ORANGE C.R.USHER

Tuesday wasn’t very interesting on the trade front for the Flyers, who made their big trade the night before, picked up a dude off waivers over the weekend (Thoresen) and already traded that other dude Vandermeer for Modry. Apparently there was chit-chat going back and forth, but Holmgren wasn’t willing to part with our Dear Carter, and so he stays and our blueline looks the same: Jones, Timonen, Smith, Coburn, Parent, Modry, Kukkonen. With Modry out for another week-ish with a shoulder injury (not a concussion), I guess Stevens may be forced to play Kukkonen? I mean, if the guy isn’t going to play ever again unless an injury gives Stevens no other choice but to put him on the bench in a game, why didn’t they trade him? He isn’t worthless and definitely could have gotten us something other than a kid who fills in sometimes and warms a seat in the pressbox the rest of the time. I mean, Vandermeer got the Flyers something and Kukkonen’s better than he is, so it just stands to reason, doesn’t it? But there seems to be no reason where Kukkonen is concerned.

The one we traded away, Alex Picard, played for Norfolk Tuesday night and was a -2 with one shot, and Norfolk lost. Badly. If I were Picard, I personally would feel shafted. Moved from an AHL team with a legit shot at the Calder Cup to one of the worst teams in the league? However, I see that he was called up to Tampa Bay and played in last night’s game against the Wild (TB lost – poor welcome for that newly-acquired former Iowa Star goalie, Mike Smith). Maybe he’ll get to stay up for Tampa Bay. If so, see you next Thursday, Alex.

On the defenseman topic, there is talk that Gauthier may be put on re-entry waivers, because if he got claimed, the only team he could play for in the playoffs is the Flyers, and another team may not choose to snag him in that case. Say Gauthier is called up; the Phantoms defense has been gutted, with the loss of Picard and Parent having been called up. Suddenly, I find myself wishing we had Timonen back, when I think about Jonsson and Anderson, Guenin and Fitzpatrick (not necessarily paired together, mind you) – we’re missing a pairing, people! And let’s not even get started on the loss of Boucher. I know he was on a contract holding him to the Phantoms only and he was using the Phantoms as a springboard to a return to the NHL; cannot fault him for taking the opportunity when San Jose offered it to him. (I just hope he finds the bench comfortable; have fun watching Nabokov!) And I have no qualms, no fears, no worries whatsoever about Munroe moving into the starting position. He certainly has played in stellar fashion this season as a solid, dependable backup (holding down the fort better than I expected when Boucher was hurt earlier) and it will be a great chance for him to show that he’s got the skills to elevate his game – take us through to a Calder Cup, Muny, and see what the Flyers think of you then. But – here’s where the worry and fears gnaw – what do we do if Munroe (hockey gods forbid!!!) gets hurt for any significant time? The organization has recalled Martin Houle as the backup. All I want to say about that is “Ugh.” Maybe his record is due to a bad defense in Wheeling – I really don’t know because I do not at all follow that team. But I didn’t see Houle doing anything outstanding when he was with the Phantoms before (in fact, I saw him get pulled). I think we will greatly miss the halcyon days of worry-free goaltending.

-------

Ok, so I generally have nothing to do with Scott Burnside’s articles, but this one did not seem to be about the Flyers (whom I think he hates) and so I read it. As I read the following passage, I found myself wondering what kind of world we have come to in which I actually agree with Scott Burnside about something.

“Montreal sends Cristobal Huet to Washington for a second-round draft pick. This is one of three deals Washington GM George McPhee made that will give the Caps every opportunity to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2003. As much as Olaf Kolzig has been a long-standing rock for the Caps, Huet gives Washington a sizable upgrade at a crucial juncture of the season. … The big question: What was GM Bob Gainey thinking handing over the starter's reins to rookie Carey Price? No question, Price has the potential to be an elite NHL netminder. His maturation from junior star to AHL miracle worker to NHL netminder has been meteoric. But he's still a 20-year-old who has never played in a single NHL playoff game. Before Tuesday's game, he played just 26 NHL games. For a Montreal team that has legitimate designs on an East championship, that is a tremendous amount of faith to put in someone so young. With all due respect to new backup Jaroslav Halak, there's not much of a safety net in a town that is notoriously unforgiving come playoff time. If the Habs flame out early, Gainey will be thrown under the Montreal media bus despite his iconic status in the city.”

But then K. pointed out it was not so much that I am agreeing with “Sideburn” as he is “just observing the obvious state of things after the trade deadline. He really said nothing truly prophetic or greatly insightful. You can rest assured that he is still a useless [censored].”

Phew!

---------

I am going to tonight’s game against Ottawa. I am nervous. I don’t want to be responsible for getting the Flyers started off on another winless streak, but I also don’t want to actually believe that I am the cause of losing. I highly doubt they will even know I am there; we are in section 210A in row 13. I might as well be hanging from the rafters. But at $25, I’m not going to complain a bit. Normal seats at an Iowa Stars game cost $25 – I’m thinking these prices for a Flyers game are a steal. (Maybe the tickets are stolen … hmmmm.) I am disappointed Richie won’t be playing, but I am keen to see the new guy(s) in person. Though they will be small and far away. This will be my thirteeth Flyers game (12 regular season games and 1 playoff game). Please be a lucky thirteen. Please.

Having mentioned the Iowa Stars, I saw they reassigned Nolan Baumgartner to Manitoba. Baumer got the shaft from the Flyers last year, maybe moving to Manitoba will get him back into the NHL, but I didn’t really get to see him play so I have no good feeling for whether he’s headed that direction or will end up cooling his heels in the AHL for good. I did notice on the Stars’ website the poll for “Who do you want to dye hair pink for the Pink in the Rink game” and I don’t know any of the four players listed. How things change when your back is turned and your attention is focused on another team.

And that other team plays tomorrow night vs. Binghamton. They’re giving away Bobby Clarke figurines. That’s the stuff.

Evolution of text messages during the game last night:

[Andrew Peters and Jesse Boulerice fight early in the first period.]
C.: “Peters is a dick and Boulerice is a fool.”
J.: “You said it. I’m in the mood for some violence."

[Sabres score the first goal]
J.: “What in hell was that?”
[Sabres score a second goal 11 seconds later]
C.: “Eff that wtf was THAT?!”
J.: “Why am I a Flyers fan?”
C.: “Masochist? My fault.”
J.: “You bet it’s your fault. Guess I can’t change now. Too much money invested.”

[TV people talking about Forsberg signing with the Avalanche]
J.: “I hope the Avs crash and burn.”
C.: “Me too. What a slap. The Flyers are playing frantic tonight. Damn it they are fried. Carter!!”
[Sabres score to make the game 3-0 while I text; then Jeff Carter scores to make the game 3-1 while I continue texting.]
J.: “Can we start breaking Sabre legs?”
J.: “Carts is nice trade bait.”

[Here we actually start discussing the game on the phone until I get another phone call from K.; but I am rude and continue to text-message J. on occasion.]

[TV people announce that Modry has been out since the first period with an undisclosed injury.]
C.: “Modry? Upper body injury? Concussion anyone? I wouldn’t be surprised.”
J.: “It would be par for the course. Maybe we will have to lace up the skates to help them out.”

[Umberger scores to tie the game at 3, and TV people call it “poetic justice” about six times over the rest of the night.]
C.: “Sweet Umberglar!”
J.: “Do you want fries with that?”

[The Flyers make it through the rest of the third and OT tied at 3 apiece.]
J.: “I hate shoot outs!”
C.: “Flyers will lose. Damn it.”
J.: “Probably”

[Danny Briere, as the third shooter for the Flyers, has the chance to win the game. The puck goes in. Madness ensues.]
C.: “DANNY!! I think I might cry.”
J.: “Go ahead and bawl. We finally get one.”

When the game got started, I thought the Flyers were playing too hard, looking too frantic and making way too many mistakes. They were passing too much in their own zone, as if the puck were some kind of poisonous hot potato, which led only to failure to clear and turnovers. They were getting rammed by the Sabres and Boulerice didn’t really fight the fight very well. I’d call it a draw with an edge to Peters. The failure to kick the snot out of Peters was compounded by the two-minute slashing minor Boulerice drew, putting the Flyers a man down early in the first. I was pret-ty displeased, and got ready for another night of disgust. My expectations were rewarded when Derek Roy scored on Biron, making it look like the easiest thing to do in the world. In fact I was sitting there thinking, “I have never tried to control a puck with a stick while skating. I can’t even skate backwards. But damn it, I know I could score on Biron. Look how easy it is!” And when MacArthur scored eleven seconds later (eleven seconds later) to make the game 2-0 Buffalo, I was convinced. I could have a career as a professional hockey player, as long as I get to play against Philly.

Timeout Philly. Stevens yelled at them. He gave them all a good tongue-licking.* The first period went on about its crazy and out-of-control business, with the puck everywhere, the pace frenzied and unorganized, and too easily another turnover led to a third Sabres goal. I grabbed a mental hold of the Flyers team and heaved. A bus was coming and the only place for them was under it.

Carter made me feel a second of shame for giving up on them when he scored a beeee-yooo-tiful goal less than half a minute after that third Sabres goal. (Seventeen seconds later, in fact. Number 17 scored 17 seconds later. I love number coincidences like that.) Why is that suddenly you think your team is in the game, when they still have a huge two-goal deficit to overcome to merely tie it? 3-1 feels infinitely less disastrous than 3-0 but it’s still a disaster. However, it was only the first period, and there was plenty of time left in the first period. Carter’s goal came at In my head the Flyers were under the bus, but they had a minute chance of crawling back out. I’d give them the benefit of the doubt, but I wouldn’t lend a hand. And then Hartnell scored with less than four minutes remaining in the period to make it 3-2. That’s five goals in the first 17 minutes of the game. That’s crazy. And the Flyers were officially “back in the game”, with more than two full periods left to go. At that frenetic pace, who knew what was going to happen over another 40 minutes of hockey.

