Friday, February 27, 2009
A lot to catch up on.
I know the Internet is all about a quick look, short bursts of information, a tidy post telling you everything you want to know in a few sentences. Yet I have a lot to cover in this post, and I’m a talkative writer, so it’s going to be long. That’s your warning. Here are the topics I am going to cover, so that you can perhaps skip down to what it is you want to read about, if you don’t have the time, attention span, or energy to make it through the whole thing:
The Flyers/Sabres game, Thursday, February 19.
The Phantoms/Pirates game, Friday, February 20.
The Flyers/Penguins game, Saturday, February 21.
The Flyers’ Wives Fight for Lives carnival, Sunday, February 22.
Rumors, discoveries, etc.
It has been a very busy month in the Land of Crusher, with an astonishing amount of work to get done at work (as contrasted to last year this time when I was dying for something to do to earn my keep) and outside of work some renewed commitments to other pastimes such as reading and non-blog writing; throw into that some rehabbing of an injured foot and the usual time spent with B., the blog has kind of fallen by the wayside over the last four weeks. Last weekend was a Major Hockey Weekend, as these things go, so I’m going to use that as a springboard to Get Back on Track (another renewed commitment!).
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On Thursday, February 19, pal J. arrived from Iowa. We had a fully-booked schedule for the time she would be in Delaware (until Monday morning). The Flyers were playing the Sabres that night, and our original plans were to watch the game on TV, but during the day I began to think that since we would be in the vicinity, after I picked her up at the airport at 5 p.m., perhaps we could just go to the game. I found some tickets on StubHub for a total of $46 after fees (a $15 last minute fee? Geez.) and queried her at the Minneapolis airport. Sound ok?
“Do I ever turn down a chance to go to a hockey game?” was her reply.
So I secured the tickets and looked forward to my first Flyers game since the loss to Pittsburgh as a Christmas present on January 13th. (As an aside, I have to say that picking up the tickets at the StubHub office at the Holiday Inn by the sports complex was really very easy to do. The $15 last minute fee isn’t much different than the expensive FedExing they do if you order tickets well in advance, so I suppose I can’t complain too much. I am glad I discovered this StubHub a couple years ago.) I thought that the terms of this game might not ensure a loss, i.e., the tickets were not very expensive and, since it was a spur-of-the-moment decision, it was not a Highly Anticipated Event, two conditions that were in place for all three of the losses I endured so far this season.
We got to the arena way too early, browsed the shops, got some food, and got to our seats, which were two rows from the ceiling and wall in section 212. We were more or less at the blueline, but way, way up there. It was J.’s first time sitting so far away from the ice at the Wachovia Center. The last time she was there, she was two rows from it. She did not seem to sulk at the distance. The game looks different from that level – I think not nearly as fast, and you can see plays develop – but it’s still Flyers hockey.
In front of us and behind us there was an inordinate number of non-Flyers fans. A few Sabres fans were present, some attending with Flyers fans, and behind us was a row of Toronto-native Penguins fans (!!) in town for the Saturday game. One of them had the nerve to wear not only a Penguins t-shirt, but a jacket that looked like it had belonged to a younger, slightly smaller version of him (just a tad short in the sleeves and across the shoulders). He was not exactly obnoxious, but I had a feeling that the same behavior on Saturday would not be looked past the way it was being looked past on Thursday. Flyers fans that night were worked up about the Sabres. Saturday the situation would be completely different, especially depending on what was happening. I hoped he would understand that. He had a story about having gone to one of the Stanley Cup Finals games in Detroit last season, and had gotten spit on. He claimed he hadn’t even been doing anything. The Flyers fans around him thought that sounded about right. A couple other Penguins fans sat next to me; I don’t know where they were from, but they were also not obnoxious. They told the Sabres fan in front of me that they were cheering for the Flyers because they didn’t want the Sabres to win (in front of Pittsburgh in the standings).
Whatever feelings I may have had in the past, there is almost no situation now that would have me wanting the Penguins to win.
He chatted with me a little in the third period, when someone nearby was yelling for the ref’s head for not making a call. “It’s the third period!” he said, as if that explained away the lack of calling. I told him to just watch, and not be surprised when the referee would make a bad call against the Flyers. I’ve seen it happen too many times. He asked me if I was a season ticket holder. I said no, but that I watch almost every game, and you get to know the bad and good refs. (We did not have good ones.) “You’re a pretty big Flyers fan, then?” he asked, and didn’t sound like it was poison to have to say the words, as it would have for me to say, “You’re a pretty big Penguins fan, then?” dripping with disdain.
Sometimes the snobbery that goes on around being a sports fan is astonishing, and occasionally it is astonishing to find myself guilty of it in the extreme.
The final score of the game was 6-3 Flyers. The score belies the tightness of the match, which was one of the better games I’ve seen in person. The two teams traded goals most of the night. The Flyers scored first, then Buffalo evened it up. The Flyers scored again, then Buffalo evened it up. The Flyers scored again to make it 3-2; Buffalo evened it up. Going into the third period, the game was tied 3-3. Unlike the Flyers/Kings game I watched on TV two nights ago, which was also close in score (that is, 0-0 for much of the game), this one was no snooze-fest. It was some good hockey if you look past the Flyers’ goaltending. The first Sabres goal was completely stoppable. I know, it’s easy for me to say that, having sat two rows from the roof, but from what I could see, Biron had that puck stopped, but was lazy about it and didn’t clamp down enough, so it kept on behind him and in. The second one was a goal that I could allow wasn’t really something he had much of a chance on, but the third was disgusting. Biron simply couldn’t deal with the puck and it was a potentially back-breaking last-minute goal in the second period.
But the Flyers were tenacious, and Mike Richards had a “career night”, as they said. He assisted on the first two Flyers goals, one of which came on the exciting and exhilarating moment of the game that was the Shift of the Season. The Flyers were pressuring for way longer than a minute (it seemed like an eternity), taking several shots on goal and simply not capitalizing, yet not giving up and keeping the puck in control. Suddenly Coburn came in alone and took a pass from Gagne and rifled it through to score, a very satisfying end to a crescendo of a shift. I find it nerve-wracking to jump up from my seat while sitting in the steep nosebleeds but I did it without even thinking when that goal was scored. Richards then scored the third goal on his own on a shorthanded rush with Kimmo Timonen. While I know it’s not possible for the puck to have moved the way I could have sworn it did -- Kimmo got it to Richards across the ice around/through Sabres defense, and it almost looked as though it curved in front of them in order to avoid them to get to Richards – it was still one of the most beautiful plays I’ve seen in a long time, and it was Richards’ second shorthanded goal in two games. He added an assist on Mike Knuble’s game-winning goal that broke the 3-3 tie in the third, then topped off the five-point night with an empty net goal.
Darroll Powe scored the final goal, an empty-net mark, with ten seconds left to play.
So we left the arena in a good mood, having kicked off the hockey weekend in an exciting fashion.
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Friday the 20th was One of Those Days that can happen on occasion, starting with me actually having set my alarm for 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:00 a.m. and waking up at 7:22 a.m. wondering why I hadn’t been alarmed awake at the appropriate time. [It was kind of like a sit-com, but less funny, because I had a 9 a.m. meeting and what if I hadn’t been awakened by the cats’ crying for breakfast until TOO LATE?? (gasp)] Other things followed through the day, and I had hoped that I had left behind the boneheadedness when I left the lab and went up to the Spectrum with J. for our second hockey game in as many nights. The Phantoms were playing the Portland Pirates. Parked at the Naval Base, I tore what I thought was the correct ticket out of the booklet, even marveling that it came out cleanly (as the others mostly have ripped out badly at the top). We walked in the blustery cold up to the arena where I discovered when I tried to get in that I had the wrong ticket. Of course, I couldn’t do this on a night where I’d parked at the arena. And without thinking, I got out of line to simply buy a $10 ticket to get in, only to be chastised upon entry by K. who wondered why I hadn’t simply let him exchange the ticket (which was one for a past game that I didn’t go to) for me at the booth inside.
I felt crushed and stupid. Well, at least it was only $10, but when I’d already paid $15 for the stupid season ticket it was annoying to me to have paid $25 to see the game. When they announced the attendance as something like 7208 we all knew it was only 7207.
