Melnyk's need for a miracle a reminder of mortality in sports
The story on the ice for the Senators this season was a miraculous one, but the story off the ice in Ottawa was filled with misfortune.
First, there was the news in the fall that general manager Bryan Murray was diagnosed with colon cancer. Then, just one day before the start of the postseason, assistant coach Mark Reeds passed away from cancer. On Thursday, the Senators announced that owner Eugene Melnyk was desperately ill and in need of a live liver donor.
Together, the news about the coach, general manager and team owner reminds fans that sporting figures are not immune from the problems that people face every day in this world.
"Seems a bit much for one team to take, yes?" Damien Cox of SportsNet CA wrote. "But if we look for fairness or a sense of proportion in life we are often left with a feeling of emptiness. Perhaps this hits the sporting world differently for it is there we go to escape the latest news from Nepal or Iraq. We want to feel, maybe, that because the people in sport seem so immortal and untouchable, that maybe we can somehow share in that.
"But, of course, that’s not how this works. We know Steve Montador died this winter, and hopefully we understand that matters in a way Deflategate really doesn’t."
Indeed, whatever fans or people in Ottawa think about Melnyk as an owner, it seems they understand he is still a person, and the public jumped at the chance to help him in anyway possible. The team noted in a statement on Friday morning that over 1,000 people called in less than 24 hours for information on how to become a donor. It was an impressive response from a community that went through a roller coaster of a year.
"So many highs, so much intrigue, such unsettling sadness," SportsNet CA wrote. "It must now be hoped that the latter comes in threes, for one can only imagine how much one professional hockey franchise can take, at least in an emotional sense."
(h/t SportsNet CA)
Photo by AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand
