Sometimes, you have to fall off a mountain to learn how to get to its peak.
Now, I don’t know if I just pulled that expression out of my behind or if it was stored in my subconscious from hearing it in a TV show, but there is truth to that expression as it relates to a few Stanley Cup-winning teams.
The Pittsburgh Penguins famously met the Detroit Red Wings in the 2008 and 2009 Stanley Cup Final, losing to Detroit and beating them in respective years. At the time, that group of Penguins, led by babyfaced, budding stars like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, had not tasted the sour fruit of defeat on hockey’s biggest stage.