One of Those Days stopped after I bought a water ice that was so hard it was like trying to eat a popsicle with a spoon (boo!), and the Phantoms made my day. I wasn’t sure it was going to be all that good because Aubin was in net, but the Phantoms made it easy for him. He made a few good saves, but everything else he did (and the score sheet says he did a lot) was tempered by a good Phantoms defense, bolstered by the addition of Lasse Kukkonen and his shot-blocking prowess. By the standings, you wouldn’t have expected Portland to be as super-sucky as they were that night. It was only 1-0 after the first period, but in the second, things fell apart for them. Their goalie, Enroth, wouldn’t have been able to stop the clichéd beach ball, and when they finally put in their backup after he allowed Patrick Maroon to score two goals within 40 seconds (he just came skating away from the net like he knew what was going to happen), George Costanza [it was easier and funnier (to us, at least) to call him that rather than by his proper last name] promptly gave up a goal on what I think was the first shot he faced – Maroon’s third, a nice hat trick, and the game was 5-0. Enroth came back in for the duration of the second period, but Musical Goalies was concluded in the third when diCostanzo took over. Boyd Kane scored a second goal of the night to make it 6-0, and Aubin finally let one in to ruin his shutout (some dude behind me is to blame, he said the s-word earlier). Rossco scored to make it 7-1 and it was just getting ridiculous. But Aubin was not to be trusted, and he let in another. The final score was 7-2 and was never close. We left the arena once again in high spirits, feeling good. 2 for 2 so far on the weekend.
The Phantoms had worn special jerseys at the game – black, white, and orange striped with the words BROAD STREET BULLIES across the chest on two lines. I kind of liked them (but of course, I really like stripes). Not enough to try to win one in an auction though.
Before the game, Frank Miceli, former long-time Phantoms COO, had been inducted into the Phantoms Hall of Fame. During the ceremony, Peter Luukko was introduced to a chorus of boos. While I feel he should be booed, I didn’t feel that this ceremony was the right time to do it, especially later when Mr. Miceli was giving his speech. He mentioned Luukko, again to a rain of boos that I felt were in poor taste at that time. There is a time and place, and that wasn’t a good time.
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Next on the schedule was the original Point of the weekend, the Flyers/Penguins game Saturday afternoon. The Penguins were in a bad way, and the Flyers were pretty much riding high, having won a few in a row. I had read that Niittymaki was to start the game, but it ended up being Biron again. I was surprised (while also not being surprised, if you know what I mean) that he was going to get the start because he had not really been very good at all on Thursday. Frankly (no pun intended?) I would have felt more comfortable with Niittymaki in net on Saturday, and who knows – perhaps the end result still would have been a loss for one reason or another, but what I do know is that Niittymaki would have been exceedingly unlikely to commit the catastrophe that Biron did at the end of the game. But I will get to that (though you almost surely already know what happened).
We were in the upper level again for this game, but not quite as high. The seats were decent in section 215, row 6. The seven-row difference is noticeable, though the same viewing aspects from there apply here. Nice to be on the Flyers end though.
And nice to see the orange jerseys again. I think the orange is a wee too bright, which is part of the reason I haven’t bought one yet, but it grows on me every time I see it. Maybe next season I will get one as a birthday present to myself or something.
People on Thursday had been warming up the “Crosby sucks!” chant, and it came out in full force to start the game on Saturday. The Flyers took the lead with a goal midway through the first, but Marty had another very bad second period and allowed really soft and bad goals, leaving that the Penguins up 3-1 to start the third. I hated that score because it’s the kind of score that is tough to come back from. The team up by two goals generally starts playing a defensive game that’s hard to break through. But I tried to remind myself that Pittsburgh has been extremely good (?) at blowing leads this season, so the game wasn’t out of hand yet, right?
Right. The Flyers worked their tails off in a way that was simply pure will and determination, led again by Richards. Another shorthanded goal, his seventh of the year, and third in three games. Right before it happened, he was ready for it. He had started to peel forward, expecting a pass, but the puck got blocked and he had to curl back into the zone. From our vantage point his intention was obvious; too bad he had been thwarted (I remember saying to J. something about how he had been ready to take off as soon as he got the puck). He got his opportunity a few seconds later. All alone on Fleury and boom, the Flyers were back in the game at 3-2.
More digging deep, outworking the Penguins, and the Flyers scored again, to my amazement, another goal by Braydon Coburn to tie it up. The place was pretty much a madhouse at that point, enjoying the Pittsburgh lead-losing meltdown. Too bad Marty couldn’t make the save that would have kept the score from becoming 4-3. It seemed like a travesty that the game could be broken so easily, after the Flyers had worked so hard to bring it to a tie. Had I known what was going to happen, I wouldn’t have lamented that so seriously. The Flyers had not given up. It is unfortunate that Biron forces them to have to score 5 goals a game to win, but they were just about up to the task. Mike Knuble managed to tie the game with about 5:30 left to go. Richards got his third point of the night on that goal. He is simply an outstanding player. All superlatives apply.
