Two minutes for cross-checking

2009-12-07T14:36:00.004-05:00

I love when not only am I served with one of the worst nights ever, but I get to pay ~$100 for the privilege of having my blood boil, of trembling with rage, and later to be unable to sleep because I’m still so mad about everything.

You might say that perhaps I am too emotionally involved in something that, at the bottom line, should not so fully affect my life. After all, I still have a good job; I have happy personal relationships and a great family; I have other hobbies and pastimes that do not regularly turn me inside out with squeezing wrath, disappointment, and injustice. Be that as it may, the truth is that I love my hockey team and to see what I had to see Saturday night and to be so deeply angry and disappointed by everything through two periods (I could not bear to stay any longer than that) was almost like being deeply angry and disappointed by some actual person with life-altering impact in my existence. On the flipside, when good things happen (e.g., knocking out the pompous, self-important Habs in the second round in 2008) the world is all aflutter with sunshine and laughter. So I guess what I am trying to say is, that for good and ill, the Flyers control a few major heartstrings, and when things are bad, this is the way I am going to react inside.

The turning point of the game happened, of course, when Daniel Carcillo punched Matt Bradley and KO’d him with one strike. People debate whether it was a sucker punch, whether it was dirty, etc. Bradley himself said after the game he was willing to fight. And he dropped his gloves, whatever he says. The video shows them coming off. Too bad for him he didn’t have enough time to get a punch in before he got clocked. Maybe Carcillo didn’t need to blow up about a legal and non-brutal check he received and maybe he could have waited half a second longer for Bradley to make it more obvious to the world he was a willing dance partner, but if we’re going to discuss maybes then maybe the referee didn’t have to go overboard with the penalties by, in the words of Bill Meltzer, “essentially reward”ing the cold-cocked Capital for getting knocked out and not giving him at the very minimum two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct, seeing as he did throw his gloves off. (How else did his hands get bare? Carcillo punched him so hard that all his equipment flew off? Right.) I concur that Carcillo deserved his double minor and his five minutes, but I will never accept that Bradley did not deserve something too. If the referee does his job correctly (sadly, a too-large expectation in this league) the Flyers do not have to kill almost half a period of PP time. Meltzer suggests that the appropriate fallout from this single-punch knockout would have been a Carcillo double minor for his cross-check and instigation and cancelling fighting majors, leaving the Caps with a four minute PP. And Meltzer, though writing for the Flyers, is no homer. He writes what he sees with a much less biased eye than I do.

The Flyers had tied the game at one goal apiece. They weren’t playing very well with poor puck control and patches of poor effort newly typical of this team, but a four-minute PP of minors would probably not have allowed the Caps to score three quick goals and suck the air out of the team, the building, the world, leaving them with almost nothing to recover with (especially considering the state of the nation – beloved coach just fired, paint on the new coach not even starting to dry yet, struggling under a damaging slump). At the end of the first it probably would only have been 3-1 at worst if two of those PP goals that happened were still able to happen. Then the PPs would have been over and the game could have gone on more fairly, maybe the Flyers get back up to speed, who knows, but it almost certainly would not have gone down the way it did.

But that scene is not what happened. Half a period down a man and the game pretty much lost because of it happened instead.

I can’t absolve the Flyers from not finding it in themselves to respond more strongly to the BS out of the stripes. (A penalty was actually called in the Flyers’ favor, and while they controlled the puck on the delay, a Flyer was boarded. No call. Well, you know, the refs had made their one correct call for the Flyers for the night, wouldn’t be necessary to actually give them the deserved 5-on-3.) They should be more than accustomed to that kind of stuff and the crap goals for the other team that inevitably result. And they weren’t playing a great game to begin with. But I can understand the difficulty in getting back up after that kind of damage. Even while I was sitting in the mezzanine, attempting to put up with a pair of Barbie doll Caps chicks next to me [one of whom was so oblivious to anything real on the ice that she didn’t even notice the Flyers goalie change, plus argued with me about whether Bradley had lost his gloves or not (she thought not, obviously failing to comprehend the numerous replays of the KO – too busy discussing how hot Mike Green was, I guess)], watching the night I was so excited about flame out into stinking ashes, I understood.

More about these Caps fans I had the misfortune to have to sit by. I had the pleasure of sitting next to one at the home opener; she is a knowledgeable hockey fan who knew what was going on, one way or another, if it was bad or good, for either team. These types of opposing fans are just fine and very welcome. However, the multitudes in red around me were not of that kind, and the Flyer implosion only brought out the worst in them. I normally never respond to opposing fans. I am not a confrontational person in reality – only in my head, and maybe on my blog, which amounts to the same thing. I never engage in anything with a visitor because it’s going to go nowhere but south, fast. I have a temper that can flare up pretty hot so I usually just avoid letting it get started with the back and forth verbiage. I got so angry at this vapid chick as the night wore on that I could have clocked her myself. I hate that I let it get to me like that, but later when the referee was face-down on the ice after getting hit with a puck and finally got up to skate off, she and her buddies booed loudly just to make sure Philadelphia fans would sound bad on TV.

It’s true, some people did cheer Auger getting hit with the puck. He has never shown me anything but that he is a terrible referee and his terrible calls had ruined the game for the Flyers and for me, and I admit that I laughed and pointed when I saw him face-first on the ice. I, along with a lot of fans everywhere I have gone to a game – not just in Philadelphia – often giggle when a referee trips and falls, gets mashed as collateral damage in a big hit, is dinged with a puck, whatever, because usually the referee has done something boo-worthy. But when he didn’t get up, I quit, because it looked worse than something that deserved what amounts to nothing more than a raspberry. And while I didn’t applaud when he eventually got up and skated off, I didn’t boo. I don’t respect Stephane Auger, but I wasn’t going to be that disrespectful. But I guess booing to make Flyers fans sounds bad is an acceptable thing for visitors to do. Way to be, Caps fans. Thumbs up!

When the Flyers allowed a sixth goal in the second period, I told T. that I was one goal away from leaving. The experience was 100% unenjoyable, what with the on-ice display and the atmosphere next seats over. She said that would be OK. And then, the seventh goal went in. At the end of the period, we left. I just couldn’t handle it any more. I had wished the Flyers would stalk off the ice in protest – especially considering what Mike Richards said after the game, that the officials wouldn’t even give him an explanation of why his team was going to be down nine minutes. That kind of disrespect is simply outrageous and if the Flyers had just said “Forget this” and left, I would have cheered the decision. Of course they would never do that. So I did.

The outstanding organization that is the NHL did not deem a nine minute power play and subsequent 8-2 drubbing enough punishment for Daniel Carcillo’s quick fight-winning fist. No, they had to also suspend him for four games. The best part of it is what they said he was suspended for: “a deliberate blow to the face”. It was a fight. It was over fast, but it was a fight. Are they going to start suspending everyone who fights and hits their fighting partner in the face? What the hell is wrong with these people in the upper offices? The adding of insult to injury that is rampant in this sham of a hockey league is mind-boggling. You will never, ever convince me that the people in charge have rational decision-making skills. They have shown again and again that they simply do not, from the commissioner through the discipline guy down to the officials on the ice. How possibly do they justify four games for what could at the outside worst be called a sucker punch when a worse incident of sucker-punching in the Hurricanes-Bruins playoff series last spring went completely unpunished? You cannot justify it. Don’t give me the “It’s Daniel Carcillo, he’s a POS with a history” argument, or the “That was the playoffs, it’s different” argument because these are not good arguments. Bottom line is that my cats make more logical, reasoned decisions than these jokers, who call down these judgments and do not have to explain themselves in a satisfactory way and neither do they have to proceed in the future based on anything they have decided in the past. I love hockey, but this league disgusts me.

-------------------------

Everyone at work has been asking me about this all day long. It’s very hard to get anything done when I’m outraged and repeating the story again and again.

Tonight the Flyers are playing Montreal, away. I hope that they have calmed down more than I have over the last day and a half (at the very least, been able to better channel the negative energy) and tonight they can try to pick up the crumbling debris of their season, which started so nicely. See, they can play good hockey. I wish they would just start doing that again. I think the worst moment in the game on Saturday was not really the “deliberate blow to the face”, the goals against, etc., but instead was this: late in the second period, a Capital had the puck behind the Flyers’ goal, a little to the side. He stood there, handling it back and forth with his stick, looking for his pass on the other side of two Flyers that were in front of him a few feet, one to each side. The Flyers merely waited for him to make his move. Seconds ticked by, and this Capital just looked for his pass, and the Flyers stood there and let him. No pressure on him at all, and he clearly didn’t feel any. His handling of the puck was almost matter-of-fact and he considered his options. Finally, when the frustration of the crowd became apparent (a guy nearby me bellowed “Have you forgotten how to play hockey? Come on!!!”) one of the Flyers moved in and challenged him for the puck. And he won it. Was it really that hard? It didn’t look like it. It was so sad, how long they just stood there, in their own zone, next to their own net, just waiting to see what this Capital was going to do, instead of putting on the pressure.

There is the recent part of the season boiled down to a single point. I hope they start putting all that behind them tonight. Laviolette said on the post-game Saturday night that there are lots of areas to work on. This is a good one to start with. Letting opponents dictate play is going to get you nowhere. Challenge them. Sometimes you win the puck. And then you can start scoring goals. And things can start getting better again. There is no good reason for this to be happening. THE FLYERS ARE A GOOD TEAM. They showed that they can win games convincingly. I guess maybe they need to remember and / or believe that of themselves again.

2009-12-05T11:59:00.003-05:00

So, of course by now you know the Big News. As for me, I can't believe they actually did it, given the many other times when it could / should have been done. I thought John Stevens was a very good coach for the Phantoms. I have been less impressed the last three years though on the surface, what with the Flyers rebounding from trash in '06-'07 to making the ECF in '08, he seemed to be doing a good job -- but the up and down that has marked his entire tenure has just gotten to be intolerable.

Maybe Stevens could go back and coach the Phantoms again. I've only seen one Phantoms game this year -- last night's at the Wachovia Center -- and they are a shell of what they were two years ago, and even last year. They didn't look too good. Of course it was a close game because the Admirals didn't look too good either, it being a match-up of teams with equally mediocre records. Still, they pretty much dominated the Phantoms. Fortunately, the Phantoms goalie Backlund seemed to be very on -- he made a lot of saves that meant the game didn't turn into a 7-1 rout, and instead it went to OT tied at 1. Along with Backlund, the defense was OK, but there wasn't much offense happening. And in the OT, the Phantoms lost.

Still, it was a good time. Driving in, I saw the highway sign directing toward parking, and it said WELCOME BACK PHANTOMS and I got a little verklempt. And then, while on the concourse getting the requisite nachos and root beer, I heard Keith Jones's voice doing the announcing, and got a little verklempt again. What can I say, I'm emotional. I miss the Phantoms.

