The euphoria and overwhelming joy that goes into winning the Stanley Cup is something we’ve all been able to witness one way or another and we’re all left in awe and jealousy over what that must be like. After the toil of arduous haul of around 100 games through the regular season and the playoffs having your season end by lifting the Stanley Cup and later consuming adult beverages out of it has to be one of the greatest feelings in the world, especially after doing it in Game 7.
For Boston’s Andrew Ference and Vancouver’s Raffi Torres, they can tell you all about how it feels to be on the opposite side of that equation. Going through all the same battles and struggles and fights only to come up short of the ultimate goal in a Stanley Cup finals Game 7. For them, they can help put the fear of whatever higher power their teammates might believe and tell them just what it’s like to be on the wrong side of the celebration and share with them why they don’t want to be watching their opponents lift the Cup tonight.
Hosea Cheung of Sun Media shares the take from both guys as they prepare for tonight’s Game 7.While Ference says he remembers the game from seven years ago well, it doesn’t change his approach this time around.
“I don’t think the desire is any stronger, it’s the same,” he said. “I had all the motivation last time as well, sometimes it shakes out the right way for you and sometimes it doesn’t. Everybody knows the stakes but big games are still the same and the pressure remains as well.”
As for Torres, he credits the Edmonton Oilers’ 2006 playoff run he was a part of to hard work.
“Everything was an upset for us, so for us, we went into every game like we were the underdogs and all that kind of stuff,” he said. “It worked out for us.”
It’s incredible that both teams have someone to draw on Game 7 experience from and even tougher that they’ve both got guys that were losing teams in those Game 7s. For Ference, he’s proven to be a very well liked guy in Boston and an even better guy to talk with the media as he’s always thoughtful and open when he talks. Torres is well liked in Vancouver but drives opposing fans crazy with his physical play.
It’s tough to see anyone get close enough to winning the Cup only to come up short and sadly one of these two guys will have to go through it for a second time. You’d have to think that while the captains are going to say what they need to in the locker rooms to get their teammates going, both Torres and Ference will have a little bit extra to throw in for themselves. With how hockey has a funny way of drawing up its story lines, it’d be particularly sweet if either of these players makes the play to help their team win it all tonight. Making amends for past shortcomings like that would make for great drama.