But things settled down considerably during the second period and the Flyers looked far more in control of their own actions; the game was pretty damn riveting, but I will admit that I despaired that they would actually tie it. The announcers proclaimed, “The last time the Flyers came back from a three-goal deficit to win was five years ago.” Stats are a funny beast; a team’s fate really is not decided by what numbers on a piece of paper say, but it’s odd how numbers can build up in a meaningful fashion (e.g. “Team A is 14-2-1 when leading after two periods”) and appear to define some given fate if a particular situation arises. I chose not to believe that this one was going to dictate the course of the game. Maybe if everything over those five years had remained exactly the same – same players, same coaches, same systems, same styles, etc. – it would have more weight, but so much changed over the five years that who is to say that tonight things might be different?

It was awesome to have the announcers jinx someone else for a change. In the third period, R. J. Umberger scored with just over seven minutes left to play and tied the game. A Sabre had been sent to the box on a delay-of-game penalty for chipping the puck into the stands. I hate that penalty and wish it weren’t part of the game at all, but I’ll be damned if I feel sorry for the Sabres. How many times have the Flyers been sent to the box on a stupid call and had a goal scored against them? It’s about time something like that went the Flyers’ way. And I’m sure the goal felt fantastic, given Umberger’s history in Buffalo. I was treated to a couple more views of him being clocked by Brian Campbell a couple years ago, then of a replay of him fighting Campbell, and then we got to see replays of his most recent, sweet, extremely important goal. My god – the Flyers had come back from three goals down to tie the game? I sat up. I fretted during the rest of the period, sure I was going to have to eat some more disappointment, but the Flyers kept Buffalo out of the net for the remainder of the game. They picked up a point going into the OT, but a point wasn’t going to be enough. NOT ENOUGH.

The OT was exciting hockey, but no one scored, and that made me slump back into my couch, the disappointment creeping in. The Flyers never win in the shootout. Not this season. Not since going back to October 2006. Another stat that seems to weigh far too heavily; the Flyers can’t win a shootout, the numbers don’t lie.

[Side note: the color announcer for the night, former goalie Vanbiesbrouck, was asked his thoughts on the shootout, and said: “I wouldn’t want to face the great shooters of the NHL” … as the camera zoomed in and rested on Jim Dowd on the Flyers’ bench. Chew on that a bit. Unintentional hilarity is the best. No offense, Jim.]

Buffalo went first. Biron stopped Connolly’s shot with a pokecheck (no way!).
The Flyers’ first shooter was Timonen, and he missed. He faked a shot, but was in too close, and didn’t have space to undo the fake and get the puck past Miller.
Buffalo: Kotalik; he scored. Ugh. I don’t know what Marty was doing there … nothing?
Flyers: Carter, who scored. That was unexpected. And I didn’t even think he had scored, because Miller didn’t move and you couldn’t see the puck because of the angle of the TV camera. But the announcers said he had scored. My eyes didn’t believe them. But it was true. WOOHOO! And it was twice that Carter put the puck up into the net. Please keep this guy. He’s figuring things out right.
Buffalo: Roy. Didn’t even get a chance. He flubbed the puck right in front of Biron, who swatted it away. I saw the puck basically come to a stop in front of him, as Roy whiffed, and I still feared it would go in, because I have seen too many times this season already apparently-made saves end up being goals. K: “Somehow it would go off the stick, roll up his back, bounce around his face for a few minutes, and then go back into the net.” Surprising that it did not.
Thus, it came down to the last Flyers shooter. Guess who it was? Danny Briere. His heart must have been pounding. All that pressure, all those boos all night long, all the booing back home, all the boos…….he skated in, he faked, faked, faked, and Miller went down and to one side. Briere took the puck the other way and tucked it in. It went in. IT WENT IN. Replay after replay, it showed what a close shave it was, but in replay after replay, it still went in. And the Flyers won.

To quote Al Michaels, “Do you believe in miracles?”

The Flyers celebrated on the ice as though they had just won a playoff series, not just some random regular-season game in Buffalo. But I get it; I celebrated as though they had just won a playoff series. What an awesome win, when it seemed as though they had given the game away again. Take that, statistics! Flyers haven’t won in five shootout attempts? Here you go. Flyers haven’t come back from three goals down to win in five years? HA HA!

Important matters: they did not set a new winless streak (they only matched it). They are tied with Buffalo for points at 69 apiece, but have the edge in the standings, so are back in the playoffs. The hold is tenuous, but I’ll savor it for now. And I will love that it was Umberger that tied it, and love that it was Briere that won it.

Carter = NHL’s second star on the night. How long has it been since a Flyer made that page on the NHL website?? (Sandwiched between two Maple Leafs, behind Darcy [bleep]ing Tucker!!)

P.S. There was a shot off the post that denied the Flyers a goal at one point. The puck went inside behind Miller, hit the post and ricocheted back the way it had come, sliding underneath Miller’s pad and away from the goal. There was only one place for the puck to slide through, and there was no clearance whatsoever, and the puck magically found that magical place to disappear. If it had been a Buffalo attempt, and Biron in goal, you know that puck would have hit some other part of the pads and deflected backwards into the goal. You know it. I’m so tired of heartbreakers like that. Oh well, I’ll let this one go now, the Flyers won.

Ok, right after the game they announced that the Flyers had traded Alexandre Picard and a conditional draft pick to Tampa Bay for forward Vaclav Prospal. Prospal’s done some good scoring this year, and given the dearth of forwards at this time, I suppose it’s a decent acquisition, but I hate that they gave up Picard for him. The Flyers are desperate for a solid puck-moving defenseman, and Picard has been honing his game quite well in the AHL. Now who will they look to for those skills? And while I know that the Phantoms, in the big scheme, matter less than the Flyers do, I wonder what’s going to happen to the blueline for my favorite AHL club now that Parent seems to have solidified a spot with the Flyers and Picard’s gone. Rory Fitzpatrick’s been sent down, but … ugh. Maybe he will fit in better in the AHL than he did playing for the Flyers earlier this season. I wish I hadn’t taken Picard for granted; he seemed like one of those guys the Flyers wouldn’t be willing to part with. Now if I see Picard again, it’s going to either be on March 6th when the Lightning come to Philly (I have tickets) or on March 11th when Norfolk comes back to the Spectrum.

Well, good luck to him; maybe the Lightning will give him more of a shot to get his game on in the NHL. He was coming along nicely. I think it’s only a matter of time.

We still have another five hours until the trade deadline. I wonder if Holmgren is done. The Flyers really could use someone on the back end, especially now that Modry has gotten hurt. (“Upper body injury” seems to mean “concussion” and I will not be shocked a whit when that news is revealed.) Will Stevens be forced to play Kukkonen again? I will never understand what’s going on there. Kukkonen isn’t the next Norris candidate, but he is still too good to be sitting. If they’re not going to use him on the ice, they should use him to get someone that they will use. It’s not fair to him, and it just doesn’t make sense to sit someone who can make a (positive) difference.

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

In spite of the heated text messages wishing the Avs ill, I hope nothing but the best for Peter Forsberg. I am heartsick that he did not choose to come back to the Flyers, and it certainly felt like he was kicking us when we’re down, but I do believe that the current state of injuries tipped the scales against us. There must have been other factors as well, because he always said he wanted to go back to a team with a chance to win the Stanley Cup, and Colorado, tenth in the West, do not seem especially more poised to do so than the Flyers. (He will certainly help them, though.) He did sign only a year contract with Colorado, which leaves the door open to his moving again over the summer, but I tend, sadly, to agree with K. that he will probably retire with the Avalanche. That’s hard to accept, because I love him as a player so much and want him to retire in the orange and black, but if he’s going to end his career with some other team, the Avalanche fit.

---------

Maple Leafs shut out the Senators last night 5-0. Anything that brings the Sens back down is good in my books. I know it just gives the Devils a bigger lead in the East, but I’ve decided not to get too worked up about them. They’ll make me happy in the playoffs when they choke again. (I’m sure I’ll eat those words when they hoist the Stanley Cup. But whatever. I’ve eaten words before.)


*This still cracks me up.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

(If you can't be bothered to click the link, it is to a story on TSN that tells you Peter Forsberg signed with the Avalanche. While this is severely disappointing, I suppose I shouldn't be shocked he passed on the Flyers; who would want to return to a team in this kind of tailspin? And it could have been worse; he could have signed with the Devils, I guess.)

More on this later Right now I just can't stand it.

I didn’t watch the Flyers game on Saturday, which may be the reason I am still here today; given my reaction to the newspaper article about it the following morning, I can only imagine how I would have shriveled away in disgust seeing it happen on TV. (I did not record the game, either, and this may be the only time I do not care – no, am even glad – that I forgot to set the DVR.)

My poor fist hammered the table repeatedly. I was not in a good mood.

At least Briere scored.

That’s all I really want to say about the Flyers matching their winless streak from last year – last year when they sucked so bad that it seemed lucky and amazing that they only managed to string together 10 non-wins in a row. J. reports that the Flyers actually played well enough to win the game, overall. Does knowing that make it better?

Tonight the Flyers play Buffalo. In a list of must-win games, this would be at the top. The Flyers are out of the playoffs by one point to Buffalo (67 to their 68 points). Maddeningly, the Flyers would be ahead of Buffalo in points had the referee whose face got sliced in half by Downie’s skate a few weeks ago not messed up an icing call late in that one game vs. the Sabres, which led to the game-tying goal (huh, with less than ten seconds to go) and subsequent loss in OT. If that embarrassingly bad call isn’t messed up, the Sabres tying the game becomes improbable, and the Flyers win in regulation … take those two points away from Buffalo, add one to our current total, and voila – the Flyers, not the Sabres, are eighth in the conference.

