ORANGE C.R.USHER

Traffic woes prevented me from making it to the Phantoms game on Friday (I would have been very late, in a very bad mood, and it just wasn't worth the possible road rage incident that might have happened on the way). This means I missed the opening-faceoff fight between Klotz and Westgarth, in which Klotz was clocked three times in succession and crumpled to the ice, where he then had a 30-40 second seizure. I wouldn't have been able to see it, as it happened directly in front of the visitors' bench, but I wouldn't have wanted to see something like that anyway -- the little video I saw on the TSN website was enough, thanks, and it didn't show much but his feet kicking a little bit. (I saw K. in the crowd!) Apparently he was awake and OK later, watched the rest of the game on TV in the hospital, and I saw him in the press box Saturday night, with his face a little swollen around the mouth and looking considerably beat up.

After some recent bad fighting news, there are lots of people asking, "Does fighting have a place in hockey?" It is my opinion that it does, for "policing" reasons or things that happen in the heat of the moment, but I very much dislike this premeditated boxing that goes on between players who are only on the roster to fight. On the other hand, I can see the point anti-fighters have when they bring up the fact that hardly any fighting goes on during the playoffs and no one seems to lose interest in the game because of it.

The last Hockey News asks the question, of course putting on the cover a picture of a crazy-eyed, crazy-coiffed Flyer thrashing the snot out of someone (Hartnell vs. Laperierre). I haven't read the article yet.

The Phantoms won the Friday game 2-1 against Manchester, and K. reports that it was a great game (outside of the bad thing that happened at the beginning). Munroe was awesome, stopping 40-some shots. The game Saturday night featured Munroe in net, too. I had seen Aubin warming up and prayed that he would not be playing. My prayers were answered. The Phantoms started out by scoring a goal about 20 seconds into the game. The rest of the game was a struggle, with Lake Erie scoring two so that the Phantoms were down a goal going into the third. Patrick Maroon tied it about halfway through, and in the last minute, I begged them to do it. "Win the game, Rossco," I entreated. Well, Rossco didn't, but Matsumoto did. On some desperate playing in the last minute, the Phantoms had the puck in the offensive zone and threw it at the net a few times. Matsumoto finally connected, and with about twenty seconds left in the game, the Phantoms took the lead 3-2. It was a very exciting game. Not very many penalties, a lot of fast and close play. The Phantoms got so lucky on a power play -- Matsumoto was in the box, and suddenly there were five guys going down the ice. It was a long time that the fifth man was out there, too. Long enough for me to see them all and think, "That was a quick penalty kill," then see Matsumoto still in the box, then look back and count all five again, and think, "Whoa! Too many men!" Then the fifth guy crept back to the bench, and no call. Geez. What made it funny was that Lake Erie was charged with a too-many-men bench minor in the third when it was far less obvious an infraction.

Next Phantoms game is this coming Saturday.

I watched the NHL All-Star game Sunday, and it was very zzzzzzzz. I only watched it because I wanted to see Carter play, and he played on a fourth line and moved at about half speed. I was feeling very skeptical at the end of the game, because it all seemed to happen just a little too pat. Alexei Kovalev shouldn't have even been in the game, yet he ended up with MVP honors? The East had a big lead, then it evaporated, and, oh, who would have guessed it?! It was tied at 11 freaking goals to 11, and there was a penalty called in the overtime. It should have been a penalty shot, I think, but it was Komisarek -- a Canadien -- so naturally they just called a penalty and let it go. So the game went to the artificially exciting shootout!! In which Alexei Kovalev, who, I remind you, has not had nearly a good enough season this year to be considered an All-Star for this year, scored the game-winner? Who would have guessed such an amazing thing would happen? With ALEX OVECHKIN sealing the game for the East with his shootout goal? OMG.

Could anything appear any more scripted? Maybe last year's Winter Classic, which went to a shootout too, only to be won by the League Love, Crosby.

I didn't see the skills competitions because I was at the Phantoms game, but I read about them (Carter being second in the fastest-skater bit). And while I'd prefer Ovechkin be the face of the league than Crosby, based on his brand of hockey and generally more ebullient game personality, I disagree with all the people who are all abuzz with delight at his antics -- the hat, the sunglasses, helped by (erstwhile?) rival Malkin -- and find rather that they crossed the line from "enthusiastic" and "fun" to "clownish."

I very much doubt I will waste my time watching the All-Star game again next year. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Back to real hockey tonight, with the Flyers vs. Florida.

As for the AHL All-Star game, last week Jared Ross was named to the PlanetUSA team. He proceeded to win the fastest skater competition and All-Star game MVP honors, with a record-setting six assists (for seven points). The PlanetUSA team won (scoring 9 goals in the third period!) 14-11 over the Canadian team. Nice job, Jared! He has looked so very good in recent games. If only his linemates could quite keep up with him. They do a pretty good job, but sometimes it's clear he's a step ahead. I think he wants to wear a Flyers jersey again (and who can blame him?).

Instead of getting worked up at the Flyers' collapse during the third period last night (in which they allowed a 3-0 lead go to 3-3), I will think of it as the Flyers playing cat-and-mouse with the Thrashers. Let them think they had a chance to win, only to rip victory away with two Mike Knuble goals.

All I can say about the Briere situation is that I thought he looked good during the Phantoms games, but I did not see him in practice and I can't know how he was feeling, so I will reserve any comment about his having surgery again and being out another convenient 4 weeks.

All adult tickets to remaining home Phantoms games are $10. That is $5 cheaper than the price of each individual game on my season ticket plan. First, 8 games into the season, they offered a season ticket package for 32 games at $100. Now, with 20-some home games left in the season, they make a ticket $5 cheaper than what we've paid. That extra $5 a ticket over the remaining season adds up to $100+!!! I don't understand why the organization is continually coming up with ways to give (full-price) season ticket holders a big F-U. I understand them wanting to get people in seats, but at the expense of the goodwill of the fans who are there just about every game? Seems highly unlikely that they would refund any difference to us. What's the benefit of being a season ticket holder if it's cheaper to buy individual game tickets? Not cool, Phantoms organization. You are making it a lot easier to accept that fact that Phantoms aren't likely to be around next season. Who wants to support an organization that does stuff like this?

Last night's Phantoms game was a frustration until approximately the third period. The Phantoms were generating next to no offense -- we're talking 2 shots on goal in the first, and no goals to offset that like happened in the second period on Friday (2 shots, 1 goal). Albany's goalie had to do very little to keep the Phantoms at 0 goals, while the Rats scored one.

Before the start of the third period, a guy a few rows behind called out, "Peters! Looks like you got a nice shutout going!"

About six minutes later, Nodl scored almost from his back to tie the game.

"Oh, no, Peters! Looks like I jinxed you!" heckled the guy.

After that, a section of fans was chanting "Peeeeeeee-terrrrs....." which was good stuff. I don't hear enough goalie heckling out here. I kind of miss the Hooligans in section 124 at the Wells Fargo Arena and their catcalling goalies throughout the game. I did some heckling of my own, and moments later (around 12:30) the Phantoms scored again to take the lead -- a goal by Matsumoto. The Phantoms ended up with only 17 shots on goal -- 2 in the first, 6 in the second, 9 in the third -- so it wasn't really a sudden flurry of offense that made Peters suddenly super-busy and increased the odds of one going in; I think he honestly got rattled. Maybe not by the heckling, but he did not look as good from that first goal on.

Jared Ross scored the third goal in an empty net. He was given Player of the Week in the AHL for his accomplishments last week: 6 goals, 3 assists, plus-5.

I don't get why it's so hard for the Phantoms to beat Albany. They aren't really very good, overall. Defensively, though ... somehow the Phantoms just couldn't get much past them.

Briere had a decent night with two assists to complete his conditioning assignment. The game started with Briere centering Claude Giroux and Jared Ross so one might have been forgiven for thinking that the score might have been a little more inflated, but those three didn't get anything done, and Nodl replaced Giroux on that line after a while.

The Phantoms won their away game at Hershey (wooo!) so that is four in a row, and three that I got to see, to make a completely satisfying week in the Phantoms schedule. Next home games are this coming Friday and Saturday.

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The page-a-day happily tells us that in December of 2006, Zhitnik made his Flyers debut in a loss to the Washington Capitals. Seriously. What's with the 2006-2007 season that makes it so interesting for so many page-a-day facts?

I didn't watch the game last night. And I'm not sorry I didn't record it, because it sounds like it's not something I'd want to see anyway. A couple hours that can be better spent doing something else!

Maybe the Flyers are sluggish because they don't know what to do in a place where the temperatures aren't sub-freezing. Then again, most of them are from places that routinely get colder than Philadelphia anyway, so that shouldn't be an excuse -- unless living in the Philly area has made them as soft, when it comes to really cold weather, is it has made me.*

They have a chance to prove a two-game trouncing is an anomaly, tonight against Florida. Or, they will take the opportunity to show us that they really can't beat easily beatable teams. Which is it going to be? I won't get to watch this game either, as I will be at the Spectrum, hoping to see another nice Phantoms game (against Lowell). It's been a hockeyful week; and another game Sunday evening coming up.

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The page-a-day calendar Flyers Fact draws yet again from the 2006-2007 season. It's interesting that they keep choosing to state facts from that horrible season. You know, the one everyone would just as soon forget? It's true, though, that they pick nice tidbits instead of negative things, even if they are only mildly nice/bordering on being mundane. This one has to do with Alexei Zhitnik. "On December 28, 2006, defenseman Alexei Zhitnik scored his first regular season goal for the Flyers in a 4-3 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning." (Too bad he wasn't playing last night to score a goal against them? Just kidding.) Assists were from two former Flyers, Peter Forsberg and Joni Pitkanen.

I still like thinking about how the Flyers dealt Zhitnik for Coburn. Not too shabby, no? Why don't they mention that in a Flyers Fact for the 06-07 season?


