Friday, June 27, 2008
You've been looking, but I haven't been writing. My apologies, but this summer is about a thousand times more busy than last summer was ... keeping my brain occupied during the hockey drought.
Items of note since my last post (June 10):
1) My boyfriend was responsible for the magnet swap. Apparently he had had it planned for some time, but didn't buy the Penguins magnet (he actually bought the Penguins magnet for this!) in time to slap it on my car when the Flyers lost to them in the Eastern Conference Finals. This is perhaps for the best. I had little enough sense of humor about this jokey joke when it happened; had he done it at that nadir of the season, perhaps we would not be calling him my boyfriend now. (Ha!) I forgave him for being a thief and a liar (over and over he swore he knew nothing about it, though I never believed him -- his protestations didn't ring true) and I now consider how I may pay him back (Broncos fan that he is, in Eagles land).
2) Not only did the Pittsburgh Penguins get shown up in their Cup final, but the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins were pretty well disposed of by the Chicago Wolves. It says a lot about how much I loathe the Penguins when I am pleased that the Chicago Freaking Wolves (gag!) won the Calder Cup. Anyone except the Penguins, that's my feeling. Anyone.
3) The draft happened last weekend. I didn't watch very much of it -- all I saw was the Leafs trading up to pick Luke Schenn and Pierre Maguire totally spazzing. I did not see what the Flyers did until I checked Teh Intarwebs the next day, which is when my eyebrows went up to see that R. J. Umberger had been traded to Columbus so the Flyers could take pick #19 (some other draft picks were involved?) which ended up being a defenseman, Luca Sbisa. Of course you have already read everything else they did, same as I read. They traded their #27 pick to the Capitals for defenseman Steve Eminger (um.). Perhaps a change in scenery will bring the best out of him, the way it did Braydon Coburn? Or is a Braydon Coburn-like transformation a once-in-a-franchise type situation? The rest of the Flyers draft day went like this: round 3, Marc-Andre Bourdon and Jacob DeSerres; round 6, Zac Rinaldo; round 7, Joacim Eriksson. Draft picks: two d-men, two goalies, one forward, and a non-prospect pick-up in Eminger.
I don't know enough (much at all, regrettably) about these draftees, and probably won't hear much about them next year -- but I don't know. Maybe with some of the other changes made, chiefly in the Phantoms end of the franchise -- but again, there are prospects already in the system that are more likely to be seen (Ratchuk, Maroon, et al.).
And about the R. J. trade -- I know they let him go because they couldn't pay for him and everyone else, too, and for what sounds like almost no other reason. Definitely not a liability nor was it a case of trade-him-while-he's-hot. It will remain to be seen if this is a trade to be regretted in the future (will he take his post-season streak and make it a regular-season norm?), but in spite of Umberger's wild post-season, I felt he was the most expendable of his crop. Nothing against him. I enjoyed having him on my favorite team(s), and it would have been great had he stayed. But I guess they do what they have to do, and the fallout / windfall will remain to be seen.
4) Triston Grant and another pick went to Nashville in exchange for defenseman Janne Niskala; I think the Flyers should be about done in stacking the defense in the system, no? Wouldn't it be great if one of these guys on the farm developed into just the kind of player the Flyers need but maybe can't afford to grab enough of on the market next week? And while I appreciate what Grant means to the Phantoms (well, their fans at least?), you know, I'm not up in arms about this trade the way I was about Picard going. He is a decent player, but I don't see much going for him in Philadelphia but being a career Phantom. Maybe I'm wrong; lay it out for me if you think so. Maybe through Milwaukee/Nashville he'll climb the ladder?
5) Free agency on Tuesday. Cannot begin to speculate what might happen for the Flyers on that day. I don't foresee any splashes like last year (no Danny Brieres are going to be signing monster contracts with Philadelphia), and I hope I don't see any disappointments (e.g. Pitkanen heading west, never mind that by now I completely understand and appreciate the trade and what it brought to the Flyers). Whatever happens, or doesn't happen, I'm pretty satisfied with what the Flyers are going to bring to the ice next fall. Rubbing my hands together in glee already, in fact.
6) I have read rumors that the Flyers might be going to an orange home sweater this season, not as a third jersey, but as the home sweater (with the black then being the third). There were pictures skulking around earlier this year about what it might look like (when it was introduced as a possible third jersey), and it was all retro. I would love an orange home jersey. As much as I hate the Edge jersey, its fit and the way it feels (ugh that fabric), if the orange home jersey looks the way it did in that grainy cell-phone image, I might just have to get over those reservations.
7) Oh yeah, Iowa's AHL team is now an affiliate of Anaheim. Haven't heard anything about what the team's name might be (the Flood might be appropriate?). There are some truly bad suggestions in a poll on the Des Moines Register site -- tell me you don't think these make you sick -- the Dragoons ("'Goons" for short!); the Goldfinches (what the?); the Honkers (WHAT); Walleyes (please). The only one on there that I don't hate is the Thunder. The Fuel and the Whitetails I am pretty much against, but they at least doesn't make me want to {HURK}. I am also against The Capitols, because it's too much like, um, the Capitals. The name, logo, and colors are supposed to be revealed in July.
8) Still trying to finalize what I'm going to do about Phantoms season tickets this fall. I have a plan in place ... just need to talk someone into it.
Ok, I think that about covers it for now.
Items of note since my last post (June 10):
1) My boyfriend was responsible for the magnet swap. Apparently he had had it planned for some time, but didn't buy the Penguins magnet (he actually bought the Penguins magnet for this!) in time to slap it on my car when the Flyers lost to them in the Eastern Conference Finals. This is perhaps for the best. I had little enough sense of humor about this jokey joke when it happened; had he done it at that nadir of the season, perhaps we would not be calling him my boyfriend now. (Ha!) I forgave him for being a thief and a liar (over and over he swore he knew nothing about it, though I never believed him -- his protestations didn't ring true) and I now consider how I may pay him back (Broncos fan that he is, in Eagles land).
2) Not only did the Pittsburgh Penguins get shown up in their Cup final, but the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins were pretty well disposed of by the Chicago Wolves. It says a lot about how much I loathe the Penguins when I am pleased that the Chicago Freaking Wolves (gag!) won the Calder Cup. Anyone except the Penguins, that's my feeling. Anyone.
3) The draft happened last weekend. I didn't watch very much of it -- all I saw was the Leafs trading up to pick Luke Schenn and Pierre Maguire totally spazzing. I did not see what the Flyers did until I checked Teh Intarwebs the next day, which is when my eyebrows went up to see that R. J. Umberger had been traded to Columbus so the Flyers could take pick #19 (some other draft picks were involved?) which ended up being a defenseman, Luca Sbisa. Of course you have already read everything else they did, same as I read. They traded their #27 pick to the Capitals for defenseman Steve Eminger (um.). Perhaps a change in scenery will bring the best out of him, the way it did Braydon Coburn? Or is a Braydon Coburn-like transformation a once-in-a-franchise type situation? The rest of the Flyers draft day went like this: round 3, Marc-Andre Bourdon and Jacob DeSerres; round 6, Zac Rinaldo; round 7, Joacim Eriksson. Draft picks: two d-men, two goalies, one forward, and a non-prospect pick-up in Eminger.
I don't know enough (much at all, regrettably) about these draftees, and probably won't hear much about them next year -- but I don't know. Maybe with some of the other changes made, chiefly in the Phantoms end of the franchise -- but again, there are prospects already in the system that are more likely to be seen (Ratchuk, Maroon, et al.).
And about the R. J. trade -- I know they let him go because they couldn't pay for him and everyone else, too, and for what sounds like almost no other reason. Definitely not a liability nor was it a case of trade-him-while-he's-hot. It will remain to be seen if this is a trade to be regretted in the future (will he take his post-season streak and make it a regular-season norm?), but in spite of Umberger's wild post-season, I felt he was the most expendable of his crop. Nothing against him. I enjoyed having him on my favorite team(s), and it would have been great had he stayed. But I guess they do what they have to do, and the fallout / windfall will remain to be seen.
4) Triston Grant and another pick went to Nashville in exchange for defenseman Janne Niskala; I think the Flyers should be about done in stacking the defense in the system, no? Wouldn't it be great if one of these guys on the farm developed into just the kind of player the Flyers need but maybe can't afford to grab enough of on the market next week? And while I appreciate what Grant means to the Phantoms (well, their fans at least?), you know, I'm not up in arms about this trade the way I was about Picard going. He is a decent player, but I don't see much going for him in Philadelphia but being a career Phantom. Maybe I'm wrong; lay it out for me if you think so. Maybe through Milwaukee/Nashville he'll climb the ladder?
5) Free agency on Tuesday. Cannot begin to speculate what might happen for the Flyers on that day. I don't foresee any splashes like last year (no Danny Brieres are going to be signing monster contracts with Philadelphia), and I hope I don't see any disappointments (e.g. Pitkanen heading west, never mind that by now I completely understand and appreciate the trade and what it brought to the Flyers). Whatever happens, or doesn't happen, I'm pretty satisfied with what the Flyers are going to bring to the ice next fall. Rubbing my hands together in glee already, in fact.
6) I have read rumors that the Flyers might be going to an orange home sweater this season, not as a third jersey, but as the home sweater (with the black then being the third). There were pictures skulking around earlier this year about what it might look like (when it was introduced as a possible third jersey), and it was all retro. I would love an orange home jersey. As much as I hate the Edge jersey, its fit and the way it feels (ugh that fabric), if the orange home jersey looks the way it did in that grainy cell-phone image, I might just have to get over those reservations.
7) Oh yeah, Iowa's AHL team is now an affiliate of Anaheim. Haven't heard anything about what the team's name might be (the Flood might be appropriate?). There are some truly bad suggestions in a poll on the Des Moines Register site -- tell me you don't think these make you sick -- the Dragoons ("'Goons" for short!); the Goldfinches (what the?); the Honkers (WHAT); Walleyes (please). The only one on there that I don't hate is the Thunder. The Fuel and the Whitetails I am pretty much against, but they at least doesn't make me want to {HURK}. I am also against The Capitols, because it's too much like, um, the Capitals. The name, logo, and colors are supposed to be revealed in July.
8) Still trying to finalize what I'm going to do about Phantoms season tickets this fall. I have a plan in place ... just need to talk someone into it.
Ok, I think that about covers it for now.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
It occurs to me that I never expressed my gratitude to the Detroit Red Wings for ruining Pittsburgh's dreams of a Stanley Cup.
Thanks, Red Wings.
The better team won, and that's all there is to it. HA HA Pittsburgh. During the Eastern Conference Final, I saw a picture with one of your "fans" holding up a sign that said PHILLY NO CUP FOR YOU NEXT.
PENGUINS. NO CUP FOR YOU.
And good luck even competing for one next year when half your team is playing somewhere else because you can't pay for all of them.
--------------------
In the meantime, we had Sami Kapanen retiring. Realistically you had to know this was coming sooner rather than later. Sami's been, as they say, a heart and soul guy for the Flyers and it's too bad that his time here has had to end, but paljon onnea to him back in Finland.
We also had Ryan Potulny traded for Danny Syvret, a defenseman from Edmonton. He played in 63 AHL games last season. What do you think, a depth move? I'm sorry to see Potulny go; he probably would have had difficulty cracking into the Flyers this season, what with all the depth at center, but maybe not -- at any rate, the Phantoms will miss him. Good luck elsewhere, Ryan. I will remember your last-minute hat trick this season.
------------------
I went outside yesterday at the close of my work day, to the parking lot. As I approached my car, I saw a Penguins magnet on the back, in the spot where normally I have a Flyers logo magnet. Cue a half-second of confusion, wondering if it was, in fact, my car, or some other silver Ford Focus. No, well, the license plate was mine. It was my car. But ... WTF? I took hold of a corner of this Penguins logo magnet and pulled it off, thinking I might find the Flyers magnet underneath, and someone just thinks s/he is funny by covering it up with this piece of trash. Well, the Flyers magnet was not there, nor was it anywhere else on my car, and the fact of the matter is that I have no sense of humor about this whatsoever.
Someone stole my Flyers magnet and replaced it with this...Penguins thing.
It is possible that someone from my lunch group thinks it would be a great joke, but I can't picture where any of those people would have gotten the Pens magnet. If they know nothing about it, the mystery deepens, and it really becomes not funny at all -- because that means someone I don't know has stolen my magnet and put that stupid Penguins magnet on my car instead, probably a Penguins "fan" giving me yet another reason to hate them. Something just short of vandalism!!! I want my Flyers magnet back!!!
UPDATE 1:15 p.m. No one at lunch seems to know anything about it .... their reactions were such that I tend to believe them, though it may still come out that they are simply very good actors. They behaved more as though "Oh haha! What a funny joke someone played on you!" rather than "Oh haha!! Our funny joke was a success!" I managed to convey my sense of non-amusement about the whole thing, and if it was one of them, maybe the magnet will reappear on my car by the time I go home tonight. On the other hand, my technologist, also a Flyers fan, couldn't stand it anymore and wondered about the tapes from the security cameras overlooking the parking lot. So he made a phone call and they may be looked at and maybe we can have some idea of the culprit regardless of whether the magnet's replaced by tonight or not. We shall see.
