CARSON, California – Jay Heaps knows better than most that fate can be cruel. In his case, repeatedly so.
Four times Heaps and the Revolution went to MLS Cup. Four times, New England left with nothing but second-place medal to show for it.
And while each game had it’s own agonizing moments - 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007 - none was more formative for Heaps than the wild 2006 final that included dramatic extra-time time goals from the Revs and the Houston Dynamo and a decisive penalty miss that will live with Longmeadow, Mass., native for life.
Now, eight years after Pat Onstad saved his tame effort to give the Dynamo the first of back-to-back titles and almost three years since he left behind a career in finance to pace the sideline, Heaps has a rare opportunity at redemption.
He finally has the chance as a coach to win the championship he never could quite capture as a player.
“That’s is the only reason why Jay took the job,” says Twellman, Heaps’ friend, former teammate and partner in MLS Cup misery. “If Jay wants to admit that, fine. If Jay doesn’t, that’s his prerogative. For those of us that know Jay very well, you’re naïve to think this isn’t the reason he took the job. Because 2006 lives with Jay forever.
“I can’t tell you how many countless numbers of beers and discussions we’ve had over the penalty. I’ve said it from day one, he was man enough to step up and take a penalty. You can read into that what you will. The moment he missed it I knew in the back of my mind that someway or another that Jay was going to have a part of the Revolution’s future.”
Nearly a decade after the most disappointing moment of Heaps’ career, that future is now.
On Sunday against the Galaxy – the club that captured a pair of titles at New England’s expense in 2002 and 2005 – Heaps and his young Revs side have the chance to at least partly exorcise the club’s MLS Cup demons and deliver a championship in their fifth try.
It’s a side that includes a handful of players who grew up watching their head coach help turn New England into an MLS dynasty that almost was, a group led by Steve Nicol that was two narrow conference championship defeats away from going to six straight MLS Cup finals.
Of course, as Heaps knows all too well, almost isn’t good enough.
Instead of etching their names in league history along legendary D.C. United and Galaxy squads, the Revs are saddled with the league’s most tortured postseason history, garnering references to the NFL's Buffalo Bills for their repeated failure to get it done on the biggest stage.
And although Heaps didn't specifically address 2006 in his final press conference before the big game – as Twellman said, it’s his prerogative – there’s no doubt that the club’s collective inability to capture a title weighed heavily on the hard-nosed defender in retirement.
“I felt that certainly during my playing career, having played in four finals and not winning one, something was missing,” Heaps said this week. “So that was definitely a driving force. Working for the Kraft family was really important and I really wanted to dive into that as hard and long as I could until they had a chance to get back to where we need to be.”
Now that New England are here, Heaps has made it clear that he has no intention of digging up the remains of past MLS Cup disappointments and burdening his squad with the pressure that accompanies those defeats. He’ll carry that load alone.
History may be bleak and the Revs will certainly take the field at StubHub Center as unquestioned underdogs, but, for the players at least, the slate is blank.
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And should New England somehow capture what would be a cathartic win for their fans, owners and head coach? That’ll simply be the culmination of a 13-year quest Heaps was destined to endure.
“I’ll never forget the phone call he and I had when he said, ‘I think I’m going to put my name in the hat for the Revs job,’” Twellman says. “Here he is, a banker, and everyone said he’s not going to be able to do it. He was the perfect fit at the right time for this team to turn it around.”