Of course, there are a lot of reasons in between then and now that have contributed to the Flyers' position, but if by some twist of agonizing fate the Flyers miss the playoffs by that one point? I would be sick.

If the Flyers win tonight, they’re back in the picture. Seems like an uphill climb, now without any hope of Gagne, with Lupul still a couple weeks (at least) away, Richards out for way too long, Hatcher … why is it every year we are looking at the list of injured players and scratching our heads and despairing?

Downie might be playing again tonight, returning from a “mild” concussion. Some other roster moves: Rory Fitzpatrick was sent to the Phantoms to ruin their otherwise stellar defense (even with Parent up), and Jesse Boulerice was brought up to play for the Flyers, having finally worked off his 25-game suspension. Um. While he has managed not to screw up while playing for the Phantoms, I can’t say that I’m very interested in seeing him in a Flyers uniform again. I know the Flyers have to put bodies on the bench to play the game, and with their forwards dropping out like it’s in style, they are running out of people to call up. But why Boulerice? Are they trying to tell Buffalo something? I guess I don’t have to like it. I’ll watch the game tonight anyway.

The Phantoms: I was at the game Friday night. Boucher let in two goals that were awful. I’m glad there is no replay on the jumbotron at the Spectrum so I didn’t have to watch those horrible goals again, since they were bad enough to last me for good the first time. If Boucher had made those saves – and I really think there is very little excuse for not making them – the Phantoms would have had that game in hand. Instead, they lost 3-2. After the score became 3-2, I said to K, “What’s going to happen is the Phantoms are going to lose this game and tomorrow they’ll go to Hershey and win 6-2.” Well, they did not win 6-2, but they did win 5-3, so I was pretty close.

I just want to say this to Chris Bourque: stand up!

Iowa lost to Chicago Friday night and Sunday 3-1 (each time a lower score than I expected). In the West division, places 5-7 are occupied by teams each having 65 points. The Stars are eighth with 57. Eight points away from a playoff spot (Syracuse in the North, at fourth, has 60 points). Seems ever more unlikely. No AHL games tonight; like the Phantoms, the Stars don’t play again until Friday.

I read an article in the Des Moines Register that the Dallas Stars will relocate their affiliate to Austin, TX, some time in the next two years, but AHL hockey will remain in Des Moines until at least 2015. Who knows what affiliate will replace Dallas, but it is safe to say that since I am not living in Iowa anymore, I won’t be much of a fan; not being a Dallas Stars fan anyway, once this franchise leaves Iowa, I will not likely be much of a fan either. Fewer and fewer players that I knew and liked remain on the roster anyway. I think the only way that I remain a fan of Iowa AHL hockey, at least on a deeper level than “Hey, that’s home!”, is if for some reason the Flyers’ affiliate ends up there (you know, once the Spectrum is gone). But putting the Phantoms (or whatever they would be called) in Des Moines seems like a long shot. There are certainly places closer to Philadelphia they would move first, don’t you think?

Do you think that any big and exciting trades are going to go down before tomorrow’s over? I haven’t been reading much about rumors around the league, so I don’t know what’s on the table, but I can’t see the Flyers pulling anything off. I wouldn’t put it past Holmgren, but I worry about what might be given up. We’ll know soon enough, no?

Penalties last night:

1st Period
Philadelphia puck over glass - 2 min 1:31, S. Ruzicka
Philadelphia fighting - 5 min 8:46, R. Cote
San Jose fighting - 5 min 8:46, J. Shelley

2nd Period
Philadelphia holding - 2 min 6:45, D. Briere
Philadelphia puck over glass - 2 min 12:15, B. Coburn
Philadelphia too many men on the ice - 2 min 17:41, Bench served by S. Ruzicka
Philadelphia misconduct - 10 min 20:00, R. Cote
Philadelphia misconduct - 10 min 20:00, S. Upshall
3rd Period

Philadelphia - 2 min 16:32, M. Knuble
Philadelphia unsportsmanlike conduct - 2 min 19:08, S. Hartnell
Philadelphia tripping - 2 min 20:00, J. Modry

I don’t want to complain that the refereeing is the reason the Flyers didn’t win last night, because it probably wasn’t, but this type of one-sided officiating seems to be all too common these days. I was watching; I saw the Sharks do some things. Why didn’t they see the inside of the penalty box (but for one fighting major cancelled out by our matching fighting major)? Why did the Flyers have to spend so much time on the PK? Why did Upshall get slapped with a 10-minute misconduct while Mike Grier – gloves off, I believe? – got nothing?

I was distracted while watching the game because I wasn’t watching it by myself at home with every iota of my concentration on it. But I didn’t see very much worth every iota of my concentration, anyway. The Flyers’ only goal with less than 6 seconds left in the second period was excellent, the slowest-developing 3-on-1 in the history of the universe, but it got the job done. Biron made a couple of magnificent saves. Claude Giroux played nicely until he seemed not to be playing much anymore. (Help me to understand that?) But otherwise, I saw more of the same disorganized, incapable hockey that I have seen most of this month.

Modry: invisible, which I suppose is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to defensemen, but he did get faked into the ground by the Sharks’ Michalek on SJ’s second goal and that was ugly. Wearing Vandermeer’s number was perhaps not the wisest of courses to choose. I flinched every time I saw it.

Kukkonen: not [bleeping] playing? Stevens, W. T. F. Seriously.

Briere: apparently he is capable of scoring goals; he’s just started doing it for the opposing team now. I don’t agree with booing him; well, not entirely. He does make a lot of money to not deliver on the dreams we had when he was signed last summer. But the team that is around him now is not the team he was surrounded by at Buffalo; neither is it really the team that he played with earlier. Gags is out and the linemate situation is ever-revolving with everyone. I don’t give him a 100% pass, and I am not pleased with his inability to get on the positive side of the score sheet, as well as his minus defensive abilities, but booing him? Not yet.

Biron: made those couple of magnificent saves, but also let in a terrifically savable softie and blew it. Sigh.

Flyers: what is up with 1) allowing other teams to break their slumps on your backs (that is two during our own slump!) and 2) allowing players the opportunity to score their first goals in 2,156 games or first goals ever? Hope you enjoyed it, Douglas Murray of San Jose. Who else has gotten their first NHL goal recently? Jeff Tambellini of the Islanders/Sound Tigers. That was great. Francis Bouillon of Montreal; I didn't actually see it because I was watching Vandermeer waste the game away, but yay for you! I hate that so much.

Gotta start scoring, guys. It’s not like you don’t have your chances; convert your rushes and, for future games where you may be miraculously granted with a power play, get your PP back together. You're out of the playoffs, guys! You're looking up at the Sound Tigers Islanders! For shame!!!! A short time ago you had the lead in the division. Get a grip!

Finally, I would like Stevens to draw up a road map so that we may better understand his decisions. Putting Kukkonen out of the game after the way he played the last couple boggles the mind.

Definitely is feeling like last year. I will end this post with a BAH!

So, last night I got a text message from J. asking if I’d heard that the Flyers had traded Vandermeer.

The only way she could have made me happier was to text me asking if I’d heard the Flyers had signed Forsberg. I leapt online and saw that it was true: Jim Vandermeer was traded to Calgary for a 3rd round pick in ’09.

Let’s examine the chain of events:
1) Philly trades Ben Eager to Chicago for Jim Vandermeer.
2) Philly trades a 3rd round pick to Los Angeles for Jaroslav Modry.
3) Philly trades Jim Vandermeer to Calgary for a 3rd round pick.

1+2+3 = Ben Eager for Jaroslav Modry.

I have only seen the Kings play once this season, against the Flyers a few weeks ago, and I have no memory of Modry. I have not read very promising descriptions, but he was a plus player on a terrible team this year, so can he really be all that bad? Can he really be as bad as Vandermeer? I suppose I should hesitate to ask that question until I see how he plays. But the main focus here is that Vandermeer is gone.

I’m sure he’s a decent guy and all, so I want to make it clear that I don’t hate Jim Vandermeer the person but rather the way he played hockey for this team this year. After maybe a few OK games, he displayed a shocking lack of sense, and that lack of sense led to too many bad results. I am so pleased that I don’t have to watch him turn the puck over in the defensive zone right onto the stick of an opponent, who just happens to be in perfect position to pass and/or score. I’m so pleased I don’t have to watch him bank a puck right into our goal. I’m so glad that I don’t have to watch him put himself way out of position to make an unnecessary hit or play and leave his team exposed. I’m so glad Stevens can’t continue to bench defensemen who are actually useful in order to play him. Vandermeer just didn’t belong as a top pairing guy playing top minutes; maybe Calgary will play him where he belongs and he will do OK. Or, maybe Calgary will get to enjoy the same fantastically bad decision-making skills that we got to.

I never understood why Stevens continued to play this turnover machine night after night after night. I am not the only one. Stevens must simply have been unable to see what the rest of us saw, and this is evidenced by his claim that the media’s “repeated published critiques of the defenseman’s play” were “unfounded” and that “Philadelphia media was on a ‘witch hunt’ for Vandermeer. It baffles me that he can say this with a straight face. I never thought the media was overly hard on Vandermeer; in fact, I thought the media should be harder. True, I do not read every last scrap in the Philadelphia media, but I do read a significantly sizeable chunk of it, and whatever I read about Vandermeer was not nearly as strong as I felt it should have been. Maybe Stevens is including local blogs and message boards. Only then would I think he had point; some comments exaggerate and go over the line -- but there was always a grain of truth in there somewhere. I never felt the newspapers went far enough in criticizing Vandermeer’s poor play. Certainly I never got the feeling of a “witch hunt” – we had that last year re: Pitkanen, and the coverage of Vandermeer never approached that. Coach Stevens: Vandermeer wasn’t that good. In fact, he wasn’t good, period. Face it, ok?

