Cinderella Men

Actor Bill Murray’s famous scene from the 1980 film Caddyshack, depicts his character Carl imagining himself winning The Masters. He describes his play on the 18^th hole, to himself, as he takes hacks at flowers masquerading as golf balls.

Carl describes himself as a “Cinderella Boy”, in his fantasy that a greenskeeper could somehow become a Masters champion.

The Philadelphia Flyers may not be zamboni drivers competing for the Stanley Cup, but their playoff run seems perhaps just as improbable. As they’ve won 3 rounds now as a 7^th seed, they have managed to become the Cinderella Boys of the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The first stepping stone came in the final game of the regular season against the New York Rangers. The winner goes to the playoffs, the losing team is eliminated – a classic showdown. Fittingly, the game went to a shootout. Here the Flyers beat the odds for the first time, defeating the rock-solid Henrik Lundqvist twice, giving themselves a berth into the postseason.

Since this crucial victory, the path to the Finals has been no less exciting for the Flyers, but how did they do it?

There are a few key factors to becoming a Cinderella squad in the NHL Playoffs. Here is a breakdown of those factors, and who has fit those roles for Philadelphia thus far:

1) Veteran Leader: Who better for this job than defenceman Chris Pronger? The two-time gold medallist with Team Canada is no stranger to the NHL Cinderella scene. He almost single-handedly led the underdog Oilers to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2006, and then won a Cup the following year with the Anaheim Ducks.

Now with the Flyers, Pronger has not lost a step. His playmaking ability, toughness, shot-blocking, and sound defensive play have all been key in Philadelphia’s success. His undeniable impact becomes extra special with the fact that he logs close to 30 minutes of ice-time every game, and never seems to fade.

2) Emerging Star: This could be two players. Goaltender Michael Leighton has been thrown around the NHL like a rent-a-goalie through beer leagues. Now in Philadelphia and with an injury to starter Brian Boucher, Leighton has taken the load with a coolness privy to that of a veteran leader. After finishing game five for Boucher against Boston with zero goals against, he went on to blank the Canadiens in the Conference Finals in three of four Philly wins.

Likewise, in the absence of injured 33-goal-scorer Jeff Carter, youngster Claude Giroux has stepped into the spotlight for the Flyers.  Through three rounds, Giroux has 17 points in 17 games played.  His biggest goal was the eventual game-winner against Montreal in game four when he waltzed around Josh Gorges and went upstairs shortside on emerging star goalie Jaroslav Halak. The Flyers went on to win 3-0, and took the series at home in game five.

3) RE-Emerging Star: Coming off a 95-point season in 06/07 with the Buffalo Sabres, centreman Danny Briere signed a monstrous 8-year, $52-million contract with the Flyers. He then posted 72pts in 07/08, and a shortened-season in 08/09 left him with only 25 points.

This season, Briere was only able to put together a 53-point effort in 75 games. However, in the 2010 playoffs, the master of the fist-pump has begun to look like the 52-million-dollar-man once again. Scoring 9 goals and adding 9 helpers through 17 games, he has been key to Philadelphia’s success thus far.

Now, getting ready to walk the “18^th hole” that is the Stanley Cup Finals, the Cinderella Flyers face the red-hot Chicago Blackhawks, who are chalk-full of emerging stars that have already faced playoff challenges in 08/09.

However, with players like Leighton, Giroux, and Briere carrying the load thus far, it has allowed ample healing time for other Philadelphia stars. The Flyers welcomed back Carter and veteran Ian Laperriere in the Conference Finals, and have now regained the services of former starter Brian Boucher.

With these key players back, do the Philadelphia Flyers have the right ingredients to write a storybook ending?

Or will they finally collapse, as assumed of a #7 seed, in this, their final challenge?

For OpenIceHockey.com, I’m Kyle Scott

*Editor’s note: The Flyers lost game one of the finals 6-5 to the Blackhawks on Saturday night.  They will look to bounce back Monday night in game two.