderella Men may have backed into the playoffs, though he is not alone in that conclusion. He pointed to all turnarounds of this team when it got off track and headed in the wrong direction. He pointed to the win a few lose a few nature of this club, noting they added the crucial wins when they had to do that. The records bear him out. Campbell noted too that last July, when Tampa was free-falling, at San Jose Coach Tortorella had a get-it-straight meeting and after the frank session got it straight and started winning. Such is the strength of the head coach, Tortorella. Another turnaround, the last one, and winning one, came last Saturday night at the Forum here. By then, the Lightning was in a standings watch, needing to win or tie each game, against what its opponents were doing. And Tampa in bad need of at least a tie against Carolina, was about to tie Carolina in overtime and virtually eliminate themselves from this race of races. The game ended in a tie and went to a five minute overtime. Surely it is a game situation played repeatedly	on ponds of the north by kids who want to become Cinderella Men. You know, the kind the kid plays and announces to himself aloud at the same time: “It is a 3-3 game. Time is running out. But, Martin St Louis picks off the puck and bursts just past two defenders heading goalward, where tender Martin Gerber of Carolina sets and squats. Less than 10 seconds remain on the clock. St. Louis shifts to head towards the left of Gerber. Only time for one shot. St. Louis, takes his stick back as Gerber sets St. Louis slams the puck on the ice—it does not rise, but disappears beneath the hulking goalie who throws himself forward. Nothing happens for an instant and then the place goes nuts. “THE PUCK EMERGES IN THE CLEAR AND IN THE NET. IT WENT BENEATH THE GOALIE BEFORE IT WAS STOPPPED. GOALLLLLL! TAMPA HAS WON 4-3, GETS TWO POINTS AND CLOSES IN ON THE PLAYOFFS!’’ Kid on the pond has won! The Cinderalla Men on the ice at the Forum have won! Tampa is a point away from the playoffs, it appeared with only one game left, against Washington two days away, also at the Forum. Unless, Unless, by some upsetting chance Washington can beat Atlanta the next night, Friday. That is precisely what happened. Washington dumped Atlanta out of the playoff race and therefore, the Lightning advanced into the title series with a game against Washington unplayed, thus the commentary to which Campbell objected, that Tampa had “backed into the playoffs.’’ Many agreed, “but,’’ Campbell said not to forget all of the other brinkmanship wins produced by his Cinderella Men. The truth is, this season has been an outstanding, the coaching of Tortorella just dandy. He repeatedly has found ways to stay the course, because of injuries, attitude changes, and the early season retirement of Capt. Dave Andreychuk. If a most valuable player is to be named for the regular season ending now, it would have to be leading scorer, always there, the man without a letdown, Brad Richards. Mr. Everywhere and Mr. Everything, Vinny Lecavalier, only now approaching his prime, and surely a team leader who seems to be there at the right time almost always likely would win the Best Player Trophy. Vinny Prospal is probably the surprise scorer of the year, at 80 points tallied. Richards was at 90. Prospal was a member of the Stanley Cup team Lightning of 2004 and 2005, but not the team that chilled out 2005-6. He returned, however, to The Cinderella Men in the nick of time. This time, this year, Vinny Prospal is not fishing in the Volga instead he is producing those 80 plus points for the Tampa team. ##
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