The good news came with bad news on its coattails, though. Simon Gagne recently met with a concussion specialist and was advised not to play at all the rest of this season. Gagne’s been out most of the season, so it’s not like the Flyers are going to have to scramble any more than they already have for 35 games in order to figure out how to deal with his absence; however the condition of many other players is making it more difficult at the present time (Lupul out, Downie out, Tolpeko out, and so on down the line). I am not surprised by this announcement, nor am I all that broken up about it. Sure, it would be great to have a healthy Gags back out playing, but it took him a long time to recover from the first two concussions back in November, and then he got bumped and got another one. He needs to focus on recovering fully, and that will simply take a lot longer than a few more weeks. The only thing that worries me is the possibility that he may not fully recover a la Keith Primeau. Can’t worry about that right now, though. We’ll just expect Gagne to report to training camp next fall in top shape and ready to play his best game. In the meantime the Flyers will do what they can without him. (Like use his money to pick up someone by the trade deadline?)

Claude Giroux will play another game with the Flyers tonight, but then he’s got to go back to juniors. Modry will play in his first Flyers game so I’ll get a look at him. I’m hoping for a good game with a good outcome so that I can turn the logo magnet on my car back around in the right direction. I’ve been disappointed by the Flyers lately, and I lash out by turning their logo upside down. Small, petty things make me feel a little better in situations about which I cannot otherwise do anything.

If the Flyers could have played the entire sixty minutes of last night’s game the way they played the final twenty-plus, there is no question that they would have won the game. Watching the first period was like watching last year’s Flyers. I railed at the unforced turnovers, at the peewee mistakes that led to a Senators’ goal and the failure to record a single shot for seventy-five percent of the first period; the poor play that allowed a second goal in the second period, the failure to score during a 5-on-3. While I am disgusted that Jim Vandermeer sees any ice time, the fact that he was playing forward last night seemed to take the sting out of his stupidity, because if he turned the puck over playing up front it need not necessarily lead to the disasters that result from his turnovers in the defensive zone. I thought a lot of players were invisible last night (Danny Briere? Do I even remember hearing Scott Hartnell’s name except in conjunction with the turnover that led to the Sens’ first goal?) but now I will focus on the good things from last night’s game:

Claude Giroux played very well. He did not appear to be nervous at all, and used his body and ability to put himself into good position. He was not outstanding in his debut, but very solid. He very nearly helped a goal, but the puck hit the post instead of him. He missed on a shootout attempt, but let’s face it, 90% of the Flyers suck at the shootout, so I’m not going to get on his case about it. He was decent in the preseason and he was decent last night, too. I have few doubts that he will be in Philadelphia next year.

Lasse Kukkonen is the epitome of the term “team player”. The dude took a high stick to the face not once but twice I think, and never drew a call; his face was beat up but he still laid down to block shot after shot after shot. If Stevens ever benches this kid again in favor of anyone short of Pronger/Lidstrom/some other all-star defenseman we don’t have, I will officially call him a moron.

Martin Biron. Martin Biron. Martin Biron. He took a stick to the neck, was rattled a bit, and kept on playing without having lost an edge. He was plowed into such that his feet were swept out from beneath him, from behind, and said he felt something “pop”; he got up, shook it off, didn’t miss a step. Biron almost single-handedly kept the score from growing out of reach. I complained at him for not stopping Chris Kelly’s breakaway goal, but that was out of habit, out of principle, not because I actually thought he should have had it. It was not a soft goal. I don’t blame him. I do think he should insist that they practice breakaways and shootouts more, though. I think sometimes he stays in too deep and gives the shooters too many options. Otherwise, he looked fantastic.

Kimmo Timonen’s risky but huge decision to move in way deep on the shorthanded rush – would anyone but a veteran and all-star d-man take the chance? Probably, but would the chance be converted into a goal? Had Vandermeer done it I would have been frothing at the mouth because odds are he would have turned the puck over when he missed. As I said, a bit risky, but the payoff was enormous. You could see the moment when he decided he was going to go for it, as the jets came on. It was the last minute of the period, why not? The lead was cut to one goal with Timonen’s marker. I was surprised by it, and I began to consider taking the Flyers out from under the bus where I had thrown them. Add in his shootout goal and I think he had a pretty good night. Yeah, he took a couple penalties but they were the kind where if he did not, you don't want to consider what might have happened. Alfredsson would have had a free run to the net, and we all saw what happens when Biron is challenged like that. The other was less clear-cut; I think the hooking call was barely warranted (especially given the failure of the officials to call a cross-check on a Flyer a short time later), but Timonen had to try something behind the net there, lest a Sen have his way with the goal.

While talking about good goals, I want to point out that Scottie Upshall, who wears number 9, scored his 9th goal of the year last night, and his third in three games against the Senators (3 x 3 = 9). Scottie was throwing himself around again, getting under skins and hitting bodies, and finally his hard work in the offensive zone paid off with a very timely and important goal. He did run his mouth a bit too much late in the third period and took a ten-minute misconduct, missing the OT session, which might have been a crucial mistake. Who is to say?

The third period is how I want to see the Flyers play from now on. If they do that, they will have realistic chances at winning every single game from here on out. They simply must not allow themselves to start out slow and hope they find their legs a while later. They simply must not allow themselves to make lazy plays, take lazy penalties, and allow themselves to be pushed around. They have to take the game into their own hands and play rough and gun it from start to finish. This is not a new revelation, of course, but it can’t hurt them to have it said one more time. The Flyers’ poor defense was not dismantled by Heatly/Spezza/Alfredsson; they can take that and build upon it going down the stretch.

The Flyguys still lost last night, but they picked up a point and I think pulled some very positive things from their eighth non-win in a row. San Jose is on Thursday, and I now have rebuilt faith that they can win. (I admit that before the game, I told K. I didn’t think they would win. I was right, but not the way I thought I would be.) In the first part of the game, I was having the same hopeless, sinking, disgusted feeling that I got most of last year. I did not like the reminder.

P.S. We had another entertaining night of commentary, with Bill Clement telling us something about R.J. Umberger and banging. I cackled.

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

So, after everyone pretty much thought the Forsberg business was over, he comes out and says in Sweden that there is still a week until the trade deadline, nothing’s over with quite yet. I hate the way I still hope he might come back, because I know it’s pretty unlikely, and I hate to be disappointed. Forsberg, you’re such a tease! At least the answer one way or another will be known by next week.

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

So the Rangers were up 5-0 last night and when the margin is that monstrous you usually expect the team that is up to win, but no such deal last night as the Montreal Canandiens Canadiens came back to win 6-5 in a shootout. The scoring included two goals nine seconds apart in the third period. Rangers …. LOL.

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

The Iowa Stars lost last night 4-2 to Hamilton. Sigh.

I don’t know the last time I wrote a post in the glow of a good game. I do know the last time I wrote a post having recently seen, in person, the Flyers throw away an important game; the last time (before last night) that I came home from the Wachovia Center is a foul mood and actually wanting to cry a little bit. (January 21, in case you weren’t keeping score.)

I’m going to go back to Friday night and look at some AHL scores, because they are less maddening. The Phantoms played Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and beat them 1-0. Boucher posted the shutout, his fourth solo effort this season and the fifth in which he took part, and Marc-Andre Fleury, the Big Penguins’ supposed starting goalie taking some AHL time to recapture his game shape after being out for a very long time, suffered the loss. (That sure doesn’t make a strong case for his displacing Conklin, does it?) Lars Jonsson did the honors for Philadelphia, taking a pass from Ruzicka. In the West, Iowa blanked Houston by the same score. Steve Silverthorn was in goal for the Stars, and Bomersback potted the single goal of the night. (On Sunday, Tobias Stephan would pitch a shutout against the same Houston team, and the Stars won 3-0.)

On Saturday, the Phantoms played Albany, and lost 3-2 in an overtime game, the OT being forced by Ruzicka with 20 seconds left the play. (Interesting about Ruzicka, clearly playing decent hockey with the Phantoms lately, yet still being passed over for promotion to the Flyers in favor of some … shall we say curious alternatives.) The goal came on a pass from Jared Ross while the Phantoms were on a 6-on-4 with Boucher pulled. But Albany disappointed the Phantoms and scored about halfway through the OT. The Phantoms picked up a point, and would have the next day or two to mull things over and get ready for tonight’s late-afternoon rematch.

On Saturday, the Flyers played the first of two games in a row against the Montreal Canadiens. They were away in Quebec, and were pretty much in a deadly must-win situation. As far as I am concerned, every single game from here on out is a must-win, and this was never more true than at this time. I don’t have very many complaints about the way the Flyers played on Saturday, if you hold them up against the way they played the recent few games. The effort was there. That’s all there is to it. But they couldn’t score a goal on Carey Price to save their lives and I have no idea how they could make him look like the next Patrick Roy and get nothing in the net. Price was outstanding, there is no questioning that, but I can’t grasp how the Flyers couldn’t find a way to solve him. Even on a 5-on-3 in the third period when they made eight (8) so-called QUALITY shots on Price, nothing. There was only one real chance for the Flyers to get into the game, and that was on a non-reviewed situation where Price went into the net with the puck under him. I guess the decision on the ice was that he had been pushed into the net (he most certainly was not), and the play did not even go to review. For those of you keeping count, the referee choosing not to review was Dave Jackson, who also chose not to review a goal in the game against the Capitals on the 6th (apparently a goalie was pushed into the net there, too). In such an important situation, why not err on the side of caution? The Flyers had a goal there. The tying goal. And it wasn’t even looked at. If the officials wanted a better way to say that they wanted the Canadiens to win that game, they couldn’t have found one, especially with half the other horrendous, BS calls that were made and were not made throughout the game (e.g. the “goaltender interference” call made on Randy Freaking Jones when Price took a dive in the crease. Yeah, Jones was near him, clipped him incidentally and insignificantly and Price flew to the ice; the official bought it. Break something next time you dive that hard, Price; teach yourself a lesson about being a [bleeeeeep]. Also some obvious Habs interferences that were apparently unnoticed by the stripes. Great!) No, the no-goal was not the reason the Flyers didn’t win the game, it was all the other unrealized potential goals. But this could have changed this considerably. Knuble said it best: the Flyers deserved better. Niittymaki kept that game at 1 goal, a goal that was came on a PP by Cote for taking a stupid penalty.

