Monday, June 11 Daneyko: 'We just gave it away' By Adrian Wojnarowski Special to ESPN.com The New Jersey Devils' Ken Daneyko leaned on his stick, bowed his face and stared blankly into his feet. This was the hardest part, the end, the delirious Avalanche flooding the ice. He couldn't watch the Colorado Avalanche celebration late Saturday night, refusing to lift his eyes, see the red carpet rolled into the Pepsi Center and the table with the blue bunting carried to the end of it. “ You are playing against a great team and you are punching guys in the face for no reason? I mean, this is the seventh game of the finals. If you can't suck it up for the seventh game of the finals, then you got problems. ” — Larry Robinson, Devils coach There were the two men, with white gloves, waiting to walk the Stanley Cup onto the Pepsi Center ice. After 364 days, they were walking it out of the Devils lives. "We just gave it away," Daneyko said. "I couldn't watch." This was the hardest part for Daneyko, the hardest part for the Devils: Just as they were leaving the ice, they were waiting to bring the Cup on it. They had lost it now, the worst possible of losses, a 3-2 series advantage dissolved, the winning Game 7 goal scored with a Devil in the penalty box for punching an Avalanche player in the face. "You are playing against a great team and you are punching guys in the face for no reason?" Devils coach Larry Robinson said. "I mean, this is the seventh game of the finals. If you can't suck it up for the seventh game of the finals, then you got problems." They had serious problems. Reaching the seventh game of the Stanley Cup Finals doesn't mask a truth of the old defending champions: There was a missing gene. They beat a No. 8 seed, a No. 7, and a No. 6 to get to the Stanley Cup Finals. Until the finals, they had the best talent. They could turn it on and off as they so desired, just refusing to show for games, refusing to close the Carolina Hurricanes and Toronto Maple Leafs out when they could've saved themselves the wear and tear of long series. This was the hardest part for Robinson to digest, the hardest message for him to get to the Devils. In the glory days of the Montreal Canadiens, he won six Cups, including back to back championships and it gets harder and harder for him to relate with a modern day champion. He wanted to believe his Devils are comprised of self-starters, self-motivators, and it just wasn't true. He wanted to believe the dressing room policed itself, but it just didn't happen. They needed him to come down harder on playoff penalty transgressions, and he never backed words with deeds. Still, it was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals and Robinson watched one of his players punch an Avalanche in the face, go to the penalty box and let Joe Sakic get a clear shot on Martin Brodeur. "I wish I knew why it happened," Robinson said. "Every night, every night, we put on the board 'Discipline.' We can't take bad penalties. You shouldn't have to bench people in the playoffs because of undisciplined play. This is what we play for all year, and it's just things you've got to learn. They thought they understood, these Devils did, but they found out talent alone wouldn't get them a second straight Cup. "Whether you're a young player or an old player, winning isn't just something that comes along. You have to learn to win, learn what it takes." They thought they understood, these Devils did, but they found out talent alone wouldn't get them a second straight Cup. There won't be significant changes for next season, what with the core of these Devils still strong with twentysomethings. Maybe it'll be easier for Robinson to get the Devils attention next year, when they're chasing a title, instead of trying to defend it. It never had to be this hard for New Jersey, never. Somehow, they made it within one game of winning the championship and still it never felt they were too terribly close to it. They had the Cup in Continental Arena for Game 6, had the Avalanche down and out, and they let them go. They let the series get back to Colorado for a Game 7, and that was it, the Devils had let this season go one too many games for their own. The Devils played an immature, undisciplined end to the season, end of the Cup reign. They deserved to stand on the Pepsi Center ice, see the red carpet and the blue bunting on the trophy table, and understand the Stanley Cup was staying in Colorado. They had every chance to bring it back to Jersey, but they give it away. They let Ray Bourque have his fairy tale, Colorado its party, and in the end, the oldest Devil of all, Ken Daneyko, couldn't bear to watch it. "It was heartbreaking," he said. "We just gave it away." Adrian Wojnarowski is a columnist for The Record (Northern New Jersey) and a regular contributor to ESPN.com. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories