Two minutes for cross-checking

Iowa Stars shut out Milwaukee Admirals 1-0. See? The 8-game win streak has begun.

Yesterday, I purchased tickets to a Devils/Flyers game which will take place in Newark (NJ) on November 8. I'm going to the game with fellow Phantoms season-ticket-holder friend K., who actually admits to being a Devils fan. (And I admit that I still talk to him in spite of that.) It's how I will be celebrating my birthday. I've never been to an away game for one of my favorite teams, so I'm preparing myself to fly as under the radar as possible, though I will still wear a Flyers jersey. The Devils have this brand-new arena called the Prudential Center, and in honor of it, they are charging outrageously for tickets. With fees, it was $107.50 per ticket to sit in row 6 of the mezzanine level just right of center ice. As I recall, the Devils have not exactly crushed the league in attendance figures recently; a new arena might help bring fans in, but when it costs $100+ to not sit very close, I can't see people stampeding to the doors to fill seats on a nightly basis.

But that's the Devils' problem, not mine.

Speaking of $100 tickets, J. has found us tickets in row 2 of section 112 for the Flyers/Canadiens game on February 17. Row 2 just left of center (facing the ice). Tickets practically on the ice for just about the same price as sitting in mezzanine for the Devils.

Just another reason why it's great to be a Flyers fan. Plus, right now, our Marty is better than their Marty.

I was listening to the Flyers/Bruins game Saturday afternoon as I drove up to Philadelphia to meet my fellow season-ticket folks for some grub before the Phantoms game. It was a good listen; two fights 15 seconds apart, some nice hockey, and then next thing you know Patrice Bergeron is down on the ice, out cold, and not moving. Randy Jones had hit him on a routine play while chasing the puck behind the net, and he’d gone down. That was how it was described, and I arrived and met my friends before anything else was really known, and the last thing I knew was that he was receiving medical attention on the ice. During the Phantoms game, we were given the final score – Flyers 2-1 – and when I got home I watched the first period of the game. Saunders and Propp seemed baffled that Bergeron could have been hurt so badly; the hit did not sound particularly vicious, and indeed play continued briefly after the hit until it was clear that Bergeron wasn’t getting up; and only then did they decide to penalize Jones with a 5-minute boarding major and a game misconduct. Obviously, this was going to be mega-controversial on a number of levels, and I wanted to see what happened.

And I admit that my first thought (besides “Oh man, I hope Bergeron is OK”) was “Oh god why did it have to be a Flyer that did it?” It didn’t take x-ray vision to be able to see that this was going to be a doozy of a situation.

At full speed, the play and hit itself did not look horrific. It was fast and bad, yeah, but not the vicious and evil play that it has been made out to be. Jones and Bergeron were chasing the puck along the back board behind the net, Bergeron ahead, Jones on him the entire time. This is a sequence that occurs numerous times in a game (for example, I watched the first period of the Stars/Sharks game last night and I saw similar incidences where guys go after the puck in the corners/along the back wall, being bumped hard from behind up against the glass). Randy Jones was doing his job as a defenseman, staying with the opposing team’s forward as they go behind his own net, intending to battle the forward for control of the puck. But what ended up happening, what took only a second to go bad, was not routine. For some reason, Bergeron did not continue the play as probably would be expected, which likely would have resulted in him flat up against the boards, smushed there by Jones, and a scrabble for the puck would probably have ensued. Instead, he slammed on the brakes, sending up a spray of snow, and this action caused him to bend over such that his head was at mid-height at the boards. Jones hit him hard, driving him headfirst into the wall. If you watch it in slow motion, it does look horrific. It also gives the false impression that there was plenty of time for Jones to decide not to hit him in the back and shove his face into the wall. It is true that Jones should not have hit him hard from behind, but as has been pointed out numerous times elsewhere, it is a play that happens routinely and often in games, whatever the legality of the action, that does not result in injury. I am not blaming Bergeron, but had he not screeched to a halt and thereby put himself into the position he ended up in, Jones’s hit would likely not have resulted in injury. Both players are at fault and there isn’t any point in portioning it out; had one or the other done something different, things would probably not have turned out so badly. Jones should not have checked hard from behind and Bergeron should have better protected himself. Bad decisions made in fractions of seconds on both sides led to the injury.

It was scary to see, though. For 15 minutes, Bergeron lay on the ice, barely moving. He was immobilized entirely and rolled off to be taken to the hospital. It was a relief to know that “all” he sustained was a concussion and broken nose; no further damage to his head or spine had occurred, and he had full control of his limbs. You never can know how a player will respond to a concussion; it can clear up with no apparent lingering problems, or in a worst-case situation, e.g. Keith Primeau, career-ending effects can hang on. But no one wants to dwell on the worst-case scenario at this time. The lack of more serious injury is encouraging, and Bergeron will probably return to the game after an appropriate recovery period.

Randy Jones was removed from the game and was shaken by the incident, releasing an apology while the game was still going on. Here’s the thing: the kid simply has nothing like this in his game. He accumulated a whopping 30 PIM last season, all minor infractions, and rarely plays an overtly physical game. He has no history of vicious hits. It is therefore mind-boggling that other people, who apparently have no knowledge whatsoever of the kind of player Randy Jones is (and who also are apparently incapable of looking at stats or reading even a little bit to give them some kind of idea), are so quick to label him a “goon” and “dirty” and are ready to throw him in the NHL slammer for this hit, which these same people tend to also believe was fraught with intent to injure.

Goon? Dirty? RANDY JONES?

Thanks to the heavy suspensions already received by Flyers players, no one could focus solely on this incident alone. Somehow, for many people, all three incidents (Downie’s, Boulerice’s, and Jones’s) are intimately related and Jones’s can absolutely be judged in the same light as the others’. Somehow, this is indicative of the Flyers organization as a whole. Someone ought to teach those dirty goons a lesson before they kill someone! It is completely erroneous and irresponsible to compare Jones’s hit to Downie’s and Boulerice’s. People who already don’t like the Flyers have jumped on the Flyers Hate Train and are blowing their whistle as loudly as they can. It’s rampant on the message boards, and some of the ignorance displayed there is shocking. (Not unexpected, though. You can find some excellent discussion and real hockey knowledge going back and forth on those message boards, but you needn’t scratch deep to find some really disgusting stupidity.) You have to wonder if some of those people even saw the hit, or wonder how their brains could so mangle what they were seeing that the overall effect was that they had seen something most normal people had not (e.g. claiming that Jones left his feet to make this hit). Calling for fines and stripping the Flyers of draft picks or other punishments to the organization are out of line; the Flyers are not “out of control” and I seriously doubt anyone in the organization is encouraging their players to flagrantly hit people (especially now, when the whole world is primed to suspend someone in a Flyers jersey for daring to step on the ice). The Flyers Hate Train made lots of stops and swept up a lot of people. And not just random schmoes on hockey message boards, either. We have Scott Burnside at ESPN writing what can only be described as an atrociously ridiculous piece of trash on the issue, an article which is wrong and misguided in so many unspeakable ways that one can only hope that a casual reader will not stumble across it and get the wrong idea about hockey in general, let alone the Flyers. (I will take a moment to interject that it is not only Burnside at ESPN guilty of ramping up the anti-Flyers sentiment; when the hit happened on Saturday, TSN.ca was displaying such unbiased headlines as “Flyers strike again”, and on SI.com, we see “Bullies are back in Philly”. Still, in small consolation, it’s not like you can trust ESPN as a source for reliable hockey news anyway. No one with half a brain should be looking there for anything dependable about the NHL. Case in point: a headline for Saturday’s incident reads “Peter Bergeron taken from ice on a stretcher in Bruins’ 2-1 loss to Flyers.” I guess a person with half a brain would only look at ESPN when they want to be mad, or laugh, about something. They are likely to find it.)

Burnside starts off essentially mocking Randy Jones for deeply apologizing for his hit. He sensationalizes the whole thing by conjecturing that the hit could have paralyzed Bergeron. He then notes: “It didn’t.” Then why, why, why even imagine it? Isn’t what happened bad enough? Bergeron could have been paralyzed, true; but he wasn’t, so you’d think we could move on past that and focus on the real outcome of the hit. But it wouldn’t demonize Randy Jones enough if all Burnside said was that Bergeron was concussed and sustained a broken nose. I mean, players are concussed all the time and suffer broken thises and thats all the time. It’s not enough to just lay out the actual results. It’s much, much more spicy to imply a greater evil on Jones’s part by pointing out that Bergeron could have been paralyzed. (Look at the picture of Jones crushing Bergeron. Can’t you just see the wickedness in his eyes?)

Burnside says: “Did we mention Jones was sorry? Really sorry? Just like Jesse Boulerice was sorry he nearly decapitated Ryan Kesler when he cross checked him in the face. And Steve Downie was exceptionally sorry after he headhunted Dean McAmmond of the Ottawa Senators during preseason. Sorry, sorry, sorry.”

While denigrating Jones’s remorse, Burnside also makes the downright dreadful mistake of putting it onto the same plane as Downie’s incident and Boulerice’s incident (while completely inflating things wildly out of proportion in the process. “Nearly decapitated Ryan Kesler”? Huh, I saw that cross-check, and it seemed to me that Kesler’s head stayed firmly on his neck. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to look at a near-decapitation. “Nearly decapitating” would imply a neck nearly severed – think “Nearly Headless Nick” from Harry Potter, only bloodier, because it would be a real person. And probably Boulerice would be in jail, awaiting a trial for attempted murder or something, rather than being waived to cool his heels after being handed a 25 game suspension. Come on, Burnside. I enjoy a good exaggeration as much as the next person, but you have to know when and where.) How can he possibly suggest by association that Jones was headhunting or otherwise intending to harm Bergeron? Let’s parse this:

1) Downie took a run at a guy and knocked him down. It was an intentional huge and bad hit and McAmmond was unfortunately badly injured as a result.

2) Boulerice? There is absolutely no defending that guy. He cross-checked someone across the face, and he deserved a long and ugly suspension.

3) Jones hit a badly-positioned Bergeron from behind, with not a milligram of malice, resulting in a terrible injury to Bergeron.

Each of those incidents was unrelated to any of the others. In the first, we had a kid who was working his tail off trying to make the big club, and took his energy too far. I don’t think he lined McAmmond up to deliberately clock him into next week. He lined him up to make a big hit and play, and the injury that resulted was an unintended consequence. Punishment was required (though I think 20 games is excessive…). Boulerice – I think he was just trying to provoke a fight, yet he had to know that deliberately cross-checking someone above the shoulders was going to result in injury and was unacceptable in the extreme. Jones was doing what d-men generally do, but events unfolded such that a play, even if illegal, that happens frequently ended badly. Randy Jones did not intend to erase Bergeron that way.

I also have to wonder if Burnside actually watches much hockey, or just looks at headlines and comes up with stuff to write based solely on those. I see a couple games a week, some in person, some on TV, and in every game I go to and in every game I watch on TV, I see guys get their faces mashed up against the glass by players who have come up behind them. Thus, to suggest that suggesting that “this is the kind of hit that happens every night is to ignore the hit entirely” is to ignore reality. He goes on to claim that Jones “tracked” his man as he headed into the Flyers’ zone. Of course he did. That’s his freaking job. He’s a defenseman, expected to defend against forwards invading the zone. It doesn’t mean he stalked him with malicious intent. And this part, “Bergeron's back was to Jones the entire time leading up to the hit, but Jones still used his forearm to drive Bergeron's head into the boards” is fodder for laughter, too. Did Burnside actually see the play? Yeah, Bergeron’s back was to Jones the whole time. But Bergeron slammed on the brakes unexpectedly. That was what made the play different than those many other similar plays that do occur every night. Jones hit him from behind, yeah, an irresponsible act, but his forearm driving Bergeron’s head into the boards was an aftereffect of the hit, a result of positioning; a headshot was 100% not Jones’s intent.

After this, Burnside suggests that we Flyers fans would be livid if something similar had happened to Briere. I don’t doubt it. I’m not faulting Bruins fans for being upset that one of their stars is out of the game with a serious injury for an indefinable period of time. I do think that some of them are out-of-control blinded by how upset they are, though. And there would definitely be similarly-blinded Flyers fans in such an instance, who would be screaming “blue murder” (whatever that is). I think he is trying to imply hypocrisy on the part of Flyers fans, but I am not positive. This sentence seems superfluous, but then, the entire article is, if you want to get down to technicalities.

An even more laughable and ignorant statement comes in the next paragraph: “If the NHL … penalizes Jones lightly or lets him off altogether, all the league's statements that it is serious about eliminating dangerous play would be rendered moot.” Honestly, the league’s statements about being serious we mean it for real this time guys about eliminating dangerous play were rendered moot in the instant Colin Campbell said Sutton’s blow to the head of Callahan was a suspendable offense, but since Callahan wasn’t hurt, he didn’t hand down a suspension, and the league continues to reinforce the moot-ness of their statements as incident after incident by players on other teams go by without the serious repercussions the Flyers have faced, e.g.:

1) Tootoo taking a run at an opponent (but missing – and the whole thing was not even reviewed by the NHL!)

2) Raffi Torres hitting David Moss and concussing him (though he did get a fine, whoop-te-doo!)

3) Anton Volchenkov boarding David Booth, resulting in Booth leaving the ice on a stretcher (“it was Booth's sudden reversal of direction and his crouched position that led to the injury more than any malice or recklessness on the part of Volchenkov” – hmmmm, sounds mostly familiar!) but no punishment for Volchenkov

4) Gonchar’s hit on Bouillon (shoulder injury to Bouillon) – no punishment

I dislike the idea of a conspiracy theory, but let’s face it. There have been numerous hits by non-Flyers that have been of equal or worse nature that have received no attention and no suspension (sometimes, no penalty!) even when the act committed was labeled as suspendable, yet as soon as a Flyer does something questionable, he’s out for a while. I will accept Jones’s suspension as soon as Gonchar gets his two games. And Volchenkov joins them. And if the league is going to suspend based on severity of injury rather than viciousness of attack (Callahan not being hurt, so Sutton not being suspended; Jones getting two games though would have gotten nothing had Bergeron gotten up from that play), then I will be satisfied that the league is a paragon of consistency when Jay Bouwmeester serves a handful for knocking Simon Gagne out of play for multiple games. I don’t care if it was a perfectly legal hit – the result was Gagne was hurt, which apparently matters, sometimes?

I foresee that I will never be able to accept Jones’s suspension on these grounds and I will never be satisfied. Gonchar won’t be suspended. Neither will Volchenkov. Bouwmeester? Yeah, right. I’m stunned Gagne wasn’t suspended for putting himself in Bouwmeester’s way and getting hurt – how irresponsible was that!?

Back to the discussion, here. Burnside spends another few paragraphs wondering at how long the league is going to allow the Flyers to ice a squad of wild, uncontrollable goons. Apparently, the Flyers have never been anything but, from the moment they were labeled the Broad Street Bullies back in the 70s. Burnside states that these three incidences hint that the Flyers organization does not have its hands on the reins of its players, a group who apparently indulge in the “culture of recklessness … known for years.” Yeah, a group of malicious, eager-to-hit, eager-to-hurt guys who have nothing else in their minds but to pound on their opponents in as many dirty ways as possible, that’s the Philadelphia Flyers all right. Reckless. Out of control. That describes Randy Jones to a tee, doesn’t it? Kimmo Timonen – I boo if I don’t see him lay down a bone-crushing, potentially-life-threatening hit from behind. Damn it, if Mike Knuble doesn’t crack a defenseman across the throat in order to open up a lane for Gagne to score a goal, then I wonder why the hell he bothers putting on a Flyers jersey, because he sure doesn’t fit in otherwise.

(See, Burnside? Exaggeration – choose your moments carefully.)

Calling for strict punishment to the organization because of three unrelated incidents is irresponsible and wrong. Saying it’s warranted because “the Flyers have essentially robbed their opponents of a chance to compete through their flagrant disregard for the rules” is inflammatory and also misleading. The Flyers are absolutely not the only team guilty of a bad hit here and there, of bad judgment leading to bad injuries. Where are the calls for the Predators to pay for Tootoo’s frequent injustices on the ice? Where are the screams that the Rangers should be punished for the crap that Orr and Hollweg dish out? And so on. And so on. And so on.

I wish I hadn’t read Burnside’s hack job of an article. Not just because I am a Flyers fan and it says bad things about my favorite team. I have tried to look at all these situations objectively, but it’s very difficult when evidence at minimum circumstantially supports an anti-Flyers bias in the way the league deals out punishments, which, circumstantially, seems to go as follows:

1) Who laid out the hit?
i) A Flyer? Suspend, suspend, and suspend some more.
ii) Not a Flyer? Move on to 2).

2) Did someone get hurt? Go to options below.
i) No? Do nothing.
ii) Yes (a non-Flyer)? Possibly levy a fine; maybe do nothing. Depends, but on what, who knows. Flip a coin?
iii) Yes (a Flyer)? Who cares.

People seem to think that the Flyers getting three suspensions in less than a month is indicative of something rotten in Flyerdom, as though no other team at all has committed anything foul. It seems instead to reek of making the Flyers examples, though why this should be the case, I cannot say. Myself, I would have less of a problem with all this example-making if only the league would use the Flyers examples when considering punishments across the league. We Flyers fans would likely be a hell of lot less “whiny” about everything, and we could maybe enjoy the fact that our team isn’t sucking up the bottom of the NHL this year. After Saturday’s game, no one could talk about anything but how Jones laid out Bergeron; did anyone notice Mike Richards getting yet another shorthanded tally to put the Flyers on the board? He completely undressed Zdeno Chara as he blew down the ice, and embarrassed Tim Thomas (who has been fantastic lately). I mean, Chara was so incapable of dealing with Richards on that play that Richards had practically all the time in the world to mosey in on Thomas and choose his shot. Players taking actual penalty shots have less pressure on their backs as they approach the net than Richards did while scoring shorthanded on Saturday. It was awesome. But no one cares, because no one wants to hear about the Flyers unless it’s because they have almost paralyzed someone.

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Maybe there is something to this “tortured Philly fan” thing after all. Ever since I’ve been a Flyers fan, I’ve had to put up with something from the outside world. When they were on top of the league in 2005/2006, I still had to endure cheering for a team with injury after injury after injury; how unfair was that? Last year, I had to endure unprecedented levels of mockery and taunting as the Flyers sank to ever-low lows. Now, they appear to be good again, but they play with a stigma of ruthless goonery that will be hard to overcome. Bad year aside, a fan can’t just enjoy the Flyers being good; has to suffer anyway.

At least I have had the Phantoms to enjoy, right? I mean, I got to watch games that were part of an AHL-record-setting 17-game win streak. I got to watch a fabulous Calder Cup championship. And now they are playing tough and together and it’s a joy to see, and no one can complain about them or accuse them of anything – at least, I don’t see how.

I’m sure you are very ready to hear my take on the Randy “The Bruin Killer” Jones incident, but I’m not going to jump into it off the bat with this post. I’d first like to talk about AHL hockey, since that figured into my weekend rather significantly (as far as hockey goes).

Friday night, I kept an eye on scores as I messed around at my desk in my office. The Phantoms were playing away in Norfolk, and the Iowa Stars were in Peoria against the Rivermen. Going into the games Friday night, the Phantoms were 5-1 and the Stars were … not.

Phantoms first. Apparently they allowed the first goal against them, though when I looked at the score, they were always ahead. They won the game 6-3, with each Phantoms goal coming from a different player. Alex Picard assisted on three of them. I recall last season while playing for the Flyers he had a five-point night? Or was it six? I’ve been watching Picard since he joined the Phantoms late in the Calder Cup run in 2005, and I have, for the most part, enjoyed his development. I think he could play for the Flyers now, but he will see more ice time with the Phantoms, which will allow him to continue to perfect his game, so that when he does join the Flyers squad full-time, he can contribute in big ways for more than a few minutes a night. (I have seen lapses in his game this season, but they are fewer than his significant good points.)

Anyway, the Phantoms scoring went as follows:
1) Matsumoto (Picard, Ross), PP
2) Greentree (Matsumoto, Bartulis), PP
3) Zingoni (Cabana, Picard), SH
4) Cabana (Picard), ES
5) Ross (Tolpeko, Zingoni), PP
6) Guenin (Boucher), EN/SH

It was apparently a Special Teams Night in Norfolk, with three out of nine total goals scored occurring either on a power play or shorthanded, and only the one even-strength goal for the Phantoms. Scoring seems pretty well distributed among the Phantoms as well, along with multiple players having multiple points. The game report describes the empty-netter as “somewhat remarkable” given that Boucher stopped a wraparound behind his net and Nate Guenin took that puck and shot it around the boards, only to have it come off at an angle just appropriate to find its way to the empty Norfolk net.

We will come back to this later, when I talk about Sunday’s game.

When I looked at the Iowa Stars score, it did not inspire the same good feelings that the Phantoms’ score did, since they were down 0-2 when I joined and continued to stay down most of the game. In the third period, the numbers started to change, for the positive: 1-2, 2-2, with goals coming from Sertich and Lessard to tie the game. These two Hobey boys teamed up on both goals, swapping assists, both on power plays. I admit I had a good feeling when it went to overtime, and was still pretty happy with the outcome when OT ended and a shoot-out began. Fingers crossed, waiting in silence, until the score ticker finally updated to show that Iowa won, 3-2. Lessard, Polak, and Petersen did the scoring in the shootout. Stephan was back in net after recovering from the injury he sustained at Lake Erie a while ago. The come-from-behind win stopped the losing skid at three games. Yay Stars!

Saturday, I was at the Spectrum, and during intermissions they show scores from around the AHL. The Stars game had no score when they showed it, so I had to do all the work of looking up the results myself! Sheesh. Anyway, the Stars, playing the Monsters, came from behind again during the second period to take the lead, only to lose it in the third as Lake Erie staged a power-play comeback to win 3-2 in Des Moines. Fortunately (?), fewer than 3000 people saw this trading of leads that ended badly for the Stars. Is it the relatively poor start that had attendance so low at Wells Fargo? The Stars outshot Lake Erie 40-24, but no dice. Only Petersen and Lessard found the back of the net, and it wasn’t enough. Lake Erie’s goalie did the job, and Iowa’s PK did not (two of the Monsters’ goals were PP). I guess the Monsters are not necessarily to be walked all over, though they still have a record sadder than Iowa’s (2-6 for the former, 4-6 for the latter). In the busy Western division, Iowa now lie at 6th, between San Antonio and Houston (good grief! The Rampage aren’t sweeping the bottom of the division?! No! That duty has been relegated to the Flaming Q’s. Huh. What a difference the summer makes. The Knights were a great and tough team last year. They did have to cross two rivers and an entire state to get to the QCs though … Did they lose something as they moved 300 miles? And if so, maybe the Stars can search the roads they took and pick it up for themselves.)

As I mentioned, I was at the Spectrum Saturday, watching a thoroughly enjoyable Phantoms team take down the Springfield Falcons. The good guys played the first period as though they were constantly on the power play; the puck was consistently in the Springfield zone and the guys were set up and passing well. But for the grace of Devan Dubnyk, the Falcons’ goalie, the score would have been outrageous at the end of the first. It was more than twelve minutes before the Falcons put a single shot on goal, and by that time the Phantoms had already hammered Dubnyk with 16. (It was 18 minutes before they got a power play that allowed them to get more than two shots.) We were sitting there laughing as we looked at the scoreboard, but the laughs would have been heartier had the score reflected the ginormous disparity in SOG. The Phantoms managed only one goal, on an actual power play, by the end of the first. (Zingoni, from a Tolpeko rebound, also assisted by Picard.)

Nothing to be down about. The Phantoms were clearly outplaying the Falcons, and if they could continue to apply that kind of pressure throughout the remaining two periods, there would be no question as to who would win the game. But quickly into the second, the Falcons scored to tie. I don’t know if Munroe even saw the shot. Then, inexplicably, the Falcons scored again before the Phantoms could regain control of the scoreboard, when a rebound went to the right spot at the right time, as far as Springfield was concerned. 2-1 Falcons, what the hell? This was unacceptable, and the Phantoms knew it. Barely a minute later, they equalized, and now had more than 30 shots on goal with more than a period of hockey left to play. Seriously, who is this Dubnyk? It was Jared Ross’s first goal of the night (assists by Kane and Tolpeko).

We’ve noticed Jared Ross before, at first merely because of his last name (it happens to be the same as one of us). Unofficially, he has been “adopted.” But we’re starting to notice him for other reasons. Namely, the kid is fast. Sometimes, he’s too fast – as in, the others are a few steps behind and his passes are mistimed. He’s not that big, but his speed more than makes up for it, and he’s feisty. Remember that monster 5-way fight against Albany, where he managed to take down his much larger opponent? We like that kind of package: fast, tough, and, as the night showed, able to score. The kid rocketed a slapshot past Dubnyk with 26.3 seconds left in the second period. I can’t tell you how enlivening it is for it to be my team that doesn’t blow it in the closing seconds of a period. We were dancing in the stands. I phoned J. during the intermission to tell her that her “son” was having an awesome night. She said we sounded drunk. HELLO! The Phantoms were playing like dominators! Last week we’d seen them play suckily, so this was fantastic! Sure, we sounded pretty happy.

And Ross is so fast that it only took him 23 seconds to score his third of the night – a natural hat trick, only the fifth in team history – to record what would end up being the game-winner. No one threw hats down, which annoyed the girl next to me to no end. She grumped, “in Trenton, there would have been hats covering the ice.” Well, chica, Trenton belongs to the Devils now, and to be honest, I’m not sure anyone realized it was Ross who had scored the goal before they started play again. It had happened in a rush of action and traffic at the front of the Springfield net while the Phantoms were on a 5-on-3, and all the Phantoms were celebrating, and I had thought it was Tolpeko, to be honest. When it was announced that it had come from Ross, play was already continuing, and you can’t throw hats then! Side note: Picard and Tolpeko, assisting again.

Thank heaven for that third goal, because the Falcons scored in the last minute of the game to make it 4-3. They did their damndest to tie it up before the horn, so the last 30 seconds or so were a bit nail-biting, but they could not complete the comeback and the Phantoms won their second game in two nights. I had wondered if they would appear tired or flat after their game in Norfolk and having to travel back home, but they did not – not one moment. It was completely end-to-end unboring hockey. 48 Phantoms shots to 24 Springfield. Munroe had a much less busy night. As much as I dislike for opposing players to end up in the three stars selections, Dubnyk kind of deserved acknowledgement for only allowing four of nearly 50 shots. The 4 will be ugly in the goals against column, but his save percentage will not be too badly dinged.

Text to J: “Hat trick for your li’l boy!”
Text to me from J: “Mom is proud!”

We are silly.

Sunday night, the Phantoms hosted Norfolk. Norfolk had also played Saturday night, so both teams were playing in their third games in as many nights. I gave the Phantoms the advantage before the game even started, since they had not had to travel after playing game #2. That is on top of the advantage that they already have (a healthy dose of Teh Awesome).

Thanks to slowness at concession stands (where I was buying my well-deserved nachos – hey, I ran 17.5 miles on Sunday!!!) we were not in our seats for the first five or so minutes of the first period. We arrived just as the national anthem was finishing, and there were no lines – we figured we had time – but alas, the ladies behind the counters were not in the same hurry we were. Then, we could not get to our seats until a break in play, and what seemed like the World’s Longest Continuous Stretch of Hockey took place while we were standing at the mouth of the lower bowl, holding our food. End-to-end, that is what it was. It would have been great, except that my hand holding my drink was slowly freezing, and my arm was not interested in holding a tray of nachos for much longer, and I was slightly distracted. Eventually, there was a whistle, and we hurried to our seats (where we had to ask a man and his son to please VACATE THE PREMISES!).

Boucher was in net again, wearing his Phantoms mask, seeing all with the eyes on top and the back of his head. The Phantoms scored first, on a power play; Matsumoto shoved the puck in past the goalie and woooo! For the eighth time in nine games, the Phantoms scored first. The game was far less one-sided than Saturday’s game, as far as shots on goal goes, but the Phantoms really controlled things. They just had a more difficult time getting shots past the big, oafish Norfolk defense. No one had on a nameless jersey this time, but we enjoyed trying to figure out which of the big lunkheads had been the nameless guys last time. We think #27 was one (Mihalik), because he was enormous, and we didn’t recognize his last name; also Big Oaf #5 (Angel). Big Oaf #5 found himself in the penalty box for high sticking at one point, and when he came back to his bench, he had this doofus grin on his face. In fact, he had the doofus grin on his face at other points in the game too. Perhaps it was this that started getting folks around us yelling at him. (A kid down the row yelled at him that he skates “like Bonvie”, which he had shouted Saturday night at someone playing for Springfield.) And the guy in front of us called him an oaf, too. Perhaps he heard us.

We decided, at the conclusion of the game, that we are well-situated for heckling, and perhaps need to step up our insults. We want to be needling, but not offensive; we don’t want another Bonvie staring up at us threateningly, but it would be great if we could contribute to harassing them such that their play deteriorates accordingly.

Anyway, with less than five minutes to play in the first, Norfolk tied the game on a power play. Alex Picard did not have an assist on a Phantoms goal Sunday night, but since it was he who had been penalized, I’d say he indirectly assisted Norfolk’s first goal.

Philadelphia regained their rightful place in front at the close of the first period with a goal by Tolpeko, which atoned for the penalty he had committed a few minutes earlier, forcing the Phantoms to kill the Norfolk PP. Going into the second, the Phantoms were holding on to the lead, and shots on goal were pretty even, 23-21 in favor of Norfolk.

Only penalty in the second period – just great hockey with opportunities for the Phantoms to score that broke our hearts. But it wasn’t a depressing heartbreak. Each time the Phantoms forced the Norfolk goalie to make a save, it just seemed to ratchet up the anticipation of the next goal, rather than get us down because they just weren’t capitalizing. Because the play wasn’t interrupted by penalty after penalty, the second period seemed to go by swiftly, and was marred only by a terrible Norfolk goal that was only a result of the hockey gods paying Norfolk back for allowing Philly’s “remarkable” empty-netter on Friday. Norfolk’s d-man Jay Leach slammed the puck for a wraparound from way, way out; at the same moment, reading the play, Boucher immediately (and probably without much thought) left the net to go back to play the puck. However, while Boucher was totally out of position for anything except anticipating the puck’s arrival behind the net, the puck bounced atrociously off the side board and ricocheted directly toward the empty net. Boucher dove frantically back around front of the goal, thrusting his stick out, but got it down just too late. Game tied at 2 thanks to a freak bounce. Can’t blame Boucher at all for not being there.

It’s not the first time I’ve seen a goal go against a Philly team while the goalie was anticipating a routine play behind the net, only to have the puck bounce unexpectedly, leading to a goal in an essentially-empty net. Happened in the 2006-2007 home opener to Niittymaki. It’s maddening. Had that goal not happened, the Flyers would have won in regulation (given all other aspects of the game following exactly as they did). Fortunately, in this game, it did not have the same effect: OT did not result. The Phantoms scored in the third period. Stefan Ruzicka, back from playing in Boston with the Flyers the day before, scored the game-winner, his fourth goal of the season. It was an awesome goal, too. Ruzicka displayed some fantastic decision-making skills; he had the puck from Zingoni, and looked as though he was going to fire it in – stick up, stance set – and the goalie committed. Ruzicka dawdled, just enough to freeze up the goalie and then HA HA put the shot home up and over him. The Phantoms held on to win, 3-2. It was such a great game. Another end-to-end display with no lull from the Phantoms. Norfolk played back harder than Springfield did, but it was still all Phantoms from the get-go. They are really playing some magnificent hockey. They work together so well, with relatively few blunders. And it is showing; they are now 8-1 and continue to lead the AHL. The single bad loss to Providence looks like nothing more than a blip. The Phantoms had not played that poorly prior to that game and certainly have not shown any hint of whatever plagued them for that match since.

It almost goes without saying that it would be outstanding if the Phantoms can hold on to what they’ve got going now. Of course there will be unfortunate incidences where guys are called up to cover for ailing Flyers and that will shake things up, but as long as there is depth and understanding between all players on the roster, and they have the energy to continue to play the way they have been, it should be a great season. And it’s enough to make a Flyers fan salivate; these boys are the future of the orange and black, after all. Whatever happens the rest of the season, things are clicking just about perfectly right now for the Phantoms, and I’m just going to sit back and enjoy it as long as it continues.

No home games this weekend; it’s another three-in-three weekend, this time entirely on the road, visiting the Atlantic Division. Friday: Portland. Saturday: Worcester. Sunday: Lowell. It will be the first meeting between the Phantoms and each of these teams this season. Portland and Lowell hovers in the lower third of the division, at 4-4, while Worcester is 4-1-1. The Phantoms should be competitive against all three teams.

Iowa Stars play Milwaukee tonight. That reminds me. This weekend I saw a guy in the concourse at the Spectrum wearing a white Milwaukee Admirals jersey. I thought about heckling him, but seeing as the Ads are crushing the Stars in the standings right now, I figured that from that standpoint I didn’t have a basis for the heckling. And the Phantoms aren’t going to play Milwaukee this regular season, so no head-to-head comparison will be possible. Plus, he was a lot bigger than me. Anyway, the Stars lost to Milwaukee 7-3 the first time they played, and then only 4-2 the second time, so here’s hoping that they can be stronger against the cartoon skeletons tonight and maybe continue the trend of looking less horrifying each time, and maybe even eke out a win? The Stars dominated Milwaukee last year. It was almost a sure thing against them (9-1 record)!! Tonight the Stars can start an 8-game streak against them and end up 8-2. Right? RIGHT?

I learned one thing last night: that whatever I do or do not do has no effect on whether or not the Flyers win. I can watch the game, I can not watch the game, I can be there, I can be on the moon, whatever. It is relieving to be able to take responsibility for a loss off my shoulders.

I thought the Flyers played hard last night, but not necessarily smart. There were some definite miscues and plays that said to me they were not sure of each other. Obvious example: Kimmo Timonen's pass to no one that led to the Lightning's fourth goal. I think he expected Briere to be there, but Briere had moved on from that play, and so the puck just went across the ice in front of the crease, where a Lightning guy jumped on it, and, though it was still early in the third, pretty much put the game out of the Flyers' reach. The Flyers were also a victim of simply not getting the right half-second bounce that would have allowed them to put the game out of Tampa Bay's reach. I had several mini-strokes from the numerous opportunities in front of Holmqvist, but Holmqvist was in the way, or a bounce went the wrong way by a few inches, or whatever. The Flyers were lucky that Holmqvist channeled Ty Conklin late in the first, where he went behind the net to play the puck and Jeff Carter, who had fortuitously followed the play deep into TB's zone, just snagged it from the surprised goalie and TB player and tucked it around the post and in. Too bad similar thefts did not occur on the other occasions that Holmqvist misplayed the puck. Too bad he did not misplay it at other crucial moments. But for the matter of fractions of seconds and inches, the Flyers might have been able to jump out and stay out, and let Tampa Bay do the chasing.

As soon as Niitty let in the first goal, I felt my heart sink. I could already hear all the critics and their "Biron would have had that!"s. I can think of only one that I'm sure Biron would have had; it was the shot by Brad Richards, a long one that sailed right over Niitty's glove hand. Niitty did make some glove saves last night, so I know it's not totally defective, but whiffing on that one was inexcusable and looked far, far too much like the sub-par Niitty of last year. (The fact that Brad Richards was able to take such a shot was also inexcusable, and Niitty is not to blame for that part of it, anyway.) Still, I don't think Niittymaki can be said to have lost the game for the Flyers. Biron may or may not have done better on trying to stop Jason Ward's goal, but my own amateur opinion is that he probably would not have. It pinballed in. And the rest of the guys on the ice can shoulder the responsibility for it.

I am not sure what the thinking was, behind the shuffling of defensive pairings. Kimmo Timonen and Jason Smith had been working quite well together, but they were split up and set with others last night. Hatcher was given the night off to rest a sore knee, and Rory Fitzpatrick (yeah, that Rory) saw his first action in the Flyers uniform. I thought he played pretty well, coming up significantly in a couple situations. I guess that is to say that he did not make any noticeable errors. Kukkonen seemed eager to join the fray, attempting offense on several occasions plus lying down to block shots without fear. (He doesn't even have a visor!) But while individual d-man efforts were OK (outside of Timonen's disastrous misplay) I don't know that the pairings should continue. They looked like they had no idea what the other was going to do, like they had never played together before, and dumping d-men into the fire with each other in front of a team that has Vincent Lecavalier, Vinny Prospal, Brad Richards, and Martin St. Louis on it -- ack!

Scott Hartnell is probably frustrated that he had not yet potted his first goal as a Flyer, though he has not been invisible on the ice; took that frustration out on Lecavalier in a fight last night. The fact that Lecavalier fights his own fights is noble, and is a blessing in disguise for his opponents. Yeah, it meant Hartnell was out for five minutes, but it meant Lecavalier was out for five minutes too. Seeing as Hartnell got an extra two for slashing, TB had to power play without Vincent. Tsk. (Unfortunately, they still managed to score on the PP.) I'm not stressing out about Hartnell or his contract. He contributes, even if it's not directly by scoring goals. I'm not seeing shades of Kyle Calder here.

Knuble's even-strength goal to put the Flyers closer at 3-2 in the third was quite a good goal. The Flyers played with some fire, and I can only speculate how things might have progressed had TB not been able to take such damaging advantage of that bad pass.


Last notes:
1) The Flyers finally did not allow a team to take 40 shots. Tampa Bay got 26. (So glad it illuminates the nonlinearity of shots-on-goal/goals-allowed situation. 26 shots last night = 4 goals, 40+ shots Wednesday night also = 4 goals. I stand by the assertion that allowing fewer shots on goal is still a better way to go.);

2) I am impressed by Joffrey Lupul;

3) I wish Timonen would be a little better about getting the puck out of the Flyers' zone;

4) I wish Briere would be a little more noticeable kthxbye.

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

Other hockey stuff from my browsing:

1) Lundqvist shut out the Devils 2-0, as the Rangers managed to actually score a pair of goals (well, one Ranger did -- Nigel Dawes). If you ignore the sad game where the Rangers lost as Atlanta won its first, Lundqvist has some stats that are impressive. I suppose it's not a surprise. It's too bad for him that the Rangers just can't seem to find the back of the net very well. What are they, blind or something? Inept?

2) Dan Ellis posted a shutout for the Predators last night, too, in a 3-0 game against Atlanta. That's one goal for each year that has gone between his NHL starts, I guess. In Brandon Felder's Hockeybuzz blog the following was noted (some punctuation corrections added by me): "My only complaint on the night is that at one point Ellis tried to be like Marty Turco and handle the puck while on the PP. I know he was in the Dallas system and learned their puck-handling ways, but please don't do that often, Dan. It almost cost you a goal, buddy." So, not only did he give Iowa Stars fans minor strokes by forgetting he was a goalie, but he's carried this over to his NHL stint as well. Some goalies are just good at puck-handling. It's not necessarily that Ellis is bad at it; there were times he passed the puck with no problems. It was when he'd leave the net wide open in order to do it, even as Milwaukee Admirals were charging down the ice. Anyway, I'm glad Ellis is getting a chance to play in the NHL, even if it's not a regular situation. He was a decent goalie, and I'm sure he feels being a backup for the Preds is a better deal than playing #1 for the Iowa Stars.

