Two minutes for cross-checking

FLYERS WIN WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I arrived home in time to listen to about two-thirds of the third period. I kept waiting for the announcers to give me the score, and then Atlanta scored on a tip-in in front of the net, and I was told it was now 2-2. Dang it! As soon as I started listening, the other team scored and ruined the Flyers' lead!! They were actually leading the hockey game!!

Atlanta did not have Lehtonen in goal; I am pragmatic enough to know that that probably had a lot to do with the Flyers scoring, but the backup goalie, Johan Hedberg, seemed to go out of his way to make some awesome saves in the final ten minutes of the game to keep it tied and to deny the Flyers an outright regulation win. Fortunately, Niittymaki was on his game too, especially from what I heard, and kept the puck out to keep it tied and to deny Atlanta the regulation win. I prefer my games to end favorably in 60 minutes, but overtime was acceptable last night because it meant the Flyers had not lost.

A quick five-minute, four-on-four overtime with no goals. But it was exciting to listen to. And then the shootout. Atlanta pulled Hedberg in favor of Lehtonen. Sure, the Hamburglar is an outstanding goalie, and I suppose one might think it would be better to have one of the best goalies in the league in the net for a shootout, but the guy sat cold the whole game while Hedberg did the work. It was a gamble I'm not sure I'd have made, but I'm not a head coach, so no one cares what I'd do.

Worked out well for the Flyers, though. On the Flyers website they have video of the oh-so-pretty deke Gagne did on the first shootout attempt, drawing Lehtonen to one side and then SLAMMED the puck in from the other way. Gagne on his shot: "I thought, 'That guy has been sitting on the bench not moving for the last 2 hours. I'm going to make him move.' And that's what I did."*

Niitty missed Viktor Kozlov's shot and the shootout was tied at 1. Ugh.

Then Foppa was out. I was surprised, given the statements (re: not wanting to take part in the shootout) made after the super-long 13-round shootout at the home opener, that he was in the first three shooters. But he was awesome. He didn't try to fake out Lehtonen. He just thought Lehtonen came out too far, and made him pay for it, roofing the puck right over him lightning-fast. The video includes this shot, too. Beautiful!

Then, Atlanta's Marian Hossa (he of some serious pointage) was up, and Niitty said no. That meant if the next Flyer could score, they would win.

It was Mike Richards. I admit that his attempt at the penalty shot during the Buffalo game flashed through my head, and wondered nastily if he would even get the shot off. (I don't know why I felt so mean at that moment. I guess remembering anything having to do with that awful night just gets me started.) Yet I wanted him to make the shot -- not only because it would mean the Flyers were up 2-1 in the shootout, but because poor Mr. Richards hasn't gotten a puck in the net at all yet this season and you start wondering that if the first one can just happen he might relax and the rest will come naturally.

He missed. Damn. So -- the Flyers would win if the next Atlanta scorer missed. Shootout would continue if the Trasher scored.

And I was figuratively nail-biting when it was Ilya Kovalchuk up. But Niittymaki said no again, and WOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I honestly almost felt like crying, I was so happy that the Flyers actually WON.

(My favorite part of that video of the shootout goals is at the very end, where the camera follows Forsberg into the tunnel, and he reaches out and rubs his glove over John Stevens' head. Yeah, I think this new-coach thing was a great move.)

After this happiness, I turned my online radio dial to the Iowa Stars game. I knew it was tied at 3-3 as the third started, because I looked at the AHL site trying to find the link to the audio broadcast. Unfortunately, not long after I tuned in, Omaha scored. (Damn. I wonder if it's just bad luck for me to start listening in the middle. I know it's happened that I tune in and the opposing team scores right away more than just this twice last night.) And though the rest of the period was really exciting to listen to, the Stars never got the equalizer and ended up losing 4-3, taking the first notch in the L column this season. Unfortunately the loss gave the Knights 2 points to put them over the Stars in the standings. But it's not completely discouraging. What I heard sounded great, Stars putting the puck into the right position, with the Knights' goalie just not letting it past. Our Man Lundqvist had yet another multiple-point night (he's on a roll! three straight games!!) with the first goal, and an assist. After not doing much in the first couple games he's just been a center to be reckoned with.

I want his autograph on the picture I have at my desk.

The Stars are going to play Omaha again tonight, in Des Moines. I hope the Stars can pull in a decent crowd. There were fewer than 1700 people at the game in Omaha last night. That's pathetic.

While the Flyers were finally pulling one out over Atlanta's NHL team at the Wachovia Center, the Phantoms were halfway across the country in Chicago losing to Atlanta's AHL team at the AllState Arena. Philadelphia scored first, on a power play, but the Wolves scored only 20 seconds later to tie it. I hate when that happens. It's so frustrating and I have seen it happen many times, with the Phantoms, the Stars, the Flyers. (Of course I love when my team scores immediately following an opposing goal, but that's only to be expected, right?) Then the Wolves scored again, and the Phantoms just couldn't quite make up the difference and lost 3-2. I'm sorry the Phantoms/Wolves game was on a weeknight. I might have considered heading to the Big City in Illinois if it had been on a weekend. That's as close as the Phantoms are going to get this year. (I think it's as close as either Philadelphia team will get this year. The Blackhawks play in Philly on the 30th, and I don't think the Flyers will be in either Minnesota or St. Louis. -- I just looked at the schedule.** Nope.)

We purchased tickets today for the Iowa Stars/Milwaukee Admirals game on December 30. We'll be back in the same seats we were in last weekend, right behind the end of the visitor's bench.


*Daily News

**Having looked at the schedule, I noted that the Flyers' Wives Carnival is the weekend after our in-planning-stages Great East Coast Hockey Adventure. I mentioned this to J., as I remember at last year's carnival you could get tickets to meet particular Flyers and have your photo taken with them. This idea appealed to her. We initially chose the weekend we did because it's J.'s birthday and the Flyers were playing at Madison Square Garden and it was going to be a very exciting event as I have never been to MSG for a hockey game (let alone J.). The following weekend, the Flyers play Toronto at home, which would still be a good game to see, but we were going to hit TWO Flyers hockey games the weekend of the 17th. I guess I will leave it up to her. It's her birthday celebration trip, after all. I am cool with seeing three hockey games the weekend of the 17th (Flyers/Rangers in MSG on Saturday, Phantoms on Sunday, Flyers/Bruins at the Wach on Monday) but I am also cool with seeing the Flyers/Leafs and then possibly meeting Joni the next day. There is yet plenty of time to decide, and see who will be at the Carnival, anyway.

UPDATE: We'll probably stick with the original plan.

Rochester won again last night, now are 7-0.

Iowa Stars tonight against Omaha (5-0-1) at Omaha. I reeeaaaally want them to win this game and keep pace with Rochester, and to keep points ahead of the Knights who sit just below the Stars in the division standings. (Omaha is in Nebraska. Do you know why all the trees in Iowa lean west? Two reasons.*) But I'm going to be zen about it so that I don't jinx them. The Knights are probably going to be the toughest team they've played so far this season (having only played San Antonio, Houston, and odd-man-out Syracuse), so it won't be like last Saturday when they came out and more or less danced their way to the 8-5 win. They will have to be awake for the whole game, skate hard and shoot strong and keep focused for the entirety of three periods. Cruising through a period and a half will probably give the game away. I wish the newspapers cared more about the AHL team. Even the I-Stars website doesn't have too much of a preview of tonight's match. So. Go Iowa Stars!

Philadelphia Phantoms tonight too (PHI vs. CHI) 3-2-1 vs. 4-3-0. One of two meetings between these teams, record-wise decently matched. Of course the Flyers have taken away one of their best scorers, and now have also taken one of their tough guys (not to mention the coaching changes), so the Phantoms have a few issues to deal with as they play tonight. GO PHANTOMS WOOO!

And, then, we have the Flyers, #30 in the NHL vs. #5 Atlanta. The Trashers lost in overtime last night to Carolina (in Raleigh) and the back-to-back might give the Flyers a little advantage, all other things being considered equal. (In last night's game, Anton Babchuk, playing for Carolina, scored 1:11 into the OT to win it. Every time I hear his name I recall how, during the 2005 Calder Cup playoffs, when he played for Norfolk, he hurled a water bottle into the crowd and hit a kid with it. What an ass. Sure, I have no doubt there was some hardcore heckling going on, but that's not the way to respond. At least wait until someone has tumbled into the penalty box with you before you retaliate.) Everyone will be staring hard at the Flyers tonight, to see what difference the recent changes will have. Forsberg says he might or might not play, though Coach Stevens says he will. That's not very encouraging, when a player and a coach don't seem to be quite on the same page. I hope it's not a harbinger of more bad things. I would be overjoyed with a Flyers win tonight. I might even be OK with a loss as long as they are competitive and can score some goals, lose on a good note (like the home opener) and not a falling-flat, listless, self-destruction of a loss. Niittymaki will be in net and he will have to be sharp. Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa have combined for 15 goals (the same number as the entire Flyers team have combined for in 8 games). In all hopefulness, the defense will do its job too, and make it a little less do-or-die for Niitty.

Last season the Flyers were 3-for-4 against Atlanta. Their only loss to the Trashers was on November 18, a 6-5 overtime loss. Guess what? I was at that game. [sigh]

[I have on a Flyers t-shirt today. I am not ashamed to be a fan of the worst team in the NHL! I want everyone to know!** GO ORANGE AND BLACK! WOOOOO!!!! I don't know if I will be able to listen to the game. I have errands to run tonight to get some things taken care of prior to my week-long escape to Isla Mujeres. Maybe I will get back before the end, and I can hear the last minutes, and share, live, in the jubilation (if the fates have decreed there will be jubilation).]


*Something about Nebraska sucking and Illinois blowing. Yeah, OK, I know.

**Everyone already knows. I don't have to wear a shirt proclaiming it. Still, I have the items in my closet, I might as well put them on.

Oh, God. The Flyers are last in the league.

It's official. The Philadelphia Flyers are the Worst Hockey Team in the NHL.*

Please, have mercy on me today. I'll be at the back, crying.

I mean, let's examine this here just a little more closely. Not only do the Flyers scrape the bottom of the NHL barrel right now, but the Pens sit at the top of the Atlantic division. When was the last time that happened? COME ON. What bizarro world is this??

*Well, they have the worst record, anyway. Whether that is a true reflection of their actual good or badness ... we'll see.

Wow. Where to start??

Iowa Stars Hockey Game, Saturday 10-21-06.

Going into the match, as you know, the Stars were 4-0. The Crunch came into Des Moines having just lost their fifth game, posting a record of 0-5 as they skated onto the ice at Wells Fargo Arena.

We were directly behind the inside end of their pine, and while the Syracuse players warmed up, we could see the whites of their eyes. (It's not an exaggeration, but I suppose I wasn't really looking much at the whites of their eyes. They weren't scared. And not yet disappointed, even. Mostly we just saw their backs.)



Syracuse, as of Saturday night, were tied with the Chicago Wolves as being the second-most-penalized team in the AHL. The promise of a game heavy on the special teams was not unfulfilled. We saw a lot of power play action, and the Stars gave as good as they took, as well. For a while it seemed like there wasn't going to be any five-on-five, but now I exaggerate.

Just before the game, Junior Lessard was acknowledged as having been Player of the Week (ending October 8), having scored two goals and three assists during that time. He seemed to like having been given such accolades, because he played like he was gunning for another one. In the game he had two goals, and had several chances at the hat trick (but didn't quite hit it), plus an assist. Lessard now tops the AHL scoring leaders with 6 goals and 6 assists for 12 points (4th leader in goals)! Nicklas Grossman, defense, also had two goals on the night. Altogether, the Stars scored 8 goals, the first coming off the stick of Joel Lundqvist, last Saturday's game-winning hero (he also had an assist). Joel is 15th on the AHL scoring leaders list: 8 points.


(He's there on the left!)

Lundqvist/Grossman/Lessard/Lessard/Grossman in the first period, all 5 goals scored by 14 minutes in, leading the pulling of Syracuse goaltender Ty Conklin. Yeah, that Ty Conklin, the one who blew a game for Edmonton in the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring with a mistake behind the net. (We mulled over the possibility that that big-time mistake has messed with his head so badly that he now can't stop pucks in the AHL.) Syracuse did manage to score, leaving the first period done at 5-1.

The Stars slept through the second period again, though they did score again twice (Holtet/Lammers); however, Syracuse scored twice, too. Second period done at 7-3. Syracuse's replacement goaltender, Tomas Popperle, was definitely more useful in the net than Conklin had been (leading fans behind us to start calling out, "Put Conklin back in!!!") Then, during the first part of the third period, the Stars continued their drowse, allowing two more goals. I fumed a little, thinking what a disaster it would have been if the Stars blew a lead that dramatic. 7-5 is not a far-and-away lead. In the end, I didn't have anything to worry about; the Stars scored their eighth goal (Petersen), and it ended 8-5. I suppose I could be pleased that Syracuse kept it interesting, and it wasn't severely lopsided.

So, we left the arena in pretty good moods. It's a great deal of fun to have watched the home team win, in person (far, far better than watching your favorite team lose horrifically, and also far, far better than listening to your team continue to lose). And when they score 8 goals, you get to jump up out of your seat and yell and cheer and make general merriment. I have only ever seen the Crunch play one other time, in Philadelphia, and I haven't developed any kind of hate for those guys, so I had a hard time getting too down on them when they were obviously so frustrated and blue (having not yet posted a point this season). Not when my Flyers are in an equally as long losing slump, too. So I didn't yell that they were pansies, I didn't yell "Go cry to your mama" or "You are disgraces to the game of hockey." (Many of my compatriots in the audience had no such pangs of conscience.)

I did not listen to the game on Sunday, but the Stars played at home again, vs. San Antonio, and won that game 5-1. That's a solid win to keep the Stars undefeated, 6-0. The coach mixed up the lines and it had hot results. The Eriksson, Connor, and Lundqvist line combined for 6 assists and 2 goals, and Eriksson's first goal came 1:27 into the game (setting a team record for earliest goal). And, the Stars held the Rampage to only 20 shots. Sure, the Rampage have a record of 2-7-0 and do not appear especially competitive; but it shows that the Stars are a dominating team so far. Only Rochester (hated Buffalo's farm team) remain also undefeated, but Iowa stand atop them in the rankings and, pointwise, are now second in the AHL. The Stars play again at Omaha on the 26th, then at home, again vs. Omaha, on the 27th. The Ak-Sar-Ben Knights will probably be a tougher team than either Syracuse or San Antonio.

Loui Eriksson, AHL third star for Sunday's game: 2 goals. Lundqvist, 3 assists. Connor, 3 assists. Lessard, another goal. Gee. It's really, really awesome for Iowa that these guys didn't get to stay in Dallas! And as long as forwards on the Dallas squad stay healthy and play well, they'll have to stick around. I know it's virtually impossible to predict in the first couple weeks of one season how the team will be doing the next season, but if someone had said, last year in October, that Iowa would be sitting pretty so close to the top of the AHL this year, I probably would have snerked.

Other AHL lists that include Iowa Stars players at this time: goalie Tobias Stephan #10 on the top goalie list, 2 games played, 0.915%. Marius Holtet, #1 for shorthanded goals (2). Nicklas Grossman, #3 on the plus/minus (+7).

The Phantoms didn't fare so well ... Sunday they lost to Norfolk 4-0. This is a little disappointing considering they pushed the Admirals to overtime the previous match.

Ok, then. That's the weekend AHL that I care about. Sunday afternoon I got a phone call from D. in Philadelphia, who left a message saying only, "I saw on the CNN ticker about your Flyers! What's up with that?! Talk to you later!"

I thought quickly. I had not looked at the news yesterday morning. No reason, just knew the Flyers had not played and wanted to read a book instead. But really, this could only mean one of a slim few possibilities. I figured either someone major had been traded thus someone major acquired, or someone had been fired.

It was the latter.

Plus, someone resigned (probably leading the the latter).

It was the Flyers' General Manager, Bob Clarke, who resigned, and Ken Hitchcock, the head coach, who was fired. Apparently Clarke had been thinking about it a while, because, he says, his heart was no longer in it. And Hitchcock, wondering if the axe was going to fall, honestly thought he was going to have another chance to turn it around. But Ed Snider (owner) says he knew after the Buffalo Disgrace that he was going to fire him. There are a lot of stories in various papers today detailing all that happened, so I'm not going to rehash everything. Here are the links, just in case you want to investigate further (hope I got them all right).

Philadelphia Inquirer
Hitchcock was tied to Clarke
Heartfelt end for Stanley Cup hero
Stevens set to lead the way
Fans applaud Flyers' shakeup
Holmgren's promotion is bittersweet
Players know why change was needed

Philadelphia Daily News
Brass kicking
Clarke: No longer a fire for ice
Flyers share blame but also see hope for fresh start
Stevens fastbreaks into coach's office
Mr. Flyer's legacy; The Hitchcock years; John Stevens' bio

Delco Times
Snider decides it's out with the old
Clarke will never see that third Stanley Cup
Suddenly, it's Stevens who has keys to Flyers

Courier Post
Hitchcock fired; Clarke resigns
Hitchcock: We were starting to come out of it
New coach Stevens brings fresh outlook
Players mixed on changes
Fans agree it was time for Clarke to go

NHL.com
Clarke, Hitchcock out in Philly

Philadelphia Flyers website
Flyers announce major reorganization

In Hitchcock's place they have promoted John Stevens, who had started this season as assistant coach. Stevens was the Phantoms' head coach until this year. He was coach of the 2005 Calder Cup-winning squad. In my mind, this can only be a positive, because 10 of the current roster were on that Calder Cup squad [11 current Flyers have been coached by Stevens (Ruzicka being the only one that was not on the Calder Cup team)] and obviously he knows how to coach those guys to do good things. In all hopefulness he will be able to knit the other guys into the picture and things will come together the way they were not, but should have, these last couple weeks since the two games against New York (which went well!!!). Craig Berube, who had just been raised to Phantoms' head coach this season, is now up with the Flyers as assistant coach; Kjell Samuelsson (another one of the Phantoms' assistant coaches) has been moved to take the top spot on the AHL team.

I'm optimistic about this move. I can't speak much for the GM stuff -- my understanding of the role of the general manager is relatively shallow, I learn more every article I read -- Paul Holmgren has been moved into that position. I don't know much about him, so I can't really formulate much of an opinion about what's going to happen with him at those reins. Maybe he can maneuver some useful trade or whatnot to fill in D holes, etc. That will remain to be seen.

I also never really formed much of an opinion about Ken Hitchcock outside of thinking it seemed ridiculous to constantly shift up the lines, to make it so difficult for any guys to get comfortable playing with consistent linemates, and I also thought some of his pairings on defense seemed ... not like something I would do, but I am in no way qualified to be anything but the vaguest of armchair coaches, so I just tried to hope that he knew what he was doing. He sure had a nice record, winning Stanley Cups with Dallas, but despite hating that people continue to call it "the new NHL" it really does seem to be a different game than it was when he had success there, and maybe people are right, Hitchcock's style of coaching didn't adapt enough. One thing I know I disliked, however, and this has nothing to do with how he handled his players, was the tendency of posters on the message boards to refer to him as "the fat [this]" and "the fat [that]" as if his weight had anything to do with his abilities as a coach. It's remarkably immature; I gave up using "fat" as an insult qualifier back when I was, what, eight or so? It accomplishes nothing but to make the posters look petty and mean, in a very small way. Of course I have no idea what these posters look like, but I'll go out on a limb and guess that some of them probably could stand to lose a little weight themselves. Stones, glass houses, etc. Anyway, I'll be glad to not have to read diatribes against the coach with the useless epithet "fat bastard" in them anymore. (John Stevens isn't overweight. If the teams continues to tank under his direction, they'll have to come up with something else.* It might even force them to be creative; it sure doesn't take any brains to make "fat" an insult.)

So, then. The world will get to see the "new" Flyers on Thursday, an at-home game against Atlanta. It would be fantastic if the change elicited immediate Good Stuff. I hope it doesn't take too much time for it to effect positivity for this team. It's not too late to turn the season around and make a good run for it over the next 70-odd games, but it is rapidly becoming late enough.

*And I'm sure they will. It shocked me, when I was at games in Iowa, how deeply ingrained the negative Philadelphia fan attitude can get; I was certainly used to it, so much so that it just seemed to me that was just how hockey fans are. It shocked me because I realized some form of that attitude in myself, my own development as a hockey fan having come from the Philadelphia stands; so my reactions to what was going on in front of me were initially very Philadelphia-like. I never swore at the coach, but I can't say as I never swore at the players for a costly turnover, or at the opposing team for a cheap shot that went uncalled (thus also bringing one or more of the striped Three Blind Mice into the verbal fray). The Iowa fans seemed so polite. For the most part, they still seem to be, but by now, there are those who have certainly begun taking the Nasty Loudmouth Approach (often funny, though), and those who have taken up a sort of commonly-expected, publicly-expressed, anti-opposing team torch (e.g. chanting the goalie's name tauntingly, two or three times, then adding "YOU SUCK!"). So far, at the Iowa games, no one yells "SUCKS!" after every opposing-team starting lineup name is read. No one roundly boos the home team when they play like zombies (or else the 5,000+ crowd at the Wells Fargo Arena would have been lowing like irritated cattle the entire second and half the third periods on Saturday). I have yet to read or hear anyone accuse Coach Allison of being a fat bastard when the team isn't doing very well. But let's not forget the fact that Philadelphia fans are, at the core, very passionate about their team(s). There is a long history of hockey in that city, a long and largely successful one despite the absence of a Stanley Cup since before I was born. There is a positive side of the Philadelphia Hockey Fan attitude: when they are doing well, man, do the fans appreciate it. And despite everything, the fans, by a huge margin, are loyal. Thick times and thin. The negativity comes when we fans feel let down by a team that we know is better than what we are being offered. We just don't like feeling ripped off. So we'll just let the players know when we feel that way. And the coach(es), and the GM, and .... That's my defense of the "Negadelphia" attitude, anyway.

Because I was out playing pool last night, I didn't listen to the Flyers game, except for the last four minutes. I did, however, occasionally get to track how the game was proceeding thanks to the score ticker at the bottom of the screen on the TV above us. So I saw it when the Flyers went down 0-1 early in the first, and when they tied it, and I saw when the game was 2-2 (missing the moment they were actually leading 2-1), then I saw it when it was 2-3. Then I came home, turned on the game and had four minutes left. Flyers were on the power play, but it didn't go anywhere. There were a few chances that sounded exciting, but no one can put the puck in the net in the last minute to make the game interesting -- no, only other teams can do that. Only other teams' goalies stand on their heads to save the win.

The Flyers. 1-6-1. Five losses in a row! Their worst start in a looooooong time (1989-90). It's so awful.

Wednesday, one of the students who uses our lab said to me, in a hushed voice: "Esche had a bad game last night!" (re: Sabres killing) This resulted in the discussion of how bad the Flyers played, and he cared because in his fantasy team he has Esche as one of his goalies. ("How did you end up with him?!" "I missed the draft." Poor Esche. Relegated to being picked last at the playground because there is no one else to pick.) Then, yesterday, while in the elevator with the other post-docs in my research group, I was asked how my weekend in Philly went. Oh, that was nice to talk about, though the Flyers lost then too, because at least they played that game. Then, innocently, D.C. asked, "Who was it the Sabres just annihilated the other night?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to decide if he really couldn't remember, or if he was just being tongue-in-cheek mean to me.

"That was the FLYERS!" I wailed. "I just don't even want to talk about that game!" I pretended to sob, covering my face.

People who would not normally have noted are noting, because they know I am a fan. I suppose that's one good thing to come out of it. The NHL is at least getting attention from people it might not get. And if I leave no other legacy in this place, I will leave behind a slew of people who will notice when the Flyers are mentioned.

But let's leave off the Flyers for now. They don't play again until Wednesday, though I am sure I will read about them in the intervening days. I doubt they sit tight and quiet until then. After all, we will have to hear daily updates about Forsberg's badly sprained wrist, if nothing else. So, as far as my blogging is concerned, let's go on to the AHL hockey that I like.

The Phantoms lost in overtime last night 6-5 to Norfolk. A 5-2 lead was dissipated. That's too bad. So it's not as though they missed their big scorer, but something must have gone wrong on the blueline to allow three combacks goals. Petr Nedved saw his first action as a Phantom, scoring a first-period goal. A pass from Marty Murray deflected off a skate and went to Nedved between the circles. He one-timed a blast past goalie Sebastien Caron to tie the game at 2-2. (Today's Inquirer). I don't know, Nedved just doesn't look right in the AHL. He just looks too worn and .... I dislike using the word, but compared to guys like Ruzicka and Picard ... old. But hey, maybe he can score some goals for the Phantoms and get his game back on track. Marty Murray was one of the AHL's three stars of last night, with 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points on the night! (Another one of the AHL three stars was Carl Corazzini of Norfolk for assisting on two game-tying goals and then scoring the game-winner. Booooo.)

So, tonight we have the Iowa Stars again, in Des Moines. Remember that I have great seats! Right now the poll about whose winning streak will go on the longest stands at: Hershey 270, Rochester 182, Iowa 120, Norfolk 103.

Omaha, having played five games, and being 4-0-1, have one more point than Iowa, so Iowa are now #2 in the division. The Wolves are 4-2, so have eight points, but sit just below. Rochester, 5-0. So we are third in the conference (though have played the fewest games of the top three).

Well, as I have said, Iowa should take this game, but I'll keep my fingers crossed anyway. I wonder if the game is on TV. We'd probably be visible if it is, since the camera is set up on the opposite side of the arena from us, and we'll be in a notable spot. Hm.... 2 seconds of fame, max.

I knew before it happened that the Flyers were going to lose to Tampa Bay, and I knew it wouldn't be as disastrous as the loss to Buffalo.

The Lightning just seem to own the Flyers. It was bad that Forsberg went out in the first period with a hurt wrist, but it doesn't sound like it's a tragic injury and shouldn't keep him out for too long -- but even one game without Mr. Playmaker is one game too many. I only listened to half the game last night (the bad half). After TB scored the second goal I could feel the life go out of the Flyers -- probably because it went out of the announcers. And me. They ended up losing 3-1, the Flyers' goal coming from Sami Kapanen.

Tonight's game is against the Panthers. I can't make any predictions. I hope the Flyers can finally win. It would be so cheering. I guess that's all I can say.

My boss from Temple was here at the facility this morning (visiting to give a talk in the chemistry department) and when we sat down at my desk to look at some of my data, he couldn't help but see my Flyers this-and-that tacked up and Joni's picture as my desktop wallpaper. He said: "Still a big Flyers fan, I see."

"Of course," I said, "no matter how much they have started to suck...."

"Well, they're a Philly team," he reasoned. "They always find a way to break your heart."

So true. (Except the Phantoms in 2005. They were unstoppably awesome, remember? But they don't count coz they're not major league.)

