For His Purpose Holds To Sail Beyond The Sunset: Farewell, Olie

The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends.
'T is not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,--
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
--Tennyson, from Ulysses

At least as a player, he's gone forever.
Everything we now have to say is redundant.
A little over a year ago, I wrote the following:

Through thick and thin, fire and flame -- through rebuilding, the lockout, uniform changes,
rule changes, piss and vinegar grinders, primadonna superstars,
bottom of the table finishes, the Cup Finals, a Vezina, knee surgery, Abe Pollin, a King Clancy,
Bruce Cassidy, Bruce Boudreau, the Olympics, charities, All-Star games, crease-clearings, brawls,
Chris Simon, Donald Brashear, rifts, bonds, Bryan Muir as a first pairing defenseman,
Maxime Ouellet as the next big thing, Peter Bondra as a draft steal, Adam Oates as a
first-line Centre, bitter rivalries, laughable expansion teams, the
Patrick Division, the Southeast Division, the shootout, triple
overtime, heartbreak, triumph, disappointment, and 301 wins . . . Olie
gave it everything in every match.




In the words of SkateFreeOrDie:

Kolzig, who played with
Langway, who played with
Maruk, who played with
Labre. . .

The torch is now passed to
Ovechkin.