So, back to the Big News. Tonight's game against the Ovechkin-less Capitals will be a good start to see what Laviolette can get out of these guys -- if some of them are mature enough to realize what happened was in large part because of what wasn't happening and get it into gear and quit shooting high and wide from the most low-percentage areas on the ice and also quit floating around like it's a Sunday afternoon la la la, la la la. You know who I mean and who I don't mean. When Arron Asham has more scoring chances than certain folks on lines ahead of him -- not intending to take away from Arron Asham, of course -- you know that something is simply NOT RIGHT. I hope the message was received and that there is a better game tonight than I've had to watch lately.

Going to be there tonight, with coworkers T. and K. One, a Pittsburgh fan originally from the Lehigh Valley (yeah, I know, but she sends me samples to image at work!), the other originally from Pittsburgh, but both will be wearing orange and black tonight. I'll do my best to brainwash; hope the Flyers do their part and help me out by playing well.

2009-12-04T15:12:00.003-05:00

What the hell, Flyers? Not a single goal last night? Again?

What else is there to say?

Let's Go Phantoms! (Tonight!)

2009-12-03T14:35:00.002-05:00

Last night I watched most of the Avalanche/Panthers game. The Panthers were winning for the duration of what I saw, until the last minute. The Avalanche were two goals down (5-3) and pulled the goalie with about 90 seconds to go. With a crunch of six guys on the offensive, chaos in front of the goal, Matt Duchene batted a puck out of the air and into the net. 5-4 with just shy of a minute to go.

At the faceoff, the Avs had Anderson in the net, but they controlled the puck almost immediately, putting it into the Panthers' zone, and Anderson was off. Six guys swarming the zone and with 16 seconds left, T. J. Galiardi scored the tying goal.

Very exciting stuff. Too bad for the Avalanche they lost in the shootout.

Flyers vs. Canucks tonight. The Canucks demolished the Devils last night, but the Flyers seem able to handle the Devils too so maybe that's not saying much? Given this squad's uneven performance over the balance of the season so far, I cannot judge at all which Flyers team I will see tonight. Boucher in net. Let's Go Flyers!

Settle in, I've got a lot to say.

2009-12-02T15:40:00.005-05:00

After my last post, the Flyers went west and after one close game against the Kings (who are better this year than in recent years, give them credit for that at least) they started to lose. It has been hideous recently in Flyersland.

There was the match against the Sharks, which was the league’s best team (at the time) vs. a pretty good team looking to prove itself against a bona fide top team. It wasn’t the worst game, but it wasn’t a complete game, either (this is the Flyers we’re talking about). It had some jubilant moments (Giroux having a multi-goal game for the first time in his NHL career, Danny Briere scoring too), and Manny Malhotra scoring into his own net to the Flyers’ advantage. However, it was overshadowed on the Flyers’ side by allowing Dany Heatley a hat trick and Manny Malhotra to score again, this time into the appropriate net. The Flyers couldn’t stay on their feet, falling at inopportune times on what they claimed was bad ice. Joe Thornton had four assists. Come on. The game ended up appearing wide open, 6-3 Sharks. Briere fought. (!!) And maybe someone should have penalized what’s-his-face Vlasic for hitting Giroux after he scored a goal. There were naturally a lot of missed calls and Emery sure didn’t have his best night. Oh, and Powe got hit into the boards and has been out since with a shoulder injury. But it was a close game until the Flyers stopped keeping up with the Sharks in the third.

Wouldn’t have been too upset about losing a game to the best team in the league, but it didn’t get better after that, by a long shot. The Flyers went from losing to the Sharks to losing to the Coyotes in Phoenix. Hartnell did score a really nice goal to tie the game 1-1, this after Blair Betts left with a shoulder injury that seemed to happen in a very odd way – he lifted his arm to bat a puck out of the air, I think, and suddenly was skating off holding his arm very awkwardly with his other hand. He has been out since, and I’m sure that his absence has something to do with the failure of this team to amount to much lately. (Not everything, however.) . I have a lot of cynicism about this game that will end up sounding petty (Flyers get the shaft vs. a team that the league has a vested interest in), but you tell me how it looks when 1) a game is tied and the Coyotes are in the Flyers’ zone; the puck appears to go over the blueline out of the zone and one linesman basically calls it offside, but the other calls it off. The Flyers are understandably confused when play continues, and a goal is scored and 2) the Flyers’ net is empty with the goalie pulled near the end of the third period; a Coyote is driving the net with Pronger covering him. The Coyote does not actually have full control of the puck, let alone a clear shot at the empty net, and Pronger was whistled for hooking him. Pronger disputes the call, but so what. The Coyotes are awarded a goal anyway.

So let me get this straight. Not long before this particular sham goal, the league decided it can disallow a goal if a referee claims he intended to blow the play dead before the puck went into the net (cf. Red Wings vs. Stars, November 18, 2009), even if several seconds pass between the puck going into the net and the whistle being actually blown. The can of worms that potentially opens is a disgrace. So many goals are scored by jams at the net where players stab at the puck in the goalie’s pads; it’s easy to envision in this case a referee waving off a goal and then using the excuse of meaning to blow the whistle at some earlier point. I know that they say the play is dead not when the whistle is blown but at the point the ref decides to blow the whistle, because there is a finite fraction of time for the decision to be made and the whistle to be blown. But several seconds? No way. Just say the call was blown and blown badly and own up to it, league, and then try to do better next time. Don’t open Pandora’s box like this with so much flexibility that the potential for abuse is obvious (or at least a perceived potential for abuse). And now it awards goals for teams whose players don’t have control of the puck and don’t take a shot on an empty net, because a Flyer is nearby.

What a great league this is. Flyers 1, Coyotes 1, Stripes 2.

By the way, I find it to be a little bit of a conflict of interest for the league to own one of the teams and have a game involving that team refereed by men employed by the league. But whatever.

I’m not going to lay all the blame on outside forces. The Flyers played a terrible game and those two referees’ goals should not have mattered. A team with as much potential offensive firepower as the Flyers should not be scoring only one goal against a team that more or less was fielding an AHL defense. Pathetic display by the Orange and Black. Even if they were “tired” from playing San Jose the night before and traveling, they should have been sharper than that.

Then there was the game in Denver vs. the Avalanche. I had not stayed up late to watch the previous two games because I knew I wouldn’t make it through them anyway, but this one, starting at 9 p.m., I thought I would give a shot. I watched two periods and then gave the game up as lost. The Flyers held on for a while and then Colorado just started scoring in the second and when I turned the TV off to hit the hay it was 5-2. I had had some hope because the Avalanche went out to a 2-goal lead for most of the first period, cut to one goal at the end when Briere scored; Jeff Carter (finally) found the net in the first minute of the second to tie it. The rest of the period was all Colorado, three unanswered goals and listless play by the Flyers. Emery was yanked. Forget it. Well, I missed a near-comeback; Briere and Carter each scored again in the third to bring it within one, but it wasn’t good enough. And Briere topped it off by hitting Scott Hannan in the neck just after Hannan scored a goal; no penalty on the play, but Briere was suspended two games. (I don’t get how a non-penalized play can be so severely punished after the fact. There are four pairs of official eyes on the ice. Someone should see something like that when it happens. And why did Vlasic not get a suspension for hitting Giroux in a similar situation? Because Giroux wasn’t hurt and Hannan was? That’s B.S.) And not only did Briere hit someone bad enough to warrant a suspension, but Claude Giroux got into a fight. So that’s two games in a week where a Flyers’ so-called skill player got into a fight. Um?

After finishing their western tour 1-3, the Flyers came back east to play the Islanders on Long Island. Another terrible game. Sure, they were on the heels of a long road trip and some players were hurt and missing thanks to the heavy hand of discipline, but I just can’t forgive heartless and sloppy play. Two periods of mess and boring hockey, finally tightening up a little in the third to hold on, score a goal of the kind that Marty Biron used to give up for the Flyers, and eke out a win against a divisional opponent. At least it was two points, but it wasn’t convincing. And it didn’t jump start anything good. The Flyers played Buffalo at home the day after Thanksgiving, and it was another loss. Yeah, Briere was still out; it was all Phantoms on the low end of the roster; Emery pitched another icky game and that was that (not helped by Matt Carle scoring into his own net). Patrick Kaleta decided that a good idea would be to hit Jared Ross from behind into the boards and give him a head injury. There is, of course, debate over whether or not Jared Ross made it worse by deliberately turning his back to the oncoming Kaleta; he did turn, as he played the puck to wrap it around the boards. But did he see Kaleta bearing down on him and grasp the import of that? Either way, his head was mashed into the glass and boards and he left the game; he must have gotten better after a couple days though because he was sent back down. Kaleta did what comes naturally to him; he sought out a cheap hit, made the cheap hit and hurt someone, then completely wussed out when challenged to answer for the cheap, injurious hit.

He was suspended for two games for that hit. It’s about time. A couple games before that, Alex Ovechkin was tossed from a game for hitting Kaleta into the boards. In my opinion, that’s nothing more than public service. I know I should be all “I don’t want any player, no matter how vile, to get hurt in a game” but I’m pettier than that. Ovechkin didn’t hit Kaleta hard enough. He was able to come to Philadelphia and badly injure Jared Ross. And he will be able to play again after his two games are up and continue to run players and never answer for it on the ice. But maybe now that he has a “history” of suspension, the next time he tries to take someone out of the game, he will get more than two games. He obviously has zero respect for other players in the game.

This craven act was balanced by something far more moving, as something like this can be only in hockey. Ian Laperriere blocked a shot with his face in the first period. He disappeared for the remainder of the first and was out the second as well. In the third period, he was back out for the game, wearing a face shield. It came out that he had lost a handful of teeth blocking that puck and had between 50-100 stitches (the oral surgeon “lost count”). It looked pretty gross but geez, what a stud. No one could have faulted him for missing the rest of the game after stopping that kind of shot with his face. Instead, he came back out to play. I did not have much of an opinion of this guy, since he played out west and I didn’t see many out-west games, but so far he has only been a positive for this team as far as I can tell. And this boosts it even more.

Too bad the Flyers couldn’t win the game to make his effort to return even more worthwhile.

They went to Atlanta the next day to lose again. I wondered if they would lose, having no Niittymaki to face the Thrashers down in classic Niittymaki style. And they did, not even scoring one goal. Come on, Flyers. What the hell is that business, getting shut out by The Trash? I didn’t even watch the game, though I recorded it. Better things to do with my time.

That brings us up to date as far as Flyers games are concerned. They play again tomorrow night, vs. the visiting Vancouver Canucks. Chris Pronger has voiced some strong statements about what’s got to happen, to wit: “We need to make it [bleeping] happen on Thursday … It needs to [bleeping] happen now, so we can get over that hump and get this ship headed into the right direction.” He also notes that “[Richards]’s the captain. He needs to show the rest of the players that it is his team. I don’t want to be the guy that has to stand up every day and tell ourselves to look into the mirror and play better and all this stuff.” While I was initially excited, last year, that Richards was made captain, and last year, seemed to fit into the role rather well, he has not appeared to be much of a captain lately, with reports that he refuses to talk to the media at times and his on-ice leadership is not as obvious anymore; I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes but Pronger makes it sound like there are some loose ends around that a captain needs to yank together that aren’t getting yanked together and he is reluctant to barge in and do the yanking, since he isn’t wearing the C. Too bad, in my opinion. Richie sometimes seems to be trying to be something he is not, and if he could just get back to what he is (i.e., a “gritty” player who is tough to play against, whose skill is hard-fought position on the ice) and forget what he is not (Peter Forsberg), I think we would be seeing progress and more success and the weight of being a captain would not be so heavy as it is when the team is floundering inexplicably.

