A Good Captain Always Goes Down With His Ship

[tcookie 985]

Phillip Rave stood in front of the media in S94, after the Malmo Nighthawks were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for a third straight season, and said that it was no longer time for “saying the right things” after a playoff loss.

 

“We have a great group here. I believe in this team.”

 

“We just have to learn from it, work harder, and be better next season.”

 

What does it even mean? When you have a certain reputation, that just starts to sound like spewing cliches. Professional sports is a results-based business. You can learn all you want from three straight first-round exits, but if it leads to a fourth, nobody cares.

 

So in his first season as Malmo captain in S97, what was he supposed to tell the media following a sixth straight first-round exit?

 

The questioning around Rave this off-season will be harsh. He is, on paper, one of the most talented players in the VHL. Most expected him to build on a breakout 108-point season in S96, but after signing a big contract extension and being named team captain, Rave regressed in S97 to finish 18th in the league in goals, 33rd in points. It wasn’t a bad season, no, but it was not what Rave, Malmo, nor the Malmo fanbase expected. A three-time 40-goal scorer with 136 goals over the past three seasons, he’s scored just 10 times in 33 playoff games. By contrast, Axle Gunner and Severus Targaryen had already reached that mark this year alone by the time Riga had finished sending the Nighthawks home early.

 

What feels like an eternity ago, a 20-year-old Rave was one of the most talented up-and-comers in the skiing world. On the cusp of stardom, Rave fell apart. A string of poor performances as he struggled to deal with the attention caused an internal battle with his own expectations that eventually sapped his love for the sport, and Rave quit skiing completely. So, he became a hockey player - against all odds, a very good one at that. Except… doesn’t all that sound kind of familiar?

 

There’s a narrative out there that when the chips are down, Phillip Rave just doesn’t have it. On the day of Malmo’s year-end press conferences, the media spared him of directly addressing it, but it will undoubtedly linger throughout the off-season.

 

Instead, Rave talked about what it meant to play with Malmo’s outgoing stars. Good friends in the locker room who have spent their entire careers in Malmo navy and lime green, enduring the same cycle of success and disappointment with each new season. “It doesn’t do any of us any good to sit here and listen to me say the same things over and over every year. You don’t want to hear it, I don’t want to say it. Let’s just appreciate what some of these guys have done for Malmo. Viktor (Jensen), Savaisk (Tzesar), RJ (MacWallace III)... these are my guys, man, it’s been so awesome playing with them since I came into the league. I’ll always regret that we couldn’t find more success for them. For (Jacob) Stone last year too. It hurts that those guys didn’t get to see a long playoff run.”

 

In that off-season leading up to S95, Rave didn’t talk to the media at all - he simply retired to Lichtenstein and hit the ice every day, working on his game - a change from his usual off-season strategy of taking some time to refresh. He has always shown an outward understanding of what it will take to turn things around, and a willingness to change his routines, his playstyle, or whatever it may be if it’s for the good of the team. But the results haven’t changed. And without the results, what does it matter? What good is knowing how to right the ship if it just keeps sinking anyway?

 

Malmo’s competitive window will probably never in Rave’s career be as open as it was in S97, though the team figures to remain relevant. It’s possible he finds himself traded at some point in a retooling or rebuilding effort. It’s possible he plays out his career in Malmo; even possible that they find it in them to finally go on a playoff run despite a weaker on-paper roster. Whatever the case, Rave will find his legacy on the line over these last two seasons. After all, a captain always goes down with his ship.