We were looking at www.theahl.com today and the poll was "Which AHL team will remain undefeated through regulation the longest?" with options:
Hershey
Iowa
Norfolk
Omaha
Portland
Rochester

Naturally I voted for Iowa (before thinking that I might be jinxing them!), and the tally was 36 for Iowa, 35 for Hershey, then the others. My workmates voted for Iowa too, and we had Iowa at 40 with Hershey at 37.

But by now Hershey is back up, 57 with Iowa 43. They are both way ahead of third place though (Norfolk). Hope we didn't really jinx Iowa. They should have no problem vs. Syracuse tomorrow night. Really looking forward to the game; really looking forward to sitting so close. WOOOO! GO STARS!!

Phantoms play tonight too, vs. Norfolk. That ought to be a good game though the Flyers have pulled up their best scorer (and one of the point leaders in the AHL) Stefan Ruzicka; they also pulled up Ben Eager and Alex Picard (sending Petr Nedved and Niko Dimitrakos down). I guess we'll see how it plays out. WOOO! GO PHANTOMS TOO!!!

Oh, right. GO FLYERS TOO!!!!

After last night's shocking and humiliating defeat on (national) television, I am almost embarrassed to be a Flyers fan.

I mean, I still am, of course, and technically still love the Flyers, but ... when your beloved team loses 9-1, with 6 goals given up in the second period, 3 in the third, with a completely crumbled defense that got spun around more times than I care to remember, an offense that couldn't connect either with each other or the net ... it's hard to face other hockey folks. I have seen sucky AHL teams that would have crushed the Flyers in a matchup if the Flyers played the way they played last night. It wouldn't have been hard. The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders could have shown them a thing or two (if nothing else, how to make a statement with a fist).

1) Richards, who generally I give two super thumbs up to, was given a penalty shot in the first after he was dragged down on his way to attempt a shortie. He skated in, he skated around, he skated past Ryan Miller. He lamely tried to take a shot once he was practically past the goal. Miller didn't have to do jack to make a save; all he did was drop low and hang out. Richards didn't challenge him one bit. He waited way, way too long. I mean, on the replay, I saw several moments where he could have at least tried. The point at which he flicked his stick was completely out of the realm of possible. HELLO?! Then, he took a stupid hooking penalty in the second, which I will get back to next.

2) Pitkanen, who is my shining star, whose jersey I proudly wear because he can be such a stud, made thousands of people wonder where the studliness has gone. He was barely mediocre last night and in can be too typical fashion, he took a lazy and out-of-control-stupid penalty. He was behind the net when he draped himself over a guy in a blue jersey so thoroughly I thought he would completely subsume him, just assimilate the Sabres dude into his bulk and weigh another 200 pounds. Then, when he got called for the obvious infraction of holding, he stood there with an incredulous look on his face. HELLO!? In a future manual of hockey rules, next to the entry for the penalty of "holding" you might find a picture of Pitkanen squeezing this Sabres guy from behind. I turned to J. and said, "Whenever Pitkanen is in the box, the Flyers are scored against. You watch." Richards' stupid hooking penalty following Joni's bear hug put the Flyers two men down. The Sabres had already scored once, not even a minute into the second; with their two-man advantage, they scored again. Joni came out of the box, Sabres still on the power-play. They scored again. That opened the damned flood gates and it was all garbage, garbage, garbage afterward.

3) Forsberg was useless, but not because he didn't try. He had no one to pass to, he had no one to set up, he had no one to help him out because no one seemed to know how to play, pass, be in position, didn't seem to know how to do anything but skate pointlessly and watch as guys in blue jerseys made absolute fools of them. And Forsberg was everywhere on the ice; more than once the announcers commented on Sabres' business being broken up by our #21; he was just about the best defenseman out there, and what the hell was he doing having to try to cover the asses of #2, #5, #6, #24, #34, #44? Forsberg was hit, dumped to the ice, shoved around, and did anyone do anything about it? Not really. This guy is the captain and the best player on the team and he is roughed up with no retaliation?? I'm not saying a brawl should have opened up, but in the third period, when the score is already 9-1, and one of the winning opponents shoves around your captain so needlessly, so mockingly, I'm not all for turning the other cheek.

4) Robert Esche flopped around so much you might have thought he was working hard and standing on his head trying to stop these pathetic goals one right after the other, but if he hadn't given up every single god damn rebound statistically possible in the universe, a few of those goals might not have happened. I cringed every time a Sabre took a shot. Esche made pad save after pad save, but rarely tried to stop the puck any other way, rarely trapped it, rarely froze it, and with nearly every shot the Sabres took at Esche, I whimpered inside, waiting a) for him to miss the shot outright, and if he did not, but made the initial pad save, b) for the Sabres to score on the magnificant rebound gift he'd given them, because he'd be magnificently out of position to stop it. Of course, if he'd had adequate defense in front of him, the bloodletting might not have been so dramatic; I also think that if Niitty had been in goal, it wouldn't have been so bad. Niittymaki may not have won the game for us, but he is much calmer in front of the net; he doesn't seem to flail about quite as much; he freezes the puck more often; he doesn't give up the fat, juicy, Butterball rebounds nearly so often. (Of course, the team also seems to play better in front of him, so he may be luckier in that regard.) The team played abysmally, sure, but Esche in no way bailed this team out last night, where Niittymaki, or any other goaltender in the league, might have at least kept it a little closer. Esche has 13 goals against in two games. That comes to a 6.5 GAA. Neither game was close. With Niitty in net, the Flyers were 1-3-1, but all close games. Even with the trash that played in front, I just don't see how there can be any question as to who the Flyers need in that net for #1. I was actually feeling pangs when they would show Esche squirting water on his face after a goal was just scored against him. It wasn't all his fault, but damn, he sure wasn't helping much either. He must have been put in against this team so he could prove, I don't know, something. But I don't think he proved anything last night. Hitchcock said Esche played great; what was that in comparison to? I was actually feeling bad for Esche last night, because he was kept in the game for every last humiliating goal. And with every goal, I knew another was coming, Esche knew it, the Flyers knew it, yet Esche wasn't replaced, and it just ... kept ... crashing.

Carter scored the only goal, a wicked shot that looked like what he was supposed to do. I liked it. Esche got an assist on it. If only they could convert that kind of action all the time. And I think they should be able too. There is too much talent on this team for the kind of stuff to happen that happened last night. There is no real reason for the Flyers to be the bottom feeders of the NHL. We have the talent, we have the guys to do it. They have to get it together. They have to get the chemistry right. They have to finish plays and get the puck in the net. They have the talent to do it!! But they also HAVE TO PLAY LIKE THEY CARE AND LIKE THEY MEAN IT. Against every team. Not just the Rangers. And especially against the Sabres. Allowing turnover after turnover is sooo not going to win a hockey game, and that kind of stuff happens when you stop caring.

There. I don't feel better, but geez. I love the Flyers, but I hate watching them unravel and get laughed at.

Thursday they will be at Tampa Bay, against whom, I think I remember reading, they were 0-7 last year. I don't want to be all gloom and doom, but maaaaaaaaan........... I wanna be hopeful, but I don't want to hope too much, right?

All right, so Esche is scheduled to start in goal. The collective attitude (from what I can tell) seems to be WTF? And lines are being shifted around again.

I like to think that the coach obviously knows what he is doing, especially when compared to me. (When do I ever know what I am talking about?) But ... let's see. We've got the Flyers, who are struggling to score and have a measley three points, up against a 5-0 team [though, let's be fair, or not fair actually, to Buffalo at least: three of those wins were shootout wins and one was a 4-3 decision, so it's not like they are out there blowing away the rest of the NHL. Ok, they blew away the Rangers the other night 7-4, but that's one of five games. Even the Flyers have won one of five games (incidentally, against the Rangers. Do the Rangers enjoy being beaten?] that at last meeting made absolute mincemeat of the Flyers and Esche in particular.

[head-scratching noise, pause]

I don't know.

And neither does Esche: quoted in every article today I've read, he says: "I don't try getting into [Coach Hitchcock's] head, that's for sure," Esche said. "It's an empty place."

The seriousness of the quote is avidly debated on message boards, but sheesh.

"Tit for tat," was Hitchcock's response [described as having been "huffed" (Philly Inquirer) and delivered while "red-faced" (Courier-Post)].

Line switching: Knuble taken out of the "Deuces Wild" line (Gagne/Forsberg/Knuble); Calder replaces him. Knuble put with Carter and Umberger. Bet $100 these line changes don't last longer than a period.

On TV tonight (Vs.) I'll watch. Go Flyers!!!

This weekend's hockey catch-up is brought to you by the little bit of Cherry Coke I have been drinking, which will perk me up for the rest of the afternoon.

The big story from Saturday is the Iowa Stars game I went to with two coworker/friends. We left around 4 so that we would make sure we were there in plenty of time to brose the shop, find our seats, see the warmup, etc. -- our standard hockey-game-attending ritual. Pretty nice afternoon so nice drive west. Apparently Bill Clinton was speaking at the auditorium adjacent the Wells Fargo Arena, which would explain the numerous CLINTON FOR PRESIDENT (Hillary in '08) signs that were all over the place, plus people in suits we didn't think were appropriate hockey-game-attending attire (but hey, maybe not everyone wants to be jersey-wearing slobs like us). Since this is not a politics blog, I'll just move on.

