Round and round we go

Do you remember the scene from National Lampoon’s European Vacation when the Griswold’s enter a traffic circle and then gets stuck in it and goes around and around and around and around, unable to break through and drive in another direction?


Well, the Calgary Flames are the Griswold’s and are stuck in said traffic circle.

With every gut-wrenching 2-1 loss, with every failed power play, with every game where the players say, “We had a really good first period, and then kind of let up.” The same trivial excuses day in and day out: The players haven’t bought in; they weren’t battling hard enough; the power play can’t find ways to score.

It’s a tad monotonous isn’t it?

From not being able to score, to not being able to stop a beach ball, and then back to the beginning again with the same ol’ problem.

The Flames have been riding this carousel for way too long. Just when you think you see a parting in the traffic and a chance to escape going around one more time, a car cuts you off and the confidence to break that mould is shot and you are forced to start all over again.

Ok, enough speaking in code.

They are back to their old ways, or back in the heart of that cyclical pattern, which is their inability to score goals. Four goals in three games and a combined two for 17 on the power play – funny how often these stats correlate.

But with the feeling of watching this team spins it wheels, I feel like I’m stuck in a pattern of drudgery as with re-occurring issues, comes re-occurring statements about this team’s inability to piece together any string of good play.

What else can I say that hasn’t already been talked about?

Lack of goal scoring? The pattern continues where it left off last season.

Power play? More like what power play? It’s too bad the NHL doesn’t allow teams to decline penalties, because the Flames could benefit from such a rule.

Blowing leads? That’s only five in a row. At least there is some kind of consistency.

Trade Iggy? This has been thrown around and talked about more than Brett Favre and his ‘dong-text.’

Fire Sutter and Co.? I won’t bother getting into this.

The cycle will come to an end and I’m afraid it most likely will not be a pleasant time when it does. Whether it’s the day that Jarome Iginla no longer plays for the Calgary Flames, or the day Darryl Sutter is relegated to working on the farm instead of controlling one, the time will come when Calgary Flames have a different identity, a different look, and a bright future.

But for now it’s like watching Clark and his family of misfits make the same mistake over and over again.

It’s becoming ever more apparent that this circle doesn’t have an easy way out.

At least we all know how Clark feels now.



 




Round and round we go.

Newman
twitter.com/TSRNewman
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