So the last day. Poulin’s spectacular, hecklers be damned (we’ll take the sober ones over the drunk ones; that’s a rant for another day). One deflection by a guy untouched at the top of the crease.
They can’t find a way to beat Dov Grumet-Morris, equally stellar, who robs Sundstrom on a power-play glove save that’s not the stop he made diving across to stop Halmo in December, but it reminds you, anyway. (Poulin had one like that, actually; not quite that, either, but it’d remind you.)
I fear the gamer — and since I got to gossiping with some folks down there, it’s lighter in quotage than I’d hoped, but we’ll hope to make up for it Monday — is a little pessimistic, but fact is this team had little experience from the start, got what depth it had picked over, and ended the year providing talent to two different teams in different leagues. That it stayed as competitive as it did is impressive.
It’s over, though, a 76-game slog that finishes up this week with exit meetings, wrap-up of personal business and journeys home. That began for a few guys tonight and will continue over the next few days.
One of them departing now is Brett Gallant: His wife’s due to give birth soon. He went off down the bowels of the XL Center with his gear as the team packed up.
A few minutes later, he came jogging back. Next to him, jogging along: his little boy, Jack. They ran alongside the bus, up and in.
A few minutes later, out they came. They said goodbye to a few other people, including some longtime friends of the team and the blog. And then they went jogging off again toward PEI. And then Jack turned back.
“See you next year!” Jack said.
Darn it, Jack, you kicked up some dust.
…..
So happy Easter. The group, or most of it, will reassemble Monday for the exit meetings, and then it’s summertime.
There are playoff schedules elsewhere, including the traditional 1-2-1-1 in Providence-Springfield. Six of the eight series are 2-3 series, and five of the higher seeds opted to take the last three at home. The exception: Manchester, which’ll take its two at home to start before going to Norfolk.
…..
Because it’s what we do here on this day: The Real Standings:
EASTERN CONFERENCE NORTHEAST y-Springfield (3) 37 24 15 89 x-Albany (6) 33 28 15 81 Hartford 31 33 12 74 Adirondack 26 40 10 62 Bridgeport 24 42 10 58 EAST y-Binghamton (2) 41 27 8 90 x-W-B/Scranton (5) 38 29 9 85 x-Norfolk (8) 30 29 17 77 Hershey 32 32 12 76 Syracuse 28 36 12 68 ATLANTIC y-Manchester (1) 43 22 11 97 x-St. John's (4) 42 25 9 93 x-Providence (7) 29 27 20 78 Worcester 26 38 12 64 Portland 19 42 15 53 WESTERN CONFERENCE NORTH y-Toronto (3) 40 27 9 89 x-Rochester (8) 34 34 8 76 Hamilton 28 36 12 68* Utica 28 37 11 67* Lake Erie 24 34 18 66* MIDWEST y-Grand Rapids (2) 41 25 10 92* x-Chicago (4) 37 26 13 87* x-Milwaukee (6) 34 30 12 80 Rockford 31 37 8 70 Iowa 19 43 14 52 WEST y-Texas (1) 46 21 9 101 x-Abbotsford (5) 38 30 8 84 x-Oklahoma City (7) 32 31 13 77 Charlotte 33 37 6 72 San Antonio 18 40 18 54
(Usual disclaimers: These convert OTLs to losses and any shootout games to ties. Yes, teams would play games differently under those rules, especially late in the year. This is just translating results backward. Seriously, this is what we do here. Sorry.)
The same 16 playoff teams, though some changes in seeding, most notably at the top of the Midwest. Chicago had three more shootout wins and three more overtime losses than Grand Rapids. An assortment of other seed changes, left as an exercise for the reader, as I’m hoping the garage is still open.
……
More Monday, most likely.