*It was in the teens this morning, and while that is pretty cold, I was comforted by telling myself, "In Iowa it's -22. You could be there. Instead, you are lucky and in this tropical paradise. Appreciate it." At least it's not brutally, ridiculously, mind-numbingly, blood-freezingly cold here. RIght?

Last night’s Phantoms game was more fun that I’ve had at a hockey game in a long time. The game resulted in the exact opposite mood from the Flyers game. From the start, there was excitement to see Danny Briere in a Phantoms jersey (#48, naturally); he was on the starting lineup, with Jared Ross and Andreas Nodl (playing back-to-back nights). We cheer each name as it is read, and when Nodl’s name was announced, the cheer went like this:

“Wooo—what??”

As an aside, he was heckled a bit, in reference to his failure to put up goals and points while playing so long with the Flyers, but he did his job last night pretty well with three assists.



Danny Briere and Jared Ross together on a line is a pretty small contingent. But it was fast, canny, and productive. Rossco collected three goals last night, Danny with an assist and a shorthanded goal in the second.



The scoring was plentiful and it was started at 5:47 in the first with a goal by defenseman Sean Curry. He had the puck some distance from the goal, and when he let it go, you just knew it was going to go in. On a power play about 8 minutes later, Briere picked up his first point, secondarily assisting on a goal by Patrick Maroon. 2-0 Phantoms! A minute and a half later was Ross’s first goal of the night, coming on one of the most beautiful plays I have ever seen. I hope video of it goes up on the Phantoms’ website (as of my writing, it is not available) so that I can watch it again and again. Assists by Syvret and Nodl, it was quick and crisp passes going in on net, tic tac toe and Ross buried it. 3-0 Phantoms!

They were not yet done. K. called out to them that he knew they had at least one more in them before the period ended. It happened with under a minute left, on the power play – another beautiful, beautiful play. It is described thus: “Ross deked around Greiss, sending the puck from his forehand to his backhand and taking it just behind the net. Ross then sent the puck back to his forehand and tucked it around the post”. Jared Ross was playing like a guy who wanted to do everything, and he just about did. 4-0 Phantoms after only one period of play, on only 9 shots.

I speculated that we might see a goalie change; but the backup came back out and sat on the bench and Greiss was back for more. It didn’t take long before he was beat again, at 3:10 of the second by Matsumoto’s sheer force of will, stuffing, stuffing, then getting it in (on the power play). 5-0 Phantoms! The Phantoms could have taken a foot off the pedal, but I think they really wanted to show what they were made of after having had an atrocious, disgusting pretty bad road trip, being shut out twice in a row. Also, Danny Briere, though he had an assist, needed to show us what he was made of. The Phantoms were killing a penalty, and he scored shorthanded in classic Briere fashion: long pass, slinking around a defenseman to fake the goalie and score. It was good to see. 6-0 Phantoms.

The second period seemed to take all night to play. There were penalties, there were the goals, and there were two fights that lasted at least a minute each. Clackson in his second bout of the night, vs. McEwan – this one was a little boring as they hugged each other tight, heads close side-by-side, and the only real hits that could be landed were on the backs of heads, then, not long after, Klotz vs. McLaren, more free-throwing but no one was getting the clear best of the battle. Which means that to the crowd it was all Klotz.



I couldn’t believe how long the second period was taking. The Sharks spoiled Munroe’s awesome shutout at 13:31, but that would be Munroe’s only mistake (if you want to call it that). A 6-1 game. On toward the end of the period, I had a good feeling. “Ok, Phantoms, 7-1, let’s go.”

Jared Ross with his third of the night, at 18:45. The game was 7-1 and at the end of the third period the shots totals were Phantoms 19, Sharks 27. As K. said, Worcester needed only 162 more shots to tie the game. I didn’t think the Sharks were that bad a team (they have 43 points and are mid-pack in their division with a record nearly the same as the Phantoms’), but they were having a really bad night.

It would stay at 7-1 with no goals scored in the third period. The Sharks’ goalie Greiss ended up with 7 goals on 23 shots, Munroe with the win, 42 saves on 43 shots.

I was glad for the good mood, after the sullen feelings I had leaving the Wachovia Center the night before.

Claude Lemieux played for Worcester last night. He was obviously a hundred years older than any of the other guys on the team. His teammates’ dads probably watched him play when they were kids. Grandpa Lemieux took a penalty that the Phantoms took advantage of early in the second. He was heckled incessantly by the fans behind the box. All night long he was the recipient of boos, when he touched the puck, when he would bump someone, and other times just for the hell of it. We wondered how many shifts he would play, mocked how long they would be: K. indicated him coming off the bench at one end, skating the length of it, and sitting back down, winded. He did not look like he belonged in the AHL (and nothing to do with his ability to play). He was thicker and heavier than any of the other guys, and his face just read “I’m old enough to be your father.”



The three stars were Danny Briere, Scott Munroe, and Jared Ross with a four-point night. I also want to mention that Ryan Parent had a much better game than he did on the 2nd. He was not nearly so noticeable, which is a good thing. The Phantoms play again, with #48, Friday night against Lowell. It would be nice to see this kind of beat-down again, but I will accept any effort that gives them 2 points. And a game where Danny does not get hurt.

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Other AHL news: name from the past, Junior Lessard was assigned to Bridgeport. I hadn’t realized he was traded from the Lightning, but J. tells me he was with Chicago/Atlanta before going to Bridgeport/New York. See you February 8, Junior, if you haven’t been called up by then!

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Today’s Flyers trivia: they have, in fact, continued with the obsession with 2007. “Who was Philadelphia’s only representative in the 2007 All-Star game in Dallas?” No spelling errors, no factual errors in this one. And easy. Simon Gagne.

It is with a hefty sigh that I report on my experience at the Wachovia Center last night. I do so with unfettered whining. Sometimes, it just boils out. My journeys to Flyers games always start with so much hope, even knowing my all-time win-loss record isn’t all that good. Our seats were so good – approximately the same location as I sit for Phantoms games in the Spectrum, just a few rows behind the inside end of the bench. The Flyers were wearing their orange jerseys, which I was glad to see, and there were funny signs in the audience, most derogatory in varying degrees referring to Crosby.

But it is, apparently, too much to ask of the Flyers to show up for a game when I do. If they had played even half-assed last night, I would feel better about it all.

It would seem that the Flyers’ performance this year is inversely proportional to cost of my ticket and/or importance of the day (to me). I have seen three regular-season games this year: 1) home opener, very expensive tickets: loss to the Rangers. 2) November 8, my birthday: loss to the Lightning. 3) Last night’s expensive Christmas-gift tickets: loss to the Penguins. Unfortunately, the next game I have tickets to is against the Penguins again on February 21. The tickets were not especially expensive, but not cheap either ($100 apiece) and it is when J. is flying out – so a special occasion. I predict a loss. I resolve that for any other game that I will go to this year will be cheap seats on no particular date, just some game I decided to go see.



The first period was OK. The Flyers scored on a bit of a fluke, with Fleury way out of position behind the net. That was nice, and it was 1-0, and I’d hoped the Flyers were just take that and run. Instead, they turned the puck over alarmingly and seemed unwilling to play with the required effort. And given that the Penguins didn’t really play all that great, it wouldn’t have taken an all-out effort. The second period was all Penguins, and once the Flyers got behind a couple goals, then three goals, it seemed completely out of reach. As it turned out, it was; Lupul scored a nice goal in the third to keep it from being a complete disgrace, but all the penalties that were called in the latter half of the third period kept the Flyers from being able to even try a comeback. I won’t go all out and blame the refereeing for the Flyers’ loss, but I really find it hard to stomach calls like that coming when blatant infractions against the Flyers go uncalled (e.g. Gagne being cross-checked in the back at the blue line while clearly on a run to the offensive zone; a Penguin knocking the puck out of play in his defensive zone) and when icing is inconsistently whistled. Oh, and Hartnell diving? Yeah. (A comment I read today: “If that was a dive, how does Crosby ever complete a whole shift?”)



Regardless of what happened, penalty-wise, late in the game, if the Flyers had decided to play the game for more than a handful of minutes, the result would have been different. Like I said, the Penguins weren’t all that great either. That was an easily beatable team. Even with their trapping ways.



So, that’s right. I was there for the November 8 regulation loss, and was there when the home point streak was killed. I love how I got to see the Flyers ruin their home game streak and give the Penguins a win to potentially thrive on. Why do they do this to me? I take it personally. Sometimes, I just can’t stand it. I know they won’t (and can’t) win every game, but … why this one, guys? Why not against some other team, why not some time when I’m not there?

P.S. I wouldn’t at all mind if Randy Freaking Jones was traded.

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Tonight’s Phantoms game (vs. Worcester) should be interesting. The Flyers have sent Danny Briere to play with the Phantoms for two games (tonight and Friday). As you know, he’s coming back from an injury that happened right after a different injury, and he’s played only 9 games this season. You may also know that it seems pretty certain that in order to bring him back to the Flyers’ lineup, some roster changes will have to be made (a great deal of speculation has gone on about what those changes might be, but no one knows anything for certain). Having Danny test things out with the Phantoms is excellent management. If the Flyers made the moves necessary to fit him back into the lineup under the cap, played him, and he re-injured himself in the first ten minutes of the game, the Flyers are out whatever players were shuffled / lost in order to fit him in. This way, if he re-injures himself in the first ten minutes of the game, the Flyers have made no commitments and he can go back to LTIR and things can go on as they have been. If he does not hurt himself, the AHL assignment buys the Flyers some time to figure out the best way to get him back into the lineup. An added bonus is that it may sell a few more tickets to the next two Phantoms games. And, maybe his talent, even having been idle for so long, will spur the Phantoms to a couple wins.

