SAN JOSE, Calif. — Joe Thornton has played 18 National Hockey League seasons — more than 1,500 games in total — yet he has never woken up in the morning with a chance to earn a spot in the Stanley Cup Final that evening.
It has to feel just a bit like Christmas morning today, doesn’t it Joe?
“Nope,” he said. “Day by day. Shift by shift. Game by game. We like to keep it simple like that.”
When you’ve been at it this long without success, talking about winning the Clarence S. Campbell Trophy at the morning skate is as taboo as touching it post-game. At least for some, anyhow.
“You look at your whole career,” began San Jose Sharks captain Joe Pavelski, who leads the Sharks with 21 playoff points in 17 games this spring. “When I was in high school in the state championship, that was my biggest game of my life at the time. In college, in junior – there’s games where the moments are so big. It’s your Stanley Cup.
“You work all those days to get in the position to hopefully play for it. Tonight those games are in the past, you draw from those experiences. As a kid, you grow up trying to be able to play for the Stanley Cup, and we have a game tonight (that could put them there). This is the most important one right now.”
In the St. Louis Blues’ room, watching the Pittsburgh Penguins‘ dominant Game 6 performance provided the template.
“That’s the way we have to play tonight,” said Kyle Brodziak with a nod. “Every player, every shift, you have to play as if it could be your last.”
Brodziak turned 32 Wednesday, and will play a hockey game on his birthday for the first time in his life, at any level.
“I know it’s a cliché,” he added, “but it’s desperation time. We’ve got our backs against the wall. We don’t want to let an opportunity like this slip away, because you never know when you’ll get a chance like this again.”
Remember, even though San Jose has never been to a Stanley Cup Final in the organization’s 25-year existence, the Blues haven’t been to one since 1970. St. Louis once made the playoffs for 25 straight years and never got to the fourth round, so there are a few wearers of the Blue note who are close enough to taste it.
“You’d like to say it’s another game, but we know what’s at stake,” said Scottie Upshall, who is back in the Blues lineup Wednesday in place of Magnus Paajarvi. “How close we both are to get to where we want to be. Having it within your reach is something special. You’ve got to really cherish the moment.”
Upshall has played 11 seasons for six different organizations, and only once climbed this close to the Cup. His Flyers lost in six games to Pittsburgh in the 2008 Eastern Conference Final. That was eight years ago.
“We lost 4-2,” said Upshall, a Fort McMurray native who has spent these playoffs trying to stay focused on hockey with so many family members back home sorting out their lives through the fire. “Moments like this are when you try not to think about how tired you are, or mentally how fatigued you are. Whether you’re hurt, tired, have issues at home, this is 60 minutes of hockey for your season. We all dream of playing in games like this.”
“You live your whole life,” Brodziak added, “and you dream of the possibility of just having the opportunity (to play for the Stanley Cup). To be here, to be this close, it’s exciting. It’s a little scary.
“It’s every emotion you can imagine.”
