There is nothing worse than being on the losing end of a championship game. The finality of it never really sinks in.
You listen to what the players are saying but you sense they really don't think it's over, either.
Which is how I felt hearing the words from Danny Briere after Wednesday's torturous 4-3 overtime loss to Chicago which gave the Stanley Cup to the Blackhawks in 6 games.
He still didn't believe Patrick Kane got that game-winner - something a lot of us didn't believe or didn't want to believe.
“I thought it was a whistle,” Briere said. “I was getting ready, waiting for Peter [Laviolette] to send some guys for a defensive zone faceoff. I had no clue, and then all of a sudden I saw guys being confused, a few guys jumping on the ice not knowing what was going on.
“Then all of a sudden, I thought no, that can’t be it, they can’t win a Stanley Cup not even knowing, not even being sure if you really won it or not. I couldn’t even believe that they’d win the Stanley Cup this way. But it doesn’t change how much it hurts.”
This was one Cup where the goalies weren't much of a factor, if only because they both weren't very good.
That said, Michael Leighton, who had been outstanding for 3 playoff rounds, had a poor Final, gave up two bad goals in the clincher, didn't help matters.
But you can't pin the Flyers' loss on him. The fact remains, outside of Briere's line with Scott Hartnell and Ville Leino, Laviolette didn't get enough goal support from other lines or enough defense overall to contain a better, younger Blackhawk club.
The really tough part is accepting that the Flyers may not get back to the Final before Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen age themselves out of the game. That's what is most depressing.
The Flyers had a 2-3 year window when they signed Pronger. Now they have a 1-2 year window to do it again. Getting to the Final in hockey is the hardest thing to do in sports. No other sport is as grueling as hockey. No other sport leaves you as taxed.
Pittsburgh did it back-to-back and won the second time around. That's the one positive the Flyers can look toward next year in repeating.
It won't be easy by any stretch.
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