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Today’s Flyers Fact from the page-a-day calendar talks again about that game on February 17, 2007. Apparently, Simon Gagne had a goal and an assist in the 5-3 win over the Rangers at MSG (that game that Scottie Upshall scored in, his first game as a Flyer). “Gagne extended his streak of multi-point games with at least one goal to give [sic] straight games, tying a franchise record achieved six previous times, last by John LeClair in March of 1996.” I assume they meant “five”, and I have no idea if it’s true about John LeClair. I hardly trust anything this thing says. Who edited it? Come on. “Give”? Really? And what’s the fascination with the game against the Rangers on February 17, 2007? I expect soon there will be a Flyers Fact about Knuble and Shanahan colliding like two freight trains on that date. Or, since they like to talk about the same guy a lot (a couple of the first few days both mentioned Joffrey Lupul), maybe they will have a Flyers Fact that Upshall’s first Flyers goal came in his first Flyers game on the Flyers’ first shot against Valiquette, who came in to relieve Lundqvist (injured in the game). (I honestly haven’t peeked ahead, have vowed to actually only look at it a page a day.)

I'm going to tonight's game. Given the greatness of the seats (and their probable cost) I wouldn't be surprised if two streaks, of a sort, will end tonight.

1) The Flyers have been excellent at home of late. Their last regulation loss happened on my birthday, a game which I attended: November 8, 2008 against the Lightning. Since then they've had only two overtime losses (if I recall correctly) and the rest have been wins.

2) The Penguins are sliding down, down, down. They've lost, what, 7 of their last 8?

I fear that me going to this game will bring the at-home excellence to a screeching halt, and give the Penguins life.

It's not going to stop me from going, though. I think the Flyers will hold on tonight and it will be a great game. I said "I think." I'm not trying to jinx anyone, here.

There was the possibility Briere would return tonight. I'm glad he's not (though I look forward to his return); I wouldn't want an (inevitable?) disruption of the chemistry that has developed to occur at the game I'm going to see. I'd rather see him work his way back into the team's mechanisms while watching an away game on TV. Giroux might play again tonight, depends on how he feels.

Speaking of Giroux, the Phantoms have not been very good since he was called up. It doesn't help that others are hurt (Guenin, captain Kane) but their recent record (after such a nice good stretch before Christmas!) is smelling right now. Between Thanksgiving and December 19 (which was seventh in a seven-game win streak) they won nine out of ten; since then, they've won one out of ten. That's pretty gross. Tomorrow they're back in the Spectrum against Worcester. That will be two hockey games in two nights for me. It just about goes without saying that I hope they both go well (but I will say it anyway).

I watched the first period of the game last night live, before I had to head out to a class at the pool for reasons that are not important right here*. When I returned, I watched the rest of the game. When I had left, game was 1-0 Wild, and J. had messaged me that what I returned to might not be that nice. I replied that when I had missed the Caps game the other night, returning to it late, it had turned out OK, if not great. She suggested that they might be playing better without me watching live. There is something to that suggestion.

While I was watching, I got a call from B., and when asked what I was doing, I said, “Watching the Flyers game.” I think I must have been slightly misheard, because B. said, “The Flyers win?” as though confirming something he thought he had seen on a side TV while he was out at a sports bar watching the OU-FLA game. “Did you just ruin this for me?” I asked, as at that time, the game was 1-1.

Oops.

Actually, I am glad that I knew that something good would happen, because I might otherwise have had an aneurysm at all the penalties the Flyers were taking, some of them iffy calls. 8 Wild PPs to the Flyers’ 1? At the last one, the a-hole chant came through briefly. I like the F-you factor of the Flyers’ 8 complete penalty kills and the 1/1 on the PP. Until the end when the Flyers started to score (after the tying goal by Hartnell in the second, in the third Knuble had a nice tip in that Backstrom should have had, but it slid under his glove and across the line; also, Upshall had a very nice rush to score a goal, where he had Hartnell with him to help confuse the Wild), the game was kind of a snoozer. I don’t often watch Wild games, and I think I know why.

Zzzzzzzz.

The Flyers are hot at home. Hope they keep it up at least a couple more games (especially next Tuesday). Nice to be at the top of the division all alone now, with the Rags two points back. At the midpoint of the season, it’s a nice flip from where they started.

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Last weekend I got a Flyers page-a-day calendar, and have actually been looking at it a page a day, not cheating to look ahead. Yesterday’s was a trivia question about which two Flyers scored 40 or more goals in 1972-73? I guessed one (Rick MacLeish) but not the other (Bill Flett). I am still learning Flyers history, especially that stuff that happened before I was even born. Today’s page is a Flyers Fact, telling us that on February 19, 2007, Scottie Upshall scored in his second straight game, noting that he scored in his debut with the Flyers on February 15. Thus, he was the first player to score in his first two games as a Flyer since Keith Jones did in 1998.