3) Is it a sign of the apocalypse that Phoenix beat Anaheim? Or is it nothing more than a fluke? After all, even the Flyers beat Anaheim last season. Pretty badly, too. (How many last-place teams could say they crushed the Stanley Cup winners? It's a serious question, people.) It was only 1-0, but still. We aren't going to see a repeat of last year, where the previous year's Cup winners didn't even make the playoffs, are we? (Do I care if the Ducks don't make it? Only if laughing at them in derision if it happens counts as "caring".)

4) While I was thinking about the Flyers game last night, I felt sad that Niittymaki's first game of the year ended up with 5 goals happening for the other team. That led me to wonder if goals scored when the goalie is pulled count in the goals-against for that goalie. Seemed to me that they shouldn't. And my gut feeling was right. They don't. You all probably already knew that, but it had never occurred to me before, and I've never read the rulebook.

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Tonight's AHL action of interest (to me) happens in other states. The Phantoms are in Norfolk, looking to go 6-1 and not 5-2. Ruzicka was playing last night for the Flyers, seems unlikely that he will be reassigned to the Phantoms for tonight, but who is to say. Otherwise I think the Phantoms are in good shape to win on the road tonight, and, in roaring spirits, come back to Philadelphia for two home games. As for Iowa, things could be better. Not all is bleak. According to the AHL, Toby Petersen's got 4 points in his last 5 games, giving him 11 points total which ties him for first in the league (with Rich Peverley of Milwaukee and Gabe Gauthier of Manchester). But it's mostly bleak. The Stars are on a 3-game losing streak, also a 3-game home losing streak (where they have been outscored by a margin of 18-7). They play the Rivermen tonight in Peoria.

Because I foolishly drove in the rainy dark to go out to dinner last night, I missed most of the Flyers game. When I was foolishly driving home in the rainy dark, I got to listen to the third period. The following is a synopsis of my initial responses:

Ok, I'm driving, turn on the radio, yay Flyers!
...
Aw, man, they're down 4 to 2? What happened?!
....
DID TIM SAUNDERS JUST SAY SIMON GAGNE LEFT THE GAME IN THE FIRST PERIOD?!?!

Cripes.

Lasse Kukkonen scored to make it 4-3 while I was on I-476, but the game ended with no further goals while I was still on the PA side of the border on I-95. Coupled with the nasty weather and the evening's accumulated annoyances, the loss particularly bummed me out, even though I know the Flyers can't win every game and it's still nothing like what was endured last year.

J. complained that we went through a time-warp to last year, wondering if losing Gagne caused the team to forget how to play together, similar to what would happen when Forsberg couldn't play. I figure that Gagne leaving so early in the game meant that Stevens had to shuffle the lines the entire night and there can be almost no question that that is likely to have a poor effect on things.

Also, whatever Biron says about liking to stay busy, they simply CANNOT continue to allow 40+ shots on goal! Someone needs to sit them down and explain to them that while it is not exactly linear, the more shots a goalie sees the more chance there is that something will go in. Maybe they are keeping the opposition to the outside, where the shots are less dangerous, but if something's coming in, there is always a chance it's going to go all the way in. Don't let them take the shots from anywhere. Stifle the offense. Make them even less effective than they are whacking shots from the perimeter.

J. and I debated what effect having Niitty in net tonight will have. J. is of the mind that last night's loss might make the Flyers realize Biron can't bail them out every single game and tonight he won't be there to even try to bail them out. "Since Niitty is in net tonight, maybe they will be more careful," she said. I am worried they will panic because Niitty is in goal. I fear that the Flyers will not be as confident in front of him as they were in front of Biron. He didn't have the best of pre-seasons, though I prefer to think that doesn't have any real bearing on how he's going to play tonight, and there will be a lot of pressure on him against a team that historically takes it to the Flyers. However, it may be that last night's loss will, as J. speculates, flip a switch and get them to support their goalie and make his job easier. Maybe they will step it up and play better rather than freeze because they are unsure about Niitty.

Just must keep in mind that while we are still not sure just how good this team is going to be this year, they are not last year's team. They weren't blasted last night and at least in the third period it sounded to me like they were trying to stay in the game instead of collapsing. It was one of the first times they've had to play from behind and I think they were surprised by it and didn't know how to get into that gear. I'm looking forward to tonight. I should have just stayed home last night, avoided angering myself by having to deal with idiots who forget how to drive when there is a little rain, and watched the game instead. I was thinking that the loss might have been my fault -- me not watching games has become a jinx. They lost in Edmonton when I couldn't watch that game, after all. But I also didn't see the game last Saturday which they did manage to win. Caveat: I was across the parking lot watching SOME Philadelphia hockey, so maybe that counteracted it. They did almost lose that game.

So this is what it looks like: I watch the game, they win. I don't watch the game and don't watch the Phantoms, they lose. I don't watch the game, but am seeing the Phantoms, they don't win in regulation.

I'd better not miss any more games on TV, then.

So, I was watching the Pens/Rangers game last night, and I was literally just about put to sleep by it because, come on, the Rangers seem to have no offense. I thought picking up expensive dual forwards was supposed to, like, give the Rangers what they need to blow the entire NHL out of the water. Last Saturday, when they lost to Boston in a shootout, all they needed was one measly goal to keep it from getting to that point (0-0 game through overtime?? SNOOOOZE). Last night, they would have needed only two tiny goals to win. Alas for the Rags.

(It was particularly difficult last night, watching the game, to decide who I hated more. No, I'm lying. I hate the Penguins more. Sure, the Rangers have Orr, and Hollweg, and Jagr, all of whom I dislike, but they have Henrik Lundqvist, who I do like. The Pens have no one I like; they have you-know-who, Armstrong, Ruutu, and please tell me what the hell makes Maxime Talbot think that ridiculous facial hair he's sporting looks good? If there had been no other reason to hate the Pens before I saw that, that would have done it. I regret the Pens winning, but it's not like the Rangers winning would have pleased me much either. It's been said before, but I will say it again, that it is too bad they cannot both lose.)

So I only saw most of two periods, the score was 1-0, and then I went to bed. The score didn't change, so I guess I didn't miss too much, did I?

Tonight it's the Flyers vs. the Panthers, down south in Florida. Biron's starting, and tomorrow night Niittymaki's going to get his first start, against Tampa Bay. Unfortunately, Tampa Bay seem to have the Flyers number, and I admit that I am nervous about Niitty starting against them.

The Courier-Post online says the Phantoms are playing at home vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. I had to double-check the schedule. No they aren't. What schedule was that writer looking at?? There are only two Wednesday home games this season, and one of them is in November, the other being in April. The November one is against Wilkes-Barre and is a game I absolutely will not be attending, because it is at 11:05 a.m. and is the one that will be jam-packed with kids.

Weekend Hockey Categorized by Team:

Phantoms. They were commemorating 40 years of hockey at the Spectrum by giving away pretty nice posters of the first Flyers team and having the boys wear replica throwback jerseys: white with orange down the shoulders, and a Flyers logo on the chest (Phantoms masks on the shoulders). As slick as these jerseys looked -- I think my favorite part was that they were not Rbk EDGE jerseys and so looked like hockey jerseys, not football or soccer shirts as so many of the new ones do -- I can't help but wonder if the magic that had the Phantoms at 5-0 was left out when they made these.

The Phantoms played badly. Despite taking the lead early with a 5-on-3 PP goal by Darren Reid, they were basically manhandled the rest of the game. They were tied at 1 at the end of the first, and then gave up goal after goal and never regained a lead (or even tie). There were some bad bounces in the net that allowed Providence a lead they otherwise may not have had (on one, the puck seemed to go up and down and float in the goal mouth, Boucher unable to handle it, only to be knocked all the way in by Guenin, who was trying, with his stick, to chip it out mid-air; another went in off the tip of Boucher's stick, which seemed needless and a very poor goal to allow) and a post and some quick goaltending out of Sigalet kept the Phantoms from getting past 3. An empty-netter at the close of the third gave Providence 6 goals, and it was an ugly result. I was pretty disappointed to see the guys play rather badly: poor passes made, mistimed and to no one; terrible turnovers; Boucher's mistakes until he was removed in the second period. (8 saves on 13 shots; ughghghghhh!!!)

We speculated that
1) The good mojo is in the new jerseys, not the throwback one-offs
2) Boucher was not wearing his Phantoms helmet; perhaps those eyes on the top and the back of the head are particularly necessary
3) There is only so much good luck to be parceled out between teams in the Flyers organization, and on Saturday, it was all across the parking lot, where the Flyers were playing the Hurricanes.

Flyers.
All the folks traveling to South Philly for the Flyers game made the last part of my journey interesting. Long line off the bridge on I-95 as people waited to get down the ramp to Broad Street. I usually meet my season-ticket-holding friends at the Naval yard and we park there, but they had everything barricaded off and blocked so there was nowhere I could wait for them, and instead just parked in the Phillies lots. As glad as I am to have Phantoms tickets, there was, of course, part of me wishing I was going to see the big club. This game against Carolina was purported to be, like, the first Big Test, which would prove, or disprove, that the Flyers' 5-1 record was deserved (and not just a result of playing mediocre teams).

I guess it was. I recorded the game but as of right now have only seen part of the first period. What I have read about it, though, and heard otherwise was that the second period was awful for the Flyers. Apparently, they have shifted from poor opening stanzas to poor middles? Let's hope it doesn't continue to shift to poor closing periods, because at least if they screw up in the first or second, they have time to recover; screwing up in the third? Much more difficult. Anyway, they did not update us over in the Spectrum, so I messaged J. to text me the score. 2-1, she said, at the end of the second. Errr. So much for the good-luck-across-the-parking-lot theory. But then a short while later, they announced (and showed) the Flyers score, early in the third: Mike Richards had tied it 2-2. Richie's turnaround this year has been amazing; could not be more valuable. His overall face-off percentage is in the 60s, if I recall correctly. He scores key goals. He is becoming the player that everyone expected him to be, and I think he'll continue to be all that he needs to be for this team. And Biron -- not enough can be said about him, and the way he keeps the Flyers in games despite how many shots they let through.

Which has to stop, by the way. Biron's good, but it would be nice if they didn't always rely on him making that excellent save. The team should do its part, too, in keeping the opposition from taking that many shots.

That said, last year's team would have crumpled after getting down 2-1, having been up 1-0. They would have panicked, with that many shots getting through. Instead, and this has been the theme of the season so far, they come back, they are steady, the apply pressure, and end up doing things like tying the game in the third and holding on to go to OT.

And then in OT, stoning the 'Canes (Biron stopping a great shot and the rebound) and then scoring the game-winner at 48 seconds in. Gagne with two goals on the night, also getting his 400th career point (all as a Flyer). I was in the car at this point, the Phantoms' game having concluded; I turned on 610 AM to listen, and it was strange to drive by the Wachovia Center and know that what I was listening to was taking place in that building to my left. I had only just gotten onto the bridge going south when Gagne scored that goal. I shouted out "YEEAAAAH!" and enjoyed listening to the radio's post-game show for most of the rest of the ride home.

I tried to watch the game yesterday, but I had ironing to do, and I discovered that I had to watch the game, which meant I was standing there holding the iron, looking at the TV, and not ironing. So in order to get my chore done, I had to turn the game off. And then it was time to go running, which, since it was an obscenely long run*, took literally the entire afternoon and early evening. And when I got home, I was brain dead. I probably won't watch the rest of the game tonight, unless the Bruins/Canadiens game bores me. So I don't know when I will watch the rest of the game. At least I have the option to do so. DVR is awesome.

Iowa Stars.
Ugh, is there much to say except ouch? Friday night in Milwaukee: 4-2 loss. After leading 1-0, the Stars gave up two shorties and that's bad news. Both Stephan and Sauve are hurt [injuries sustained in the last game against Lake Erie -- Sauve being attacked by Dale Purinton** (after he attacked Marius Holtet and gave him a concussion!]), so it was Silverthorn in net. Too bad he didn't pull out any of that shutout magic that he did last year when he made his debut.

Last night? Even uglier. 7-3 loss in Des Moines. That's the third time so far this season -- only a couple weeks old!! -- that the Stars have given up 7 goals to their opponents. This game involved the stupid Ads scoring five goals in the second period (four in 6:38!!!). This is awful, awful, AWFUL. Horrible turnovers that resulted in goals. Their coach blames the defense, not the goalie, who was ... um ... McKee? Who is that??

Oh, he signed a PTO last Friday.

FOUR goalies have played for the I-Stars already.

San Antonio plays the Stars in Des Moines this week. Maybe the Stars will hold them to fewer than 5 goals. (I hate having to be sarcastic about the Iowa Stars!!!)

*22 freaking miles, and not a step farther. Philadelphia Marathon is in 4 weeks. I will be glad to have it done. My legs ... I ask so much of them. And they complain. Speaking of the marathon, I was reading the Flyers program from the home opener and they did a feature on Mike Knuble. In it, they mention his wife is training for the Philly Half Marathon. I was a little confused, because the whole marathon is in November, until I looked at the marathon's website; apparently they are also running a half, and an 8K, on the same day. Gee. So many options for Sunday, November 18! Well, good luck, Mrs. Knuble. I might think of you when I hit 13.1 miles, and probably wish I were also done running.