Other news: after getting ejected for not hitting Kaleta hard enough, Alex Ovechkin crashed around on the ice the other night playing Carolina and collided hard, knee-on-knee, with Tim Gleason. It was not an intentional knee such as you might sometimes see, say, Kaleta throw, as Gleason moved while Ovechkin bore down on him and the knees are what met instead of whole bodies. Still, by all accounts, it was a reckless play rather typical of Alexander Ovechkin and both players were hurt as a result (though not seriously, as it turns out). Ovechkin was tossed from that game, too, and thus posed the league a quandary. Two ejections for similar offenses is an automatic suspension, but these two fell into different “categories”. Still, they were both uncontrolled hits that could have led to very serious injury and were deemed serious enough by two sets of officials that Ovechkin deserved to be booted from each game. You know anyone else would be suspended without second thought after getting two game misconducts in such short order like that. It seemed that if the league did not suspend Ovechkin, it would be highly suspicious. (See again the discipline flow chart here at Down Goes Brown.) Given the history of the league’s decisions on such matters (as highlighted so humorously by the authors of that flow chart) I was surprised that they actually did it. Two games.

Ovechkin runs around making huge hits every single game. He is not headhunting and it doesn’t appear to happen with intent to injure. It’s definitely a major part of his game play strategy. If he hits someone hard in the first period, that someone is going to think twice about getting in his way the rest of the game, right? But with that kind of rash play comes high risk of injury, either to the hittee or the hitter or both. And it finally caught up with him.

So, I have tickets to the Flyers/Capitals game on Saturday night, and it will be Ovechkin-less. On the one hand, it’s a shame because he is one of the best players in the game it’s nice to see as many of them as possible when you pay a lot for your ticket. Also, it’s fun to boo him, even though the booing is usually repaid with a goal or two, and with his enforced absence we’ll have to find something else to boo (the referee will no doubt give us a reason, if nothing else). On the other hand, no Ovechkin = one less Flyer-killer on the ice (and by Flyer-killer I don’t mean someone who kills Flyers, but someone who inevitably scores and scores and scores; see e.g., Zubrus, Dainius; Crosby, Sidney.) I am going to this game with two coworkers (a girls’ night at the Wachovia Center) and I chose this game because of 1) the possibility that my pal DC K. might be able to join us (unfortunately she is not), 2) the rivalry that is developing leading to a non-boring game such as something against the Islanders would probably be and 3) the superstar that my coworkers have not had the privilege of seeing in person; whether or not you like the superstar or his team or his methods against yours, it’s exciting to get to see talent in person. (Noted exception: I hate seeing Crosby in person. Duh.) It’s too bad Ovechkin couldn’t wait until after the 5th to do his suspension-worthy damage (or have done it earlier). But maybe without him out there, the Flyers will be better able to win. If they don’t win tomorrow night (knock on wood they will) they will really need a Saturday win.

But before the Saturday game, there is the Friday night Phantoms game at the Wach. I have to remind myself that they are not the Philadelphia Phantoms anymore, but the Adirondack Phantoms. And having not seen them at all this year, I don’t really know what to expect as, I am a little ashamed to admit, I have not followed them really at all. Not getting to see the games regularly makes it tough. It’s hard enough to keep up with the Flyers and I get to see them. However, I’m pretty excited to wear my Phantoms jersey one more time, and my fuzzy helmet hat, share some nachos with K. and have a cherry water ice. Except for not being in the Spectrum (where the nacho cheese was better than in the Center), it should be almost the same, right? A nice rivalry game against the Admirals, a good yell or two at the ref, etc.

Tidbit: as I write this long post, it comes out that James van Riemsdyk was named Rookie of the Month for November. His play has been a little inspiring and after the minor disappointment he was those last few games for the Phantoms last season (where he looked a little out of his element) he has really, really, really blossomed into a major factor. Glad to see that he is proving himself pretty much game in and game out (when he is not being rammed brutally into the boards by opponents such as Colby Armstrong).

And the last tidbit I will write today: the Center Ice issue was resolved. The technician never had to show up because some magic happened during the day Tuesday. When I got home, the clocks were flashing indicating the power had gone out at one point, and Center Ice worked. Excellent! Hockey almost every night of the week, which is nice during these stretches when the Flyers don’t actually play.

If you made it through this novel of a post, congratulations. Your perseverance is appreciated.

2009-11-17T10:29:00.000-05:00

When the Flyers played the Devils earlier this season, it was Brodeur’s 1000th game, and I mentioned the historical tendency of the Flyers to allow that goaltender and his team significant milestones. They surprised me that night by winning, denying the Doughboy a win on his 1000th game. I did not know if it was a fluke or the start of something more beautiful. Last night, the Flyers were facing a Devils team who 1) were gunning to tie the NHL record for longest road-win streak (to start the season, 10 games) and 2) were on an eight-game winning streak in general AND 3) have a goalie who is just one shutout away from tying the all-time record.

This is a lot of expectation and anticipation to come into a game, and the Flyers, happily, overcame the Devils mojo that used to cause them to fold for special landmark games. The final score was Flyers 3, Devils 2, but it somewhat more appropriate to call it Flyers 3, Devils/Referees 2, and the Flyers really won that far more soundly than the final score might imply.

Flyers goals were scored by Darroll Powe (his sixth), Scott Hartnell (also sixth, and all PP goals), and James van Riemsdyk. Powe’s goal was scored on a nice pass from Giroux; Hartnell’s was scored when he tried to pass across to Giroux, but the Devils’ Mottau happened to be in the way and turned the puck into the goal on his own stick (K.’s text during the game: “Mottau sux”); and JvR’s was a special gift to the Flyers by Brodeur himself. The goalie tried to clear the puck by poking at it in front of the crease, but rather than his own teammate collecting it and clearing it, JvR pounced and shot it into the net. Brodeur lifted both his arms in a gesture of sheer self-disgust that I rather enjoyed.

The Devils goals came in controversial fashion. The Flyers were down a man on a penalty on Carter, and Richards was whistled for tripping when he and one of the Devils were by the wall and the Devil fell down. Some sticks were tangled up but I think the Devil went down on his own, so the ensuing 2-man advantage the Devils had was pretty much unwarranted. Of course, they scored. Maybe give the ref an assist? It was 2-1 at that point and it remained that through a third period in which the Flyers completely dominated the play, all the way until the very last half second. There was major chaos in front of the net, frantic scrambling and poking and shoving as the clock ticked down; Langenbrunner was in the crease, right in front of Emery, doing more than screening if you ask me. Parise was able to slide the puck underneath with 0.6 seconds left on the clock. Langenbrunner collapsed onto Emery at approximately the same moment and then there was melee as the referee signaled a goal. Anyone other goalie in the universe (well, one not wearing a Flyers jersey) would have had interference called, but noooooo. Well, it didn’t matter as far as points were concerned; JvR’s goal was insurance enough and the Devils’ streaks were snapped and the Flyers took the 2 points while NJ would leave with 0.

Notes: Blair Betts is a serious asset to this team. Emery looked great. Parent too. And my-defenseman-has-a-first-name-it’s-O-S-K-A-RS Bartulis has not looked like anything at all, which is great too – quietly playing well. 100x better game last night than Saturday. Hope they can carry this over to the west coast tomorrow night.

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I tried to order Center Ice last week, then again this weekend, and, one comedy of errors after another, it still is not coming in properly. So a technician is coming out on Wednesday morning. I almost asked myself if all this trouble is really worth it, but then I realized I miss watching random hockey games in the evening. Anyone else have trouble getting Center Ice on Comcast this season? It worked fine last year, and my new TV shouldn’t be the reason for the trouble this year (given that every other channel works fine), so who knows. I just know that I’ve missed turning to some other game during Flyers intermissions.

2009-11-16T16:06:00.002-05:00

The relative paucity of ticky-tack calling in recent games did not prepare me for the "slash"-fest on Saturday evening; any time a Flyer got anywhere near a Sabre (e.g., Derek Roy) and said Sabre dropped his stick, it was called a slash. Later, when Pronger tried the same thing, turning to the ref with his hands up, he got the call, too, so at least when the Flyers made a point of behaving the same ridiculous way, the referees made the same ridiculous call. The Flyers got down 2 goals because of such lame power plays given to the Sabres. They never caught up and lost 3-2. It was not much in the way of entertainment, either, though the third period was a little better to watch than the rest. The Sabres, having played Friday night, should have been the more tired team on the ice, but it looked more like the Flyers had been the ones beat up and worn out the night before.

Here's hoping that they come out stronger tonight against the Devils and don't play a lackluster game, regardless of what calls may come.

P.S. Why is it that Patrick Kaleta is still fully functioning? How is it that this cheap, dirty, etc. "player" has not yet suffered the hit that will end his career to pay him back for the cheap, dirty, how-can-they-be-anything-but-intent-to-injure type hits he makes six, seven times a game? I see this guy doing nothing but running opposing players the entire game. I loved Richards pretending not to see him coming on Saturday and then turned the train wreck that Kaleta intended into Kaleta ending up on his ass on the ice instead. Too bad more of that doesn't happen to that scuzzbucket.

2009-11-13T11:18:00.001-05:00

In the first period of last night’s game, I thought Ottawa’s Pascal Leclaire looked good. Then he left that game behind and became very easy to beat to one side after he had committed to a player on the other. Several – if not all? – of the Flyers’s five goals came that way, with Leclaire down on the ice at one side of the net, having either made a save or prepared to make a save, only to have the puck quickly end up at the other side and going in. One example is the goal scored by JvR. Jeff Carter was challenged by Leclaire on one side of the net as he approached, and his pass back to James van Riemsdyk trailing the play on the other side happened to be just on, and JvR had the whole net at his disposal and took advantage – a pretty set up and goal.

While Leclaire was screwing up on his end of the ice, Ray Emery was looking good. He was not often tested but the only goal he allowed was a bad angle shot and I don’t really fault him for it. It was on one of Ottawa’s few PPs and announcer Jim Jackson had just delivered a jinx by saying that Ottawa had struggled lately on the PP. Apparently he admitted ahead of the game that it was a bigger deal than he had originally let on, and he pretty much stifled any chances that got through the defense, which, by the way, was also excellent – I recall the announcers saying at approximately 8 minutes left in the third that Ottawa had had no scoring chances that period. (They promptly got one; nice jinx again, JJ, but at least this was just a scoring chance, not a score.)