Interesting, I thought. Thursday, February 15. The Flyers were playing the Leafs that night. That was the day that I flew out for my interview in Wilmington, so I remember this day particularly clearly, not just because of what happened at the Wachovia Center. I was trapped on the plane for 2 hours, 10 feet from the jetway, and missed dinner with two people that would become co-workers after I accepted a job offer. I didn’t get to my hotel until 9 p.m., at which time I thought I’d turn on the TV, watch the rest of the Flyers game, and then work on my interview seminar. I turned on the TV, and what I saw: Peter Forsberg discussing having been traded before the game.

So, February 15, 2007. Peter Forsberg warmed up with the team, and had every intention of playing. All his teammates thought he would be playing, and just about everyone else in the world thought he would be playing. Then, shortly before the game, they said “No sir, you are traded.” And while Scottie Upshall was part of that trade, there was no way he could have played in that game that night, right? The timing was too tight for that.

I wasn’t sure, though. I couldn’t remember Upshall playing in that game, but I thought perhaps I could be wrong, maybe he had known before Forsberg had known and was in Philly to play. It seemed unrealistic, but I had a lot on my mind that evening, so I might have forgotten him actually playing. So I looked it up.

He did not play that night, of course. His Flyers debut was two nights later, Saturday, February 17th, in New York against the Rangers. He scored his first goal in the orange and black there, in a 5-3 Flyers win.

Guess now I will take every answer and fact in this calendar with a grain of salt.

Because I was at the Flyers’ website looking at old results, I looked at the recap for the game in which Scottie scored his second goal in as many games for the Flyers (a 6-3 loss to Boston at home). Kyle Calder was named second star, as he had 1 goal and 2 assists. Was that just about as much as he did all season for the Flyers? About a week later he was playing for Detroit. I don’t miss him at all.

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*My right foot has been bothering me running since I did the Philly marathon back just before Thanksgiving, and I have been instructed not to run on it for a while yet. Therefore, I am at the pool doing water running and other rather difficult cardio. I have the Boston Marathon to run in April, once this foot heals up. I have to try to keep the heart and lungs working.

When the Flyers pushed the Kings to a shootout, in spite of a roster playing on one leg, I questioned whether it was the Flyers just being that good or the Kings being that bad. I think the question might have been answered, since the Flyers pushed the Capitals to a shootout as well last night. It’s one thing to make the 23rd-ranked team have to beat a beat-up team in a shootout; quite another to make a top-five team like the Caps do it. Once again, I can’t really find it in me to be upset about the loss. The point they picked up on grim grit, being in the right place at the right time, and some astonishing goaltending has put them back at the top of the division (tied in points with New York, but with games in hand). They didn’t let the Capitals push them around and the Flyers stifled attempts to repay the 7-1 crushing.

The only thing that I found to be a shame was that something like that game had to end in a skills contest. The tooth and nail fight to the finish was one of the most exciting games I’ve watched in a while; I was tensed for most of the game and often had to consciously relax. I couldn’t even do that during the overtime. And after all that battling, for the outcome to be determined by a sideshow? The NHL should be ashamed of itself. I see nothing wrong with a tie in that situation.

I’m not going to complain about Randy Jones standing out, not in a good way; or about Hartnell’s blind passes directly to Captials’ sticks; or Ovechkin’s barely-contained freight-training. I’m just going to look forward to Thursday and say GO FLYERS WOOOOO!!!

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Earlier today, I was subjected to a set of emails sent by B.’s friend D., in Denver, in succession, as though yet another nugget of brilliance occurred to him after he had already clicked “send”. In them, hockey was denigrated as an irrelevant sport with a too-long season, the penalty shot and the shootout were sadly mixed up as he tried to tell me how awesome he thinks the shootout is, and he gave some ways the NHL might try to better draw in a casual fan. He kind of picked the wrong day to extol the virtues of the shootout, and I am never interested in anyone telling me straight up that “no one cares about hockey”, even if he is just trying to be funny. I don’t have a sense of humor.

My rebuttal was lengthy, because I am wordy and my hackles were up. No need to repeat it all here, but the gist of my reply was this: YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.

1) The shootout? You all already know how I feel about the sideshow.
2) A penalty shot is not the same as deciding a game by shootout. But nice try.
3) An 82-game season allows for the true best teams to rise to the top, the true worst teams to sink to the bottom. I am not, in a practical sense, against a shorter season, but reducing it to a once-a-week spectacle is a bad idea, in my opinion.
4) The NHL already does too much to entice the casual fan, the shootout being one of those things, at the expense of the game.

I'm sure my response will inspire healthy debate.

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Yesterday this website was found through the search terms “phantoms suck.” The searcher was from an IP address in Hamilton, Ontario. Move along, pal. Move along.

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A few days removed now from the game in Los Angeles. It was boggling how the Flyers could manage to draw a point out of that game, even going all the way to a shootout. The lines were the sort of thing that come out of a game where you try to come up with the most ridiculous-sounding lineup and then laugh because it’s so far-fetched and hilarious. When you have a defenseman who is not even old enough to play in the AHL on the top line with Richards and Knuble; when you see a Kukkonen-Carter-Powe line; when you’re starting to wonder if Marty Biron will come out and center for someone; and it’s not a joke, you know that things have become quite serious.