The game was tied and the tension was extreme, but the Flyers were playing well enough to keep the Penguins from going ahead. And then Martin Biron did the thing that simply boggled the entire arena, Flyers fans and Penguins fans alike. Dupuis was coming down on a breakaway, but from what I could see Coburn was on it. In my mind’s eye, imagining what might have happened, I don’t see Dupuis escaping Coburn. Either Coburn makes a good defensive play and robs him of the puck or the scoring chance, or he takes a sacrificial penalty to prevent a goal. Something. Coburn would have done his job. But Marty either didn’t see Coburn, or didn’t think Coburn was going to be able to do it – did he not trust his teammates?? – and he came out of the net, WAAAAAAY out of the net, to challenge Dupuis. And by WAAAAAAY out of the net I mean he came out to the top of the circles.
It was a WHAT THE HELL? moment for the ages, unfortunately. Way out there, Biron couldn’t cover the puck without taking a delay of game penalty. And I guess he decided trying to play the puck would be better than that. He bobbled it up behind his back. I don’t know what he was trying to do because he wasn’t anywhere near clearing it or getting it out of the way. It just bobbled up behind his back and dropped behind him. The other Flyers around were slow to react – perhaps as stunned as we were. Dupuis pounced on the puck and passed it to Crosby, who was skating in on an essentially open net. Carle was there, but completely incapable of responding to what was going on; Crosby got the puck past him for the game-winner. You’d have thought he had scored the most awesome, Stanley Cup winning goal in the history of the universe, the way he reacted, as though it wasn’t basically some empty net goal. Just another reason to hate him so much that it almost makes me feel sick.
Biron gave the game away on a monstrously irresponsible play. What in the name of all that is holy was he thinking coming out of the net like that in such a close tie game? What did he have to say for himself? “I made a bad play and it ends up in the net.”
One of the worst plays I have ever seen. At least one point completely thrown away there, possibly two. I would have hated it against any team, but that it was against the Penguins only makes it impossible to accept.
I would have traded the two wins we had seen the two nights prior for a win on Saturday, but that kind of trading simply doesn’t get to happen. I had to be satisfied with seeing two wins in three games. Also, my theory of when I see a win/when I see a loss holds up. The tickets were sort of expensive ($100 apiece to sit upstairs) and it was a Highly Anticipated Event (we’d been planning J.’s visit to go to that game for some months). I know I don’t actually believe that kind of thing, but sometimes trends seem to suggest something.
On Monday the cafeteria manager at work asked if I’d been to the game; apparently he’d seen me driving back on I-95. He asked me if I was anywhere near the fight that had happened in the stands. No – but we had a good view of it. It happened in the section behind the goal on the Flyers’ end of the arena and a lot of people were involved. It was a serious distraction – I found myself watching that action instead of the game. Someone had someone else in a headlock and was throwing punches while the arena personnel stood around until suddenly many of them came boiling through the entrance to the section and threw themselves on the fighters. It took some time to break it up and drag the people away, leaving many open seats. I recall a fight happening at the first home opener J. and I went to in 2006, but it was not in our line of sight; all we ended up seeing was some Rags fans being escorted out. This was the first time I saw what was happening. A little bit exciting, but, as I said, a distraction that was unnecessary. Behind us, someone got a talking-to by the arena staff, but no one was kicked out.
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Sunday was the Carnival. I’ve never been to one before, so didn’t quite know what to expect -- that is, I didn’t realize I was going to have to pay $15 per autograph outside the ones we’d gotten tickets for. I know it’s money going to a good cause, but there are a lot of Flyers and I’m being furloughed for two weeks this quarter, you see? Ok, maybe I’m just a little bit of a cheapskate. Still, I ended up having a good time in spite of not being able to meet as many Flyers as I’d hoped I would.
The weather was no good when we got there shortly before 1:30. Windy and drizzly, and the lines wrapped all the way around the building. We were relieved we hadn’t decided to go up extra early, or else we would have had to stand out in that nasty for much longer than the 5-10 minutes we ended up being there. We had 2 p.m. tickets for getting Mike Richards’ autograph. We got in line, each of us with our black Richards jerseys (pre-“new” style), pretty excited. I didn’t imagine I would say anything to him, because I had nothing to say that would not be the same “You are so cool”-type stuff he would hear all day long. Besides, he wouldn’t remember me and I wouldn’t expect him to. I just wanted his autograph. And that is all I got; he barely met my eye and said hi.