Great seats, two away from the visitors' tunnel and six up from the ice. We did not have too many people around us, which seemed unusual -- the section always seemed packed in the games we went to last season. I think it's probably a big season-ticket section (there were folks we remembered from last year, a guy wearing a personalized green jersey with the name B HEAVY on the back, and the loud guy with the mustache who usually stands with his arms out and slightly up, screaming "WHO CARES" when the announcer reads off who scored the goal for the opposing team, and other things as well), and people just weren't there for some reason ... they missed a great game, so too bad for them, and we didn't have to feel all squeeeezed in.



Opening face-off; the Stars took off and kicked ass for the first few minutes of the game: goal #1 scored at 2:19 by Polak (Iowa) on an immediate power play; goal #2 scored by Green (Iowa) at 3:00 (even-strength). This strong start was good for later in the game when the Stars started sleep-walking a little. Houston scored a shortie at 5:59 (ugly) but the Stars opened it back up a little more at 10:12 with a 5-on-5 goal by Loui Eriksson (from linemates Petersen and Lessard -- these guys are great together).



There they are taking a faceoff some time during the first period, right in front of us. I love sitting so close to the action.

After that third goal, the Aeros pulled their goalie (who I think was starting in place of the guy who was playing during the Aeros' previous losses to the Stars, Josh Harding. I remember his name because I went to high school with a kid named Josh Harding, but this goalie is waaaay too young to be him.) Second period was tougher, and the Aeros scored the only goal; still, no worries, Stars up 3-2 through the period.

We got a lot of nice views of our new Swedish guy, #20 Joel Lundqvist.



He plays pretty well, but then most of the guys on the ice for Iowa were playing pretty well so he fit in just fine. We were really surprised at the difference between this team and the team we saw early last season. These guys, for the most part, seemed very together and to be able to read each other well. In the second and for part of the third period, though, it seemed that their passes were not making it to each other very well, either just ahead of just behind or had too much on them; before two minutes had passed in the third, the Aeros tied it up.

Ugh.

I really don't like to have to go to overtime, as I hate the golden goal. So I was really pulling for the Stars to notch another one so that they could win in regulation (besides, I was eager for the Stars to blank the Aeros so Houston would go home with zero points). And it happened, a really pretty shot by Our Boy Lundqvist, slam into the net at 9:09, the go-ahead goal that would be the game-winner.



He was happy about it. So were we.

The Stars held off the Aeros for the next ten minutes and the win was a nice one, leaving the Stars at 4-0, with 8 points tied with the Rochester Americans for the top slot in the league.

[The Aeros played Sunday night against San Antonio and lost in the shootout, but picked up a point getting there so at least are not at the very bottom of the league anymore (a place reserved for Iowa's upcoming Saturday opponent, Syracuse Crunch, and the Hartford Wolf Pack).]

So, the Stars don't play again until Saturday, which will be against, as I just mentioned, the Syracuse Crunch. Given the Crunch's record (0-4), Iowa shouldn't have a problem. But I don't want to jinx anyone. No matter what, we're going to be right down at center ice banging on the Plexiglass and having a great time.

Let's see, some other AHL stuff: Phantoms lost on Saturday to Manitoba 2-1 in regulation (having only 13 shots! to the Moose's 29 ... that's not too good) but won Sunday against Binghamton 4-3 in a shootout. The Phantoms seem to be doing just fine this season (better than the Flyers ... gah!) -- 6 points with their 3-1 record, second in their division behind the vile Hershey Bears.

Now. The Flyers played what appears to be only two periods of hockey on Saturday, giving up a lead and losing the to Devils 3-2. "Late-game heroics" on the part of Brian Gionta (nhl.com) seem to be what killed the game for Philadelphia. Brodeur was more on his game, like I was sure he would be. Niitty started again for us, but no one seems to be trashing his play in these losses. It was his fourth-in-a-row start. So it's looking bleak. I am not going to worry -- yet. I'm not going to panic. There have been only a handful of games so far -- but losses to division rivals so early can really come back to haunt later in the season. I am confident the Flyers will pull it together, get the chemistry right, fill holes and get the puck in the net. We're only two weeks in. I hate seeing the 1-3-1 record and that the Flyers are last in the Atlantic ... mainly because New Jersey is #1 and PITTSBURGH (it hurts my fingers to even type it) are second. Even ... my poor fingers! ... even the ISLANDERS have managed to win 2 and are ahead of Philadelphia.

Right, no panic, no worrying, not yet.

Esche is supposed to start in one of the two games coming up this week. Please let it not be against Buffalo on Tuesday. Buffalo will be impossible enough to face without Mr. Rebounds.

I'm going to watch the game tomorrow night, either at J.'s or at my folks'. All I can do is hope that it will not be a repeat of the last Flyers/Sabres game I was subjected to last spring. I would like to hope that the Flyers come out and blaze the Buffalo fools into ashes on the ice, but I think I'll be as realistic as possible and just hope the Flyers don't get made to look useless. If they win, I'll have a party. If they lose, I just hope it's not by 6 goals. (And if they don't want to lose by 6 goals, they probably shouldn't have Esche in goal.*)

That's all the hockeyness for now.

*Dead-horse beating is waaaaay fun.

Old-time goalie masks look scary and creepy, no matter what's painted on the front. Is that because those Friday 13th movies made sure that everyone associated a goalie mask of that type with scary/creepy? Some of them are creepy deliberately, like this one looking like bones and the top one here looking like a skull; but some of them just end up looking creepy for no obvious reason. Maybe it's the wide empty eye spaces and the smooth absolute expressionlessness of the face with only a slit for a mouth and no real nose.

Some of them are cleverly painted though with team-related colors or logos.

Canucks mask (Curt Ridley)

Flyers mask (Wayne Stephenson)

Toronto mask (Mike Palmateer)

(I don't have any work to do, so I am looking at hockey stuff on the 'net.)

I only listened to the first period of the game last night. The first period seemed to belong only to special teams, because one team or the other almost always had someone sitting in the penalty box. Both Iowa and Houston scored power play goals in the first period, and then I went to bed.

I clicky-clicked on the AHL website today and saw right away that Iowa scored two goals in the third period and held Houston to zero more, and the Stars won 3-1 (the third goal an empty-netter by Lessard). This is great stuff. The Stars are 3-0 now, sitting at the top of their division, their conference, and the league with six points.

Yeah, it's only the first week, with a lot of teams having only played one game (Stars and Aeros are the only teams to have played three), but that's still got to feel good. These early wins against divisional rivals are crucial.

Really looking forward to tomorrow's game, which will be the third in a row against the Aeros (now 0-3).

I was skimming results of last night's NHL games, and saw that the Devils came back from a serious 3-goal deficit in the third period to tie the game, force an overtime, and end up winning over the Leafs in a shootout. I don't know how the Devils do stuff like that (recall last regular season game when they came back from a similar deficit to beat the 'Canes and end up shoving the Flyers out of first in the Atlantic Division). I can't decide if it's a good sign for the Flyers (who face the Debbies on Saturday) that the even the Leafs could get out to a big lead over the Devils, or a bad one to see again that even down three goals the Devils can come back to win. Doubt we will see Brodeur so off his game again so soon.

I also saw the Blackhawks won again, over the Preds 3-1. Chicago are now 2-1, not too bad. Tied points-wise with Detroit (both have 4) and one behind Columbus (Columbus??)

I have no further notes to make -- until tomorrow!!

Tickets purchased for the Iowa Stars/Syracuse Crunch game, October 21. We've got ourselves some center ice seats, section 104 row C. Do they get much better than that? I'm really asking because despite having gone to quite a few games in Des Moines, I am not very familiar with the Wells Fargo Arena. The last few games we went to we were hanging out in section 103 rows R, S, etc. which were pretty far up the section. I am wondering if we may be directly behind one bench or the other. I don't know where row lettering begins in the section behind the benches at the Wells Fargo Arena. In the Wachovia Center (where they use numbers instead of letters) the row immediately behind the benches is row 3, with row 1 being at the ice in sections without benches or penalty boxes. I wonder if it's the same at the WFA -- with A being at the ice, C being then three rows back -- which might put C behind the benches. If so, then SWEET! We've got tix right behind a bench (or that space between the benches?)! If not, then oh well, three rows behind a bench is still pretty damn excellent.

I'll check it out this weekend. We're in section 103 row F on Saturday, which we like the sound of too.

I'm looking at other news from the AHL and NHL today (seeing as my work has been put on hold due to a malfunctioning AFM). The AHL site has Iowa's Junior Lessard as the Player of the Week for October 4-8. "In two games, Lessard scored two goals and assisted on three others as the Stars earned a pair of road wins against West Division foes. On Saturday night in San Antonio, Lessard scored the first of Iowa’s three first-period goals, then assisted on the game-winning tally midway through the third period as the Stars opened with a 5-4 victory over the Rampage. On Sunday in Houston, Lessard gave Iowa the lead with his second-period goal, then picked up two assists in the third as the Stars rallied for a 6-3 win over the Aeros." Nice job! As I have alluded to before, having Lessard at Iowa is a great thing. He is a Hobey Baker award winner and a great offensive asset.