This team has really come together on just about every front. They score prodigiously, scoring at least five goals in all but one of their last five games (the exception being the game against the Blues, where they officially only got one goal). In their 11 wins this season, in only three games did they not score at least 5 goals [exceptions being the season opener, 2-0 vs. Carolina; a 4-3 shootout win over Boston (meaning only 3 goals scored in the actual game); the 2-1 shootout win over St. Louis.] So they can definitely put the puck in the net. Their defense generally holds up and the goaltending, which was a question, of course, has been excellent: together they have kept opponents’ scoring low. In fifteen games, in approximately half the opponents have not been able to score more than two goals. The ridiculous penalty march we have seen for too long seems to have dried up as well, which no doubt has helped on the defense/goals against front, though the penalty kill has been on the good side of decent. The power play rules. Holding onto a lead seems like something they actually believe they can do. Fifth in the conference at present is not a bad place to be, considering that only Buffalo ahead of them has played as few games. And they play Buffalo again tomorrow night, giving them a chance to go two points up on them. Again at home, where they have been strong of late (it’s almost the only place they have played, of late – gone just three times in the last month).

And all this with guys in and out of the roster. Good stuff, Flyers. Thanks.

2009-11-11T16:23:00.000-05:00

The last few games have made being a Flyers fan peachy. There was the decisive 6-1 drub over the Hurricanes, surely making Michael Leighton cry over his peanut butter toast the next morning; there was the equally as decisive win over the Lightning, chasing former Iowa Star Mike Smith from the net after he allowed 5 goals and giving Antero Niittymaki his first session against his former team (he got cheered as he skated to the net and he allowed only one goal in the remainder of the game; he looked good). These two lopsided wins were followed by a strong win over Buffalo (5-2) that made “Miller Time” look average. After all this, I was sure the Flyers were ready for a loss, just in time for my birthday (typical!). On Saturday, November 7 (the day before my birthday), the Flyers played the Blues at home.

Two years ago, I went to Newark on my birthday with K. to see my favorite team take the ice against the Devils. They showed up, that’s true. But they played atrociously and lost. Happy Birthday! Last year, they played at home on my birthday, against Tampa Bay. They had only just traded for Matt Carle and so things were a little jumbled up. No excuse for the terrible play, though, and the Flyers lost. Happy Birthday again! Let’s not even get started on the way the Flyers have played when J. and I attended games in honor of her birthday (coughJimVandermeercough); we have had a poor record when we attend games for birthday reasons. You know, you start to develop a negative attitude when something keeps happening over and over, even when you know that there really is just as good a chance of it not happening. And given that the Flyers hadn’t put together such a nice win streak in a long time, I just figured the odds were coming together so as to point toward another loss.

They came close, but at last, the birthday curse was broken.

The high-scoring Flyers managed only one allowed goal in the game, though a second should have been awarded. The puck crossed the line while on goalie Mason’s pad, but it was not reviewed, the referee didn’t even hesitate, he simply re-started play in spite of the bellowing of everyone else in the arena. It was not the first thing that the stripes had done to deserve the a-hole chant, which naturally rang out from all corners. It was a frequent chant, the chicken-dance song was played, and there was a great deal of “Ref you suck!” All warranted, I assure you. Ole-Kristian Tollefsen hit the boards with his head mixed up with T. J. Oshie, and while he was dying on the ice, the referee deemed it not worth blowing the whistle (because St. Louis had the puck?) and Oshie then scored with the Flyers’ defense probably distracted by their huddled teammate in obvious need of a stoppage in play. A garbage goal of a different kind, in my opinion. Even Oshie recognized it for what it was, calling it a “cheap goal”. Because the Flyers’ second goal was not reviewed and called such, the game was tied at the end of regulation at 1 apiece.

So, my second game of the season also went into extra minutes, but this one did not end favorably in the OT session. It had to go to the shootout, which, as you know, I despise. However, my hatred for it this season is not necessarily ramped because the Flyers are so bad at it; they won the last one, right? And Gagne was not in the lineup to be stuck worthlessly into the shootout schedule to do his predictable, patented backhand-forehand-go wide of the net shot. There was also no Briere, but who needs him when there is Claude Giroux. His last entry in the shootout was a thing of sheer gorgeousness. Remember that commercial from the 80s for the game Simon? How the master could flash hands super-fast and beat the primitive computer? Giroux handled the puck in similar flash-fast backhand-forehand-backhand-forehand etc., and the goalie ended up looking like my cats do when I finally move the laser pointer too fast for them to follow with their heads; perplexed and lost, and Giroux scored. He did similarly awesomely on Saturday, scoring the first mark after Richards biffed. Emery promptly let St. Louis’s second shooter score, knotting it up with Pyorala lining up as the Flyers’ third shooter.

Pyorala has yet to score a goal in the regular season, but he didn’t let that weigh him down as he skated in on Mason and put the Flyers up one more tally. Now all Emery would have to do is keep the puck out of the net on the Blues’ next attempt, and all would be cheerful in the Wachovia Center. This goalie not being Marty Biron (sorry, Marty), I did not automatically assume the game to be lost, and I was rewarded for my smidgen of faith in my Flyers goaltender, for Emery made the save and YAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRUSHER!!!!

I bought a new hat while at the game – one of those soft helmet caps with the Flyers logo on it. My folks intended to get me one for Christmas a couple years ago (an item on my list for them to choose from), but when they called to order it, it was sold out. (The salesperson then tried to tell my mom what other teams’ hats were available and she said something to the effect of “Uh, whatever, she’d never wear those”). So I was pretty happy to see it in the fan shop and snagged one without even bothering to wonder how much it cost. And even then, $30 seemed not too high a price to pay for something I’ve wanted for a couple years. Besides! I could just call it a present to myself.

I also had water ice at the game, which made me pretty happy. For some reason I don’t ever think to eat it anywhere but at a hockey game, but I really, really like it. It’s probably the only thing people have out here (besides the Flyers) that we don’t have back in Iowa that I would miss if I had to move back. Cheesesteaks? Eh. Tastykakes? I could be just as happy with a Hostess. But the water ice, well, there really is no substitute.

On a four-game winning streak now, in another one of those interminable pauses in the schedule ahead of tomorrow’s home game against the Senators. The media want to make a big deal of Ray Emery’s meeting his former team, the one that got rid of him not through a trade or free agency, but basically kicked to the curb and out of the NHL. But he is playing it down, and either he really isn’t thinking of it as much more than another game on the schedule or he doesn’t want to give anyone the satisfaction of knowing that he’s dying to shred that former team. Either way, I have confidence in his play.

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The Adirondack Phantoms are going to play a game in Philadelphia, in the Wachovia Center (not Spectrum – booo, though I guess I can understand why they wouldn’t make the ice for just one game) on December 4th. They will be facing the Norfolk Admirals. I am glad for the chance to see the team play again, but I fear it just won’t quite be the same. I got tickets and K. and I are going to go and cheer for them like they are still the Philadelphia Phantoms, because they’re mostly the same guys, but having not seen them at all this season, it’s just not going to be the same. I miss the Phantoms. I miss going to games just about every weekend. This is a theme I will probably return to several more times this season. Two hockey games so far this season is all that I’ve seen in person? Bah!!

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One almost last note: I wonder how the NHL likes seeing that their poster child is now without even a secondary assist in 5 straight games, and realizing that the player they have, for years, forcefed everyone as “the best player in the league” isn’t even the best player on his team.

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One last note: this chart detailing the process of determining who gets a suspension and for what is hilarious. I particularly like the “Dammit, Pronger!” part, because, well, it’s true.

2009-10-28T20:38:00.001-04:00

They’ve blocked me from Blogger at work again, so my posting has become sporadic again. (I can't look at sites with “blogspot” in the URL because, the filter claims, of “streaming media” so I can’t even look at my own site, let alone post to it.) You’d think that it would be the opposite – since technically I should be more likely to be blogging at home rather than at work – but I find I’m too busy in the evenings doing other stuff like watching games or working on rehabilitating my stupid knee or hanging out with people. There wasn’t much to blog about for a while, and now that there have been games! games! games! I have been out of town! out of town! out of town! and unable to watch them, so my comments are brief and after the fact.

A few questions:

1) Related to the weekend games: why did Emery play against the presumably weaker team (Panthers) and Boucher get the nod for the Sharks? If the answer is “Because Booooosh played for the Sharks” then maybe someone needs to look Stevens in the eye and say, “Think of the greater good of the team rather than of the dubious novelty / curiosity that is a goalie facing his former team” and make him see that putting the backup against the presumably weaker team in a back-to-back situation is probably going to be the better choice.

2) Why is everyone so up in arms about Richards’s hit on Booth when a) as far as I understand it, head shots are still legal (when delivered with a shoulder, as in this case) and b) he did not leave his feet and charge at Booth? Please ignore any emotional response to seeing someone get hit and go down hurt and be rational about the facts. It may be detestable, but some head shots are not illegal. Richards’s feet did come up, but only after hitting Booth and the force of the impact brought them up. He was targeting Booth only in that he was attempting to separate the puck from its carrier. He is not [insert name of one of a number of actual dirty players]. I don’t want to blame Booth for getting hurt, so I’m not going to go all “Dude should have his head up!” Richie’s hit was legal, it was not done with malicious intent, end of story, no suspension. That said, I’m a little shocked he wasn’t given a few games off. I did say to J. that he is a Canadian national team candidate All-Star type, which might outweigh the crest on his jersey.

3) Why are the Flyers so good at building leads and then drizzling them away? Had I not been traveling back from Iowa yesterday, I probably would have been at the game in DC, and I’m glad I didn’t have to get mad at my team while surrounded by the gleeful enemy. Instead I had to get mad at them reading text message reports from two sources as I sat on the plane at PHL, waiting to get to the gate. That’s only marginally better.

And, finally:

4) I watched the Wild / Blackhawks game on Monday night. The Wild = zzzzzzzzz. But at least I got to watch some hockey game with J. More exciting was the Iowa Hawkeyes’ last-second (literally) win over Michigan State at Michigan State on Saturday to remain unbeaten at 8-0. It’s great to be a Hawkeye! Sad, is it? that I might find a college football game more exciting to watch than a hockey match?

2009-10-13T09:34:00.000-04:00

There were a lot of games on last night, and Center Ice is still free. The Blackhawks game on Vs. wasn’t scheduled to start in East Coast time until 8 p.m. so that left me with a lot of time to kill. There were a few other things I could have done, but all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and watch sports. So I did that; I used the opportunity to ice my knee and I watched the Phillies/Rockies game for a while, and left it at 7 p.m.when the Phils were still up 1-0.

I scanned the Center Ice listings and considered my 7 p.m. options: Capitals/Devils or Maple Leafs/Rangers. Starting at 7:30 p.m. were Lightning/Panthers and Penguins/Senators. I settled in for the Capitals/Devils game and was rewarded by seeing two Mikes score goals – Mike Green the “defenseman” and Mike Knuble, the former Flyer. I hate to see him playing in red, but it’s like old times seeing him camped out in his office, ready to shovel a goal in from right in front of the goalie. His goal was not of that nature, however. He took a pass from Ovechkin cross-ice and fired it in from some distance out, very nice. Brodeur nearly had it but it bobbled back and in. I always like to see Brodeur mess up.

After 7:30 I turned to watch most of the first period of the Lightning/Panthers game, only because Antero Niittymaki was in goal for Tampa Bay. He looked pretty good but let’s face it, the Panthers are what they are and Niittymaki, as they showed in a table onscreen, really has the Southeast division’s number. But the Panthers scored first, a shorthanded goal, one that made me shake my head and think, Niitty, Niitty, that’s exactly why the Flyers let you walk. He was out a little too far to slide over fast enough to take away the shot after a pass. I struggle to reconcile the Niittymaki of the last couple years with the Niittymaki that was the MVP of the Calder Cup series in 2005, the MVP of the Olympics in 2006 when Finland took the silver behind Sweden. I just can’t fathom what has happened; it can’t all be the hip issues. Maybe playing for a different team will bring back confidence and new coaches will let the ability to be that goalie spring out again. I disliked seeing Knuble wearing red, but it was somehow even weirder to see Niittymaki in a jersey that did not have the winged P on it. When the Blackhawks game started, I turned the channel. The Lightning ended up winning 3-2 on a goal by Ryan Malone (assisted in part by Niittymaki).

The Blackhawks game. Let’s see. I’m sure you all know by now what an amazing comeback they staged, but I didn’t see any of that. I watched the first period disaster, where Huet let in goals that were the worst of the worst to allow; Niemi came in and didn’t do much better. Down 5-0 well before the end of the period, Eddie Olczyk was begging viewers not to go anywhere, describing circumstances in which the Blackhawks could get back into the game. I turned the channel briefly to check on the Phillies/Rockies (2-1 Phils) and when I went back to the hockey game, it was in time to see that the Blackhawks had scored.

Huh. I turn the game on; things go badly for them. I turn away from the game, they score.

I went back to the Phillies game, and immediately the Rockies scored three runs.

I saw how it was. I turned the TV off altogether, and woke this morning to find:

1) The Blackhawks had it tied up by 5 minutes into the third period, allowing Calgary no more goals, and took only half a minute of OT to win. Sheesh. Nice going, Calgary. And I thought it sucked that the Flyers blew a 2-0 to lose in a shootout last weekend.

2) The Phillies scored in the top of the 9th to go ahead of the Rockies by one run and Brad Lidge managed not to blow it a second game in a row and the Phillies won the game and the series, knocking the Rockies out of the playoffs. (Apparently, because B. is from Colorado, I am supposed to root for them. Um?)

I have wished in the past, if only I could channel this apparent jinxing power for my own purposes…….

2009-10-12T11:04:00.002-04:00

I haven't watched Saturday's game against the Ducks, and I will probably do so tonight, skipping through commercials and intermissions, simply because J. said that the Flyers looked 3000% better than they have in the last couple games. That is, until Teemu Selanne decided that going down 2-0 wasn't going to happen, and single-handledly won the game for Anaheim by scoring two in the third and the winning goal in the shootout.

Nice to see that the new Flyers won't keep us wondering for weeks when the old Flyers were going to show up -- you know, the ones that can't hold onto a lead to save their lives.

Oh well.

3-1-1 to start. No game until next Friday, in Florida. Emery hasn't been very good at home, but on the road before the homestand, he was excellent. Maybe that Emery went to Florida.

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I miss the Phantoms. So far this season: three games, one win. Loss to the Sharks, 3-2 (Nodl, Maroon); win over Springfield, 4-3 (Nodl; Bartulis; Kalinski; Beaulieu); brutal loss to the Crunch, 6-1 (Kaspar). It's going to be hard to follow this team this year, not really seeing any games (and being a little unwilling to pay to watch them on my computer screen after having been spoiled for two years with season tickets), with new guys I won't know anything about but through stat sheets. I dislike this.

2009-10-09T11:03:00.000-04:00

Not even sixty seconds into last night’s game, I was ready to turn it off. I had thought that maybe because it wasn’t being televised nationally on Vs., the referee influence might be minimized; but no. At fourteen seconds, Briere was whistled for tapping someone with his stick. Half a minute later, Malkin scored.

I decided to give it another shot. There was a lot of game left and maybe it would improve. It was only one lame penalty that should not have been called, one goal that should not have been.

I ended up watching the whole thing and while it made me mad, it didn’t make me rip-out-my-hair, throw-the-remote, stomp-around, curse-like-a-sailor mad because with that notable first-minute exception the Flyers more or less dug their own grave without the referees’ help. Braydon Coburn had what must have been the worst game of his career; I was ready to start calling him Braydon Freaking Coburn after being more or less directly responsible for two Penguins goals – one due to a turnover and the other being one he scored. If I want to be fair, I will mention that he was being mauled by a Penguin at the time he hit the puck, attempting, I assume, to send it away around the boards behind the net, but instead, as he was hitting the puck he was being turned by the Penguin hanging onto him, and the puck went in front of the net, where it hit Emery’s skate, surprising the goaltender, and backward into the net.

But I don’t really want to be fair, because Coburn has had a less-than-excellent start to the season and turnovers that lead to goals are not bad luck.

I was upset with the other Flyers for their poor puckhandling. There seemed to be a lot of scrambling in this game, too; both teams trying too hard, once again, but where the Flyers could not really take advantage of any mishandling by the Penguins, the Penguins always seemed to be right there to snap up a Flyers miscue. The Flyers kept it interesting, though, by never allowing the game to get completely away from them. At first the Flyers kept coming back to keep the Penguins from having the lead; after that first Malkin goal, Danny Briere scored a little past halfway through the period to tie it. Sloppiness led almost immediately to another Penguins’ goal. At least that was it for the first period. My blood pressure wasn’t dangerously high yet, so I kept watching.

I was rewarded in the second when Briere scored again, early, to tie it. At least the Flyers were going to respond, I thought. But two more Penguins goals later – one of them being Bill Guerin simply splitting through defenders in an inexcusable fashion to fire point-blank on Emery (if I recall correctly), the other being “Alex Goligoski”’s goal courtesy of Braydon Coburn – and I began to simmer. It’s almost harder to take when it’s the Flyers shooting themselves in the foot than if they are getting the shaft from outside forces. But Mike Richards wasn’t going to lie down and take it lightly (a nice change of pace after last year’s frequent indifference to pressure situations?) and began to throw the body around to try to get things fired up. With a two-goal lead with a lot of time left to play, why not? Jeff Carter brought it one closer toward the end of the second on a power play. The game was too close to give up on in any case by now.

Coburn’s poor play let Kennedy score midway through the third to put another two goals between the Flyers and a tie, but the Flyers didn’t fold up and roll over, to their credit (and to my amazement). Fleury had another one of those maddeningly outstanding games, and the Flyers couldn’t capitalize on any of their chances. (They did take too many shots right at him. Those are pretty much not going to go in. As the announcers said, you have to get him moving. You can’t let him see it the whole way!) The last couple minutes were thrilling, when Emery was pulled and the Flyers had six skaters. They pulled Emery a little earlier than maybe a goalie is usually pulled, but it almost paid off. Jeff Carter scored to bring it within one with forty seconds left in regulation – plenty of time! And with some wild play in that last forty seconds, they nearly did it; but that was going to be it. A 5-4 loss that tasted sour, but not nearly as foul as other recent losses to that team have tasted.

The Flyers are 3-1 to start the season, and a close one that loss was. Much better than last year; I am satisfied.

2009-10-08T10:38:00.000-04:00

Lately I have not been able to access Blogger from my usual station, so my posting has been limited. I have been writing my reports, but haven't been able to post them. The following entries, while entered on October 12, will be post-dated so that they fit in where they are supposed to.

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The world of Crusher has slowed down for an hour, allowing me to put to the keyboard my thoughts as to first few games of the Flyers’ 09-10 season, which started last Friday, October 2.

I was orange and black for the day – including orange fingernails which my boss erroneously assumed was simply to celebrate autumn/October. I read previews; I counted down the hours, which dragged so miserably that I thought time might simply grind to a halt. But the expanded seconds and minutes eventually passed and I settled on the sofa to watch the Flyers win a good game over the Hurricanes, 2-0. The highlights of my thoughts: Emery looked great. He looked in control, he looked easy, he looked like he knew what he was doing and how he should do it. After the first period, I had decided that I didn’t need to worry about him – a relatively novel sensation after the way Biron degenerated into a worry-maker. I also like how smooth the ginormous Pronger looked, though I guess I had hoped for a little more crushing out of him. My prior assessment of Pronger as a thug and dirtbag player still stands, but his presence on the ice in my team’s colors is satisfying for the other attributes he brings.

The next night I watched an unexpectedly hot game against the Devils. When it was announced that it was Brodeur’s 1000th game, I figured they might as well not play it, just write it up as two points in the Devils’ win column, because the Flyers love to cave in to Brodeur on his milestones. 500th win? That was against the orange and black. Record-setting shut out? Yeah. So why not expect they would give The Great Brodeur a win for his 1000th game too?

The Great Brodeur looked less than average. I think the Devils miss some of their players, but I think most of the players they lost were offense, and their trappy ways just didn’t make a difference to the Flyers (yay!) who scored five goals to the Devils’ two. Those two were disappointing. Well, the second one was basically meaningless; the Flyers were already well ahead and the killer first Devils goal was the one that snapped Emery’s shutout streak. He was about ten minutes away from two goose eggs to start the season, and then … doh. Well, 111 minutes or so of zero goals against is still a great way to get a season started. And it is soooooo nice to see the Flyers beat New Jersey – and in New Jersey!

The game we all were waiting for happened Tuesday night. The home opener, the first game on the ice at the Wachovia Center for the season, and against the Washington Capitals. Some said that the Caps would be the Flyers first real test, and if they could beat them, then they would have lent credence to all those who were predicting them to win the conference / Stanley Cup. [Somehow, by failing to make it out of the first two rounds of the playoffs two years in a row (in Game Sevens!), the Capitals have become the team by which all others in the East are measured by?) I read into the match-up more that it would show that the Flyers’ changes to the blueline and goal could stand up to some of the most severe pressure the league can throw at them (Ovechkin, you know; Semin, yep). I was not afraid that the Flyers could not score goals against the Capitals. Varlamov is good, but young and inexperienced (in spite of the playoff series in which he took Pittsburgh to seven games). Theodore is as big, if not bigger, question mark (evidenced by pal DC K., as I will call her to differentiate her from K. who was my Phantoms season-ticket pal, who seemed to have no confidence in him whatsoever). The Capitals’ defense is no giant wall. I was mostly concerned that Ovechkin would find new ways to stymie the Flyers’ defense, new additions and all.

It was during lunch on Tuesday that I suddenly got the pang of excitement in my stomach, thinking about going to the game. I was always looking forward to it, but that zzzap! At the thought of it had not yet quite struck. I realized that I was, in fact, really looking forward to it. I think there has just been too much else going on, so that it wasn’t all that I had to focus on, but suddenly, at lunch, I realized that was all there was ahead of me for the day that mattered. I had learned earlier in the day that I will not need surgery to fix my injured knee (who knows how long until it heals itself, but self-heal is preferable to surgery) so I was in a mood lighter than I have been in for a couple weeks. Talking about the game with some coworkers built up the excitement. I left at 4:15 to pick up DC K. from the Wilmington train station, and then we were on our way, two hockey fans looking forward to what was hyped to be an intense game.

It was orange and it was loud. The introduction of the team went as it usually does, with all the players coming out of the Zamboni tunnel to steam and flame; DC K. got a picture with her cell phone that looks like the player’s head and shoulders are on fire. Lauren Hart sang the anthem in her typical stunning fashion, not pausing for a heartbeat when a pressurized hose began hissing and flailing around behind her in the tunnel. It startled me and I was way up in section 214 row 13! I don’t know how she managed to ignore it; it didn’t even register in her voice. Was she that concentrated on her song or is she simply that much of a professional so as not to be ruffled by anything going on around her?

And then it was Flyers. Capitals. Now.

The first period was not exactly ho-hum, but there were no goals, and considering the rest of the game, that might be enough to classify it as “a little bit dull.” I think each team was scrambling and trying too hard in the first period. The refereeing got off to its usual start, too, with questionable calls on Darroll Powe (tripping! And then interference, when if anyone was interfered with on that play it was Powe himself). They sort of made up for it by calling a questionable goalie interference on Washington, but the crowd had already trotted out the a-hole chant and the chicken dance song had already been played. And the Flyers faithful were in good form when Ovechkin, on his way back to his bench for some reason (to get a new stick? I don’t remember) suddenly peeled back toward center ice, and fell, then tried to get up, and fell again, all while kind of spinning; doing donuts to derisive jeers.

In the second period the scoring busted wide open. The next day, people were saying to me, “You sure got to see a great game!” I wouldn’t say it was a great game in terms of having been well-played, but it was very exciting and rough on the nerves. Seven goals were scored in the second, beginning with an early power play goal by Richards. La la la! The Flyers were on the board! Then, a deflating tying goal, just more than a minute later, by Ovechkin. So much for nullifying him. If I recall, the goal should not have had a chance to happen because Gagne had been mugged at the boards just prior (hit with a high stick?); had the call been made, the play would have been dead and the goal never made. But you can’t trust the referees to do their job right all the time, so there it was, the tying goal. However, not even two minutes later, the Flyers regained the lead with a goal by Kimmo Timonen! The scoreboard operator ticked off the Flyers fans by putting the tally up for Washington; boos rang out until the guy got it right.

From a goalless first to a rapid-fire goal fest, the Flyers held the lead for three minutes. The game was tied by Ovechkin, scoring his second, deflating the crowd again, sending up more of the boos that rained down almost every time he touched the puck. The other Washington Alex scored five minutes later to give the Caps their first lead of the game. They held onto it for slightly more than a minute, when Mike Richards took a very nice pass from Matt Carle and tied it while on the power play. Eighteen seconds later, back to even strength, he took another pass from Carle and notched the first home-opener hat trick in Flyers history, and that was the end of the game for the Capitals’ young goalie, Varlamov. In with Jose Theodore, and DC K. was unhappy. She bet me $1 that he would let in two or three goals. I took that bet.

The Flyers went into the second intermission with a one-goal lead, and everyone was pretty happy. Even the superfan with the mohawk and Flyers tattoos on the side of his head was feeling magnanimous enough to let DC K. take a picture in spite of her red Capitals sweatshirt (which was pretty low-key and was probably mistaken for a Phillies sweatshirt from a distance). The good mood lasted pretty well into the third period, until Jeff Carter went to the box for hooking. It was a bad penalty to take. I’m not much of a fan of the hooking call, because it seems more often than not, hooking is called for a mere tap of the stick at someone’s midsection; only very occasionally is it because someone actually put the stick into someone and held them back with it. Jeff’s hook was one of the former types, but it was obvious. It was near the blue line and his stick hit the Washington guy near the stomach and that’s going to get called just about every time. And Alexander Semin scored while Carter was in the box. Two goals for both Alexes, and the game was tied again.

DC K. asked me how terrible it would be in the arena if Ovechkin scored a hat trick too. It could have stood as a rhetorical query, but I replied that more or less the air would be sucked out of the arena and no one would leave happy, especially if it ended up being a winning goal. Well, Ovechkin didn’t score again on the night, but the Capitals weren’t done; a minute or so after Semin’s tying goal, the go-ahead was scored by Brendan Morrison. While the air wasn’t quite sucked out of the place by that goal, it did quiet everyone down considerably.

Scott Hartnell saved the night when Washington put themselves in the box again (in a startling reversal of fortunes, the Flyers ended up with the advantage in the penalty situation, Washington being called for nine penalties (not including a fighting major) and the Flyers only six (not including the fighting major). The Flyers took pretty good advantage of their PPs Tuesday night; Hartnell tied the game with 4:15 to go, the third PP goal of the night for Philadelphia.

Because of the profligate goal-scoring, no one felt the night was safe with a mere one-goal advantage, but the entire arena was going to do what it could to help; it got loud again. And when the game wore down to the end of sixty minutes with the game tied, the noise grew. It was, I thought, almost as loud as it was when I was at the first playoff game against Washington in 2008. It was, as I said, very exciting. My nerves were jangled after all this lead-changing; also, I find that the effects of the past few seasons where the Flyers were completely unreliable are hard to shake off. I don’t trust them not to blow it at any moment in any crucial time. The OT session started with noise and more clamor on the ice. No penalties and Ovechkin did his best to end the game with some sharp moves, but the defense came up big. With just over a minute to play, the action was hot around Theodore, with a shot and rebound. As the players scrabbled there, DC K. said, “You guys have it.” She had no faith in Theodore at that moment, and sure enough, Briere poked it in and won the game, on his birthday, and the arena roared in joy.

Because the bet had been made assuming two or three goals in regulation, not split over into an OT session, I won the $1 bet (and used it to get a Tastykake later). I can’t say that I felt too bad that the Capitals lost – I know how it feels to go away to a game and have your team lose, but my record at home openers was 2-1 to that time and so it was great to see the Flyers win at their first home game and my first game of the season. It was a nail-biter and almost a goal-a-minute. If that’s what you like, then you got what you asked for. I guess I’d like to see that kind of action with a little less sloppy play, thanks.

Tonight they play the Penguins in the second of their “real tests” this week. I have no confidence that things will continue in their peachiness. The Penguins lost last night in an ugly way, to Phoenix (3-0 LOL) and I doubt it had much to do with anything except that their heads were already in Philadelphia (and Fleury was not playing). They also got the short end of the stick penalty-wise, which seems pretty unlike the league. Not that I want to go around advocating conspiracies, I did read on one of the message boards the following (paraphrased):

The Flyers got the advantage in PPs Tuesday. The Penguins got more PPs than usual called against them. (Plus, they were playing the other team the league can’t afford to let bad things happen to, given the legal wrangling that went on over the summer.) So when the Flyers and Penguins meet and the Flyers start getting all the BS calls against them that are status quo in these kinds of games, “they” can point to the games just prior where the league did not give the Flyers the shaft and the Penguins the extra advantage, so there can’t be a bias!!

Coincidence, I am sure.

I have decided that if it gets too out of hand early in the game, I am just not going to watch it. And if, at any time, I feel that I am going to tear my hair out at the ridiculousness of what I am seeing (for any reason), I am just going to stop watching. This is going to be the season of rationality. I am not going to shave minutes off my life by letting my blood pressure skyrocket getting mad because of the Penguins. I have decided it’s not worth that much.

2009-10-01T17:07:00.001-04:00

It’s Opening Day for the 2009-2010 season.

Perhaps it is my down feelings about a knee injury I sustained while mountain biking in Utah on September 9th (I may need surgery, an MRI being done tomorrow will tell the tale); I haven’t been able to run in weeks and this is a serious mood-crusher. Perhaps that has combined with a melancholy that this year, there will be no Phantoms season tickets and no approximately-weekly trip to the Spectrum to share a hockey game and mucho laughter with K. Perhaps it is an apathy built to protect against the frustration that no one last season was stronger than the story that the NHL had written for the Penguins and the knowledge that there will probably be more of the same this season. While I am really looking forward to Caps-fan pal K. coming up from D.C. for first game next week, it still bums me out that J. won’t be making it out this year for the opener, which I have seen with her for the past three seasons. I am trying to elucidate why the usual giddy-up for the new season hasn’t gotten me all giddy-up.

I could tell when I was watching and listening to pre-season Flyers games that something was not quite all the way there. I figured part of the blahs was because the Flyers completely sucked those first couple games I heard and watched, not even as good as an AHL team as they struggled against the Wings and the Leafs (the Leafs!). It dampened the firing-up, but I figured as they came together with the players that everyone knew would be on the opening roster, the excitement would come back. Yesterday, I checked the schedule and saw that two real games would be on TV tonight – Washington vs. Boston, San Jose vs. Colorado – and felt a little flutter of happiness, and sorry I had to wait another day. But I’m not going to be home tonight, so I won’t get to watch anyway, and this is not bothering me that much.

So I felt a little worried that maybe hockey just doesn’t matter that much to me anymore.

And then I was thinking about tomorrow. It’s a Friday. I have some things looming over my head during the day – meetings, deadlines, the MRI I mentioned – but I’m going to get up in the morning and put on some orange and black. I will wear a Flyers shirt and take the logo magnet out of my trunk and put it back on the car. I will get through the workday and the imaging appointment, and no matter what that picture says, I’m going to go home, take my Richards jersey off the hanger in its special place in the hockey shrine, put it on, and watch the season opener of my favorite team against the Carolina Hurricanes on my new TV, my phone nearby to text J. just as has been done for the two seasons that I have been out in Delaware.

And I’m going to be FIRED UP.

Once it is here, nothing is going to stop me from getting worked up about the Flyers’ season. And the flood gates will be opened. I will get Center Ice and much of my time will be spent watching one game or another, as was the case last year. I will fall back into the blah-blah-blah of hockey blogging. I will go to the game against the Blues for my birthday; J. will come out for a week and a handful of games in January; and everything will be the same, except for missing the following: seeing the Phantoms, K. shouting “You suck Peters!” at the River Rats’ goalie (and other heckling), the nacho lady, water ice, Phlex throwing popcorn at K. for wearing a Devils hat, my spot in section 201 row 9 in the Spectrum. The Flyers will have all my immediate hockey attentions, for good or ill (more good, please).

I read the Slap Shot blog on the New York Times’ website and they had a “30 Teams in 30 Minutes” series for both the West and East conferences, with a few questions being answered by outside bloggers for every team. (The Flyers’ section was completed by the blogger of eager to go psycho.) I’m going to pretend as though I was important enough to get asked these questions, and answer them myself here:

Will the Flyers be better or worse than last year, and where will they finish in their conference?

They will be no worse. Their losses have been more than adequately replaced: Briere was out so much of the season last year that it is safe to say that it’s like getting a new guy on the team this year to fill in for Lupul’s 20-odd goals; Knuble was a force in front of the net but I think that JvR and the new Finn Pyorala just might ease missing Knuble on the ice; Chris Pronger more than makes up for a lot, and OMG could I be any happier about Randy Freaking Jones being waived? Nothing against him personally and all, but how many times had I written in the past that I never wanted to see him on the ice again? Sometimes wishes do come true. Anyway, I think they can be even better than last year with some big ifs – Emery’s got to be sharp and keep it together, people have got to stay healthy, and the scoring has got to be there again. I think they can win the division. I think top three in the conference if the ifs come through.

What team would you most like to see fail this year, and why?

I’m just going to assume that, as a fan of an Eastern conference team (in particular, the Flyers), wanting the Penguins to fail is as obvious a given as can be offered, and I will pretend the question started, “Besides the Penguins…” I always like to see Montreal crash and burn, but I think this year I’d most like to see the Rangers struggling to breathe from the weight of everyone else in the division squashing them in the standings (including the Islanders; wouldn’t that give you a chuckle?).

Your fondest memory of the Flyers or a Philly player?

It’s a toss-up. It’s either when I finally saw (in person) them win a game, the home opener against the Islanders in 2007, after flying out to Philly over the previous two years and seeing them lose six or seven times. I had tears in my eyes. Or it might be the first home game against the Capitals in the ’08 playoffs. The energy was enormous and awe-inspiring. And Richie scooped up the ice shavings and threw them into the air after making that penalty shot. Sheer elation was everywhere in the air that night. Actually, now that I’ve written it out, it’s probably that one.

What player would you most like to see checked right through the Zamboni doors?

I cannot come up with a single “most”. There are several. I’m sure you can guess them. Zzzzzz.

Automatic penalty for a check to the head – yea or nay?

In theory, yea. In practice, nay. It won’t be enforced properly, and you know who will get the short end of that stick more than anyone else. After all, Professor Pronger will be out there, taller than everyone else, and people will be skating into his elbows and it’s not his fault.

A little this-and-that:

Two Flyers make the Top 10 Pre-Season Performances list on The Hockey News website. Ray Emery was #1. He did have a pretty stellar run in the 4.5 games he played, and it will be nice if it’s a true sign of the things to come. You have to remember that this was the goalie the Senators had in 2007 as they faced the Ducks in the Finals. As we have seen in Philly, a team doesn’t get there without a great goalie. I know that past performance does not always indicate present greatness (witness the Biron of the playoffs ’08 vs. the entire season and playoffs ’08-’09), but I’m very willing to let the preseason effort and promises of the past bring hope that Emery will be the real thing. A little less obvious a pick was Danny Syvret at #7. When he was out on the ice for the Phantoms, I felt reassured. He was rarely Danny “Sieve”ret at the point and his mobility and defensive play improved as the season went along; he was an AHL all-star, remember. I often wondered last season why he was passed over for call-ups, but this pre-season he has proved himself and he is on the opening roster ahead of Ole-Kristian Tollefsen and, well, I’ve already noted how Randy Freaking Jones is gone, gone, gone.

On the subject of The Hockey News, one of the recent issues had lists of the top 20 at every position. I didn’t argue with most of their placement but I did bristle at the Capitals’ Mike Green being #3 ahead of Chris Pronger at #4 on the Top Defensemen list. It is not that I think Chris Pronger belongs ahead of everyone, but a player who calls himself a defenseman yet has a strongly suspect defensive game should in no way be listed that high on a Top Defenseman list. Being able to score is a nice touch in a d-man, but Top 20 defenseman shouldn’t have a glaring weakness in playing defense. I challenge you to find anyone that thinks Green has a strong defensive game (anyone not delusional, that is).

Now on the subject of the Capitals, Chris “Stand up!” Borque got claimed off waivers by Pittsburgh. I’m sure he can get heckled while playing for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton just as well as he did playing for Hershey. Maybe he will get a game or two with the big birds. Maybe it will be against the Flyers. Maybe Pronger will accidentally steam-roll over him because he doesn’t see him down there.

Good grief, am I going to miss going to Phantoms games and yelling all sorts of things at opposing players.

Five days until my first Flyers game of the season. It will be interesting to see it with a Capitals fan, as I expect everything that comes out of my mouth will not automatically be agreed with by my companion. We will be high in the rafters, a new perspective for me as far as home openers go, but that doesn’t matter – we will be there, and at least I will be screaming LET’S GO FLYERS.

2009-09-16T19:23:00.003-04:00

It's been a good summer, where I have stayed away from the blog and much of the hockey world (except around the draft / UFA day) in order to restore my blood pressure to normal levels, but the time has come to get fired up.

Flyers / Red Wings preseason tonight, listening on line. It's only the preseason (?) but LET'S GO FLYERS.

2009-06-26T09:40:00.002-04:00

Draft day! I like the "who knows what the hell is going to happen" feel of this day, and I will be disappointed if it goes down like the trade deadline did, with nothing particularly momentous happening. Also, if nothing particularly momentous happens next week.

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Top three weird or funny search terms leading to hits here in the last month:

sidney crosby molestache (I first heard the term "molestache" at a Flyers/Islanders game at the end of the 2006-2007 season; an irate fan behind me was complimenting the ref on his.)

men bearhugging men (again!? Please stop.)

tyler kennedy if i get another playoff goal i will make love to my stick and i don't care who watches Thank the hockey gods he didn't score another goal. Who would want to see that freak show?

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It really is a long time until the next season starts, isn't it?

Chops chopped?

2009-06-18T09:43:00.003-04:00

At the beginning of April, I blogged about a couple AHL games I went to while I was visiting home, concluding "They may have a lame-o name in Iowa, but at least they’re still going to have a team to see after this season ends," lamenting the departure of the Phantoms from Philadelphia.

Well ... maybe they won't.

The latest in the saga that is the AHL franchise located (for now?) in Des Moines.

I'm thinking there won't be any AHL hockey this coming season in Iowa. With the Flames moving too, if I go home at Christmas I won't be going to any game in the QC either. Gee. I may not see any AHL hockey live this season.

And it's not just sour grapes; no, there is more to it than that.

2009-06-13T09:42:00.003-04:00

No team deserved the Stanley Cup less than the "model franchise" that "won" it last night. That is all. The NHL is a joke. The WWE is more believable.

P.S.

Dear Ray Emery,
I have to say that I was dubious and skeptical when I heard that you were going to be signed by the Flyers, but I have started to come around, looking forward to the game next season when you Hextall those pieces of trash for coming too close in your crease. I would pay you $100 for the pleasure of seeing that. Thanks in advance.

Yours truly,
Crusher

2009-04-25T10:28:00.002-04:00

Dear Philadelphia Phantoms,

Good bye and thank you for the five seasons I knew you.

Love,
Crusher

2009-04-24T09:24:00.004-04:00

I am seriously considering not watching the game live tomorrow afternoon, instead recording it to watch later. I KNOW that whether or not I watch the game live has absolutely no bearing on the outcome of the game, but the fact of the matter is that there have been five games in this playoff series between the Flyers and the Penguins and I have watched three of them live and two of them after the fact (with no knowledge of the result): the former three were losses, the latter two were wins. If I don’t watch the game live, the Flyers win. I just know that if I watch the game tomorrow afternoon while it happens, and the worst happens, I am going to feel at fault. I don’t need that kind of guilt.

Outside of much of the first period, the Flyers played a nearly flawless game. Yeah, there were turnovers and some lazy passes, but they can’t be perfect, and fortunately this time they took care of the results of their mistakes before they got terminal. In the first period there was some struggle for control, but even during that period it didn’t look dire and the Flyers bit by bit grabbed a hold of the wheel and steered it their way – one way or another – keeping the Penguins from scoring on their 15-to-5 shots advantage and the 0-0 score going into the first intermission was in large part thanks to Marty Biron, who seemed to have suddenly regained last playoff’s form. And the moment in the second where Malkin was allowed to get a chance to kick the puck in the net – he still never had a chance to get his stick on it to get a good shot, so was left with kicking it. And I tell you during that review I felt myself grow sick to my stomach, thinking that if they called it a goal I really was going to have to excuse myself. When they (astonishingly) made the right call and disallowed the FIFA World Cup style goal, the relief I felt was so enormous that tears actually came to my eyes. This is what it has come to: I nearly cry when the league gets an easy call right. (Side note: the refereeing was refreshing last night. I find myself with no real complaints at all. Check pigs for wings or something, folks.)

One of the things that I have loved about the Flyers scoring this series is that most of their goals are not garbage. Last night’s three goals were a good example of that. Asham was nowhere near the net, and the bullet he fired past Fleury stunned everyone. One of the Flyers’ announcers commented that he thought Fleury was nonchalant about making that save, only to have it burn past him like – well, a bullet. Asham could not have placed that puck any more perfectly, as it hit the far side of the net. Another inch and there would have been a discouraging clang off the post. It being quite late when I finally got to watch the game, my celebrations were muted on the outside. Giroux’s goal was so beautiful, on a play that I think only Giroux could have been part of – he chucked it home as Fleury couldn’t slide back over to cover the net. There was no hurry or clamor in Giroux’s effort and shot; he is a predator, ready to be where he needs to be, and then pounces, a perfectly premeditated play, even if the premeditation is a fraction of a second. Nothing surprises him. (Not even when suddenly lost his stick and found the puck between his feet; with perfect aplomb, he adroitly protected the puck between his skate blades, waiting for help and taking his time, and when another Flyer arrived, he skillfully tapped it, FIFA World Cup style, behind one skate with the other toward his teammate. Giroux makes my jaw drop at least once a game, and that play had my jaw down and I was laughing. A while later, he was knocked down, what, ten or eleven times as he played the puck at the blue line and still didn’t lose control? Ok, I exaggerate that slightly, but come on. He is a wizard. And along with every other Flyer fan seeing these games, he is suddenly my favorite player to watch.) Knuble’s goal was another rocket, after a rebound; there was no mistaking the intent of that puck to hit the back of the net, and Fleury exposed his human side last night three too many times for the Penguins.

Too much time after each of those goals, and while the Flyers had control of the last two thirds of the game, I could hardly bear it any time the puck went into the Flyers’ zone. Even when they were up 3-0 with three minutes left to play, I couldn’t stand how much time there was left. I hate having so little faith in my team, but there was no margin for error. And while I was reluctant to think it, I really wanted Marty to ~~shut out~~ not allow that team any goals. I hope he doesn’t pull a Fleury (i.e., have a forcefield game and then crash back to earth the next). Stay hot, Marty.

And the Flyers, in strong fashion, lived to play another game.

So, to recap:

Game 1: Horrible, horrible all around. Refereeing was a tragedy and the Flyers couldn’t do a g-d thing. Loss well-deserved.

Game 2: Horrible, horrible OT loss, not deserved at all, the game should have ended in regulation with a 2-1 Flyers win, except Staal held Carter's stick and Carter got called for it, leading to things happening that never should have had a chance to happen.

Game 3: Penguins were severely outplayed. In spite of another disgusting display of officiating, a decisive win on home ice.

Game 4: In spite of the Flyers’ dominating play, Fleury was more or less impenetrable and Crosby’s slide tackling goal was BS. Hard to swallow that loss.

Game 5: Penguins did nothing, looked like the Flyers not caring about winning the last game of the season in spite of home ice being on the line. Heavy win for the orange and black.

If not for game-changing referee decisions in Game 2 and an unfortunate display of outstanding goaltending combined with a badly judged Penguins goal in Game 4, this series indeed very well could have been over last night – 4-1 Flyers.

