Poet T. S. Eliot didn’t have hockey on his mind when he wrote those words, but to those fans of the Penguins and Caps, this April is the cruellest month for us. How will we cope with having neither team in the playoffs? What can we substitute for the annual spring rivalry that developed each year between Pittsburgh and Washington?

Everything was set in place to make this year’s battle royale in April better than ever. In September, Mario Lemieux was back, looking forward to a great season. Jaromir Jagr was on his new team, eager to lead them to the Cup. How exciting, we thought, won’t it be great to see Lemieux and Jagr battle it out in the playoffs? The two who had been linemates for so many years teaming up to send the Caps packing for so many years now were on opposite sides. Whose talent would shine more brightly? Whose goalie would make the more spectacular saves? Whose teammates would rally in the race for the Cup? The competition would be as fierce as the rivalry has always been. We couldn’t wait for April to get here to see the results. Our "memory and desire" aside, we’ll have to dream of the outcome for at least another season.

April is here but neither of these superstars will be playing hockey past the regular season. This is sad not just for fans of the two teams but for all hockey fans. The best players should be playing beginning on April 17. Our game doesn’t have nearly the amount of superstars that other sports have so when two players of the magnitude of Lemieux and Jagr are taken out of the mix, everyone loses.

Of course, we fans can still watch Patrick Roy, Joe Sakic, Rob Blake, probably Peter Forsberg, and the rest of the all-star Avalanche team make a run for another Cup win. We can watch the "old men" in Detroit make their try to take the Cup back to their city. In the east, we can focus on the Flyers with John LeClair or get behind the Bruins and Sergei Samsonov. In the end, the best team will win - the one with the least injuries to key players, the one with luck on its side. Hockey in May, maybe in June - the season isn’t over - loads of games to be played..

But while we can watch, cheer, maybe choose a team to support, it just won’t be the same. When it’s not "our" team, the excitement level goes way down. May and June could be even crueller months. Ah, but wait till next April!