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The five people you meet in playoff heaven

March 26, 2009 04:22 PM | Posted by   Marc Crawford  

The great sportswriter from the Detroit Free Press, Mitch Albom, wrote the book titled The Five People You Meet in Heaven. It’s a wonderful story about how the people you meet are influenced by your life and it gives meaning to the significance of the lives we all lead.

As we head into the afterlife known as the NHL post-season, I would like to share with you the five people who hold a special place in my version of playoff heaven.

To begin, I must explain my belief that a team’s playoff success usually requires, to some degree, five elements in order to win the Stanley Cup. These include a great goaltender, a prolific scorer, an outstanding offensive defenceman, a checking line or shut down defensive pair, and, last but not least, an unlikely scoring hero.

Clutch goaltending

It’s generally thought that goaltending is the cornerstone on which all championships are built. In the playoffs, teams are not always at their best every night and the goalie will occasionally have to win games on his own. More than that, he will probably have to win the odd series on his own or at the very least outplay the opposing goalie.

Martin Brodeur with his playoff experience is the shining example in the East of the type of player who gives an edge to his team. He reads the play so well and he always seems to carry himself with such confidence. It must reassure his Devils every time they look back at their net and see Brodeur playing in control and having fun.

In the West, Roberto Luongo, and his intense desire to be a winner, is the perfect example of the edge that goaltending can give a team. He has the type of presence that forces opposing players to alter their shots and he has a battle level that allows him to make miraculous saves.

Scoring machines

Even through all the tight checking and special attention, a top scorer must remain effective as his team plays in the post-season. He will get hacked and whacked and there will be no easy games to run up his scoring totals.

Jarome Iginla knows how to compete when the intensity gets notched up a degree or two, and he has the ability to battle against strong defenders in tough checking scenarios.

In the East, Alexander Ovechkin will be a handful for even the best defensive scheme any coach can come up with. He has an intense desire to score and his lethal combination of speed and power makes him nearly impossible to control.

Rushing blue-liner

As teams try to shut down great offensive forwards during the playoffs, it often falls upon the second wave of attack and more specifically the offensive defenceman to open up the play. Forcing the opposition to pay attention to the threat of D-men joining the attack will serve to spread out the defence and in turn result in more freedom for team’s offensive forwards.

Nowhere is this more applicable than in Washington where Mike Green follows up behind the Capitals attack and has scored at a record breaking pace this season. His speed and quick release call for everyone to know exactly where he is on the ice at all times.

In the West, Dan Boyle has given the Sharks the kind of supplemental support that is difficult to contend with because he skates so well and he is so adept at keeping plays alive with his decision-making in the offensive zone.

Shutdown guys

The fourth category is really two - one for checking forwards and one for shut down D-men. These are the players that no one wants to play against because it's too darn hard.

They’re in your face. They’re gritty, intense and smart and they usually have a partner or linemates that compliment them to form a great checking line or defensive shut down pair. In a seven-game series, these are the guys who wear down the opposition’s best players and often they do it through much pain and anguish. It’s a hard job and the glory only comes with the ultimate success.

There are many examples of players who fit this mold throughout the league like Zdeno Chara of Boston. How would you like to have to face him every shift in the playoffs? Then there’s Mike Richards of Philadelphia, who is a modern day version of Bobby Clarke. I can assure you there are many retired NHLers still nursing some playoff wounds administered by Clarke, not to mention his Broadstreet teammates.

Out West, Chris Pronger would be as fun to play against as Big Z is for Boston and on a different term Nicklas Lidstrom can match up against any top player in the league and leave them wondering how he continually stops them. Up front Samuel Pahlsson, the newest addition to the Blackhawks, takes key faceoffs, plays excellent positional hockey and hits like a truck as he matches up against the top player in the series.

Unusual suspects

Finally, remember when Fernando Pisani scored 14 goals in the Oilers’ unlikely climb to the Stanley Cup Final in 2006? It’s that type of scoring from an unlikely source that almost always accompanies successful teams through their playoff runs.

Top players will get all the special attention during a tight checking series and in order for a club to advance, someone else must pick up the slack. Will this year’s unlikely scoring hero be Detroit’s Dan Cleary, Boston’s Milan Lucic, New Jersey’s Travis Zajak, or Vancouver’s Alex Burrows? I don’t know but I’m certain that someone we least expect will emerge.

My playoff five?

As for who those people are for me, well, they are goaltender Patrick Roy, high scoring Joe Sakic, offensive defenceman Sandis Ozolinsh, shutdown defenceman Adam Foote and hard-checking forward Mike Keane and unlikely scoring hero Adam Deadmarsh.

Here’s hoping your Stanley Cup winner will have the same unforgettable characters.

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