Another Iowa Stars player noted by the AHL last weekend was newcomer Marty Sertich, who was the AHL's second star; he scored two goals in the Stars/Aeros game.

I really think Iowa is going to improve on its inaugural season. I really think they're going to give the other teams in the West a run for it. I know it's only been two games (with their third tonight!) but they did well in the preseason and have made a nice mark to start. I've got way more invested in them now than I did at this time last season, that's for sure; I was pretty ambivalent. (Well, they are Dallas' team, after all.) But after seeing them play a few times, I started to get the home team vibe. And they stopped losing a lot, and made the playoffs, and it was a good run. They gave me the reasons to want to see them and pay attention to them.

The Phantoms can only go up from last year, too. They've only had one game so far, but it was a nice 5-4 win over despised Norfolk. (Well, I despised them, anyway.) Ruzicka with a hat trick, the third being the overtime game-winner -- good stuff. Tomorrow night they play on the road vs. Manitoba, so good luck there.

Looking at the NHL:

Stanley Cup champs the Hurricanes are not looking so good afer a week of hockey. They have yet to win a game. Gee, even the Flyers have won a game, and we were bounced, in horrific fashion, out of the last playoffs after one round. And even the Islanders have won (finally, last night). Of course, Carolina did let go of a number of players that made a difference during the playoff run last season, so maybe it shouldn't be a huge surprise, they're not the team they were; but Cam Ward looked so hot then, and he's still around, and ... well, not quite so hot, I guess. The list of goalies as a function of goals-against has him at #25, with 3.57. Niittymaki is at 16, 2.62 -- respectable. (Marc-Andre Fleury is #2 with 1.01. Seriously, what's going on here? And Aebischer, who kept the Flyers out of the net last night, is #3 with 1.44. At least two of our losses happened to apparently very amazing goalies. Lundqvuist, H. is at #24, 3.28.)

Speaking of goalies, remember during the Calder Cup playoffs in 2005, when Kari Lehtonen was the man for the Chicago Wolves, and all anyone could talk about in the AHL was how super awesome this Thrashers prospect was? Only to be totally outplayed by Niittymaki when the Wolves and Phantoms met up? Sure, Kari was good, but whoa was Niittymaki better. And then last season Lehtonen didn't play a whole lot because he injured himself right away, and when he came back didn't seem to live up to all the greatness that was said about him. (How could he? He hadn't played in months!) So all the hype seemed kind of overblown. Well, now he's showing what he's made of. In four games, the Finn has gotten two shutouts and in the process broke a record for shutout minutes and at the moment has a goals-against of 0.73. The Trashers* have allowed only one even-strength goal so far. It was against Atlanta that the Flyers played when I was at my first NHL game last November, and it was Atlanta that won that game. Lehtonen was not in goal, and I am not exaggerating when I say that the only reason that game went into overtime to end with a Thrashers win was because the refereeing was abysmal. Therefore, I have difficulty saying anything good about Atlanta; but Lehtonen had nothing to do with that Flyers loss, so I can say ok things about him. Besides, a person can't help but be impressed with an oh-point-seven-three goals against.

That's all I have to say for now. Good luck to the Iowa Stars tonight at their home opener.

*I spelled it that way on purpose. I don't like Atlanta. (Mainly on principle. Technically I don't like any team not the Flyers. But as I said, because of that game I was at, I dislike them actively.)

Despite feeling pretty cruddy, I'm going to sit here and listening to the start of the Flyers game. Niittymaki is in goal again, which surprises most people for some reason. I guess that it's the back-to-back business, but Niitty was hot in goal last night, was great in goal on Saturday, and Esche? Sure, he's had only one shot so far, but he blew it. Here's hoping Niitty keeps it up tonight. The Canadiens sure had the Flyers at their mercy at almost every matchup last season, Flyers with a 1-2-1 record. Remember that game where Jan Bulis scored four goals?? Ugh.

I saw a story on nhl.com today about the new scoreboard/jumbotron at the Wachovia Center that cracked me up. A reporter asked Niitty about the new screen. The goalie replied: "'Oh man, it's awesome. Did you see that? The best I've ever seen, by far.'" Before I read another word, I thought, What is Niittymaki doing looking at the jumbotron after giving up a goal last season while staring it at? The article continued. "That reporter and the goalie apparently forgot the night last October when Pittsburgh's Maxime Talbot scored his first NHL goal off a center-ice faceoff while Niittymaki was admiring a replay of one his great saves. 'Didn't you promise never to look at the scoreboard again?' Niittymaki was asked. Red-faced and giggling before a cast of friendly reporters, Niittymaki begged them not to use his answer in their stories."

Well, it is an awesome scoreboard.

Ok, game on. And 38 seconds into the game, Canadiens scored. WTF? Why do the Flyers crumble so quickly at home?? Dang!


First period ended with no other scoring despite the Flyers having a couple power plays including a 5-on-3 -- the post was hit once or twice.

Forsberg took a hard puck hit on the top of his boot -- has gone into the locker room. This is a nerve-wracking report.

Kovalev scored. Booo. Flyers down 0-2. Forsberg's back out.

Well, end of the second period with no other goals, Flyers on the power play, will have another 60-some seconds coming back in the third. Sorry I don't have more to say about the game as it happens. I don't have much energy, and I half wish that there hadn't been a game tonight so I could just go to bed. I suppose that I could -- it's not like this is a very uplifting game -- but I will try to make it through the third.


[Commercials this year are even lamer than last year. "Is your SUV doping?" I can't even excuse it because it's a VW commercial.]


YAY. After taking a high stick in the face with no penalty, Umberger retaliates and scores. Flyers halve their deficit early in the third! (1:51)

Wow, the announcers and crowd are freaking out about "the save of the season" -- a standing ovation!! Niittymaki did the splits and totally denied a Canadiens goal. Damn, wish I could have seen that. (If it was so awesome, I suppose I'll find a highlight of it somewhere?)

Ugh. Flyers had six guys to four on the ice in the last minute-half or so when the Canadiens took a penalty, but Montreal iced it into the net and scored, 3-1. That's that. 26 seconds left, and then I'm off to bed. Boooooooooooooooooooooooo.

This weekend we are heading west to Des Moines to see our first Iowa Stars game of the season. So far, the Iowa boys are playing pretty well. They took their first two games of the season, both away. Last Saturday, the season opener, was in San Antonio: a 5-4 win. This was followed the next night by a 6-3 blowout against the Houston Aeros. Tomorrow night the Stars face the Aeros again, in Des Moines, for the home opener. Somehow I can make it to Philadelphia for the Flyers' home opener, but can't possibly make it to Des Moines for the Iowa Stars' opener. Well, that's just the way it goes. (Like I said, we'll be there Saturday.)

While on the plane this weekend, J. and I were looking through some hockey magazines which previewed each team, and while we scanned Dallas' list of prospects, we saw Joel Lundqvist's name and connected that to an article we read about Henrik Lundqvist having a garage band (named, as we discovered today and then laughed over, Power Play ... ) with his twin brother who also played hockey. Because Henrik is in the NHL, we assumed Joel would also be playing in the NHL, but I read that J. Lundqvist scored a goal in the game on Sunday.

Oh really.

Iowa's players are Dallas prospects ... this guy is named Lundqvist ... 2+2 usually = 4, right?

So we looked up this fellow. As Henrik's twin, we reasoned, chances are that he's going to be gooooooood-lookin'.




Oh.

My.

Now, I swear that I would like hockey just as much if all the guys were hideous, but, as a straight girl, I have to say that when some of them look like this, it makes the entire experience just a little sweeter.

By the way, I have to say that I dislike the arrangement of the Iowa Stars website. It is the way it seems to have a huge amount of open space in the left border ... it is annoying to have to scroll over slightly in order to center the content. Gripe, gripe. Go Stars anyway!

I didn't expect to be watching the game last night, but events and health transpired such that I was lying on my parents' couch in their basement watching the Rangers and Flyers on Versus at 6 p.m.

I don't want to say "Why couldn't this have been the game that we saw last Saturday at Philadelphia?" because it's useless, and it's not like they sucked the suckage then. Two bad bounces and that was that, as I told. Though the referees seemed to have it in for the Flyers at times last night, things almost universally went the Flyers' way. Foppa scored first -- a beauty of a goal, the man can just be where he needs to be almost without seeming to realize he needs to be there until the moment arrives -- as though he can see the future without quite understanding what he is seeing, just knowing that's where he should go, where he should pass, etc. After a face-off near the Rangers' goal, he slipped back, behind a defender, was open and took a pass which he rifled from a hard angle right up over Lundqvist; the puck slammed into the top of the net, jostled the water bottles, and the Flyers were up 1-0 early in the first.

So pretty.

The Rangers equalized in the last few minutes of the first period, when an odd-man rush happened after Freddy Meyer took a shot that was blocked by a sliding Prucha; down the ice, wham slam pass from Shanahan to Pock and in the net. Defense didn't do much there, unfortunately, and the game was tied.

Ok, ok. A tie game is ok -- everyone back to the starting line, really. The second period got going, and so did the Flyers, in a huge way. It was so wonderful to see. I almost forgot that I was feeling like total crap as I watched goal #2 -- sweetness by Knuble (Forsberg to Gagne to #22 and in, low on the ice); then goal #3 less than a minute later -- Sanderson, from Pitkanen, another thing of absolute prettiness, Joni giving the puck to Sanderson who zoomed up the ice, raised his stick as if to pass but then roofed it, 100 miles an hour, into the net, no doubt stunning Lundqvist -- sheer deliciousness!; then goal #4, a power-play marker by Gagne from Forsberg and Sanderson; Sanderson slid the puck to Forsberg, who crossed it to Gagne who was standing in front of the net, and all Gagne had to do was have his stick out to redirect, and the puck was in. Flyers left the second period up 4-1, a nice position to find themselves in, for sure.

Let me now point out that in two periods of play, the Rangers had a mere 14 shots on goal, 12 of those coming in the second period. That's right -- New York had TWO SHOTS in the first period, not making a ONE until almost thirteen minutes had passed! The announcers made some stupid comment later in the game about how it appeared as though the Flyers had dominated the first period. Uh .... if they held the Rangers to two shots (even though one of those two shot resulted in a goal) while having ten of their own, holding their opponents to zero shots for more than half the period, I think it goes without saying that they dominated, no "appearing" about it.

Third period, great game continued, lots of five-on-five action, and while the Flyers didn't score another goal, they had several good opportunities, one of which was a shot by Pitkanen that clanged disappointingly off the post. I noted that we had not heard much about Jagr, which suits me just fine, and the announcers seemed to notice it too, saying that he had never scored on Niittymaki (though I recall he scored just fine against Esche). I bellowed, "Shut up!!" at the TV, because, you know, saying stuff like that just ASKS for it to happen. I mean, you never say something like, "Oooh maybe Niitty will get a shutout!" when in the third period the game is at 2-0. Because if you do, the opponent will score!! So don't say "Jagr has never scored on Niitty" because THEN HE WILL. Ok, he didn't this time, but no sooner had the words left the announcers mouth than Shanahan got the puck and rocketed it in ("a buzzbomb"), a seriously disgustingly beautiful shot that no one could have moved fast enough to stop. It was a power-play goal at 19:31.

Rangers now only behind by 2, but there wasn't enough time to do much else. Lundqvist was on the bench; they showed him sitting there, centering on his face and it looked as though he were staring off dejectedly. He had played pretty well, but of course I just like to think that the Flyers had his number last night. Good stuff from both sides, actually. A great game to see, not a boring minute.

Flyers are now 1-1-1, Rangers 2-1-0; standings in the Atlantic are Rangers, Flyers, Penguins (!), Devils, Islanders. The Pens and Devils are both 2-1-1. Islanders, poor laughingstock of the Atlantic, 0-3.

Tonight the Flyers face the Canadiens in Philadelphia. I'll listen. Paljon onnea!

I'm a few days late, but I haven't had the moment to sit and make my 24-hour Philadelphia Hockey Weekend hockey post. Now you shall have it!

We arrived at the arena early, around 5:30 p.m.



It seemed to take quite a while to fill the arena, but it was certainly crowded in the gear shop, where we browsed stuff for a while. I had to keep a my hands tight around the stuff I was carrying, so that I wouldn't pick up $500 worth of cool Flyers stuff that I really don't need, though we did select a couple items to take back to the lab with us and distribute (and I did get a lil keychain for myself). There are just so many t-shirts and pullovers, knickknacks, and, of course, jerseys. And the orange and black fever was strong by that point. We finally extricated ourselves from the place and the hundred people swarming inside it to buy programs and get to our seats.

They were awesome. Six rows behind the Flyers' bench and just off the corner of the tunnel, which, unfortunately, was covered at our end. Kids were cramming themselves up against the grates at the tunnel and peering down, and though we were quite early to our seats, we knew when the Flyers were on their way out to the ice for the warm-up when the kids' already-high level of energy went off the charts. Then the guys were out of the tunnel and on the ice, and everyone who had squeezed themselves into the sections at the Flyers' end of the ice went mad with cheers.

I took a lot of pictures, but most of them turned out too blurry.

I had taken one of my old signs, from the Phantoms' Calder Cup playoffs, one that read "HEI JONI PALJON ONNEA!" and while they skated, I held it up and jumped a little, waving it. Joni saw it; he grinned. (Mission thereby accomplished.) I took photos and J. and I marveled at our luck, marveled at being at the opening game, seeing the Flyers, seeing Joni, seeing Forsberg, looking down the ice and seeing Lundqvist, Jagr ... we were overflowing.



After a long tribute to former Flyers (this is the 40th year of existence for the Philadelphia Flyers), each current Flyer skated out to the center line, introducing himself on the brand-new incredibly vivid jumbotron.



I tried taking pictures during this time, too, but they all turned out too dark! I couldn't possibly use the "dark" capabilities because the shutter speed would have been damnably slow, and my hands were in no way steady enough to get a good shot. So I gave up and just enjoyed the moment, watching each guy in the home black jersey come out, line up, be cheered. Then it was time to boo the Rangers while their starting line was named; then the "God Bless America" was sung (no anthem?). Then it was time to get the game started.



Opening face-off. Tension and excitement roared.

Then.

Nylander scored for the Rangers at 42 seconds.

I thought: is this the kind of game I'm going to see? A repeat of Thursday's 4-0 disgustingness? It depresses me that it was so easy to approach the brink of pessimism after an hour of thrilling optimism, waiting for the game to start. All it took was 42 seconds, a bad goal, and I couldn't believe it.

Then.

A penalty march began, with holding, holding the stick, cross-checking, and tripping penalties by the Flyers keeping them at least one man down for nearly 8 minutes.

Worse and worse! But somehow the Flyers' penalty kill kept it together, and the Rangers didn't score. Then it was the Rangers' turn to march to the penalty box. Holding, hooking, high-sticking. One of those penalties resulted in a power-play goal by our man Forsberg, and the game was tied, and hopes were restored, tensions ratcheted up a notch.



Toward the end of the first period, Gagne scored again, an even-strength goal, to put the Flyers up 2-1, and the place was rocking again. The period ended at that mark. During the intermission, members of the inaugural Flyers team lined up along the bench. I didn't recognize any of the names, I'll admit. My knowledge of the Flyers' history is sketchy at best, though I pick up more and more every time I read something, it seems. They kept displaying tidbits from different seasons on the humbotron during stoppages, so I was being educated constantly during the match!

The second period was good stuff. End-to-end action with no penalties taken by the Flyers, a few power-plays for the home team. Two goals scored by the Rangers put them up 3-2, but Phila scored two then to make it 4-3 (goals by Sanderson and Gagne, power-play and even-strength goals, respectively). 4 would be the number of goals the Flyers scored Saturday night, with Pitkanen assisting on three of them, thereby tallying three points in the game! There were some beautiful passes, beautiful set-ups; it was fantastic. I took a few pictures, but mostly was mesmerized by the hockey and left my camera alone. I must note that one of the goals the Rangers scored was 100% a gimme: the puck was hammered down the ice, and Niitty was moving back behind the net to play it -- but it took a crazy and unexpected bounce to cross in front of the net toward a Ranger who was salivating at the gift, and had a hundred years to line it up and shoot it, practically open-net, into the goal. Niitty dove hard, but never had a chance; our D-man was in no position to stop it, either. Why should he be? Our guys were doing the right thing for the play that was supposed to happen, but the puck bounced wrong, and they ended up being in the wrong places. It was heartbreaking, but what can you do? (Another of the Rangers' goals was handed to them, as the puck was bobbled, on yet another bad bounce, by everyone in black and we ended up ceding a garbage goal to New York.)

Second intermission, Flyers up 4-3, everyone quite happy as they watched the Mites on Ice. The jumbotron announcer spoke to the kid who scored the lone goal in this little matchup, as the Zambonis moved out to clean the ice, and told him that as the game-winning goal-scorer, his prize was to get to chase the Zamboni around the ice. The kid believed him and tried to make a break for it, but the announcer grabbed his jersey and said he was kidding. The kid tried again, and the announcer pulled him back, and then they broke away from that scene.

Third period. More of the same from the first. Oustanding goaltending on both ends, great passing, great play, with few mistakes, few penalties, just a lot of great hockey. But at 8:33 the Rangers tied it up. And then there was a fight in the section next to us, and everyone was standing up, apparently more interested in the melee in section 101 than what was happening on the ice, which made those of us in section 124 irate, because with everyone next door standing, it made it very difficult to see what was happening down at the other end, which was in fact where all the action was. It was the last four minutes of a tied game, for crying out loud! I didn't give a damn about who was slugging whom in section 101! (A woman in a Rangers jersey was forcibly helped out; she was followed not long after by a man in a Rangers jersey accompanied by another woman. I don't remember if anyone else was helped out -- I think just the three of them.) Despite pressure in the Rangers' end, the Flyers didn't score again, but neither did the Rangers, and the game went into overtime.

And the overtime period went by quickly with no scoring. Damn. I hate the shootout as the deciding factor, though at least the tie meant that the Flyers wouldn't exit with no points at all if they didn't win.