**Suspended 25 games by the AHL for his actions. I love the headline on the article at the Iowa Stars website:

TWO STARS INJURED IN ATTACK BY MONSTER

The wordplay is masterful.

Hot damn! After another very slow and frustrating first period where the Devils spent the majority of time in the Flyers' zone, enjoying 4 power plays, the Flyers came back and took it to the Debbies. They won 4-0. Who did the scoring?

1) Mike Richards. Right place, right time, after starting the play, continuing the play, and finishing the play that led to his goal. You'd almost think he would have gotten an assist on his goal, because his stick seemed to be involved in almost every part of that play. His fourth in six games. Sweet job, Richie!

2) SAMI FREAKIN' KAPANEN, firing from way out by the boards, with Brodeur out of the net, standing and challenging the shot. The puck did some mid-air magic, a sinker that surprised Brodeur and sailed into the net. Brodeur's body language after that goal: "What the $%#^!!!" My reaction to that goal: "WHAT THE $%#^!!" (but in a completely different tone). Sami Kapanen, third goal in three games. Awesomeness.

3) Randy Jones, suddenly becoming a puck-moving, offensive defenseman, taking a shot that deflected off former Devil Jim Dowd. Dowd thus gets his first of the year. I don't think Brodeur had much of a chance at that, but he's the sort of guy that usually pulls those kinds of saves out of nowehere ... but tonight he didn't. Dowd gave the Flyers a very nice cushion.

4) Joffrey Lupul, who I will admit I was not very high on, having read about his poor year in Edmonton (and also being part of a trade I was not happy about), in the right place at the right time to put a rebound right under Brodeur for the Flyers' fourth. There couldn't have been more than a foot, foot and a half between the two of them, but Lupul got his stick on the puck that stayed on the ice after the rebound, and shoveled it in.

There was no turning back after that. Marty Biron was outstanding. OUTSTANDING. He was everywhere he needed to be. He stopped a one-on-zero at the closing second of the second period. He was everything Marty Brodeur was not. As Al Morganti said during one intermission, "Our Marty is better than their Marty." I could hear the crowd hassling Brodeur, chanting his name. No doubt our Marty fed off of it, even though it was his name too. Hahaha.

So, according to the commentators, in these past two shutouts (back-to-back! first time in six years, when current Phantoms #1 Brian Boucher achieved it) Biron has stopped 69 shots. It's amazing. Solid goaltending!!!! It is the only time that the Devils have been blanked in the Wachovia Center ... I'm so glad I got to see that milestone go down for the history books.

Flyers now sit at 5-1, four points up on the Devils in the division. Also, last I knew, the Rangers were losing pretty darn badly to the Thrashers (!). So far, the Atlantic is all Flyers. I'm happy-dancing.

Quote of the Day (and maybe for the season):

"We want to be the best team in the league." Marty Biron.

Remember that happy day back in January '06 when it was true? The Flyers sat at #1? I want to see that again. Winning game #6 tonight would be another step in that direction. LET'S GO FLYERS!!!

Iowa Stars beat Lake Erie last night 6-2, in what sounds like an exciting game. Maybe the Monsters were too busy thinking about baseball to play. The Stars scored a shortie on a 5-on-3, which is always a thrilling goal. Familiar names were scoring: Sertich, Conner, Polak, Petersen. Unfortunately, Tobias Stephan, playing after having been sent back down from Dallas, had to leave the game with an injury. The Stars are 3-2. Friday night: in Milwaukee for the first meeting of the season against the cartoon boys.

According to today's Inquirer, the Flyers' goalie Martin Biron is sixth in the league in goals-against-average (at 1.81), and seventh in save percentage (0.939). It is a pleasure to see that our goalie finally stacks up well against the rest of them. I was looking at the list on NHL.com, and he is ahead of such stalwart goalies as Hasek and Brodeur, ahead of shining stars like Henrik Lundqvist. In fact, he was way ahead of Brodeur. I'm sure tonight the Devils will play Brodeur in net when they come to Philadelphia. Past are the days where teams would throw their backup goalie in (and know they would still win). So there will be a head-to-head competition of Biron and Brodeur (as head-to-head as it gets with goalies at opposite ends of the ice).

So this will be the first matchup against a divisional opponent and a good test for how good the Flyers really are right now. The Devils have been struggling (are 3-3), but they are still the Devils, and for some reason, it doesn't matter who the Devils lose to all around their games with the Flyers, they often still manage to own the Flyers. As Coach Stevens said in today's Daily News, "To me they are a very dangerous opponent that is going to come out and compete, and we have to be ready for them" -- no matter who is in or out of the lineup and no matter what's been going on.

When I saw the Devils play the Flyers in the preseason, it wasn't a very interesting game (and not just because the Flyers lost, and in spite of seeing Briere's first goal in a Flyers uniform). I hope that tonight's will be more interesting, hockey-wise. I have a lot of miles to run after work, but I will be home in time to see most of the game even if I miss a little at the front. It's so great to be able to know that if the Flyers are playing, I'm going to get to see it.

Tidbit: Robert Esche is going to play in Russia. Is he going to be the starter there? Can't see him putting up with anything less, which might be why he never got signed in the NHL. Who knows. At least he's going somewhere to play. He's not a terrible goalie (said even while knowing that I rarely trusted him in net).

EDIT: I just read that Brodeur may not be playing tonight, since it's a back-to-back situation for the Devils. But then again, he may. Or may not. Oh well, Flyers almost always choke against back-ups (not if it's the Thrashers though), so this may actually be a bigger test than if Brodeur does play.

Ok, now that the Big Update has been written, I can get to other hockey stuffs. Namely, last night's Flyers game against Atlanta, in Philly. I didn't go to the game, because last Saturday's game cost me so much that it might be until November before I can feel good about spending another $100 on a game. Besides, despite the Flyers' record against Atlanta (even last year, when the Flyers were the laughingstock of the NHL, Atlanta could not beat them), and despite the apparent breaking of my jinx, I did not want to resurrect the jinx. After all, the only time they have lost to Atlanta at home -- ever -- was my first Flyers game. And the Flyguys are doing too well for me to risk something like that.

[Ok, the truth is, I didn't want to spend $100 and I didn't want to have to drive to South Philly to watch the game by myself (I had to drive so much in the last week that the thought of another trip so soon just made me tired). The jinx factor was pretty low on the list of reasons for not going, superseded by such items as "need to run 10 miles after work", "need to spend time with the new kitten and reassure the Snackerson that he is still #1" and "need to do ironing".]

Niitty has got an impressive record against Lehtonen (having never lost to him) and so I thought they might put him in goal for the game, but Biron started. The Flyers said that Biron was doing well and they would not be making a change in goal just to make a change (it's not like Biron hasn't had time to rest). Lehtonen didn't start for the Thrashers anyway, so it was Hedberg. He was good in the first, making some good saves against the Flyers, who started out slow again, the first period looking worrisome. The Thrashers, who are 0-5 to start the season, were coming out hard and playing tough. Biron was amazing in net to keep the score 0-0 out of the first. Hartnell took two needless hooking penalties which gave Atlanta the power play, leading to a barrage of shots, but the defense worked. Biron's impressive kick save made my eyes pop out and applaud. The second period was better. The Flyers got into gear, and the Thrashers' fragile confidence after the first came apart. In the second minute, Mike Richards scored to make the game 1-0. Jeff Carter scored the second goal in the thirteenth minute, and only a little more than half a minute later, Sami Kapanen scored his second goal in as many games. It was great -- Umberger had rushed into the Thrasher's zone and his shot rebounded wide, with Hedberg way out of position. Sami had raced up the other side of the ice and pounced on that rebound, firing it -- there really is no other word, the thing rocketed into the goal like a bullet -- into a wide-open net. It zoomed right at the goal camera and bounced immediately out. They did not show the goal view of it; initially it looked like it had hit a post or something, the way it deflected out so fast was similar to ricocheting off the bars. I thought "Oh man!! So close!" but the goal horn had gone off, and then they showed the other angles, and clearly it was in. Kapanen has been a dark horse favorite of mine, thanks to his hustle, his grit, his determination, and occasional coming-up-big, as he did on Saturday, as he did last night.

Thrashers totally crumbled at that point. In the third period, Randy Jones (!) scored what can only be called a goal-scorer's goal, and the Flyers were 4-0. He jumped into the attack, and, like a forward, took a big shot and Hedberg didn't have a chance. Nice!

So the Thrashers are now 0-6 and without a single point. This was a dominating team last year; what happened? They looked like last year's Flyers out there. Ah, so that is what it was like for everyone else last year! To watch their teams beat up on a team playing poorly! Wow.

Flyers play again tomorrow night against the Devils, at home.

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

Ok, the Iowa Stars. They are struggling but are at least 0.500 through the first four games. But their losses, unlike their wins, have not been close. They lost the season opener to San Antonio 7-1 (ouch!!!), then won the home opener against Houston 4-3 in OT; proceeded to lose last weekend to the IceHogs (ugh) 7-3; last night they won over Lake Erie, 4-2. However, everyone beats Lake Erie. Tonight they play them again, and since everyone beats Lake Erie, they have a chance to go over 0.500. Where the Phantoms lead not only their division but the league in points (10), the Stars lie at 5th in the West and nowhere near the top. Yeah, it's early.

Phantoms Hockey, Friday, October 5th, 2007


Fresh season, fresh ice

Home opener, happening also to be the season opener, at the Spectrum. Met D. and K. at a little after six, handed out season ticket booklets, and walked up to the arena. Our seats are in section 201 (on the visitor's bench side of the section), row 9. The view is outstanding. Close enough to still get a sense of the speed and energy of the game, back far enough that almost all of the ice is viewable, where developing plays and patterns can be observed without much distortion. Season's first foe: Norfolk Admirals, wearing uniforms that are chiefly blue.

There was Dan Jancevski, captain. I heckled him (though I doubt he heard me) by calling out that it was his third team in three years, and then felt a little guilty. I have a bobblehead of him in an Iowa jersey, after all. I just got caught up in the moment, which absolutely called for anti-Norfolk chatter. There were numbers 25 and 26, who did not have nameplates. This may have been because they were pylons and essentially useless on the ice. We kept hoping for a penalty out of one or the other, so that we could get a name out of them, but they played clean and remained mysteries.

The crowd was reported at being something like 6,800 but I don't know if I buy that. I have seen the Spectrum more full than it was that night, but it wasn't empty either -- there was a decent turnout even if it wasn't 6,800. It was as noisy as it usually is (i.e. kids were screamy) but there was good reason for it, since the Phantoms scored very early, in the second minute, to go up 1-0 (goal by the demoted d-man, Denis Gauthier). Somewhere near the middle of the period, Darren Reid made it 2-0. We were pleased with what we were seeing. Boucher is a solid netminder and wow is the Phantoms' defense strong. During the second period, the Phantoms scored again to make it 3-0. I do my best not to think the s-word (shut0ut, that is) -- I certainly don't say it, for crying out loud I know better than that, but I could not help myself as I mentally mused that it would be awesome if the Phantoms could force a goose egg in their first game of the season. Alas for that, as Norfolk scored (shorthanded, no less -- severe punishment for thinking the s-word), and it was 3-1. But Darren Reid scored again and it was 4-1. This goal came during a 5-minute power play that resulted from a spearing major by Karl Stewart. Flashback: it is June, 2005, second period of Game 2 of the Calder Cup Finals in Chicago. Jon Sim ostensibly gets away with some goaltender interference, and Karl Stewart takes matters into his own hands. While being hustled off the ice by officials, he flagrantly spears Jon Sim, leading into him with the stick and burying it. Does he get a major penalty for this action? No. Flashforward: Karl SpearStewart in the box for the "neverending" power play, on which the Phantoms increase their domination of the Admirals. It was an excellent, picture-perfect power play goal. Jussi Timonen took a shot, which had the Ads' goalie committed, and rebounded to Reid, who then had what seemed like the entire net to put it in. Nice!

The Phantoms played a little lazy after that. Jared Ross celebrated the closing minutes of the second period by taking a high-sticking penalty, which meant that the third opened with the Phantoms a man down. Norfolk capitalized on Phantoms' laziness 35 seconds into the period. 4-2 game. The period got interesting with physical altercations occurring at 3:14 (Norfolk and Philly, fighting majors, plus Philly roughing), 6:32 (Philly, roughing), 10:01 (both, fighting majors), 12:00 (both, roughing), but even with all this rough play the score remained at 4-2 until the last two minutes of the game, when Norfolk pulled out a third goal to make it interesting. Last year's ghosts extend to the Phantoms, too, I guess, because I felt a flutter of pessimism and believed that I would not have been surprised if they blew it and a tie came in the last seconds. (Recall this past April, when the Phantoms had managed to tie the game with Hershey, and everyone was breathing easy in the last 10 seconds because we were sure we were at least going to see overtime, only to be brutally disappointed with 6 seconds left as the damn Bears scored and ended the Phantoms' season.) But in the last crazy minute the defense and Boucher kept it at 4-3 and the Phantoms won their home opener, and we were all feeling pretty good. We would have gone somewhere to celebrate, but I had to go back home to Wilmington so that I could pack and get some rest before a very early departure for the airport -- I was going home.