I figure the only reason we were seeing lines that science-fictiony was because the Flyers were in California and the Phantoms were in Toronto. Had they been a little closer in proximity to one another, someone would have been called up. For example, tonight’s game in Washington: Nodl was called up (they didn’t need to call up the whole Phantoms forward corps, a few guys are probably coming back tonight). Also, Niittymaki went and hurt himself late in the game Saturday, so Munroe was called up too. Fortunately they don’t think it’s very serious. I will keep my fingers crossed.

I think the Flyers getting a point out of the game Saturday in spite of the disastrous landscape that is their roster and taking, for the moment, sole possession of the division lead was a pretty amazing thing. Either the Flyers are so unstoppably awesome that they can force teams to shootouts even with two defensemen and some Phantoms filling out the forward lines … or the Kings are so bad that they can’t beat an injury-decimated team with two defensemen and some Phantoms filling out the forward lines. Oh, yeah, and Dustin Brown looked like a one-trick pony. Does he do anything besides hit people? It’s a serious question. I don’t watch the Kings.

I doubt the Flyers are very competitive tonight, unless they are unstoppably awesome. Maybe they are. We shall see. But I won’t be disappointed if they lose to Washington tonight no matter how hard they play. I’m not trying to be doom and gloom and attempting to make it easier for myself. They’re not at their full best, not by a long shot, and that’s the cold fact of it. I don’t know why I bother to look at the NHL part of the ESPN website (probably the same reason I look at Letters to the Editor – I’m deliberately looking for a reason to get worked up), but I looked at this blogged article today about the game tonight, chiefly because it was the first thing that I saw when I went to the website. I like how the writer says he is keen on the Caps’ chances tonight because they are 17-1-1-1 at home and they are playing with confidence. He completely fails to mention that the Flyers are riddled with injuries, which improves the Caps’ chances. For crying out loud, the Flyers are starting to resemble the Milwaukee Admirals' creepy skeleton dude. And I hope that as badly injured as the good guys are, they don’t let the Caps get anywhere near repaying them for the 7-1 drubbing last month. Even if they lose, I hope it’s not by that kind of margin. Don’t give them the satisfaction at all if you can manage it, guys, but if you simply cannot get it done, try to keep it respectable! Go Flyers!

Last night I watched the third period of the Rangers/Penguins game. As much as I dislike the Rangers and did not want them to get two points to retake the division lead from the Flyers, such is my dislike for the Penguins that all those bad and hard feelings about the Rangers were tossed aside and I was happy – gleeful! – to see them shut out the Penguins 4-0. For a brief span of time, I loved Rangers fans for booing Crosby every time the cheap punk touched the puck; I even loved them for stealing the “CROS-BY SUCKS!” chant from us. (I wonder how long until there is no arena where he doesn’t hear that.) I cackled when Therrien actually thought pulling Fleury on a power play with 3 or 4 minutes left to go was going to do some good (they were already down 3 goals). As the Rangers cleared the puck toward the open net, I thought, “Well, they can’t ice it, so why don’t they –“ oh, I didn’t even get to finish the thought because the Rangers got the puck in the Penguins’ zone and scored into the extremely empty net. Some plays are risky. Some plays are a gamble. Some plays are just stupid. It’s possible Therrien thought that there wasn’t really any difference between 3-0 and 4-0 and so figured “What the hell.” Whatever, I still laaaaaughed. To me, schadenfreude tastes like Cherry Coke.

I really wish I had had the game on mute, though, because those announcers are simply impossible to tolerate. No matter what is happening, no matter how horribly the Penguins are doing or what has happened to them, a blind eye is turned and something else is mentioned. Examples (and remember, I only watched the third period, so who knows how much more of this was going on):

Sidney Crosby was hit and knocked down by a Ranger. A few seconds later, long enough for something to have been said, Colton Orr was hit hard and knocked down by Brooks Orpik. Which hit was given a hearty report? Not the one on Crosby.

Olczyk gushed and slobbered over that botched 6-on-4. “I love the risk, I love the gamble!!” It was a play almost destined to fail before it even started. Shut up.

The crowd lustily chanted “Crosby sucks! Crosby sucks!” and then switched directly to “Let’s go, Rangers.” As they did that, the announcer commented, “The chant is ‘Let’s go, Rangers’ [as the Rangers take the puck blah blah blah].” Everyone heard the other chant, dude. Why bother?

It’s like they see and hear what’s going on and then have to take the very next desperate opportunity to draw attention away from it. It’s ridiculously transparent.

”PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE HIT ON CROSBY, SEE HOW AWESOME ORPIK WAS BY KNOCKING DOWN ORR? WASN’T THAT SIMPLY OUTSTANDING? THE PENGUINS RULE.”