The shootout was relentless. It went on and on and on. Thirteen rounds. Lundqvist stoned all the Flyers; Niittymaki stoned all the Rangers. They all seemed to be making the same shot, I couldn't really tell that anyone was trying to deke, just marching up, chasing the goalie back, getting real close before taking a low shot which would be blocked. Until Marcel Hossa, damn his eyes, came out, walked up, and shot from farther back ... I couldn't believe it when the lamp went red, I didn't even see it slide through until it was in the net.

The whole place deflated (except for the random few people in blue or white). What a terribly disappointing end to such an exciting game. And it's hard not to think that if not for a trashcan goal and a huge bad bounce, it would have been All Flyers in Regulation, 4-2.

But the Flyers, for the most part, played fantastically and while I am disappointed, yes, that they didn't win their home opener (and I am now 0-for-3 in Flyers games which I attend) it is hard to be too worked up because they played very well, apparently having exorcised the badness that infected them against Pittsburgh.

We stuck around to hear the three stars, two of which were Rangers (Gagne was #2 for his 2 goals on the night), and then we emerged into a cool evening, walking back to the subway in a stream of chatterbox Flyers fans, reliving the night, realizing we had gotten to our seats before 6 p.m. and hadn't left them until the game ended at 10:15. How had more than 4 hours passed without us noticing? Guess when your heart is racing with excitement, time doesn't mean very much.

We had the pleasure of walking out of the subway station at City Hall with two Rangers fans behind us, and two in front of us. Couldn't hear the two in front talking, but had to listen to the two behind us trash-talking the whole way. Apparently they don't believe that the Flyers outplayed the Rangers (but they did), don't believe that the Rangers were given Christmas presents early in the form of two easy goals, don't believe that the game should have been two points for Philadelphia. But I am a person of unimpressive dimensions, and my friend J. is no Arnold Schwarzenegger either, so we didn't turn around to set them straight. Anyway, if they want to believe their team is so much better than ours, that's up to them. The rest of the season will show who's who.*

Though we had gotten sparkling wine to celebrate a Flyers win, we drank it anyway, toasting the excellent play and Niitty's fortitude (despite the slinking-in of Hossa's shot).

So went my first Home Opener, my third Flyers game, a great experience.

*See next post, re: Rangers vs. Flyers at Madison Square Garden, October 10.

I started to blog live during my listen-to of the Flyers/Penguins game last night, but it got so depressing and one-track that I stopped.

Flyers: 40 shots, 0 goals.

Penguins: 21 shots, 4 goals (not only that but those 4 goals were in only 11 shots. What the HELL kind of save percentage is that for a "starting goalie"?).

Robert Esche: what the? [beating dead horse]

Marc-Andre Fleury: WHAT THE? Since when is he that good? The announcers announced that during the preseason he had like 4 goals against every game! Guess he picked the right time to suddenly become a HOT HAND.

I really can't comment too much on the rest of the team. Limiting a team to 21 shots is reasonably respectable. The defense didn't break down 100%, so Esche can't blame much on them (especially since the first goal, from all accounts, came from way the hell out there with no traffic. Esche: blind? Second goal came on a fat, succulent rebound, the kind Esche gives up all the flaming time. I don't have the heart to discuss the following two goals, one of which was scored by Crosby, who tried to get into a fight with Forsberg. Nice.) And 40 shots is a lot, so it wasn't that the Flyers weren't at all generating offense -- they just couldn't finish thanks to the iron gate that mysteriously materialized on the Penguins' team.

All I can hope for is better luck tomorrow night in Philly. With Henrik Lundqvist in goal the Flyers really can't be common on offense (whereas Fleury might have been surprising last night, that kind of effort out of the Rangers' #30 wouldn't be. He is known to have a hot hand. Oh, did I use the word "hot" in a sentence about Henrik Lundqvist? Mmm Lundqvist.) ANYWAY they will have to find a way to be extraordinary and pot some goals. And, as you heard yesterday, Niittymaki is scheduled to appear in the net for the Flyers, and even hurt the dude cannot be worse than Esche. I mean that "cannot" in two ways. 1) Flyers can't expect to win if the goalie lets in 4 goals. 2) Esche was so bad that even I could have stopped more goals. (All right, I exaggerate.) Even with an injured hip Niitty should be better than that spectacle in the goal last night.

I guess Hitchcock has decided to mix up some lines (already!) for tomorrow's game, so we'll see if it can generate the extraordinary offense that the Flyers need. And the defense has to hold its own better than it has been all preseason and better than last night, too. Jaromir Jagr scored a pathetically short time into the game between Washington and New York last night -- scoring on the first shot of the game. I hate to have to admit that someone on a team that I dislike is any good, but Jagr is dangerous. In last year's opener, he got two shots on Esche, same point on the ice, under Esche's left arm. Can't be letting him get any chances to fire, even with someone I trust more in the net. And then the Rangers' newly-acquired Shanahan ALSO was dangerous. The Flyers will definitely have their work cut out for them.

But I'll be there, screaming on their behalf. If they're good, it will be good stuff. If they play poorly, they can expect some fire. God, it's going to be so exciting. I'm so thrilled that I am so irresponsible. When I get back, I'll post ya some photos and have a good story to tell you.

Some final little notes. I read that the Blackhawks beat the Predators 8-6, and the first two goals were scored by former Flyers Patrick Sharp (one of my favorites...I was so sorry when they traded him away) and Michal Handzus. And, another former Flyer, Branko Radivojevic, scored for his new team in Minnesota. Did any current Flyers score last night? No.

But it was a surprise to read that Tomas Vokoun of the Preds was so holey. I think that he was out a lot of the last season due to some medical situation, so maybe he's just a little rusty yet. I know that he is a better goalie than that.

All right then. GO FLYERS.

Flyers day!!

There is a lot of stuff in the Philly papers, and I spent waaaay too much time this morning reading it all, but the thing that made me happiest was this: the tastiest tidbit at the end of the first article I was reading (about Petr Nedved) --

"Antero Niittymaki woke up feeling 'even better,' Hitchcock said, than the day before and will start in Saturday's home opener against the Rangers."

This makes flying out and spending hundreds of $$ on the game all the more satisfying. The only thing that can happen to make the evening total perfection will be a Flyers win. (Well, I will have to qualify that: a Flyers win in which Joni scores a goal.)

So, tonight's game vs. the Penguins, in Pittsburgh, 6:30 p.m. CDT. I will be listening.

Happy Opening Day!

I have brought my Leafs jersey to wear inside the lab when I get cold (inevitable), but I did not wear it outside -- not because I was ashamed to, but because it was still too dang hot. I have not let the weather detract me from feeling the hockey, though yesterday it was a little difficult at 95 degrees (HELLO? August?). Anyway, this morning there is a report in the Philly Inquirer (and Daily News) about Niittymaki having practiced yesterday without a single glitch, and if he feels all right today and can practice again the same as yesterday, then it's likely he will be green-lighted to back Esche tomorrow, and Houle won't be called up; as Hitchcock was quoted as saying, "we are off to the races." It's great that they have appeared to solve the problem of his injury without loss of time, though, as mentioned in the Daily News article, "The injury will never be far from his mind, and neither will the possibility that his hip won't hold up." Niitty won't brood about it, though (unlike me -- both with my own injury, and about his injury! I know I am not alone in that last part!).

But the Flyers are not injury-free. Their new D-man Lars Jonsson hurt his ankle and won't be back for a while; Denis Gauthier sustained a concussion in the Caps/Flyers game last weekend when Alex Ovechkin's skate hit him in the head, and hasn't been cleared for contact yet. But a mention in the paper that Ovechkin went a little out of his way to make sure he could apologize to the Flyers' big hit-man. Not a bad kid at all. (Do you think that football player who last weekend deliberately kicked his opponent in the head when he was down went out of his way on his own to apologize? I don't know. I'm asking.)

On TV tonight (at least, on a channel around here) will be the Sabres (gag) and the Hurricanes. If I am at my folks', maybe I'll watch some of it. Otherwise, the season really won't get going for me until tomorrow.

Let the trek for the Stanley Cup commence!

Tomorrow is the NHL's opening day.

The Flyers don't open their season until Thursday. My new Pitkanen third jersey arrived yesterday, in adequate time, and I will save it to wear on that day. What, then, shall I wear tomorrow to commemorate the season's start?

Don't tell anyone, but I was a Leafs fan back when.* I haven't worn my blue jersey since I made the mistake of wearing it to work when I was at Temple (was I stupid or what, wearing that thing in Philadelphia? There is no excuse, but in my only defense, I had only lived there a couple months. I really didn't know any better, apparently, but when is ignorance an acceptable reason?) Maybe I will wear it tomorrow, but I think I will feel like a traitor.


*1997ish-2004. Hey, when you live in Iowa, a person can pretty much decide for herself which team she will support. The Leafs, with their excellent blue sweater (which my daddy bought me as a surprise) and occasional mention on the Kids in the Hall, seemed as good as any. And in another round of self-defense, my brother was a Flyers fan, and if there was any good reason not to be a Flyers fan back then, that was it.