Tim Thomas Finished

Joel Ward scored just 6 goals in the 2011-12 NHL regular season.  He finished with more penalty minutes (20) than points (18) in a pretty disappointing season.  However, Ward played hero for one night as he squirted a rebound past Tim Thomas to give the Capitals a first round series win in game 7 against the Bruins.

That night, Thomas forwent his typical anger-sprint out of the rink to shake the hands of his playoff foes.  I'm not sure if he knew it at the time, and the fans sure didn't know, but that goal by an under-perfoming hockey player on an under-performing team was the last memory we will have of Tim Thomas, at least for a year.

Thomas has announced that he will be taking time off from hockey to deal with some personal issues.  Winning the Stanley Cup one year, getting his ankles broken by Matt Hendricks the next, and mowing his lawn the next.  An interesting way to exit the league.

I've never really heard of something like this happening.  A player on a championship contender walking away from the game.  So what happened.  Are there deep personal issues here, or did Thomas just lose his love for hockey over the course of the playoff series with the Caps?  One thing was noticeable throughout the series. Timmy was getting angry after the losses to the Caps.

So here is my fondest memory of Tim Thomas...