Canada's hopes of Stanley Cup glory diminish with elimination of Ottawa Senators -NHL Playoffs Special
Canada has high hopes vested with Ottawa Senators after the Vancouver Canucks were disappointingly eliminated by Los Angeles Kings in Game 5 of the 2012 National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup Western Conference Playoff Quarterfinals.
Ottawa was the only team that Canada had to back in the run for a Stanley Cup championship after the country, where the spot of ice hockey began, yearned for the most coveted prize in the hockey world.
As Ottawa was eliminated after putting up a good fight in the first round against New York Rangers in Game 7, Canada lost all hopes and was put to the side with an 18th straight season without the Stanley Cup.
“We pushed hard. It came down to the fact they made good on a couple of chances we gave them and a couple of mistakes we made,” said Ottawa goalie, Craig Anderson. “We really battled hard. We made a strong push in the third and threw out everything we had.
We left it on the table. We just left it a little short.”
“It’s a tough loss. We really felt like we could win the series and felt like we had a chance to beat these guys,” Jason Spezza added.
It was back in 1993 that the Montreal Canadiens hoisted the Stanley Cup high above their shoulders, making the whole country proud, but since then, no Canadian team has managed to do the same.
Vancouver was the most recent to get a chance in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals but lost to Boston Bruins in Game 7 at the Rogers Arena at home.
Calgary Flames also had a chance back in 2004 when they surprisingly reached the last seven games of the playoffs before touching the cup but Tampa Bay Lightning was just too much too handle as the Florida team downed Calgary in seven games.
With five of seven Canadian teams being ousted of the playoffs before they even began with embarrassing records, players now need to realise that playing for a country that has based everything on the sport of hockey needs to keep its head high.
Next year could be the one for Canada but not until America will be hoisting another cup.
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