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PERHAPS NO CLICHE IN ALL OF sports is more overused and abused than the Cinderella analogy.

Maybe it's all those countless viewings of "Caddyshack" with Bill Murray's Carl Spackler famously daydreaming about the "Cinderella story here at Augusta" as he destroys a flowerbed with a driver, but we sportswriters have a tendency to slap the Cinderella label on virtually every team that wins a playoff series this side of the Detroit Red Wings, New York Yankees, or Los Angeles Lakers. Leading up to this year's Super Bowl, novice sports fans could have been excused for thinking the NFC representative's proper name was the Cinderella Carolina Panthers.

Yet in the rare instances that the Cinderella label actually fits--say, the Minnesota Wild and Anaheim Mighty Ducks in last year's Stanley Cup Playoffs--what's too often forgotten is what happened the next day to comely stepsister in the fairy tale.

We' re all familiar with the clock striking midnight, as it did for the Wild vs. the Ducks in the Western Conference finals and for the Ducks vs. the New Jersey Devils in the Stanley Cup Finals, but what of the day--or in this .instance, season--after? In the Cinderella fairy tale, sure the carriage turns back into a pumpkin, but then Prince Charming comes bearing a glass slipper (why this slipper, like all of the other enchantments, does not cease to be at midnight we'll leave you to ponder) and he finds Cinderella, makes her his princess, and they all five happily ever after.

That scenario doesn't often work out for sports' Cinderellas, further showing the flaws in the analogy. For sporting Cinderellas, all too often the clock striking midnight returns the team to its former station and alas, there is no Prince Charming baring dubious footware.

Witness the Wild and Ducks this season. With the 2003-04 campaign entering its final stretch, both are looking like they won't be repeating their miraculous playoff runs. Hell, it's going to take a small miracle for either team to even reach the playoffs.

Why the regression this season? We take a look at three key reasons why each team has played like an ugly stepsister this season.

MINNESOTA

1. GABBY GABBY NAY

No one expected Minnesota to be an offensive powerhouse, but you still have to put the biscuit in the net every now and then to win a game. Through 60 games this season, the Wild were averaging 2.20 goals a game, down from the 2.41 the team scored en mute to a sixth seed finish in the West in 2002-03. The chief culprit in the power outage is young star Marian Gaborik, whose season got off to a sour note as he held out for all of training camp and the season's first month before inking a three-year, $10 million contract. A 30-goal scorer the past two seasons, he scored just nine limes in his first 43 games this season, including a 14game scoreless stretch that didn't see him net his first goal of 2004 until February 4.

Gaborik's power outage actually began last season, when after getting off to a blistering start, he scored just seven goals in the season's last 43 games. Gaborik, though, showed his worth to the team in the first two rounds of the Wild's playoff run when he scored nine goals and 17 points as the Wild came back from 3-1 deficits to defeat both the Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks. As worthy an indicator of Gaborik's importance to the team was when he failed to score in the conference finals, so did the Wild, as the team tallied just one goal in Anaheim's four-game sweep.

Gaborik, who just turned 22 on Valentine's Day, was the first player ever drafted by the team and as the club's all-time leading scorer, has been its face in its four seasons in the NHL but with him on pace for a career low 27-points, the team's off season priority must be adding some to lessen Gabrorik's burden.

Beyond Garborik, the Wild simply aren't shooting enough this year. While as a team the Wild are in the middle of the pack when it comes to team shooting percentage, converting 9.1% of their shots entering the final quarter of the season, they were 28th overall in the NHL in goals scored. The wild simply aren't creating enough scoring chances this season because all the players seems to be thinking pass first, shoot second. In fact, the Wild were the last team in the NHL to have a double-digit goal-scorer, with right-winger Richard Park being the first Minnesota player to reach 10 goals on January 21.

2. NO FLAIR IN THE LAIR

With every home game a guaranteed sell out, the Wild perform in front of an electric and knowledgeable crowd at the Xcel Energy Center 41 times a season. Last year at home the team won 25 games at home against 13 losses and three ties, but this year was a lackluster 12-12-6-1 in its first 30 home games. Minnesota coach Jaques Lemaire thinks his team is simply having trouble focusing at home this season. "When you don't win the games you should, it gets more difficult," Lemaire said following a loss to the Los Angeles Kings after the All-Star break. "With this team, our minds have to be sharp. It's very frustrating, especially with the types of mistakes we are making. We don't seem to be playing as well at home as we do on the road ... we have to be better prepared mentally."

3. FIT TO BE TIED

If a tie, as it is said, is like kissing your sister, than the Wild are the NHL's equivalent of a V.C. Andrews novel. For a time it looked like the 2003-04 Wild might break the NHLrecord of 26 ties set by the 1969-70 Philadelphia Flyers, but while that pre-overtime record looks safe, with 16 lies in its first 60 games, Minnesota is a safe bet to lead the NHL this season. A conservative team by nature, the Wild become the Pat Buchanan of the NHL in the extra stanza. In fact, this season Minnesota lied a record set by the 1997-98 Detroit Red Wings for most consecutive overtime games ending in a lie, going 15 straight games without a decisive ending. If Minnesota had golden a victory in just half of its lies this season, it would be in the thick of the playoff hunt rather than on the verge of elimination.

ANAHEIM

1. JIGGY GETS SIEVY

What Anaheim goalie Jean Sebastein Giguere did last year in the playoffs was nothing short of awesome. While he had an excellent regular season (34-22-6 record, 2.30 GAA, and eight shutouts), he was transcendental in the postseason, winning the Corm Smythe as the playoffs MVP despite being on the losing team. Giguere finished 156, with a 1.62 GAA, a .945 save percentage, and five shutouts. Against Minnesota in the conference finals, Giguere let up a single goal, stopping 123 Of the 124 shots he faced, which translates to a .922 save percentage. His play even earned him a guest

That said, there there have been numerous examples of goalies getting red-hot in the playoffs and then never meeting those lofty expectations again, and while Giguere is young enough and talented enough to escape that fate, right now he certainly looks like a poster child for flashes in the pan.

Giguere was on the verge of missing training camp as a holdout last fall, before signing a lucrative last minute deal for four years and $19.5 million. There are those who say with all the money he has lost the hunger he had a year ago, while others speculate the pressure of living up to expectations is weighing on him. Whichever theory you subscribe to, the fact is in his first 37 games this season, Giguere was an atrocious 10-22-4, with a 2.72 GAA, and just two shutouts, while losing his starting job for a stretch to Martin Gerber and finding himself the center of constant trade rumors.

Giguere, to his credit, has remained upbeat: "It seems like both seasons started out the same. I started out slow both years," he says. "Hopefully, I can finish the way I did last year. When I go out on the ice, I try to go all out every game. I don't worry when things aren't going my way, because I know it will get better."

Last spring Giguere made two appearances on 'The Tonight Show," boldly promising host Jay Leno that he would return this year with the Stanley Cup. At this point it's a safe bet the talk show's talent bookers aren't holding a space.

2. CHEMISTRY EXPERIMENT

During the offseason, the Ducks tinkered with their offense, losing Anaheim mainstay Paul Kariya to free agency and choosing not to re-sign veteran leaders Adam Oates, and Steve Thomas. Meanwhile Stanislav Chistov got off to such a bad start he earned a trip to the minors and Mike LeClerc and Rob Niedermayer have been bothered by injuries, both missing significant time. While the Ducks were big players in the free agent market, signing both Sergei Fedorov and Vaclav Pospal, the team started slow, and by the season's 75% mark had never really gelled.

3. JINXED