We folded our new prized possessions carefully and then had until 4, when we had tickets for Briere’s autograph, to wander around and see what there was to see.
I enjoyed the carnival games at the concession areas and scattered around the concourses. I didn’t mind having to play these in order to get autographs from various Phantoms, since they were maximum $5 a pop, AND you got a chance at some prize. I didn’t get a prize at the first couple I did, where I got Patrick Maroon’s autograph and Boyd Kane’s. There was a “fishing pond” with a bunch of mystery bags. J. got an autographed picture card of Bobby Clarke in hers, and here I thought that would be standard in all the bags. All I got was a Pez dispenser and a magnet to go along with my Danny Syvret autograph. And when I did it again later to get Andreas Nodl’s autograph, I got nothing more than the same thing. However, that bummer was completely undone later at a game where you got six little tabs of paper with numbers on them. Unfolding the tab revealed the number, and if it ended in 00, 25, 50, or 75, you won a prize of your choosing. Well, one of my six tabs had a 75 on it, and the girl behind the counter cheered noisily in response. I had originally thought I would get a Flyers travel mug, but then I saw a little statuette of Bernie Parent in goal. I asked if that was really one of the prizes I could pick. “Of course!” the girl said, still all cheery. So I did. It turned out to be autographed – for real. I was pretty excited about that, because it had been only a $2 game. I won another prize later, at a Wheel of Fortune-type game, putting my $1 on Jeff Carter. It barely ticked to his wedge on the wheel, but, whee! Another prize! Here I did pick the travel mug. (And got Derian Hatcher’s autograph while at that station.) All told, I won a few things and got autographs from Maroon, Nodl, Kane, Bellamy, Laliberte, Curry, Syvret, Ross, Ratchuk, and Hatcher. (I may be missing one, but these are those that I can remember as I sit here and write.) It was a good way to pass the time until Danny Briere’s autograph session.
We got in line at 3:30, and I am glad we did that because we were pretty close to the start, and the section filled up quickly such that the line would take a very long time to get through. I had brought with me a photograph taken from the Game 7 against the Capitals last season’s playoffs, of Lupul and Briere just after Lupul had scored the game winner in OT. I wanted to get Lupul’s autograph on it too, but J. was telling me she thought you had to have a ticket in advance to get in his line. Well, it wasn’t “sold out” so I figured we’d see. I was willing to pay $15 for it. Briere came out a little bit after 4, and the line moved pretty quickly. He was a little friendlier than Richards, saying “Hi” and smiling at me, signing the picture and nodding when I said, “Thank you!”
So, half my mission with the photograph was complete; J. had him sign her carnival program and then we went down to see about Lupul. The usher at the entrance said that it was still available for purchase, so we headed down to get in line. The queue was already pretty long, but I was willing to wait for it along with my $15. As I mentioned, the lines moved pretty fast.
Lupul was friendly too – kind of in between Richie and Briere in terms of friendliness – and my mission was completed when he signed the photo.
I love this picture and it makes me very happy to have had it autographed. It has center place on my shelf of hockey stuff.
We had considered getting in line for Niittymaki’s autograph, but by the time we’d endured Lupul’s line, we were pretty much done with being at the carnival. We went outside and the drizzle was gone, but it was still chilly and windy. The sky looked good, and the Philadelphia skyline to the north was pretty with the reflection of the setting pink sun. With the Spectrum in the foreground, I thought it looked pretty classic.
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So concluded the Major Hockey Weekend. I drove up to south Philadelphia five times in five days, and I have been glad not to have to go back for a while.
This week has been good on the TV hockey front. The Flyers played the Capitals on Tuesday and I saw the first period, which ended with the Flyers down 1-0. I read about the game the next day and realized I’d missed a good one, so that evening, while waiting for the Flyers/Kings game, I watched the rest of it even though I knew what had happened, just to see it. After the Flyers got down 2-0, Niittymaki closed the gates and the Flyers battled back again to win the game 4-2. It was a rough game, much hitting and action, the kind of game that is fun to see even when you know the outcome. I amused myself late in the game, after it was 4-2, when I had to remind myself that exciting scoring opportunities I saw were not going to result in anything.