The Flyers were playing without Hatcher and Coburn, with Upshall returning. And the worst part of the whole game was Lupul’s going out with a leg injury. This was just about the last thing this team needs.

Now, Sunday’s game. I received my Richards jersey in the mail on Friday. (This was galling to J., who had not received hers by the time she left Iowa for Philly Friday morning. She is sure that hers is sitting in her mailbox at home.) I wore this, feeling pretty excited about the game. A new jersey, great seats, a fresh opportunity for the Flyers to prove to me that I am not a jinx.

We arrived pretty early and saw the bus loads of Habs fans. They were crawling all over the place. I was a little surprised at their numbers. I have gone to a handful of games already this season, and I did worry that the excitement of going to a Flyers game might diminish with every game that I go to, but those worries were unfounded. I may not be as excited about it in the days leading up to the game, but as soon as I get to the Wachovia Center and am standing at the doors, waiting to get in, my heart rate goes up and I revel in the anticipation of seeing my favorite team up close and personal again. However, I miss the way the announcer would proclaim the teams in the contest, e.g. “Flyers … Bruins … NOW”; it is no longer announced this way, and given the fact that I can’t recall anything especially special about their pre-game pumping-up on the jumbotron means that I am left somewhat less emotionally charged. Fortunately, Lauren Hart’s always-spectacular rendition of the anthem ramps the feelings of excitement back up. She really is extremely excellent.
Apparently, the Flyers were playing the Canandiens Sunday evening.



I was pretty disgusted by this, but at least they fixed it at some point, because it read the proper way later in the game. Also, when we arrived at our seats, the score was already up on the jumbotron: Flyers 7, Canadiens 4. (Overly optimistic considering the losing streak, and very jinxtastic, I think.)

We were at the Habs’ end of the ice for the warmup. It has been a while since I have sat so very close to the ice and I was reminded just how big these NHL dudes are. I am not a fan of the Habs by any stretch, but I do respect Saku Koivu.



I saw him chatting with Niittymaki while they warmed up. I had to look past a cluster of Habs fans in our section to peer down the ice to watch the Flyers warm up, but I still got a good look at our players.



We were quite surprised to see Braydon Coburn out on the ice and skating; we wondered if he was warming up but would be scratched, wondered if Kukkonen might be scratched, but then realized we were not seeing Hatcher out there, and figured neither would be scratched. It’s amazing that Coburn was able to play (and he played pretty well) given that it was barely more than a week since he sustained that odd injury and underwent surgery to repair a burst artery! And later in the game we realized that there were three defensemen out on Kukkonen’s shift: he was playing forward. (I read a comment about this on the message boards in the vein of “You know how far [Ruzicka]’s sunk when …”) Some unusual stuff was going on, but you do what you have to do, I guess, and I try to assume that the coaching staff knows what it’s doing (I do not always agree, however). Downie was scratched as well, and it was only later that I read that he had sustained a mild concussion at some point in the previous game. You’d think that the way concussions are going around on this team that they were somehow contagious (vide infra).

Let’s say that the game was not too bad for a while, in spite of the penalties that the Flyers continually took, while the Canadiens appeared quite disciplined. This would be in part to weak refereeing. While Upshall can be called for a ticky-tack hook, Briere can be cross-checked into next week with his face planted into the ice without a call being made. The Canadiens scored first, which was deflating, but on a shorthanded rush a few minutes later, Mike Richards scored to tie the game. It was a beautiful goal, Umberger and Richards both rushing up the ice; Richie shot and it flew in past Carey Price. Richards stopped, stood with his arms up in triumph. After having had to listen to the thousand Habs fans cheering and Ole Ole Oleing for the first ten minutes of the game [and booing Briere – give me a break, grow up, how dare you all come into our house and boo him? I wish that the Flyers fans had drowned them out by cheering on Danny. I cheered for him, even though it seemed like we didn’t see much of him (but that may have been because the Flyers spent most of the game on the penalty kill)] it was exhilarating to be able to scream and cheer for our guys.

The next deflation occurred when Begin rammed into Tolpeko, knocking him down and into the boards. Unfortunately, Tolpeko’s head was a little down and was hit pretty much unawares, and though Begin came off his feet a bit to make the hit the Hab was given only a 2-minute minor for charging. He got a 5-minute major for fighting, though, when Jason Smith jumped on him for the hit, landing a few good punches and seeming quite in control of the fight before getting flipped over onto his back (whoa!). It was great to see Smith come to police the situation, but it was not great to see Tolpeko kneeling at the boards and not really moving. He was helped up and off the ice and did not return: he was concussed.

Last, I hope someone on the Flyers kicked Vandermeer (and kicked him hard) for what he did late in the third period: he tried to fight Josh Gorges, who was not interested, and continued to try to fight him even as Gorges pointed up the ice. Throwing a glove down, not getting a whistle, Vandermeer completely ignored the fact that the game was still going on and completely ignored the fact that his number one job is to play defense. I was watching him try to get Gorges to go, and the next thing I knew the Habs fans in the crowd were cheering raucously, and Gorges was laughing his ass off along with his teammates, who were skating back to their bench in victory, having scored easily. Vandermeer’s blunder had distracted most of the rest of the Flyers and the Canadiens skated in on Niittymaki without impedance. I am assuming there was no whistle because a fight never actually got going. If Vandermeer had actually thrown a punch and started the fight, instead of just inviting Gorges to fight, maybe the play would have been whistled dead. I don’t know. All I know is that Vandermeer blew it big time. Pretty much more than he’s ever really blown anything before. This was worse than some stupid turnover right to an opponent’s stick. You could at least argue there that he was trying (albeit very poorly) to defend/clear the puck/pokecheck; here, he has no excuse. None. As Stevens commented (though without calling Vandermeer out specifically) “We just stopped playing for something that had nothing to do with the game.” For something Vandermeer stupidly did. Yet he got to come back out and play in the second and third periods, and I just cannot understand any of it. And I’m boggled by what Vandermeer has to say afterward.

"I think if each guy is better and more aware every shift on the ice, that's the only way we're going to stop this thing," Vandermeer said. "If I'm a little more aware where the puck is, if I'm back, maybe it slows the play up a little bit."

If you maybe play defense and don’t turn the puck over, or maybe if you’re not on the ice at all, maybe the Flyers can “stop this thing.” That’s just my opinion.

It is a strange and appalling thing when suddenly I find myself glad to see Randy Jones on the ice.

In the second period, Coburn tied the game again with a fluky goal; he fired it on net, and it deflected upward, arcing toward the net. Scottie Upshall was in the way, and he had the presence of mind to duck; the puck passed over him and in. Because Scottie’s stick was up in the air, the goal was reviewed (at least, I’m assuming that’s why the reviewed it), but the puck didn’t hit Scottie or anything he was holding at all, and so the goal rightly stood. Not all was lost at this point, right? Even with Tolpeko clearly not coming back out, even with the heavily biased officiating, the Flyers were obviously still in this game; it was tied.

The Habs had other ideas and scored three more times, the fifth being an empty-net goal. One of them was a heartbreaker, passing quickly over the line only to be swept out just as quickly by Niittymaki. If only the sweep had been a few inches out. The Flyers hit the post too. And Price, while not quite as obnoxiously outrageous as he had been Saturday night, still retained some magic mojo that for the most part kept the puck out of the net even when it seemed like it should be impossible for it to not go in. At the very end of the game, Riley Cote scored his first NHL goal, bringing the score to 5-3, and as much as I am not a very big fan of Cote’s, I do really wish that his first NHL goal could have been something meaningful, not some useless tally in a game that was lost long, long before. I wish his goal could have celebrated wildly, the way Downie’s was when he scored his first. He deserved better.

Damn it, I deserved better. J. deserved better. It was her birthday and the Flyers failed her, the way they failed me on mine. I wanted to cry. It really defies logic, doesn’t it? I have been to twelve games and have only seen one win. You’d think that the more games I go to, the chances that I will see a win would increase, but all I do is increase the number of times I see them lose. My coworker B. speculated that my 1-11 record may indeed be proof that there is such a thing as a jinx; “The question now is how to explain the outlier.”

I cannot. My technician was there, and I paid upwards of $300 for my ticket. Perhaps one or both of those factors are required. Alas, I have not paid that much for any of the tickets to the upcoming games I will be attending (alas?), nor will my technician be going along, so I cannot test that hypothesis.

Next game I will be at: February 28 vs. the Senators. Maybe it will be lucky thirteen.

Ok, late Monday afternoon/early Monday evening we were at the Phantoms/Albany President’s Day game. The Phantoms had on special jerseys that were green with copper letters; we briefly discussed what the reason for the colors might be and we settled on the fact that perhaps they were meant to signify money.



I laughed my head off when I saw the extra E in Greentree’s nameplate. Seriously, how does a mistake like that get made? It’s a hundred times worse than the “CANANDIENS” of Sunday afternoon. A thousand times worse. A person actually had to select the letters, choose to put three Es in a row, and sew them on. At least, I assume a person did that. That person must have been brain dead.

Anyway, the Phantoms had a depleted roster: Ruzicka was called up after all, Parent called up, Tolpeko out with his concussion, Zingo still out, Potulny out, Reid out. Still, they played strong and simply better than Albany, beating their goalie Peters twice. Munroe shut out his opponents to win first star honors, making a couple outstanding saves in the process. An enjoyable game, after not seeing the Phantoms for more than two weeks. The Phantoms are now thirteen points up on Hershey (whom they face Friday night) and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (who won over the baby Senators, Fleury actually not sucking). It was a relief to see a team I love win a game, and at least J. didn’t have to look at two losses over her birthday weekend.