OH HOLY %&*^, THAT WAS A STUPID MESSED-UP PLAY, BUT I CAN’T SAY THAT! “WASN’T IT AWESOME HOW THERRIEN TOOK THAT GAMBLE? THE PENGUINS’ COACH IS A RISK-TAKING MAVERICK, TOO BAD IT DIDN’T WORK!”

OH GOD THEY’RE HECKLING CROSBY AGAIN OH WAIT GOOD I WILL POINT OUT THAT THEY ARE CHANTING SOMETHING ELSE THAT ISN’T DIRECTLY TRASHING THE MOST IMPORTANT PLAYER OF ANY SPORT ON THE PLANET.

I know that announcers rarely come down negatively on a team, and if they do they are usually relatively oblique and mild (usually); but this kind of stuff is just lame. The world will not end if they say “Crosby got hit by [whoever].” The world will go on if they say “That play didn’t work out very well” without all the fawning. THE WORLD WILL MAKE IT THROUGH IF THE PENGUINS ARE OUTPLAYED. I know, however, it’s asking too much for the announcers at Vs. to just treat them like they’d treat pretty much any other team. If they insist on love-festing, there are other teams, and players, who are far more deserving.

I only hope that the Flyers have more than a series of band-aids come next Tuesday when the Penguins are at Philadelphia. The Penguins are free-falling wildly right now but the Flyers are pretty good for ending another team’s losing streak on a good day, let alone when they are as brutally rent as they are now.

P.S. Generally I have no problems with Colton Orr getting rocked and would be pleased to hear that from any announcer. But a lot of general situations were suspended during last night’s game in which I actually cheered for the Rangers.

P.P.S. This evening I have several appointments that will prevent me from watching the Flyers game live. I feel this may actually work to my advantage. If the Flyers are playing well against all odds, then the game can be played from the DVR at normal speed. If the Flyers are being ripped apart by the Capitals, I can merely fast-forward through the disastrous portions. GO FLYERS!

It was a late night Tuesday because the Flyers refused to put the beat down on the Canucks, who refused to go gently into that good night. The game was too close to allow for an "Oh hell I'll just go to bed because I know how this is going to end." So I was up until 12:30. But at least it was a decent game (after the first, oh, minute or so) and the Flyers ended up on the right end of the 2 points.

Since Simon Gagne was diagnosed with having "only" a shoulder injury (keeping him out a week or so) I am no longer incensed by the brutal non-call on Bieksa hitting him from behind into the boards, causing the shoulder injury only about 15 seconds into the game. I'm still ticked about it, because it took one of the Flyers' best players out of the lineup for a while, but at least I'm not white-burning-hot mad about it anymore. At the time, though, I blazed, and that blazing was not helped by the blatant interference on Hartnell a very short time after Richards tried to fight Bieksa for taking liberties with Gagne. (Alas for Richards, Bieksa was out of his league in that regard.) Was this the kind of no-whistle hockey I was going to have to watch all night? And it was no-whistle hockey, with seldom a power play for either side. (And while the referees did not see fit to call an obvious boarding and interference, they did see fit to call Knuble for tripping, in the last two minutes of the game, when the Flyers were up 3-2. Of course.)

Yesterday I tried to watch the Winter Classic, but I was waylaid by a nasty cold (again?!) and was in and out while lying on the couch with the game on. I missed a lot of it, but saw most of the third period. I'm still a little annoyed at Chicago having crushed the Flyers a week ago today, so I'm not too upset with Detroit beating them. On the other hand, if I had to pick another team to like besides the Flyers, I would probably pick the Blackhawks ... so I had some conflicting emotions. Then again, it wasn't about the Flyers, so I guess I don't have to worry about it too much. Look at that. I've moved on.

Tonight's Phantoms game has been moved from a 7 p.m. start time to 6 p.m. in order to accomodate travel plans to Toronto for a game against the Marlies. I'm pretty much going to have to leave right from work. I guess that is OK. I missed the last four Phantoms home games and am very much looking forward to taking my seat and cheering for a Phantoms victory over Bridgeport. If the Phantoms win, they will continue a 10-game home points streak. And shave a couple points off the 6 advantage that Bridgeport have over the Phantoms. I hope the Phantoms can get a healthy stretch of wins going here, because they are in 5th in the division and I don't like that position. It's dollar dog night, so I think I will have some bad-for-me goodness at the game. I'm not going directly home after the game so I won't be watching the Flyers play the Ducks tonight, but I will try to remember to record the game so I can watch it first thing tomorrow morning. I doubt I could make it through the late game anyway. Too many late nights since Tuesday, too few hours slept. (Mostly worth it, not counting last night, when the wakefulness was due to, well, the cold that socked me yesterday.)

Today I finally got tickets to the Flyers game that is happening while J. is out here in February -- on the 21st against the Pens. For once, we did not go all-out on lower-level seats (since we are going to the carnival the next day). The tickets I picked up were $99 in the upper level, section 215. Not too bad, only about twice the face value (not as bad as twice the face value downstairs). I don't have plans to go to a game between January 13 and February 21, so my next two Flyers games look to both be against the Pens. I will be sure to bring my hate.