Flyers Hockey, Saturday, October 6th, 2007
I set my DVR to record the Flyers/Oilers game, but failed to doublecheck the start time, and made an incorrect assumption as to when the puck would drop and the broadcast would begin. Therefore, all I managed to get recorded was the third period, and I haven't even watched it, knowing the outcome of the game was a Flyers loss, 5-3. Is it only fitting that the game-winning goal for Edmonton came (at least as far as the scoresheet is concerned) from Joni Pitkanen? Apparently he was barely responsible for it, but I'm sure he feels smug about it, scoring the game-winner against a team he disliked playing for so much that he asked to be traded. I would. But then, I am a petty person. I saw highlights of a Briere goal where he just blew through two Oiler defensemen as though they were tissue paper stretched around a frame and he was busting through like high school football players streaming onto their home field at homecoming. BAM and ZOOM. If I had still been on the fence about Briere, I hopped off it right then. Forget how much I booed and disliked him while he was playing for Buffalo (much of that was simply because of the team he played for, when you get right down to it -- I accepted even then that he was good, whatever else I disliked about him). The guy is freaking skilled, and what a pleasure it is to have such skill working for the Flyers, rather than making fools of them against them.

This loss against the Oilers, from what I have read, was somewhat alarming because it showed a disaffected team that was not working well together, not playing a full game, and flashing shades of last year. Fortunately, it turned out to be the black sheep of the three-game road trip, for after the Flyers went up to Whistler to work on team building (playing with LEGO, among other activities, which were chronicled on the Flyers website, highly amusing as well as informative) they went into Vancouver a changed group.

Flyers Hockey, Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
I really don't know the last time I saw the Flyers play such inspired hockey, and gel so sweetly, as I saw last week Wednesday. I expected a low-scoring affair, if anything, out of the orange and black, despite the scoring abilities of our top line, because, well, Roberto Luongo was in net. And if you need me to tell you all about how good Luongo is, then perhaps you should go watch the baseball playoffs. I do not think he is a magical forcefield, but he is not considered the best goalie in the league for the excellent cup of coffee he makes. (Disclaimer: I have no idea if he makes a good cup of coffee or not.) The Flyers would have to find some way to sneak pucks around him. Plus, Vancouver's got the AlienSedin twins, and overall they are just not a team you meet up with and expect to walk over.

To paraphrase what an acquaintance back at Iowa said to me last year about Robert Esche (after the horrific 9-1 scalding at the hands of Buffalo): Luongo had a bad game that night! The Flyers took it to the Canuckie goalie, scoring first at 8:48 (woohooo Jeff Carter!) and then, off the subsequent faceoff at center ice, again 13 seconds later (wooohooo Umberger, playing with a damaged pinkie!). Side note: both goals were assisted in part by Randy Jones, who, I will admit, played like a new man. Gagne scored a power play goal at 13:11, and then Danny Briere scored to make it 4-1 (Canucks had a PP goal of their own in the middle there somewhere) at 16:17. I can't remember in my own head how Carter's and Umberger's goals looked, except that Umberger's came off an eye-popping backhanded pass from Mike Richards, but Gagne's and Briere's stand out. Briere was coming down toward the net, drawing the defense and Luongo toward him. Thus committed, the Canucks couldn't do a damn thing when, instead of shooting, Briere threaded a pass through them, across the front of the net, right to Gagne, who was standing completely undefended at the side of the net that Luongo was not covering. It was the simplest of simple acts for Gagne to tip that puck into the yawning space of net, and the Flyers were up 3-1. Such quick thinking; such excellent placement; whoa, the Flyers have an effective power play!! And Briere's goal, he was on a two-on-one rush, tried to pass the puck but had it blocked; fate has turned its beautiful face back toward the Flyers, for the puck rebounded directly to him, and with more quick thinking and quick hands, he put it right up over Luongo. So lovely. Flyers, 4-1.

And Luongo took the rest of the night off, being replaced by ... Curtis Sanford, who I last laughed at while he played against Iowa for Peoria. Seeing him blow the rest of the game for Vancouver brought back happy memories of the "Hooligans" in section 124 at the Wells Fargo Arena, chanting "Saaaaaanford ..... Saaaaaaaaaanford ..... Saaaaaaaanford .... YOU SUCK!" (echoed by another "YOU SUCK!") The Flyers scored four more times, while the Canucks hit only once more, and the final score was 8-2 Flyers. There was extremely balanced scoring, which soothed some of the fears that once again we have only one line that can be relied upon to score; I read that seven Flyers had a multi-point night. They came out hard, played pretty much an entire hockey game, and played it together, reading each other well and connecting to make great goals. Not a single one of the Flyers goals was garbage. There were only two bad points to the night; Lasse Kukkonen has certainly had better nights, as I saw him fan on the puck more than once, plus made some other mistakes that I don't think he usually does (seeing as I noticed him, whereas generally, I do not, indicating his usually solid play was sub-par). Then there was the act that overshadowed everything. The media should have been enjoying a new-look Flyers, but instead were hounding them about their Broad Street Bully tendencies, because Jesse Boulerice (who I did not think much of to begin with) decided he had had enough of Ryan Kesler, and apparently wanted to start a fight. He did it in the worst possible way, though. After Kesler did some rough stuff with Randy Jones, and the puck was a long way away from him, Boulerice skated up to him and deliberately cross-checked him across the face, apparently breaking his stick. Kesler went down, naturally, and Boulerice loomed over him, shaking his gloves off, preparing to fight. But Kesler didn't get up. Of course he didn't. He'd just been socked in the face with a stick. Fortunately he wasn't seriously hurt by this undeniably stupid and outstandingly boneheaded cross-check (his team was WINNING, and winning HUGE, for god's sake!!!), but it didn't stop the league from slapping Boulerice with a 25-game suspension. How could they not? It was egregious and deserved and there is no excusing his behavior. But the Flyers are the only team that has had any head shot punished so severely. No injuries from others, they say ... well, you know what, I'm just not going to say anything else about the league's consistent inconsistency with their head-shot punishment policy. Instead, I'll just bask in the beauty that is a Flyers win, the 2-1 conclusion of a western road trip. I wasn't even tired when the game ended, despite it being after 1 in the morning. Some things are seriously worth staying up for.

Phantoms Hockey, Friday, October 12th, 2007
Friday saw J.'s afternoon arrival. Season-ticket pal K. was out of town on business, so there was an extra ticket for the Phantoms game that evening. The Phantoms had won their second game on the Sunday I was in Iowa, against Wilkes-Barre, so were looking to continue their unbeaten ways as they faced Albany. D. was stuck in traffic and wasn't sure if she would make it, but managed to before the game started. While we were waiting for the opening faceoff, the Phantoms' ticket representative with whom I had dealt came down to talk to me (us), thanking me for supporting the team and welcoming me to the season-ticket-holder fold. That was quite nice, I thought, plus he called me good luck (given their 2-0 record since me becoming a STH). I'd like to be good luck. 40 home wins, Phantoms! You heard it here. (Ok, I've jinxed them. Time to get the anti-jinx potion out.)

It was a good game. The Phantoms scored and the River Rats did not, and that was all there was to it. Boucher stopped 37 shots and the Phantoms won 3-0. One goal was scored in each of the periods, and the game moved pretty well until the third period, when the brawl happened that racked up 142 penalty minutes. You can see the video of it here at YouTube. A Phantom was plastered against the boards, and another Phantom took serious exception to this, starting a fight. Four other fights then ensued after the players knotted together around the original fight. The officials really couldn't do anything effective, since there were only three of them and five fights happening, but eventually they rounded guys up and stuffed them into the penalty boxes. The fights were entertaining. Jared Ross, who is not a very big player, was engaged with a far, far larger dude, yet somehow stayed on his skates, finally taking him down. Other Phantoms fared well in their decisions. I have never seen a 5-fold fight in a game, and I certainly have never seen five guys jammed into the penalty box. Seeing as the game had fewer than five minutes left, and had handed down a multitude of game misconducts, they didn't make them stay there. The penalized River Rats skated off the ice to jeers, and the Phantoms to a roar of approval (encouraged when Stefan Ruzicka raised his arms in triumph before exiting down the tunnel).


Aftermath of battle

Despite pulling goaltender Michael Leighton (he of short Flyers fame last season -- remember when they acquired him off waivers and played him at home and he posted a shutout in his first game?? People recklessly allowed themselves to believe he was the savior. Then he was sent down and moved around some more. Poor Leighton. He may not be the next Bernie Parent, but he is good-looking. Not that it matters or anything. His good-lookingness alone does not, apparently, have the power to keep pucks out of the net.) Late in the third, the River Rats did nothing and the Phantoms streaked to 3-0 on the season. Game 1 of the Great Philadelphia Hockey Adventure was a success!

Flyers Hockey, Saturday, October 13th, 2007
Saturday was the piece de resistance of the weekend, the Flyers' home opener vs. the Islanders. 7 p.m. at the Wachovia Center. Section 124. Row 2. Seats 2, 3, and 4. K. was scheduled to attend, but his out-of-townness meant I had to find someone else to use the extra ticket. Fortunately, my technician was interested, but probably because I lowered the price considerably. (Which made the overall cost of my ticket quite hefty. But, worth it, in the end.) Given the traffic situation on I-95 NB, we left very early to go the long way around and it still took us more than an hour to get to the arena. Fortunately we had scheduled our arrival for extra-early and so had an hour and change to kill before 7 p.m. When we went in we got extremely orange t-shirts that are extremely extra-large that read BACK WITH A VENGEANCE on them, with a helpful definition of the word "vengeance" on the back (prompting one too many jokes about the brain capacity of Philly fans, since apparently they need to be told what the word means). They wanted us all to wear them, but it's just too big for me. I had orange on, anyway -- my Forsberg 3rd jersey, its first use at a game. My technician had gotten a black BRIERE 48 t-shirt and had that on; he held the orange shirt up over his chest for a while, and then got bored of doing that. (J. and I had also bought black BRIERE 48 t-shirts earlier that day. It was sort of an impulse purchase. We were at a Dick's Sporting Goods in Downingtown and there they were. Since I am pathetically skinny, I fit into children's t-shirts. Size medium. So it was only $17 for me. And I already told you how Briere won me over the other day with his awesomeness on the road trip. We were both wearing the BRIERE shirts under our jerseys. Flyers were represented in many layers that evening.)


Sitting on the Briere bandwagon.

When we went down the stairs to our seats, we discovered two things:
1) the numbering went opposite of what we had figured, so seats 2, 3, and 4 were the three seats closest to the tunnel. Whoever sat in seat 4 would be right next to it. Niittymaki would be sitting directly on the other side of a sheet of Plexiglas. J. and I looked at each other in amazement. I think my technician thought that was great, too, but he was more focused on the fact that the ice was one row away from us.
2) People had jammed that part of the section, in anticipation of the Flyers coming down the tunnel for the warm-up. Two women were standing at our seats, and we told them they were, well, in our seats. "We're waiting for the warm-up," one of them said. Yeah, so, you're in our seats. "I thought this section was open for the warm-ups," one said as they grumbled and started to move out. "Maybe so, but these are our seats. Which we paid for." They moved. I am really not sure why they actually thought that they would have priority in that spot just because they got there before we did, when we had paid (exorbitant amounts) for those spots. They were pretty pissed. But I don't really care. They could have bought the tickets for those seats themselves if they wanted to be sure they could be there for the warm-up.

It was marvelous. I love to sit so close to a hockey game, even if you can't see jack down the ice on your side, because what's happening in front of you is happening directly in front of you and everyone looks enormous and moves so fast. Also, when there is a battle for the puck, guys are slamming into the glass in front of you and it stops your heart a little bit, even if you're ready for it. You just feel really in the game when you sit that close.


Goal-machine practices his shot

And if we looked to the side, we could see the players intent on the action, their expressions and even hear their voices as they came in the door to the bench, swung their legs over to start a shift, etc. And Niittymaki did sit right next to us the whole game, chomping on the collar of his jersey now and then. (J. was kind and let me sit in the seat next to the tunnel for the third period. Apparently, since she bought the tickets, she claims she deserved the inside seat for the majority of the game.) If I had been brave enough (or had no sense of decorum) I could have reached around the Plexiglas and rubbed Niitty's head.


Nom nom nom

The game was pretty good. The first period was not the best Flyers effort. The Islanders sustained pressure in the Flyers' zone, and it was frustrating how much time the Flyers spent having to try to clear, block shots, and defend rather than move the puck down to the other end and attempt to score. While all this action was occurring right in front of us, if it had meant scoring, I would have been OK with it happening down at the other end (where half the time I would have to look at the jumbotron to see it). There were no goals in the first period for either side, and there were only two penalties taken (one for each), and only the fact of being so close and at the game for the start of the home season made it not boring. If I had been watching on TV, I think I would have been ironing clothes or doing something in the meantime, because the Flyers were not playing great hockey, and the Islanders were not who I wanted to see controlling things. Ben Eager was checked cleanly into the boards and bonked his head. Though he continued the play the shift, he did leave the game and has yet to return, citing "dizziness" (the Flyers have been careful not to describe it using the c-word). Nothing you can say about it, really. The hit was clean, perfectly legal, even routine. He must have just conked his head in exactly the wrong way against the glass.

