Can 2010 Olympic Medalists Take The Flyers To The Next Stanley Cup?
The men’s hockey portion of the 2010 Winter Olympics is over, and now hockey fans are looking toward the upcoming 2010 Stanley Cup. And where many of them are looking, at this moment, is to the Flyers.
Fresh off winning Olympic gold medals in Vancouver as part of Team Canada in an incredible 3-2 win against the American team in overtime, two Philadelphia Flyers return home (to the States that is—though not quite yet to Philly) just in time to try and help their team make it to the 2010 Sanley Cup. Their first game back will be in Tampa against the Lightning.
Might some of Chris Pronger and Mike Richards’ Olympic glory rub off on their teammates enough to go all the way for a 2010 Stanley Cup victory? It’s a plausible bet, at the very least. Especially considering the other factors involved.
For starters there’s only around 20 games left, and even though the Flyers were in 6th place in the Eastern Conference at last check, they have won four consecutive games.
Remember also that Kimmo Timonen, another Flyer defenseman like Pronger, also made a fine showing in the recent Olympics as part of Team Finland, which won the bronze medal. It was Timonen’s contribution, in fact, that took Team Finland just over the mark to beat Slovakia for the bronze. Richards, by the way, assisted in the first goal of the Olympic game that won Team Canada the 2010 gold medal.
And a fourth Flyers teammate, Oskars Bartulis, played for the Latvian team in these recent Winter Olympics as well, giving Philly four Olympic players helping them shoot for their first Stanley Cup appearance in over a quarter of a century.
