Home is where Hart is ... which is hard for him
The Flyers had been on absolute roll since early January, and there were no real signs of any slowdown. They had won nine of 10 games and were within a point of the front-running Washington Capitals.
There wasn’t much doubt in anyone’s mind who were aware of what they were in the process of doing: The Flyers not only were on a course for the NHL playoffs, they were joining the conversation of front-running Stanley Cup contenders.
They flew to Tampa on the night of March 11, ready to exhibit their newfound powers at one of the most difficult places in the league to play.
They chance.
Since the NHL called a halt to all games due to the coronavirus March 12, there simply has been too much to worry about for most people to pay much attention to life without hockey.
That certainly isn’t true, of course, if you’re a hockey player.
Especially so if you’re a rising young star who was fully expecting during this second week of April to be paying attention to the first round of NHL playoffs in his career.
“It sucks that we’re not playing hockey right now,” Flyers goalie Carter Hart said during a Thursday conference call. “There’s bigger things going on right now in the world. Everybody’s in the same boat. We all have to
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the try and do our part. I know everybody that’s working on the front line, all the medical workers, hospital workers, essential service workers; they are all doing great jobs stepping up for us. We have to do our part here and stay inside. Just try to stay healthy and beat this thing, so that we can all resume our normal, everyday lives.”
Although there is actual optimism to be found in the otherwise gloomy, frightening numbers played out in vivid red on the TV screens right now, the obvious truth is that a greater sense of “normal” is still quite a ways away.
There wasn’t much of an optimistic outlook by Gary Bettman Tuesday when in an interview with NBC Sports he pointed a couple of weeks down the road, but only in saying he may or may not “know more by the end of April.”
Bettman went on to say the league was “Viewing all of our options,” and would not extrapolate on what he really meant by that.
Jumping right into the playoffs? Playing a shortened version of the end of the regular season?
“Nothing’s been ruled in, nothing’s been ruled out,” Bettman said.
You can tell he’s had experience at this league shutdown thing.
“You hear a ton of rumors out there, but you can’t really know what’s true and what’s not,” Hart said. “I think when the time comes or the decision comes, (we) professional athletes have to make sure we find a way to stay ready now. When that time does come, we’re prepared, no matter what the format is.”
For his part, Hart is back at his Sherwood Park, Alberta home, hitting his set of free weights and likely taking out his frustrations on a bike and a speed bag. The club’s strength coach is sending out home programs for all the players, too.
“I have that all to stay in shape,” Hart said. “Actually, my yoga instructor is still doing one-on-one so I am getting to see her two times a week. There’s no ice anywhere so I can’t really skate ... we just have to maintain our fitness levels.”
But another important self-maintenance program has to do with mental toughness, the art of patience. Pretty tough for a young goalie to do in these circumstances.
“For sure, I was definitely excited to play a playoff game, hopefully this year,” Hart said. “It’s every kid’s dream to play in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Hopefully we can get that chance still coming up, depending on the circumstances here.
“We put ourselves in a good position there down the stretch. It definitely sucks that we didn’t get to finish it out. It sucks that we are not playing right now in the playoffs. Hopefully we get that chance here down the line once everything is back to normal.”