During intermission, I went to get some ice cream, and the concourses were jam-packed. More so than I recall from previous seasons. I guess everyone was hungrier this year. I do notice that when I'm upset or disappointed, I lose my appetite. Maybe that is what happened en masse last year. Disappointed and upset fans = shorter lines at concessions? Anyway, it took so long to get some ice cream in a helmet cup that J. and I missed the first few minutes of the second period. Fortunately for us, the Flyers didn't score and nothing really happened. But my technician decided to go get something when we got back, and he missed the first Flyers goal, which was a PP tally by Jeff Carter, who snuck the puck by DiPietro (I am not sure how!) and put the Flyers up 1-0. It was a conundrum for me. I did not want the Flyers to score while he was gone, so I felt bad hoping they wouldn't score, but of course wanted them to score so they could get up on the Islanders ... he did not seem too worked up about it, though was sorry he missed it. Then, only a couple minutes later, Sami Kapanen scored a beaut of a goal over DiPietro and the Flyers were now 2-0. It happened after he had to tame a bouncing puck, and was at the side of the net. I thought perhaps it had hit the crossbar and not gone in, but it was for real. And that was the way the second period ended, the Flyers winning 2-0.

I would have liked a bigger cushion. In the third period, the Islanders scored a shortie when huge Vasicek's slapshot went off Timonen after a Flyers' lapse led the puck into the wrong zone. 2-1 is not comfortable, even though I trust this year's Flyers a little more than I did last year's. The Islanders still controlled more than I hoped they would. Riley Cote fought Chris Simon, who was playing his first game after a lengthy suspension that carried over from last year, but it was a dull fight. No big punches, neither decisive. The Islanders picked up the pressure in the last couple minutes, of course, trying to get the tying goal, but the Flyers' defense (including Marty Biron) came up huge. In the last minute, a desperate shot was blocked by Jason Smith, who went down and took it in the chest. His attempt to clear the puck, as he was on his belly, swiping his stick, took the puck clear down the ice and into the empty net at 19:54. It was amazing, one of those moments you stare at as it happens in slow-motion. The arena was wild. Smith stood up, Timonen embraced him from behind and lifted him off his skates. (There is a picture of it out there; I love it.) Smith seemed almost sheepish, skating off the ice, having scored such a curious goal on a very important, perhaps-game-saving shot block. And so the Flyers won their home opener, 3-1.

Let me repeat that for you, adding that I was there. THE FLYERS WON. The jinx is broken. J. and I were leaping up and down as the seconds ticked away after that goal (which we had leapt up and down in response to, as well). I thought I might just cry, it was so wonderful to be at the Wachovia Center and see the Flyers win. I do not have to assume part of the responsibility for a loss. I was able to come into work on Monday and stand tall and say, "I was there. My presence didn't cause them to lose." I no longer need to feel ashamed when I buy tickets to a game, because I will not be the reason they lose. IT'S WONDERFUL. IT'S AMAZING. I LOVE THE FLYERS!!!


YAY!!!

As the Flyers came off the ice and went down the tunnel, I eventually put my hand around the Plexiglas and several Flyers knocked their gloves against it. I only remember specifically that Jeff Carter and Randy Jones did, plus Riley Cote (who hit it the hardest, naturally). Others did, but I can't recall who. The three stars of the game: 3) Brendan Witt (booo); 2) Marty Biron (stopping 29 of 30 shots); 1) Sami "What's a-happenin'" Kapanen, with the game-winner.


Reliable.

Celebration all the way across the parking lots to the car. High spirits all the way back home (encouraged by the fact that I-95 SB was not blocked up by construction!). Champagne at home, for once not to drown sorrows, while we watched the game again, mostly in fast-forward, looking to see if we could see ourselves on TV. You can, a few times, if you know what you are looking for (and of course we did). Way at the end, while the Flyers go through the tunnel, and I have my hand out, you can see me off the the side, very clearly (though my face only just makes it in at the very last second, and so is not exactly discernible). Why this matters to us so much, I am not sure, but it is still cool in a way to see yourself on television at an event you just saw in person. For whatever reason.

One more time: I saw the Flyers win, in person. WOOHOOOO!!

Phantoms Hockey, Sunday, October 14, 2007
6:05 face-off against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Stupid baby Penguins. I was ready for a game with some hitting and some action, and there was no disappointment on that front. Nothing on the scale of Friday, but with Dennis Bonvie out there (as hated by the crowd as much as by the Phantoms) you could expect something to go down. Munroe started in net for the Phantoms, Boucher with the night off (having played Friday in Philly and Saturday at W-B/S), and our favorite punching bag Ty Conklin was in net for the Pens. J. doesn't understand why I feel bad for this guy, because he is the enemy and isn't that good. That's just the thing. He wasn't always so bad, right? But he was pretty terrible Sunday, too. he even drew a 2-minute tripping penalty in the first period. The previous time I saw him play in person, he was pulled after a 5-goal first period against the Iowa Stars. He didn't get pulled on Sunday, though I did wonder if he might, because he let in three goals in the first period, with goals 2 and 3 coming not even 40 seconds apart. 2 of the goals were power play goals. In fact, 4 of the 5 the Phantoms scored Sunday were PP goals, indicating either awesome power play capabilities out of Philadelphia, or horrendous PK abilities of the Penguins. PK breakdowns and simply poor goaltending tanked the Pens, who scored only two goals, one in the first, one in the third, and were never really in the game at all. It is a complete turnaround from the Penguins I recall having seen in 2005, and they are generally quite a great team. In fact, according to the AHL weekly report (for this week) the Pens' 2-3 start has them below 0.500 for the first time in three years. I am ok with them sucking the suckage, however. Stupid Pens! (So, apparently, Conklin allows at least 5 goals when we see him play. Will be interesting to see if this trend holds past two games, in future meetings at the Spectrum.)

The fans were calling for Bonvie's head the whole game, and Tristan Grant obliged them by dropping the gloves with him in the second period. Bonvie does not appear to be a player that ignores the crowd; most do not appear to notice that anyone is screaming insults, and if they are affected, they do not let it show. Bonvie would stare at individual insult-hurlers, which only encouraged the hurlers. When the fight happened, the unfortunate result was that Grant got his block knocked off, and Bonvie was the clear winner. He planted his feet and stared up into the crowd, at a guy a couple rows behind and a few seats away from us, with his hands on his hips. He had a triumphant, smug look on his face, and he pointed at the guy in derision. The guy in the stands thwacked his own chest as though challenging Bonvie to come up and fight him, but the officials hustled Bonvie toward the penalty box before any more trash-talking sign-language could go on between them. There were a couple Pens fans behind the box, and they stood up and roared their approval as Bonvie approached, and he obliged them, too, by lifting his arms. A bitter pill, no? At least the Penguins didn't win the game and give them any more satisfaction. It wasn't even close. Conklin was totally losing his cool toward the end, smacking his stick on the ice, and after the last couple goals, it looked like he was going to hit something with it.

The Pens' backup goalie is Karl Goehring, who you might remember is the teeeensy goalie who played for Milwaukee last year. He must have just gotten traded, because the announcer said to add him to the roster manually, his name not having been printed up. His mask still has the hideous, cartoonish Milwaukee Ads logo on it. We laughed at him.

So the Phantoms have started the season 5-0. Sunday's game saw multiple points from Ruzicka (2 goals, 1 assist), Darren Reid (two goals) Jared Ross (three assists), Matsumoto, Greentree, and Kane (each 2 assists). Ruzicka has been called up to the Flyers (for last night's game against Atlanta), in order to fill in for Ben Eager, and depending on how long Eager is out, he may not be back for Saturday's game. As of today, Ruzicka leads the AHL in scoring, with 8 points in 5 games (3 g, 5a). Matsumoto is 4th (7 pts in 5 games). Ross is at 13, Reid at 15, which shows solid offensive ability on the Phantoms' roster this year. 4 guys in the top 15 in the league! A fantastic start to 2007-2008 for the orange and purple -- keep it up!

So concluded the 3 games in 3 nights weekend, the Great Philadelphia Hockey Adventure. You might think that we would be all hockeyed out, but that's just not possible. 3 games, 3 wins -- if only there could have been more!

And thus concludes my Long Report which was Long Overdue. I hope you enjoyed it!

I apologize for such silence, when so much has happened concerning hockey that I should have written pages and pages by now! But I have been busy at work; sleepy at home; and this weekend you should not expect me to be able to do any writing, since J. will be here for a three-night hockey extravaganza, which begins this evening with the Phantoms v. River Rats, continues tomorrow with the Flyers v. Islanders, and concludes Sunday with Phantoms v. Wilkes-Barre. Expect, instead, some time next week a full report including:

1) Last weekend's hockey
2) This week's hockey
3) This weekend's hockey

GO PHANTOMS! GO FLYERS!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

It was a late night, but it was worth it. After running, eating, and solidifying weekend plans with my parents, I flopped down on the couch in Flyers t-shirt and comfy pants to watch the good stuff. I caught the end of a repeat of Meet the Flyers, and listened to Marty Biron and Antero Niittymaki explain that neither of them modeled their styles after a particular goalie (though Biron said that growing up where he did, it was impossible not to see Patrick Roy, but that he didn't like the Canadiens, and "still" doesn't -- many cheers). Is it sad that I recognized a couple faces in the audience? There were some Phantoms-apparel-wearing people in the crowd that I have seen many times.

Then I sat through a half-hour or sports chat that was mainly about the Phillies' terrible afternoon game and the 0-2 hole they have found themselves in. You could hear the veiled despair in the TV people's voices. Let's face it, the Flyers had a chance to be the only Philly sports team to do anything good this week, and, well, let's face it, I was nervous. And anxious. So much for a 10 p.m. start; with all the Calgary festivities, the puck didn't drop until about 20 after.

I had a pen out and I intended to take notes throughout the game, in order to give a complete Crusher-report today, but after Briere's first notch of the game at 3:12 of the first, that went out the window because J. called to celebrate and we then spent the whole game on the telephone, commentating. My view of the game was about 30 seconds ahead of hers, so as far as she knew, I was clairvoyant and seeing the future. I felt a little bad about spoiling certain things for her, e.g. the second Flyers goal, a perfect PP tally by Knuble, who was standing a few yards in front of the net in a position to neatly take Gagne's pass from the side and then WHOMP it was in the net past Kipper. But it was impossible not to celebrate immediately, rather than suck it in and wait 30 seconds until she saw it. She gave me a pass on it though. Which was generous.

I thought the Flyers looked pretty good out there, in general. The first line obviously is magic; there needs to be more scoring deeper than that. Maybe when Upshall and Umberger come back, the lines can be juggled back and secondary scoring will start. The defense looked pretty good as far as Smith, Timonen, Kukkonen was off to a good start too. Much better than last year, but still needs a little work. Randy Jones is fully responsible for Calgary's tying PP goal, taking a needless hooking penalty. Also, Jeff Carter was negligible except for the pointless penalties he took as well. I have bigger expectations out of this guy, and I hope he at least tries to fulfill them. The Flyers' faceoffs were excellent. Biron was hot stuff. All in all, except for a few lapses here and there and some tired play giving up the 2-0 lead, the Flyers looked in reality as improved as they did on paper.

Danny Briere was the hero of the night, justifying early on why he is being paid what he is being paid; getting wide open late, late in the third and being available for the puck from Gagne, who stole it -- STOLE IT! -- from the Flames in their zone, and then Briere roofed it, straight over Kiprusoff. It hit the crossbar, and because I have not yet exorcised the ghosts of season past, I was sure it did not go in.

But it did.

And the Flyers were up 3-2 and killed off the rest of the game, going out on the PP. 2 points for the good guys in their first game, and on the road against a defensively-strong team. An auspicious start to the season for once, and isn't it very refreshing to have the Flyers win their season opener?

Box Score from Yahoo sports has Steve Downie chivalrously serving all the Flyers' penalties, and he managed to bag an assist on the last goal. This is pretty astonishing for someone who was scratched from the game (thus serving #1 of 20). If you look at all the box scores from last night, all but those for the Flyers and the Leafs are normal. The Leafs have a mysterious A. Stralman serving penalties and assisting on goals. Consequently, I wonder who it is that has the sense of humor. Someone ticked off about the Downie situation, and who likes messing with the Leafs?

I have good hopes for tomorrow's game against the Oilers, who won last night in a shootout. I'll be at home in Iowa, probably sleeping, but even then, my brain will be sending good luck waves to Edmonton.

It's nice once again being able to show one's face the day after a Flyers game, and not have to take any guff. Last year was so difficult.

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

Phantoms opening night tonight! First use of season tickets! First opponent will be the Norfolk Admirals, this year not affiliated with Chicago but instead Tampa Bay. The only two familiar names on the Admirals' roster are Dan Jancevski and Karl Stewart. The Phantoms play the Admirals in Philly four more times in the regular season, so I suppose they will all become at least a little familiar by the end. But it doesn't matter who is playing, or who the Ads are affiliated with; I don't like 'em. :-)

... that we have waited long months to see. In less than 8 hours (how can it still be that far away?!) the Flyers will be facing off against the Calgary Flames for their first game of the 2007-2008 season.