UPDATE 1:18 p.m. Ok, I'm pretty sure I know who it was. One strategically-sent email returned some valuable information which actually amuses me. Clever. Very clever. More later.
Thanks, Red Wings.
The better team won, and that's all there is to it. HA HA Pittsburgh. During the Eastern Conference Final, I saw a picture with one of your "fans" holding up a sign that said PHILLY NO CUP FOR YOU NEXT.
PENGUINS. NO CUP FOR YOU.
And good luck even competing for one next year when half your team is playing somewhere else because you can't pay for all of them.
--------------------
In the meantime, we had Sami Kapanen retiring. Realistically you had to know this was coming sooner rather than later. Sami's been, as they say, a heart and soul guy for the Flyers and it's too bad that his time here has had to end, but paljon onnea to him back in Finland.
We also had Ryan Potulny traded for Danny Syvret, a defenseman from Edmonton. He played in 63 AHL games last season. What do you think, a depth move? I'm sorry to see Potulny go; he probably would have had difficulty cracking into the Flyers this season, what with all the depth at center, but maybe not -- at any rate, the Phantoms will miss him. Good luck elsewhere, Ryan. I will remember your last-minute hat trick this season.
------------------
I went outside yesterday at the close of my work day, to the parking lot. As I approached my car, I saw a Penguins magnet on the back, in the spot where normally I have a Flyers logo magnet. Cue a half-second of confusion, wondering if it was, in fact, my car, or some other silver Ford Focus. No, well, the license plate was mine. It was my car. But ... WTF? I took hold of a corner of this Penguins logo magnet and pulled it off, thinking I might find the Flyers magnet underneath, and someone just thinks s/he is funny by covering it up with this piece of trash. Well, the Flyers magnet was not there, nor was it anywhere else on my car, and the fact of the matter is that I have no sense of humor about this whatsoever.
Someone stole my Flyers magnet and replaced it with this...Penguins thing.
It is possible that someone from my lunch group thinks it would be a great joke, but I can't picture where any of those people would have gotten the Pens magnet. If they know nothing about it, the mystery deepens, and it really becomes not funny at all -- because that means someone I don't know has stolen my magnet and put that stupid Penguins magnet on my car instead, probably a Penguins "fan" giving me yet another reason to hate them. Something just short of vandalism!!! I want my Flyers magnet back!!!
UPDATE 1:15 p.m. No one at lunch seems to know anything about it .... their reactions were such that I tend to believe them, though it may still come out that they are simply very good actors. They behaved more as though "Oh haha! What a funny joke someone played on you!" rather than "Oh haha!! Our funny joke was a success!" I managed to convey my sense of non-amusement about the whole thing, and if it was one of them, maybe the magnet will reappear on my car by the time I go home tonight. On the other hand, my technologist, also a Flyers fan, couldn't stand it anymore and wondered about the tapes from the security cameras overlooking the parking lot. So he made a phone call and they may be looked at and maybe we can have some idea of the culprit regardless of whether the magnet's replaced by tonight or not. We shall see.
UPDATE 1:18 p.m. Ok, I'm pretty sure I know who it was. One strategically-sent email returned some valuable information which actually amuses me. Clever. Very clever. More later.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
34 seconds away from a Stanley Cup.
I had to laugh, though it was wryly, ruefully, when that happened -- the Red Wings pulling a Flyers and blowing it -- spectacularly -- in the last minute of the game.
After the second overtime, my eyes couldn't stay open any longer, and I knew, somehow, deep down, that the NHL wasn't going to allow the Red Wings to clinch the Cup that night -- so I went to bed, knowing that when I woke up, I wasn't going to have missed a celebration in Detroit. And I didn't. It really frosts me, though, seeing a team that was thoroughly dominated for so much of a game end up winning. Pittsburgh in no way whatsoever deserves to still be playing tonight, let alone win a Stanley Cup.
Detroit. Tonight.
I had to laugh, though it was wryly, ruefully, when that happened -- the Red Wings pulling a Flyers and blowing it -- spectacularly -- in the last minute of the game.
After the second overtime, my eyes couldn't stay open any longer, and I knew, somehow, deep down, that the NHL wasn't going to allow the Red Wings to clinch the Cup that night -- so I went to bed, knowing that when I woke up, I wasn't going to have missed a celebration in Detroit. And I didn't. It really frosts me, though, seeing a team that was thoroughly dominated for so much of a game end up winning. Pittsburgh in no way whatsoever deserves to still be playing tonight, let alone win a Stanley Cup.
Detroit. Tonight.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Once the Red Wings get going, they are a pleasure of hockey to watch.
