Philadelphia Flyers: The Hart of the Matter
The Philadelphia Flyers played their final preseason game on Saturday, 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins. Carter Hart did not play, but he remains the talk of the town.
Ask any Philadelphia Flyers fan who they would like to see between the pipes on opening night, and I would bet you dollars to doughnuts that their answer is top goaltending prospect Carter Hart. Alex Lyon and the oft-injured Michal Neuwirth are both sidelined, making the dream of Hart remaining with the big club a realistic possibility until today.
General Maanger Ron Hextall announced today that Hart, along with Philippe Myers and Mark Friedman, had been loaned to the Flyers AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley Phantoms. While I see the wisdom in allowing him to grow in the AHL, I am crushed. I am not alone, as Flyers fans everywhere took to social media to lament Hart being sent to the minors.
Carter Hart: Object of Our Obsession
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Why are Flyers fans are so fixated on Carter Hart, you ask? I am going to try to explain the Hart Obsession. The Philadelphia Flyers have won two Stanley Cups. This is common knowledge.
What may not be so commonly known to those outside the Philadelphia tri-state area is that the Flyers have LOST the Stanley Cup Finals six times. The most recent loss in the Finals was to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010. That Finals loss is, in a nutshell, why Flyers fans are drooling over Carter Hart.
The goal that cost the Flyers the Stanley Cup in 2010 was a goal that no goaltender should have let in. I still have nightmares where I wake up drenched in sweat screaming “How did Michael Leighton let that goal in???”. Flyers fans wept and cursed his name, and cried out for a goaltender. A real goaltender.
The Flyers have not had what could be considered a top tier goaltender since Hextall, and even Hexy couldn’t get them the Cup. Had tragedy not felled Pelle Lindbergh, perhaps he could have. Flyers fans will never know.
Hart: The Real Deal
Losing six Stanley Cup Finals while waiting for a top goaltender can only be likened to an NHL version of Gilligan’s Island. For those of you too young to remember Gilligan’s Island, it’s premise was the shipwrecking of a small boat on an uncharted island.
Each week, the group on the island would ALMOST get rescued. Boats sank, radios malfunctioned, planes veered off course. Each week, the castaways tasted rescue, each week, the rescue didn’t come.
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Carter Hart is the boat that will finally get the Flyers castaways off the island. We can see it coming, just over the horizon.