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

Ok, enough chit-chat about games I saw. Yesterday Forsberg’s agent made it clear that Forbserg will not be attempting a comeback in the NHL this season. This is disappointing, especially now when the Flyers could very much use a player like Forsberg, but I respect PF’s decision not to insert himself onto a team and inflict his uncertainty as to whether his foot could withstand the rigors. He will take the rest of the season and the off-season to continue his rehabilitation, get into game shape, and perhaps re-enter the league next fall (in the orange and black, of course! Well, that was not announced, but it is still my hope). I wish newspaper writers were not so lazy; according to the Daily News, Forsberg tried to play with the Swiss national team late last year. Now, why would the Swiss let a Swede play on their national team? It’s worse than when they repeatedly refer to Scott Hartnell as “Jeff.”

Claude Giroux was called up in an emergency situation from juniors. Remember, he played in the pre-season and looked pretty good, but the Flyers thought they’d give him a little more time to develop (since he can’t play in the AHL due to his age, he stayed in the juniors). I feel pretty good about this call-up, but I wish it were not necessary.

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

Other stuff: I read the following in the New York Times:

“We don’t mean to harp endlessly on how bad the Southeast Division is, but [Saturday] the Atlanta Thrashers lost on Long Island, 4-1, giving up 49 shots on goal while managing only 10 shots of their own in the entire game.”

Gee.

---------

Tonight’s game: Flyers vs. Ottawa, 7:30 p.m. (at Ottawa). Emery’s been rumored to start in goal. I suspect we will see Biron for the Flyers. I cannot predict what Flyers will show up for this game – the ones that cannot defend for crap or the ones that beat Ottawa twice already this year. The Flyers MUST WIN THIS GAME.

Oh, the Iowa Stars play Hamilton tonight, too. At Iowa. They are three points behind Houston and still in 8th place. Pick up a couple more points tonight, boys!

That is all.

Help me to understand why Jim Vandermeer continues to see ice time. On the ice for three of Tampa Bay’s five goals against; in the box on a concurrent minor penalty for a fourth. Directly responsible for TB’s first goal. I don’t understand. He was benched by Chicago. CHICAGO. And somehow he’s now a top-pairing guy for PHILADELPHIA? In whose Bizarro World? HELLO!!! AAAAAUGGGH!!! To add insult to injury, Coatsey’s Corner featured an interview with him. Pretty bad timing, considering the fury I’m sure was shared among many Flyers fans.

Randy Jones had a good game last night. I am big enough to admit it. It’s almost like his goodness was inversely proportional to Vandermeer’s suckiness.

Biron’s lights-out save was dead awesome – you know, the one where he was on his side, down and out, and the TB dude corralled the puck and carried it off to the side. Don’t tell me you didn’t sigh and know you were looking at another TB goal. But Biron kicked his foot up and made the save. Hallelujah! One of the most amazing saves I’ve seen all season.

When Steve Downie came out of the box to end a 5-on-3, he received a pass from Mike Richards and had a clear path to the net. My immediate reaction was, “Aw damn, too bad Downie can’t skate for crap,” expecting him to flub the chance because, well, his skating isn’t the best. I ate my words. He faked everyone out, pretending to be looking for a pass, pass, pass – totally not appearing to look at the goal at all – and then shot and scored. An awesome shorthanded goal. And the Flyers still had a chance at that point – they were leading now 2-1!

Ryan Parent looked OK in the game. He seemed a little tentative. He made some mistakes. I thought it was apparent why he’s spending the year in the AHL to season his professional game. But when he loses the shyness, so to speak, gets familiar with his pairing partner, and so on, I think he will play a great game for the Flyers.

Very uneven refereeing when TB ends up with five PPs and Philly only one, when there were obvious non-calls preventing the Flyers’ PP from having a chance. They spent a lot of time on the PK, and their PK completely blew last night. Oh, maybe that’s because Vandermeer was out there, for that unknown and inexplicable reason.

Why is Vandermeer playing, again? And why was it last year that the media chose a particular defenseman to blame things on (and run out of town) while this year sits mainly silent while Vandermeer gives games away?

The Flyers will quickly slide out of playoff contention if they don’t get their game together. Lose two to Montreal this weekend, and that’s that.

Speaking of Montreal games … I want to apologize in advance for Sunday’s loss. J. is at this very moment on her way to Philadelphia and we will be at the game. And you know what happens when I am at games. Perhaps – and we can only hope – that instead of the usual detrimental jinx that is supplied by my (our?) presence, a new helpful jinx will bring them out of this horrible slump. After all, the last time J. saw a Flyers game in person, they won. Can it happen again?

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

While the Flyers take the night off, the Phantoms will be north playing Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Greentree’s been sent back down today, so look for him to add his positivism on the scoresheet. Tomorrow they’ll be at Albany, and the next home game will be on Monday (against Albany). I will have to leave work a little early to make the game, but since it will be the only Phantoms game J. will be here to see (and, since I haven’t seen one since the Worcester game a couple weeks ago) I will certainly work out that detail. The Phantoms have a very comfortable cushion over both these divisional rivals.

Iowa vs. Houston in the West.

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

As of yesterday I still have not received my Mike Richards jersey from River City Sports, the one my folks ordered for me on Christmas. It’s been seven weeks. If it doesn’t arrive today or tomorrow I think a phone call is in order. I really wanted it for this game, but it isn’t my last game of the year, so I haven’t run out of chances to wear it (once I get it). I will also be ruining the Flyers games on:

February 28 vs. Ottawa
March 6 vs. Tampa Bay
March 12 vs. Toronto
March 18 vs. Atlanta
March 23 vs. NY (Islanders)

Looks like I’m not going to be doing much in March but going to hockey games (seven Phantoms games as well, plus the Leafs/Sabres game in Toronto). I got a phone call a couple days ago from a Flyers season ticket representative, seeing if I am interested in some kind of package for the upcoming season. I think I just might be.

I watched two hockey games Tuesday night. I watched the Flyers live, while postponing the Phantoms game until later. In the end it was probably better that I did it that way, for had I watched the Phantoms game, the scores at the bottom of the screen would have hinted at what was going on at Nassau Coliseum and I may not have bothered. I would have missed the following:

1) Mike Richards failing on a fabulous, delicious breakaway. He was so far and away ahead of the Islanders defense that it was a bit like a penalty shot. He missed. I don’t know if he was trying to be fancy; it sort of seemed like it, because he waited so long while skating in on ice he knew was bad, and couldn’t control the puck. He ended up stripping himself of a real chance. Had he not missed this shorthanded opportunity, the game might have ended up differently.

2) Danny Briere actually scoring a goal. I’d begun to wonder if he’d forgotten how to do that.

3) Jason Smith taking it upon himself to play goalie for a brief moment. Niittymaki was so far out of the net it was ridiculous during a snafu in front of the goal such that I sat back on the couch with my heart telling me that the Islanders had another goal gifted to them by these bizarro Flyers – only to have Smith block the shot, right in the goal mouth, with his body. My eyes popped out of my head. Really. However, Smith’s goal-saving heroics came only after, what, Smith’s six thousandth brutal and dangerous turnover of the game?

4) Niittymaki falling asleep in goal. Way to waste Smith’s valiant save, Frank. Did you enjoy the cool breeze provided by the puck flying past you as you dozed? I can’t bend my brain around the way Niitty can completely flash out at the worst possible moment. On his knees, so far back in the net, the puck passing him by with barely a glance at it. HELLO!?

5) Umberger’s beautiful backward pass, rather than attempting a bad shot, to Hartnell coming down the middle. Tick tack score, Flyers now 3-2. Too bad Fedotenko scored to make it 4-2 in the third and I knew the game was over.

6) Kyle Greentree acquitting himself decently in his NHL debut. I was hoping hard for him to score a goal – unfortunately, not only because then one of my favorite Phantoms would have had a very memorable night, but because the Flyers so desperately needed a goal that one from anywhere, anywhere, would have been cherished. Greentree didn’t make any glaring mistakes, and he used his big body as well as he could given his ice time and line mates. Just goes to show that potentially useful NHLers don’t always come from the first round of the draft. Some of them aren’t drafted at all.

7) Marty Biron’s entertaining in-game commentary. He was sitting apart from the team near the goal, wearing a microphone and could chit-chat with the play-by-play dudes. They should have just let him talk the whole time. He’s a hoot.

Basically, the Flyers gave this game to the Sound Tigers Islanders on a platter made of bad bounces, bad lapses in goaltending, a couple ringers off the goal posts, and a [bleep]ing RIDICULOUS number of turnovers. I hated seeing Jeff Tambellini score his first goal of the year against us. I’ve watched him enough in the Spectrum, thanks very much. I hated hearing that obnoxious clang following good chances. I hated Niittymaki for whiffing a 100% savable goal. It was a backbreaker. I hated that the Islanders were on a major losing skid – worse than the Flyers’, which stood at 3 games before Tuesday – and the Flyers let them break it.

Yesterday, one of the coworkers with whom I am going to the March 6th game against Tampa Bay approached me and joked that he had sold his tickets on eBay. I found myself telling him to have faith. I should take some of my own advice. The Flyers skidded badly in December and they came back and had a good stretch of hockey. I don’t see why they can’t do it again. Upshall’s reportedly skating and is likely to return this weekend; Coburn may not be out as long as they thought, too. And, you know, Forsberg’s going to be back, too, right? (Latest word (as of writing this): his agent’s said he will make his decision this coming Sunday or Monday.) Gagne insists his season isn’t done, and in the interest of optimism, I will believe that he will be back, too. The Flyers are only a few points out of playoff contention at this time; conversely, they are yet only a few points away from the division lead. That’s the nature of the Eastern Conference right now. It’s nuts.

