Countdown to Opening Night by the Elements: Number 18

Fearless is down to just a few elements and at number 18 finds himself face to face with a noble gas (and we don’t mean Don Cherry)…

Argon

Argon is an odd element.  As a noble gas it is, like the rest of its family, colorless, odorless, and essentially unreactive.  It is kind of just, well…there.  The thing is, though, there is a lot of it that is…there.  There is almost 25 times as much of it in the Earth’s atmosphere as carbon dioxide. 

But it doesn’t do much of anything, which makes its name apt.  You see, “argon” is named for the greek word “argos,” meaning “inactive” (or less charitably, “lazy)…

Oh crap, speaking of “lazy,” here comes my layabout cousin.  Cheerless, what are you doing here?

“Cuz, you make this stuff so hard.  You ain’t teaching any chemistry lab here, it’s just hockey!”

And your point?

"Well, the way I see it, “argon” just means, “are gone.”  Y’know, like Wojtek Wolski.  He “are gone,” in a manner of speaking.  Joey Crabb… “are gone.”  Roman Hamrlik…"

“Are gone”… I get it.

But hey, it’s the new season, and we ought to be thinking about the good times and the guys who “are gone” from recent years, but not forgotten. 

Like Sergei Fedorov…

Like Mike Knuble, grindin’ and diggin’ and making it possible for Joel Ward to win a series…

Like “The Professor,” Matt Bradley, taking things into his own hands and doing the unexpected…

Like Chris Clark, who was a rock for a team that just wasn’t so good… Tomas Fleischmann, David Steckel, Boyd “Muffins” Gordon.  Sasha, good and bad.  Even Michael Nylander doing circles, but still playing hurt until his shoulder couldn’t take it anymore.  Tom Poti, who took more than his share for the team and climbed all the way back.  And Quintin Laing, whose was borderline nuts with going down to block all those shots, even tearing his spleen in the process.   Brian Pothier, Viktor Kozlov, and Steve Eminger.  Milan Jurcina, Shaone Morrisonn, and Motzko!

Just a lot of guys who put in an honest day’s work for times we remember, some that we don’t, and even some we would just as soon forget. 

When you get to this level, you’re noble indeed.  Maybe they “are gone,” but not forgotten.