I really mean it. I don’t think I’m going to watch the game live tomorrow. J. has already suggested firmly that I do not, as well as my technologist, S. I’m sure more suggestions of that sort will come out once people know my record in this series. I can probably find something else to do after 3 p.m. tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be super-nice, after all.

LET’S GO FLYERS.

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Two nights ago, I checked the Phantoms score in the second period – they were down 2-1. The game ended with a 3-2 loss. That puts the Phantoms in a bad hole. They have to win tonight and tomorrow in order for me to ever see them play again at the Spectrum. Given the 0-3 record this series, it isn’t looking good. I will try not to think about it today, because it’s a major dampener, and I’m just in too good of a mood after last night’s game to want to be down until I have the actual reason to be down. Maybe I will watch the game online – whether or not I see them live seems to have no effect, though I have never watched a game on the computer, so who knows – maybe it would have a positive jinx effect.*

LET’S GO PHANTOMS.

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Oh a couple last thoughts. I was watching the Devils/Hurricanes game the other night and saw the Canes completely drop a 3-0 lead. When Jussi Jokinen scored with 0.2 seconds left to break a 3-3 tie, leading to a 2-2 series tie, my exact reaction was to laugh jubilantly. Brodeur's subsequent meltdown was a treat. I guess the Devils won again last night to take some revenge and the series lead again.

And the other night I also watched Boston handle the Canandiens [sic] with no trouble at all. Montreal scoring first didn't have me wondering if the Bruins were going to stumble. No, they were simply playing with the Canadiens and their fans. Wiping out the Canadiens on their home ice in four games in their treasured 100th season -- I only wish it could have somehow been the Flyers to do that. It seemed that early in the season Montreal thought the league should just hand them the Stanley Cup right then, no need to go through the motions. They didn't even get close. As Nelson Muntz would say: HA HA!

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*I’ve admitted it before. I’m a scientist but I can’t help but be in thrall to sports superstition.

2009-04-21T14:52:00.002-04:00

Saturday night, after the Phantoms' 6-2 loss to Hershey, it occurred to me that that game might actually have been the last game in the Spectrum. It didn't occur to me while going to the game (and I would have had plenty of time for the thought to cross my mind, seeing as I was in the car 1.5 hours from Wilmington to the arena -- accidents abounded), it didn't occur to me while I was at the game; only a few hours later, near midnight, did it strike me that I had not paid special attention to being at the Spectrum, to sitting in my lovely seats, to the whole situation.

I vacillated between being glad that I didn't let the specter of never coming back hang over me the whole evening and being upset that I hadn't made the point to savor it more. I suppose I did my savoring on the 10th, but getting to go back after that maybe diluted it a little bit. And now, I may not get to go back, and all I have in my memory is the same-old, same-old feeling that I would have leaving a Phantoms game in which they had lost, and not some special fuzziness having wrapped myself all up in the experience. I didn't take a single picture, not even with my camera phone, as I usually do.

The 6-2 loss sounds a lot more dire than it was. I was late to the game, missing the start, because of the traffic on I-495 / I-95 and the parking situation, so I missed the first goal. The guy at the door told me it was already 1-0; the Phantoms had scored 53 seconds in. They scored again not long after I had taken my seat, but then, in spite of being completely in the game, they could not score again. Hershey tied the game and then a third to go ahead. A Phantoms goal was not allowed (at least, it certainly looked like a goal to me, sitting at the red line, the puck appeared to have crossed the line) that prevented the Phantoms from tying the game at three, and a bad goal in the third put the Bears up by two; the fifth was an empty netter and the sixth happened in chaotic power play seconds afterward. The Bears played a pretty dirty game (e.g., Kukkonen was knocked down and while he was down on the ice, the Bear who had hit him cracked him in the face with the blade of his stick. Kukkonen has been wearing a shield around his jaw. If that's not as cheap a hit as you have ever heard of, I am interested in what's cheaper. Kukkonen lunged up and went after the guy, and ended up sitting in the penalty box for two minutes. At least the Bears had already gotten an extra two minutes, so Kukkonen's retaliation didn't negate a power play.). So the Phantoms are down 2-0 in the series going to Hershey, and unless they win two of the away games this week, they won't be coming back to Philadelphia for a game on Sunday. Good luck, guys. Even after the traffic nightmare last weekend, I'd like to be driving up to see you again.

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Flyers again tonight. A guy at lunch asked me what I predict for the evening. I said that I am not going to do that anymore. Any time I open my mouth about a game lately, something bad happens. For example, at the Phantoms game, Alexandre Giroux fanned badly on a shot and it hobbled wide of the net. I cackled, "How do you score sixty goals shooting like that?!" and not even ten seconds later, he scored. (K. was so mad at me. He actually dropped the f-bomb on me. Ok, I deserved it.) If I go around saying, "Oh, Flyers 4-2 tonight!" then the hockey gods will probably reward me the same way that they do when I open my mouth at Phantoms games. If I say, "Oh, Penguins probably, 3-2" then, well, there you go. (If only I could control my jinxing powers for good and not evil...) So I'm just going to watch the game on the edge of my couch and hope the same Flyers that played Sunday night are the ones that show up tonight. For some reason I have already bitten off my nails today, so I won't be able to do that during the game. Maybe I will find some squeezy stress toy to have on hand, just in case.

[Hockey gods: these examples above are not to be considered predictions, overt or thinly veiled.]

2009-04-19T20:51:00.004-04:00

Ok, today's game is what you get when the Flyers are not constantly in the penalty box. Refereeing was pathetic but somehow it was pathetic for both sides. Kind of like a "normal" game. And the Flyers are able to win "normal" games.

I heart Claude Giroux. Very quickly coming to challenge Mike Richards as my favorite Flyer. I love the way he does not shy from a hit -- is happy to make one -- I love his puck handling, I love his vision, I love his passes, I love his goal scoring, I love that he fought hideous Tyler Kennedy! What a great game he had!

But the most special mention goes to Jared Ross (my favorite Phantom) and congratulations on his first NHL / NHL playoff goal. We have missed him against Hershey, so I am glad he made some noise playing for the Flyers today when his goal put some good space between the Pens and the Flyers in the third. Go Rossco!

Flyers: please do this again.

2009-04-17T22:45:00.002-04:00

I was thinking during the game tonight that this is what you get when the referees let the dudes play.

And then Staal held Carter's stick on a flimsy "hook" and wasn't called for it, so the Pens got a PP to tie the game late in the third.

Silly me.

2009-04-17T15:19:00.004-04:00

The Phantoms lost last night, 4-2. It was unfortunate. The woman in the row behind us, toward the end of the game, noted sadly to those she had come to the game with that "[The Bears] came to play tonight ... the Phantoms did not." I don't know what game you were watching, lady. The Phantoms did play. I was pretty amazed at their passing; very improved. They hit. I thought they played with intensity. The score was what it was because of two -- maybe three -- very bad goals that happened when the defense went splat and Munroe handcuffed himself and left the net wide open for a Bear to take full advantage of. (I am not sure what Munroe was doing on at least one of them; perhaps he misread what might happen, completely over-committed, and then was monstrously far out of position to recover ... all I know is he was on his back out to one side of the net, and the Bear was all alone on the other side).

It also did not help that approximately two-thirds of the game was played on special teams, one way or the other. From the penalty sheets you can't say that Nygel Pelletier was blatantly favoring the Bears. Both teams got the whistle last night, but were there any calls on the Bears as bad as the so-called "roughing" penalties on 1) Sean Curry ("Scurry") after a boarding call on Osala led to some action in the corner, Pinizzotto more or less ambushed Curry, who stood there. And still got thrown into the box along with Pinizzotto, for "roughing" and 2) Jonathan Kalinski, who was taking a shot on goal at the time of the alledged "roughing"? And it seemed on occasion that any time the Phantoms managed to get some momentum, either while on the PP or a rare 5-on-5, the whistle would come out again. Still, I did not leave this game feeling completely robbed, and I would absolutely not accuse the Phantoms of having not shown up to play.

I look forward to Saturday's Game 2.

The best part of the night was that Keith Jones was able to return to the announcer's booth. It finally sounded like a Phantoms game again. Welcome back, Keith.

By the way, I did hear back from the account representative. It was $40 because somehow they thought they were getting four games instead of three; I will get that $10 back if the Phantoms don't go to the next round and if they do, it will be applied toward the cost of the next round of tickets. If the Phantoms don't make it to Game 6, I get $20 back. The $10 application fee was "because it was done online." Really? A $10 fee for buying tickets online? What are you, Ticketmaster? He can't do anything about that, he said, but since the Phantoms organization is swell, he can offer me another ticket if I had a friend I wanted to take to a game. (I have tried all day with no success to get him to answer his phone so I can say "Just how close to my seat can this extra ticket get?")

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I am not looking forward to tonight's Flyers game, though I will no doubt watch it anyway, and it upsets me that I actually dread watching my favorite team in the playoffs. You want to know one of the reasons why? Look at this:

From NHL.com today:

Colin Campbell remarks from The Situation Room

On the suspension of Philadelphia's Dan Carcillo: "With six seconds left, you have a player who never kills penalties, a player who never takes faceoffs, coming out on a five-on-three (manpower disadvantage) and doing what he did – a repeat offender. So there are a number of criteria there that satisfy doing what we had to do ... I don't want to filter everything out of the game. But we want to take the dumb stuff out of the game."

On the events at the end of Boston-Montreal Game 1: "People take things out of different incidents last night (and say:) 'Oh boy! Same thing (as Philadelphia-Pittsburgh)! How many games are you going to suspend him?' You've got to let the games unfold. You've got to let hockey be hockey, playoffs be playoffs. You've got to let the energy flow. And then, when they cross that line, you do what you have to do."

On hit by Calgary's Mike Cammalleri on Chicago's Martin Havlat: "When Cammalleri hit Havlat, there was a lot of risk to doing that. He took a two-minute penalty in a game where there could have been ramifications for doing that. But there are no ramifications when you're losing 4-1 with six seconds left."

On Martin Havlat's winning goal for Chicago: "Things in hockey or in life never happen in slow motion or in replays. They happen live ... When the foot-in-the-crease rule was taken out – one of the worst rules in hockey – it was taken out with a couple of factors in mind: One was that there are two referees now and one is always around the net. He gets a good look at what's happening and he makes a judgment. Quickly. He's there to protect the goalie in the blue, but also to let hockey happen. And he's got to understand whether a guy was pushed by another player or whether he went in there on his own. And when the puck goes in the net, he's got to decide whether this was just incidental contact – allow the goal, no penalty – or (whether) it was contact made on purpose and take the goal down and give the player a penalty. In this case, he made a judgment call. And if he had made it the other way, you would have heard lots of arguments from the Chicago side. It's one those plays where you're going to get dissatisfaction one way or the other."

I am. Utterly. Speechless.

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P.S. During the second intermission entertainment, the Phantoms patrol dude (the dancing guy from Flyers games) kicked a puck toward a goal, telling Phlex that if he could make a goal at the other end from there, the contestant would win the grand prize (a Bobby Clarke signed stick), and it almost went in. He noted that "in some cities" it would have counted as a goal if it had gone in.

Two beats passed, and then snickers came from everywhere.