Anyway, after the conclusion of the disappointing Flyers game, I watched the Phantoms game. It was odd to look at them on TV and have J. J. Jackson commentate, but I appreciated the opportunity to get to see replays, which are not possible at the Spectrum because the jumbotron is probably as old as I am. It wasn’t perhaps the best game to showcase the Phantoms to the general Philadelphia public; the arena was sparsely populated, so it looked as though the Phantoms don’t draw a crowd. I assume anyone looking at the game realized why, though. (The Flyers game on Long Island was about as well attended.) The game started late because the referee was late, and it began with only one linesman, while the other arrived late too. I tried to see (and hear) K. in the stands, no dice. (He decided to go to the game, since he works within walking distance, and since I-95 was a parking lot of accidents and ice he wasn’t going anywhere anyway.) The Phantoms played pretty well, going up 3-1 on the Crunch until the last two minutes of the game. They were without a handful of so-called “impact” players: Greentree up with the big boys, Zingoni scratched (rumor has it his face was broken in a fight against Springfield and has had surgery … which means he’s going to be out for quite some time)., and Potulny out too? Jackson had some fun with the dueling Alexandre Picards (theirs hooked ours and was sent to the bench). Ruzicka scored two pretty goals and Nate Guenin another bomb that LaCosta probably wishes he could do over. All was going as planned and then Boucher must have gotten bitten by the same sedating gremlin that Niittymaki did, falling asleep in goal and allowing the Crunch to hit 3-2 with less than two minutes to go.

But who worries when there is so little time left, and it’s Boucher, who has saved the Phantoms’ asses numerous times (and had already made some awesome saves that night)? A fool doesn’t worry, that’s who. With less than a minute left to go, Boucher fell off the fence and allowed the tying goal. I was shocked. I mean, Niittymaki’s crumbling seems sometimes par for the course, but this … ? Good grief. Boucher stood on his head during the overtime, and I just scratched my own head wondering where the hell this awesomeness was in the last two minutes of regulation. Ruzicka did his best to negate his two-goal awesomeness by taking a stupid penalty in OT, but fortunately the Phantoms killed it off. The shootout went to five rounds, with Ross scoring a pretty nice one first, only to be matched by a heartbreaking trickle-in by Syracuse: Bouch made the save, but the puck did not bounce OUT, it slid to the side, and …. inched in between the tip of Boucher’s skate and the post. Boucher didn’t realize it had gone in; I’m sure he was taking a deep breath of relief as he got up, but then his head snapped over to see the puck in the net. Back and forth another three shots, and then Our Alex Picard scored; Boucher made the final save and the Phantoms ended up winning.

It was one of the first times I thought that Boucher did not deserve to get a star, not the way he disastrously failed to do his job at the end of the third period; yet he got one anyway. Yeah, I know he made 43 saves. But he did not make two very crucial ones and very nearly blew the game.

At least one team I like won a game Tuesday night. The Iowa Stars lost 6-3 to Manitoba, letting go of a 3-3 tie. However, last night they played Manitoba again, and won 4-1.

The Phantoms are ten points ahead of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, holding a commanding lead in their division. I judge them third in the East, behind leading Providence (79 points) and Hartford (71 points, two fewer games than Philadelphia) and fifth in the league (Toronto and Chicago both with 73 points).

Oh – Kyle Greentree has been recalled again by the Flyers and will play tonight; additionally, Ryan Parent was called up and will play tonight as well. I suppose that means Lasse Kukkonen will sit again, which is a travesty. If anyone sits to make room for Parent, it should be ___________________. (You fill in the blank. An appropriate answer would start with the letter V.) There is some other speculation as to the underlying reasons for calling up Parent. (Trade brewing? Kukkonen possibly injured blocking a shot Tuesday night?) I’ll just hang on and see. Parent’s a good guy. He’s really only in the AHL to hone his professional game; he’s not slated to be a career AHLer by any stretch.

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

In the New York Times (yesterday?) there was an article about Alexander Ovechkin. It said: “In his most spectacular game this season, an overtime victory over Montreal, he scored four goals, including the game winner, despite having his lip stitched after a puck hit him and having his nose broken when he was driven into the boards. He also had a cut under his eye from a high stick the previous game.” You see, this is why I like Ovechkin, in spite of the way he continually victimizing my Flyers and his membership on a team I don’t like. He plays the game hard, throwing himself into it without expecting to be coddled and snuggled and given exceptions; he’s also got a good personality. In short, he is the opposite of the NHL’s love interest, and while I probably would eventually tire of 24/7 Ovechkin Ovechkin Ovechkin in the manner of 24/7 Crosby Crosby Crosby, I doubt it would make me hate him the way I hate Crosby. I’d much rather see a tough player like Ovechkin all the time than a whining baby who hides behind referees, his talent, and the NHL.

-----------

The Bruins beat the Penguins last night, 2-1. I always like to see the Penguins lose, even to a team I don’t like. My favorite part of the quick game blurb was this: “Visiting Boston used … a smothering defense to beat Pittsburgh.” Is that fancy-talk for trapping? There was an article in THN recently about how boring Boston’s game has become. I’ve seen a few games. Yeah. I guess it brings wins, but I’d wager that the only people who like to see wins like that are Boston fans. If I’m watching a game between Boston and Pittsburgh, I want to see Boston win, but I’d really rather see action, not constant “smothering defense.” Tim Thomas facing only 1 shot in 15 minutes of the second period, and 11 total in the first two? Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

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

For V-Day, K. and I are going to sit on the couch and watch the Flyers play Tampa Bay. I’d really like a good game, guys. You know, solid effort all 60 minutes and stuff.

With Gags out all concussed again, Phantoms winger Kyle Greentree has been called up to play tonight at Long Island. How cool is that for him? -- His first NHL game, and it's going to be nationally televised on Versus. He's been a beast for the Phantoms lately -- you know we love him -- and I hope he has a great game tonight.

Weather today is supposed to turn into Teh Suck, and if it does, it will make it difficult to go to the Phantoms game tonight. I really should be responsible if there is freezing rain, sleet, you know, the slick stuff, and stay off of I-95. Never fear -- the game is going to be broadcast on CSN in the Philadelphia area.

Additionally, this is Hockey Week in Philadelphia. Friday is "wear your favorite jersey" day, and I wish that I could wear mine to work ... I probably could ... I don't know. Saturday, there is a "Skate with Phlex" dealie at the U of Delaware -- J. will be here, maybe we can head down to Newark and have some fun there. (Photographs resulting from such an event will certainly have me crashed into the boards.)


UPDATE, 5:15 p.m. The weather is Teh Suck; it took me half an hour to get home from work (usual commute: 5-10 minutes depending on what lights I hit red) thanks to slick roads and people in accidents. I'm not going to trust that other roads on the way to Philly are any better. No Phantoms game in person for me. How fortunate is it that tonight's game is the one that's on TV? I'm going to get to see it anyway.

Firstly, I’d like to apologize for my non-communicative behavior this last week or so. I have a decent excuse, however. My preferred time for writing this blog (mornings while enjoying a Coke at work, shhh) has become occupied with other obligations (i.e. work). The major dead time that plagued me since Thanksgiving has begun to dissipate as projects come back in, and I’d sort of forgotten what it was like to actually have to do my job for 8 hours a day. So I was without a good opportunity to blah-blah-blah ...

Secondly, I don’t have time to go over the hockey for the last week-plus as long-windedly in depth as I generally like to. So this will be a bulleted post of quick-and-dirty synopses (for the most part). Ready? 1-2-3 GO!

Flyers embarrassed themselves at home, losing to the Rangers 4-0 on January 31, 2008. I was out at a bar watching this game with some coworkers. When the game started, and I saw Valiquette was going to be playing for the Rangers, my exact words were, “The back-up goalie?! The Flyers will lose this game.” My attention was divided. Initially, it was 90/10 in favor of the game. By the mid-point of the third period, it was 10/90. Then we got up to go before the game was over. At that time, the score was 4-0 Rangers. It didn’t get any better. (It didn’t get any worse, either, but a goose egg to the Rangers, and their back-up goalie, is a goose egg no matter what the other number is.)

Phantoms won the game against the Worcester Sharks in regulation on February 1, 2008. This was quite a good game, and while the score ended up 3-2, in reality it was 3-1; the Sharks scored their second goal in the waning seconds of the game when they had a super-power play: they had a 5-on-3 and then pulled their goalie for a 6-on-3, and how do you not score in that situation? There was a flurry at the very end, but the Phantoms held on. Greentree with two goals. Game marred by the following points: 1) my companions were absent, so I was at the game on my own, which normally is no big deal, but that meant I had no one to help me tolerate 2) the fool behind me, who continually bellowed “HIT HIM!” throughout the whole game, in addition to talking and yelling complete crap the rest of the time [e.g. “I wonder who [Worcester]’s the farm team for!?” (yo, they’re the Worcester Sharks, buddy – take a freaking guess!), and after Greentree’s second goal, “It’s all green now, tree!” (Uh … what?)].

Flyers beat the Anaheim Ducks on February 2, 2008. Some people talked about this game as meaning something – the Flyers have been pretty good lately, but look at the teams they were beating. When they beat a quote-good-unquote team, maybe the talk of being a legitimate contender could be convincing. Selanne had resigned with the Ducks but was not playing yet. The Ducks had had a bad time of it recently, losing to Minnesota on Wednesday, then getting shut out by St. Louis on Friday before arriving in Philly for a Saturday game. Then they were shut out again by the Flyers, 3-0 in a great game. Mike Knuble recorded his first career hat trick. The Flyers looked good, setting themselves into a nice position for the following week’s games.