I'm sure all of Flyerdom has high hopes that what transpires in the next few weeks will finally put to rest the specter of horror that was last season. Everywhere you look someone is saying, "They can't be as bad as they were last year," and well that is technically not true (they did win a few last year -- they could win fewer this year -- gah! bite my tongue! Who cares about technicalities?) in a practical sense it has to be true, because so many good things happened this summer. I can't wait to see it all come together ... positively ... even if it doesn't mean a Stanley Cup, and, I will even go so far as to say even if it doesn't mean a playoff berth ... as long as it shows the team is going down the right road. Not too slowly, though. A year to catch themselves, I could give them that (despite being a person with limited patience). Personally, I think they will make the playoffs this year, but I at season's start I look at the Flyers with orange-colored glasses. I may not be 100% objective. (Are you kidding me? Am I ever?)

Others have previewed the season and the game. Some people I like more than others, but I'll link their stories here for you to peruse and judge on your own.

NHL.com's preview of the game. Calgary sound tough. Kiprusoff in net will be difficult to solve. But I have confidence in our expensive new center and his wingers, all of whom have proved they can find the net (but if I hear "Gagne, just wide!" tonight I will scream, I swear it).

Tim Panaccio's take in the Philly Inquirer. I have to say I'm a little shocked he didn't bring up Joni Pitkanen's single-handed destruction of the universe when mentioning last year's implosion and the influx of new people, two of whom came via Pit's departure. I guess he's left one scapegoat behind; if the Flyers really are good this year, maybe he won't have anyone to run out of town. (If I had to submit a prediction as to who he could choose, if things get shaky, my best guess would be the coach.)

Chuck Gormley in the Courier-Post focuses on head coach John Stevens and his vision for overcoming what he was thrown into last year. He also writes about Marty Biron's next chance at being the #1 goalie. For my part, I liked what I saw out of him late last season, and he was good in the (meaningless?) pre-season. As disappointing as it is that Niittymaki has not established himself as the Flyers' #1, I am willing to stand behind Biron, let Niittymaki challenge, and give the Flyers something solid in goal for the whole season (and with luck a lot longer).

Rob Parent at the Delco Times summarizes what changes went down to the Flyers' lineup since the Forsberg trade that day I was flying out to Delaware for an interview, as well as summarizing the current lineup situation (a few holes left in defense and some key injuries).

I could not wear a Flyers t-shirt or jersey to work today (darn corporate atmosphere!) and I do not, at this time, have any small Flyers adornments, e.g. earrings or pendant, to show off my appreciation for the new season's start, but I have done what I could: I have on pants that are black and socks that are white with orange. [I completely forgot the orange and black striped socks I bought a couple weeks ago (I assume they are meant for Halloween) ... doh! Well, there is always the home opener for those.] Had I been thinking, I would have painted my fingernails orange last night.

Speaking of Last Night, I did not go out to dinner and instead entrenched myself on my (still new) sofa and watched two hockey games. I enjoyed the first one a bit more, despite the second one having players I recognized and cared about. I have to say that I don't know how the Wings/Ducks game had to go to a shootout, since I thought the Wings played excellently. Not that the Ducks sucked, but in comparison I think they lagged. And what was up with Corey Perry leaving his visored helmet on while getting into a scrap with Dallas Drake? Drake unhooked his helmet and while he was doing that, Perry slugged him and made no attempt to remove his own lid. Consequently Drake was unable to really get a good hit in, despite having the opportunity to do so. Before the fight, and after the fight, Drake was jawing about Perry not having taken off his helmet. Generally I'm just fine if a game goes by without fisticuffs but it's not that I don't enjoy a good slug-fest on occasion -- I can be vicariously blood-thirsty -- however I think it's pretty weak of someone to agree to go at it and then leave on a helmet with a visor, especially if your opponent doesn't have one on. I mean, sure, it prevents you from getting a black eye, but if you didn't want a black eye, maybe you shouldn't have agreed to fight, you wuss.

The Stars/Avs game was a decent one, too, except that the Stars did not seem to have it together. And Marty Turco -- my word, he seemed off his game. I think two of the 4 Colorado goals were stoppable. Two of the others came in scrum-type situations and would have been harder to beat. But Paul Stastny apparently had his name in the stars (ha!) because he potted three for his first NHL hat trick, at the very beginning of only his second NHL season. Not too shabby, folks. I was irritated by the way the announcer pronounced Joel Lundqvist's name as "Jo-ELL" (that can't possibly be correct, can it? Swedish j's are y's, no?), and found it difficult to remind myself that the NHL is not the AHL and his role in Dallas is not the role he had at Iowa ... so when he didn't score every other shift, I could not be surprised. He was playing on a line with Loui Eriksson, so it was almost like watching a game back home. But his other partner in crime, Junior Lessard, was assigned to Iowa. The Stars got down 4-1 but in the third made a run for it, made it very interesting -- I was considering bagging on the third period because it was late and I was tired, but I stuck through it, and was rewarded by some good action, but it just wasn't enough. Petr Budaj held on for the Avs and some big-time streaks were broken last night, apparently. Poor Dallas. Maybe you should just send Joel and Loui back to Iowa and let the baby Stars win a Calder Cup this year.

Ok. Here's my forecast:

1) Flyers tonight. WOOO!
2) Phantoms tomorrow. SEASON / HOME OPENER!! My first use of the Season Tickets.
3) Saturday, my first use of my new DVR in order to capture the Flyers/Oilers game (in which I expect to see Joni).
4) Sunday, send good vibes to the Phantoms as I will not be in the right time zone to attend the game (funny, already missing a game)

That's all for this afternoon. I have to get back to working. GO FLYERS!

Phantoms' opening night roster, 28 names. 5 goalies are on the list! Cripes, that's almost as many as there are defensemen!

I think it looks like a decently solid team this year. I'm certainly looking forward to it. Steve Downie is on the list, but he won't actually be playing until November, since the AHL has decided to honor his NHL suspension. Which seems a little odd to me. The incident didn't occur in the AHL, doesn't it seem a little like he's being punished twice? If his AHL ineligibility doesn't affect his NHL suspension, then I don't see why the NHL suspension should affect his AHL eligibility. I guess they say that a player under suspension in some other league can have the issue reviewed by the AHL and the matter will be handled at the AHL's discretion. I guess I am not surprised they ruled the way they did. But I think it is just an extension of making him an object lesson that I doubt will be upheld.

There is a Meet the Team party tonight at a restaurant in South Philly, which is open to season-ticket holders at 5 p.m. However, the Phillies are playing this afternoon in their first playoff game since ... uh.. .. 1993? and I am not interested in inserting myself into that traffic zoo. Is it uncool of me, as a Philadelphia-area resident, to say that it annoys me that the Phillies are interfering with my hockey plans? If only they could have played tomorrow instead. Also, Bruce Springsteen is having a concert at the Wachovia Center Friday night. I'm soooo glad about that, because another 20,000 people and their cars in the vicinity of the Spectrum won't give me a stroke or anything.

I have cable and hockey is on tonight, but I think I may be going out to dinner. That's what DVR is for. And nothing is keeping me away from the television tomorrow night -- nothing, I tell you!!! I don't care that the game isn't on until 10 p.m.!!

So I was looking at the schedule, and I see the Flyers are playing the Devils on my birthday. I was hoping the Flyguys would have a game on my birthday, so that I could treat myself to a trip to the Wach on the day that I turn 31, but ... awww... the Devils? Maybe some miracle will happen over the next month and they will turn into an interesting team to see.

ESPN, that bastion of quality hockey coverage, has put up power rankings for the NHL.

The Flyers are at #20. I may be biased, but that is a little low. Consider the reasons given: 1) that "they didn't exactly finish strong" last season and 2) "Besides, most of Philly is going to miss the first few weeks of the NHL season thanks to the Phillies." Well, sir, did you happen to notice how the roster has changed over the summer relative to the finish of last season? I think you must have at least had a peek, because you did note the addition of Briere. Maybe you didn't investigate beyond that. Other formidable additions occurred. And in the second place, what do the Phillies making the playoffs have to do with how well the Flyers are going to do? Is there some sort of paranormal connection I am not aware of?

I think 20 is a little low. Yeah, I'm a little worried while being optimistic at the same time. A 3-5 pre-season record isn't outstanding (better than last year's record though!). But then again, they did play six games in eight days while shifting rosters crazily. Flyers should be soooo much better than last year, but since they were soooo terrible last year, being sooooo much better might still not be good enough. On paper, they'll do pretty all right. Pre-season rankings really don't mean that much, after all. The Flyers' season starts Thursday and then we'll see how things fall into place.

Iowa Stars won their pre-season game against QC last night, 2-0 shutout. In other Stars news, Chris Conner was assigned to Iowa. This seems interesting and disappointing because he led the Dallas Stars in the pre-season with three goals and six assists in five games! I wonder what's behind that. I will have to investigate a little.

Jason Smith was named the Flyers' captain today. I think this is a good move. As I was saying to J., there were reasons he was captain in Edmonton for years and those reasons wouldn't have been left behind when he moved to Philly.

Also, Denis Gauthier was waived. He missed so much of last season it's almost like I forgot he was technically part of the team. Which means I probably won't miss him that much ... as a Flyer, anyway. If he's not claimed I guess I'll see him at the Spectrum.

I apologize for the weekend of silence -- a lot of hockey going on! -- but two days' worth of housecleaning (that's right, housecleaning -- me!) and then running twenty freaking miles on Sunday pretty much had me occupied.

Let me consult my notes and consider where to start...

I left you with a complaint about the excessive punishment that was thrown at Steve Downie by the incompetents at the NHL. I will begin with further complaining about the incompetents at the NHL.

All the furor is in an attempt, so sayeth the powers that be in the NHL, to crack down on hits to the head. Or am I wrong about that? It is how I understood it. So I would like an explanation from the league as to why the Islanders' Andy Sutton can wham the Rangers' Ryan Callahan with an elbow to the head and get off with only a fine? How is it that Colin Campbell can agree that it was an illegal hit and "a suspendable offense" and then not suspend the guy? Oh, it's because Callahan wasn't hurt?

Mr. Campbell, this is ridiculous. A suspendable offense should result in a suspension. Downie did not elbow the guy in the head, intentionally or no, and got the "library" thrown at him. You cannot claim your intent is to try to reduce the number of head shots if you are going to let head shots that don't result in concussions go!! How are players supposed to know which blow to the head -- with a freaking elbow for chrissakes! -- is going to lead to a concussion or not!? You have as good as said "Go ahead and elbow 'em, coz if they don't get hurt, you're more or less scot-free." Dangerous hits to the head are not going to stop if you are not penalizing the action. That's right. YOU CANNOT MERELY PENALIZE THE RESULT. YOU MUST PENALIZE THE ACTION. It proves what people were saying all along. McAmmond gets back up after Downie's hit, we are not embroiled in this brouhaha; Downie skates off free. What a joke.

I could have handled the whole thing if only the NHL would have made some effort to be consistent. Within days (barely even days) they have made a mockery of themselves. I officially hate the people in charge of the NHL almost as much as I hate the people in charge of this country.

Ok. Friday night, the Flyers played in Washington. They were up 5-2 and ended up losing 7-5. Huh? Rathje played? Briere with two goals. Gagne with one, too. That sounds nice, but gee. According to what I read, Niittymaki, who was in goal the whole game?, didn't have much help. But apparently he has looked shaky and unprepared most of the pre-season, basically the opposite of what one might have hoped out of someone who can be so very good and has had his injuries surgically repaired. We will need someone strong to back Biron up. I have confidence in Niitty, but so far it has not sounded good about him. 7-5 blows, but at least 1) no one got hurt and 2) no one got suspended!

Saturday night. The Flyers played at home against the Rags. I half-thought about going to the game, but after I went running and leisurely ate, time ran out. Obviously I wasn't considering it very strongly. I tried to listen, same as I have most other games, but again no dice. So I watched posts in game day threads, and it read like it was a beast of a game, with Jason Smith getting into two fights and taking no guff from those blueshirt punks. I left the game when it was tied 2-2, being tired and hoping that if I quit paying attention my anti-win mojo would not affect them any more. Alas, the Flyers ended up losing 3-2. Wish I had gone to that game instead of the one last Monday. I mean, if they're going to lose, at least I could see them lose with some energy. And to think that the Flyers power play was actually effective for once! That would have been something to see.

So the Flyers' pre-season ended. Some stats: Simon Gagne was second in the league during the pre-season for assists (7 in 6 games played, tied with several others including Jussi Jokinen). 3rd in Shots on Goal with 24. Also he was 5th for points (9). Chris Conner was second with 3 goals and 6 assists! Jesse Boulerice and Riley Cote were in the top 5 for penalty minutes. Biron's save percentage: 94.9, in 5 games played, good for 6th (though #1 is Frank Doyle, and he played two periods only, 0 goals against, so, you know, barely counts).

Saturday afternoon: NHL official season game in London, England. Kings beat the Ducks. A bit of an upset? Sunday afternoon: Ducks beat the Kings.

Today, I get cable TV. Just in time to get settled in for the Flyers vs. Flames game on Thursday. While I am in Iowa for the weekend, I will have to record the game against the Oilers (Saturday). The season of not doing much but watching hockey begins this week! WOOOOO!!!

Last: the Iowa Stars won their pre-season game on Saturday, beating the Flaming QCs 6-3. See here. Why do they call B. J. Crombeen a new face? He was around in the first season. I remember him. Anyway, the Flames and the Stars (of the AHL) play again tonight, in Des Moines, at a USHL arena. Go Stars!!