Twenty-eight years ago, as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers, I played in my first and only Stanley Cup Final. We got swept by the Detroit Red Wings. Scott Bowman’s team ended a 42-year Stanley Cup drought. Thereafter. Detroit went on to win again the next year.
Maybe some time, I will blog about that 1996-97 season. If you’re interested in some stories from that year, you can find them in my book, Road to Redemption. I have many others that aren’t in the book, simply for space. RTR is really half about my hockey and broadcasting careers. However, the more important half of the book is about my sobriety journey.
I digress. Anyway, before the 1997 Final, we played the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final. We wrapped up the series in five games. The series ended on May 25. Subequently, we had to wait to see if we’d play Detroit or the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Final. The Western Final went six games.
As a result, we didn’t play Game One of the Cup Final until May 31. In the meantime, the City of Philadelphia put a giant Flyers jersey (autographed by thousands of Flyers fan on the statue of William Penn atop City Hall. Most nation pundits in Canada and USA picked us to win, largely because we dominated the East (five-game wins over Pittsburgh and Buffalo before taking apart the Rangers). Even WIP Radio halted its 24/7 Eagles offseason talk for a little while to grudgingly talk Flyers.
I’m half-joking. Al Morganti and Glen Macnow always loved hockey talk. So did Jody McDonald to some degree. The rest of the hosts? If you gifted one a puck, they’d try to figure out how to open the present.
Anyway, I thought we were razor sharp through the first three rounds. For a variety of reasons — number one being that Detroit was just a little better than us — we didn’t take that sharpness into the Cup Final. I’ve always thought the long break hurt us, too. The Red Wings had only one day less to prepare than we did. But they’d been through it two years earlier, before getting swept by the Devils. The second time around, they handled the hype really well. We didn’t.
In 2025, I’m interested in seeing whether the Florida Panthers or Edmonton Oilers handle their respective pre-Finals break better. Both teams needed just five games in the Conference Final.
It’s been too long. Fans will get disinterested in the series before it even starts. Weather is getting nice, lots of other stuff to do, only the real fans will sit and watch the whole series.
Thanks Chris, great site.