The Kings game was boring. But at least the Flyers won, 2-0, the second goal a very late EN by Gagne (one second left!). So they go into tonight’s game against Montreal having lost only one in the last six (right? They won against both New York teams, they won against Buffalo, they lost to Pittsburgh, they won the two this week. Ok.).
Yesterday, the Flyers waived Metropolit and Vaananen, ostensibly to clear up space for Briere to come back. I just read that they both have been claimed … The news all said this morning that the decision on bringing Briere back to play tonight would be made after the morning skate, i.e., is a game-time decision. I think, from what I have read, at least one other move would have to be made in order to fit him in, wouldn’t it? I have read that Timonen is expected to still be out tonight with the flu (third game), so now that they have gotten rid of Vaananen, that leaves Kukkonen to fill the last d-man spot so they can’t send him down, too, to make space for Briere. I don’t see Briere coming back tonight unless something else goes down before the game or I am mistaken or the people I am reading are mistaken.
Something else going down has been in the rumor mills the last couple days. Apparently the Panthers’ general manager was at the Kings game the other night and this has fueled speculation just about out of control. All kinds of maybe-deals have been postulated that would bring Jay Bouwmeester to Philadelphia. A couple of them that I have read I would do in a second. Others…I’d be a little more hesitant about. It’s quarter to one on Friday and so far, nothing has come out either way.
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Tonight is a Phantoms home game vs. Bridgeport and tomorrow is another game, vs. Providence. Since the Flyers play at home tonight, too, which means the traffic’s going to be an extra nightmare. Another special jersey for auctioning – a Spectrum-themed sweater with the strips of primary colors down the sleeves. I kind of like them. Again, not enough to be bidding on them.
I got a letter in the mail the other day from Peter Luukko informing me that they will be offering current Phantoms season ticket holders the opportunity to get Flyers season tickets for the 09-10 season at $20 a game. More information as to seat locations and payment plans is forthcoming. This is extremely tempting. I will go out on a limb and say that there is a strong possibility that I will take them up on this offer. I have a few things to consider before leaping wholeheartedly into it, but … it’s pretty hard to turn down, no? I’m sure the seats are in curve or end mezzanine sections rows 13 to 15, but at $20 a game, who’s going to be griping about that? Not me.
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All right, I think that’s the end of the mega-post. Congratulations! You made it.
It has been a very busy month in the Land of Crusher, with an astonishing amount of work to get done at work (as contrasted to last year this time when I was dying for something to do to earn my keep) and outside of work some renewed commitments to other pastimes such as reading and non-blog writing; throw into that some rehabbing of an injured foot and the usual time spent with B., the blog has kind of fallen by the wayside over the last four weeks. Last weekend was a Major Hockey Weekend, as these things go, so I’m going to use that as a springboard to Get Back on Track (another renewed commitment!).
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On Thursday, February 19, pal J. arrived from Iowa. We had a fully-booked schedule for the time she would be in Delaware (until Monday morning). The Flyers were playing the Sabres that night, and our original plans were to watch the game on TV, but during the day I began to think that since we would be in the vicinity, after I picked her up at the airport at 5 p.m., perhaps we could just go to the game. I found some tickets on StubHub for a total of $46 after fees (a $15 last minute fee? Geez.) and queried her at the Minneapolis airport. Sound ok?
“Do I ever turn down a chance to go to a hockey game?” was her reply.
So I secured the tickets and looked forward to my first Flyers game since the loss to Pittsburgh as a Christmas present on January 13th. (As an aside, I have to say that picking up the tickets at the StubHub office at the Holiday Inn by the sports complex was really very easy to do. The $15 last minute fee isn’t much different than the expensive FedExing they do if you order tickets well in advance, so I suppose I can’t complain too much. I am glad I discovered this StubHub a couple years ago.) I thought that the terms of this game might not ensure a loss, i.e., the tickets were not very expensive and, since it was a spur-of-the-moment decision, it was not a Highly Anticipated Event, two conditions that were in place for all three of the losses I endured so far this season.
We got to the arena way too early, browsed the shops, got some food, and got to our seats, which were two rows from the ceiling and wall in section 212. We were more or less at the blueline, but way, way up there. It was J.’s first time sitting so far away from the ice at the Wachovia Center. The last time she was there, she was two rows from it. She did not seem to sulk at the distance. The game looks different from that level – I think not nearly as fast, and you can see plays develop – but it’s still Flyers hockey.
