USMA IN THE NEWS
HERE AT THE WE-CAN'T-WAIT-TO-GET-AHEAD-OF-OURSELVES PUCK BUREAU, THE BRUINS LOST TO THE CANADIANS LAST NIGHT, AND ARE STILL IN SCRATCH-AND-CLAW MODE TO MAKE IT OUT OF ROUND 1 OF THE STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS. NATURALLY, THAT BROUGHT US TO THEIR PROSPECTIVE ROUND 2 OPPONENTS, THE FLYERS, WHO YESTERDAY AFTERNOON ELIMINATED THE DEVILS IN FIVE GAMES.
Hopeless optimists here in the Hub of Hockey, aren't we?
Philadelphia, Land of the Skewered Goaltender (thy face is Roman Cechmanek) in recent playoff seasons, sent the defending Stanley Cup champions home, thanks first and foremost to netminder Robert Esche. Once Sean Burke's backup in Phoenix, the 26-year-old Esche thus far has been the backbone of the Flyers' impressive postseason start. Somewhat shaky as the season closed - a mediocre 5-4-2 over his last 11 decisions - Esche stopped 31 shots in yesterday's 3-1 clincher after blanking the Devils, 3-0, with 35 saves in Game 4.
"It's easy to put trust and faith in people when things are going good," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock reminded the media in recent days, reflecting on Esche's impressive run. "It's our business to put trust and faith in people when they aren't going good. That's the toughest thing sometimes."
Esche has been saying very little, perturbed over hints in the local media that his game was listing toward Cechmanek like ineffectiveness as the postseason approached. For the most part, though, he has been looser, happier, and more effective this season, after hooking up with West Point-based sports psychologist Nathaniel Zinsser. At Zinsser's encouragement, Esche said earlier this year, he relinquished the age-old goalie ritual of putting on a "game face" in the hours leading up to faceoff, and his more relaxed, joking disposition led to better results in performance.
Zinsser oversees West Point's Center for Advanced Performance, where he works with elite athletes, including US Olympians, as well as US Army Rangers. Above all, he preaches concentration, remaining calm amid high-stress situations and chaos. Sound like a goalie's lot? Esche and Zinsser hooked up when the Flyers spent three days training at the US Military Academy at the start of the season.
"The biggest thing in my career I've ever heard came from Dr. Z," Esche said a few months ago, around the time the Flyers were busy acquiring Burke from Phoenix as net insurance. "It's changed me." Zinsser's message: relax, stay calm, make the most of the moment.
Esche, who grew up outside Utica, in Whitesboro, N.Y., also credits Burke's guidance a few years back as being instrumental in his development. Esche was more fiery in his Desert Dogs days, and it was the veteran Burke who encouraged him to resist the temptation to get involved in things outside of his 24-square-foot domain.
"I was a real head case," Esche recalled not long after arriving in Philadelphia following his trade there in June 2002. "I'd do a lot of dumb things - try to fight, do all these dumb things."
Burke's advice, said Esche, toned him down. Nonetheless, Flyer teammate Jeremy Roenick recently referred to Esche as an "intense little bugger." Boston fans will be glad to know that Esche has a pet white boxer, named "Bruin."
One of Esche's brothers, Henry, left home a half-dozen years ago at age 17 to join the US Marines, just after another brother, Eliot, an accomplished artist who suffered with manic depression, committed suicide. Henry bolted for the military, with protracted tours of duty in some of the world's hot spots, including Afghanistan, while Robert eschewed opportunities to play US college hockey and thrashed his way though the Canadian Junior A system (Detroit, Plymouth) to make it to the NHL.
Asked not long ago if he worried about his Marine brother, Esche said, "Hell, no, he's got the chance to bomb the [expletive] out of somebody - somebody evil. "
Meanwhile, Esche keeps up his mission in the Flyer net. If Round 2 does bring the Flyers and Bruins together, it will be the first time the sides have met in the playoffs since 1978 - a 4-1 Boston victory in the Cup semis.