The Devils barely beat Pittsburgh on Monday, February 4, 2008. It is a predicament, watching a game between two vile, rival teams, with the unclean feeling that results from cheering Devils goals and being angry when they appeared on the verge of blowing it against the Penguins. I ask one thing out of you, New Jersey, and that is to beat the Penguins, and you were bound and determined to let me down. Why do you continually enrage me, in so many different ways? The Penguins still got a point, because the Devils had to go to overtime to beat them; but fine, whatever, the Penguins lost. The lesser of the two great evils of the Atlantic Division won. Side note: the announcers were unintentionally hilarious with some serious double entendres, e.g one about Laraque and an opponent’s backside.

Kari Lehtonen proved himself once again to be Niittymaki’s chew toy as the Flyers beat the Thrashers again on February 5, 2008. After Biron’s shutout on Saturday, some people questioned Niittymaki’s getting the start against the Trash on Tuesday, but anyone who looked at Niitty’s glamorous numbers against Atlanta would quickly understand (and if still not, certainly Biron would). Prior to this game, Niitty was 7-0-0 lifetime against the Thrashers, with a GAA around 1.30. How do you not start that goalie? Mike Knuble scored again for 4 goals in 2 games, but Atlanta made it interesting, scoring twice in the second to tie the game at 2, but the game was won in the third on a goal by Steve Downie, and Niittymaki’s unbeaten record against Atlanta / Kari Lehtonen was preserved, now at 8-0-0 and having allowed a mere 13 goals in the process. I wonder if the Trash have got a complex about playing the Flyers much the same was the Flyers have got one about playing New Jersey. After all, it didn’t matter how terrible the Flyers were last year; Atlanta still couldn’t beat them. La la la!

Flyers lost after all 4-3 to the Washington Capitals on February 6. Knuble potted another one, 5 goals in 3 games, making it 1-1 at that point, but the Caps came on in the third to score three before the Flyers even made another (Kapanen). It was 4-2 until the last minute, when Randy freaking Jones scored, and while my heart really thought the Flyers were going to pull it off in the last seconds, they didn’t. I want to hate Ovechkin, because he is the one who scored the eventual game-winner for the Caps, but he’s really very good and he’s not Crosby, so I actually like him a little bit.

Flyers embarrassed themselves again versus the Rangers on Saturday afternoon, February 9, 2008. The Rangers generally seem to have no chemistry and have not shown themselves to be a very good team, but they put Valiquette in again and stitched together a much better game than the Flyers did. When I saw Lundqvist would not be playing, I said again, “Oh hell, the back-up dude’s in again, the Flyers are going to lose.” But I said it kind of jokingly, because, well, would it really happen a second time? In a row? Er….. Flyers lost, 2-0. Valiquette’s had two shutouts in his career. I will let your own brain figure that out. Braydon Coburn disappeared in the third period. I was not paying very close attention during this time, and was shocked to read the next day that he’d had to go to the hospital for emergency surgery. They had said he’d torn a muscle in his buttocks. I wondered why you would have immediate surgery for a torn muscle, but further reading revealed that it was actually quite a lot more threatening than that – an artery in that vicinity had ruptured. Ok, immediate surgery makes more sense in that case. I’ve spent a lot of time cringing while thinking about this injury. So I will try not to think about it any more. (Isn’t it weird to be glad, in a way, that the more immediately threatening injury occurred, rather than a torn muscle? He won’t be out as long this way.) There was another bloody incident in the game as well. Steve Downie was checked by a Ranger and he was upended; his skate hit a linesman in the face. While the linesman was down on the ice, a mini-brawl broke out (three separate fights). The camera went to cover that, but eventually attention shifted to this linesman. Replays showed him rolling over to his hands and knees, bleeding onto the ice. Then he got up and skated toward the melees, leaving a trail of blood as he went. Another zebra turned him away (what could he say but “WTF are you doing, get the $%#^ out of here!”) and he was helped off the ice with a towel in his face. Really, he was bleeding rather horrifically. I felt a little queasy as they kept showing him on the ice, then skating toward the brawl, blood pouring to the ice. On the other hand, it wasn’t as bad as what happened in a Panthers game Sunday, with Richard Zednik getting a skate to the neck.

Flyers mildly embarrassed themselves again Sunday afternoon, finally losing to the Penguins and ruining their chances at a payback sweep. Apparently the Flyers cannot play very well in the afternoon. I hated watching this game, because it seemed obvious early on that the Flyers were not going to win, and I even feeling tired enough to want to take a nap during it. Gagne left after the first period, sustaining another mild concussion. (Damn it!) Kukkonen was finally getting a chance to play, but it’s unfortunate that it’s only because Coburn was unable to play. Kukkonen and Coburn are not the same kind of defenseman, so Kukks was not actually replacing Coburn in an effective sense, merely filling the corporeal void on the roster. Evgeni Malkin made the Flyers his point machine, and the [blank]ing Penguins won, 4-3. R.J. Umberger scored another two goals against the Pens, which was nice. Too bad they ended up being not enough. Hartnell’s goal late in the third was really nice, too. But the score would only have been 4-2 had Ty Conklin not finally looked like Ty Conklin again made a li’l mistake leaving the net wide open for a Flyers goal. With these losses the Flyers fall four points behind the division leaders ([bleep]ing Pens), after enjoying such a nice few days at the top.

The Phantoms have been away since that game against Worcester on the 1st. On this road trip, they have done the following: 1) beat Binghamton 5-1; 2) lost to Binghamton 4-2; 3) lost to Springfield 4-2; 4) beat Manchester 3-2; and 5) beat Providence 3-2. That last one is a biggie – the importance of a win over the AHL’s top team cannot be overlooked. Jared Ross is playing again, scoring two goals in the Manchester win. Matsumoto scored twice in the Providence game (Ruzicka’s back too) and is the AHL’s third star for the night. A 3-2 record for the road trip is decent. The Phantoms are home again at last tomorrow night, for a rather rare weekday game, against Syracuse.

In this stretch of hockey, the Iowa Stars have not done much to dig themselves out of their last-place spot in the West. Their recent games: 1) win over Grand Rapids 3-0; 2) loss to Grand Rapids 3-2; 3) loss to Chicago, 3-0; 4) win over Peoria, 1-0. That’s 0.500 hockey, but their division mates were not idle and they just couldn’t gain on anyone. The Stars’ record is now 23-25-2-2 and they’ve really, really got to turn it up in the last weeks here, mainly against their divisional rivals. They are seven points out of the fifth spot in the West (which will make the playoffs, as things stand now). In the remainder of February, they will play West division foes five times. They will face Houston twice, Milwaukee once, and Chicago twice. Chicago’s out of their reach; that’s all there is to it. It would be nice to get four points out of those contests, but let’s be realistic, shall we? Houston and Milwaukee are seven and six points ahead of the Stars, respectively. Winning the games against these guys would close the gaps (not taking all other games into consideration). The Stars’ other games (four) come against North division teams, Manitoba and Hamilton. Manitoba’s at second place in the North, but with 56 points [there is a vast canyon between Manitoba and first-place Toronto (71 points)]. Hamilton is third with 52. Picking up points vs. these teams is definitely in the Stars’ best interest, if only to boost their own record against West teams. Can’t take the North division teams lightly, though. Their fourth spot is the maybe-playoff spot, and Syracuse and Hamilton are both at 52 points. Hamilton’s going to want to claw for every point in order to stay in the top three. Anyway, March is mostly a divisional month for the Stars, so they’ll want to get in as good a position as possible before that comes up. It really will be make-it-or-break-it time. It would be disheartening for the Stars not to make the playoffs this year, having managed it each of their first two years.

You may be wondering my thoughts as to this Peter Forsberg Sweepstakes Extravaganza. Quick rundown: Forsberg gave his agent permission to negotiate with teams. Teams already turned down include Detroit and Nashville, among others (Pittsburgh? I’d have broken my own foot in anguish had he signed with those … guys). Every day last week I would scan message boards, hoping to see that magical thread that said “FORSBERG SIGNS WITH THE FLYERS” and I never did see such a thing (wait – that’s not true, some fool on the Orange and Black boards thought he was hi-larious starting a thread with such a title, only to link the article from 2005 when Foppa signed with Philly. I admit I fell for it, and was about to call J. Dang it, I hate feeling foolish like that.). Rumors and hints point to his return to the Flyers, with Gagne apparently even saying that he’d spoken with the Forsberg about what number he might take when he comes back (since Jason Smith’s got 21). The latest word is that Foppa wants another week to make his decision. I really wish they’d just sign him and get this drama over with already. We all know he’s going to, whatever Holmgren says (“I'm still not convinced he is coming back to the NHL.”). Right? I’m all for it, too.

But you knew that, didn’t you? Whatever arguments people come up with against his returning to the Flyers, it really all comes down to this, as noted in yesterday’s Inquirer by Phil Sheridan: “Imagine if Forsberg decided to return and the Flyers didn't pursue him. Imagine him helping someone else win the Stanley Cup.” Sheridan intimated that it just might make him sick. Isn’t that how it would make you feel?

I was linked! Thanks to flyers.femme. We see eye-to-eye on stuff, which is nice.

I view my website stats daily and I’m puzzled as to why most of my hits are directed to a particular entry (the Randy Jones Affair one from last October). The referral page is from Google’s image search function; I don’t have any images on that entry but I do link to one … Anyway, I find it interesting that most of my visitors arrive via that particular entry, one of my more ranty rants, if I do say so. Another popular point of entry is this one from last November. Again the referral page is Google’s image search. I do have a picture here – the Tommy Salo one that cracks me up so much. Hello to all you people finding me this way. Come back some time. While I’m at it, I’d like to say hello to my regulars, those visiting me from addresses in Trenton, NJ (mystery visitor!); Iowa City, IA (yo J., I’m assuming it’s you!); and Kingsport, TN (‘sup, R.?). There is also That One Guy from the Navy, visiting this blog from such places as Chesapeake, VA and Helen, MD all while sitting at his desk in Philadelphia. He knows who he is.