In front of us and behind us there was an inordinate number of non-Flyers fans. A few Sabres fans were present, some attending with Flyers fans, and behind us was a row of Toronto-native Penguins fans (!!) in town for the Saturday game. One of them had the nerve to wear not only a Penguins t-shirt, but a jacket that looked like it had belonged to a younger, slightly smaller version of him (just a tad short in the sleeves and across the shoulders). He was not exactly obnoxious, but I had a feeling that the same behavior on Saturday would not be looked past the way it was being looked past on Thursday. Flyers fans that night were worked up about the Sabres. Saturday the situation would be completely different, especially depending on what was happening. I hoped he would understand that. He had a story about having gone to one of the Stanley Cup Finals games in Detroit last season, and had gotten spit on. He claimed he hadn’t even been doing anything. The Flyers fans around him thought that sounded about right. A couple other Penguins fans sat next to me; I don’t know where they were from, but they were also not obnoxious. They told the Sabres fan in front of me that they were cheering for the Flyers because they didn’t want the Sabres to win (in front of Pittsburgh in the standings).
Whatever feelings I may have had in the past, there is almost no situation now that would have me wanting the Penguins to win.
He chatted with me a little in the third period, when someone nearby was yelling for the ref’s head for not making a call. “It’s the third period!” he said, as if that explained away the lack of calling. I told him to just watch, and not be surprised when the referee would make a bad call against the Flyers. I’ve seen it happen too many times. He asked me if I was a season ticket holder. I said no, but that I watch almost every game, and you get to know the bad and good refs. (We did not have good ones.) “You’re a pretty big Flyers fan, then?” he asked, and didn’t sound like it was poison to have to say the words, as it would have for me to say, “You’re a pretty big Penguins fan, then?” dripping with disdain.
Sometimes the snobbery that goes on around being a sports fan is astonishing, and occasionally it is astonishing to find myself guilty of it in the extreme.
The final score of the game was 6-3 Flyers. The score belies the tightness of the match, which was one of the better games I’ve seen in person. The two teams traded goals most of the night. The Flyers scored first, then Buffalo evened it up. The Flyers scored again, then Buffalo evened it up. The Flyers scored again to make it 3-2; Buffalo evened it up. Going into the third period, the game was tied 3-3. Unlike the Flyers/Kings game I watched on TV two nights ago, which was also close in score (that is, 0-0 for much of the game), this one was no snooze-fest. It was some good hockey if you look past the Flyers’ goaltending. The first Sabres goal was completely stoppable. I know, it’s easy for me to say that, having sat two rows from the roof, but from what I could see, Biron had that puck stopped, but was lazy about it and didn’t clamp down enough, so it kept on behind him and in. The second one was a goal that I could allow wasn’t really something he had much of a chance on, but the third was disgusting. Biron simply couldn’t deal with the puck and it was a potentially back-breaking last-minute goal in the second period.
But the Flyers were tenacious, and Mike Richards had a “career night”, as they said. He assisted on the first two Flyers goals, one of which came on the exciting and exhilarating moment of the game that was the Shift of the Season. The Flyers were pressuring for way longer than a minute (it seemed like an eternity), taking several shots on goal and simply not capitalizing, yet not giving up and keeping the puck in control. Suddenly Coburn came in alone and took a pass from Gagne and rifled it through to score, a very satisfying end to a crescendo of a shift. I find it nerve-wracking to jump up from my seat while sitting in the steep nosebleeds but I did it without even thinking when that goal was scored. Richards then scored the third goal on his own on a shorthanded rush with Kimmo Timonen. While I know it’s not possible for the puck to have moved the way I could have sworn it did -- Kimmo got it to Richards across the ice around/through Sabres defense, and it almost looked as though it curved in front of them in order to avoid them to get to Richards – it was still one of the most beautiful plays I’ve seen in a long time, and it was Richards’ second shorthanded goal in two games. He added an assist on Mike Knuble’s game-winning goal that broke the 3-3 tie in the third, then topped off the five-point night with an empty net goal.
Darroll Powe scored the final goal, an empty-net mark, with ten seconds left to play.
So we left the arena in a good mood, having kicked off the hockey weekend in an exciting fashion.
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Friday the 20th was One of Those Days that can happen on occasion, starting with me actually having set my alarm for 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:00 a.m. and waking up at 7:22 a.m. wondering why I hadn’t been alarmed awake at the appropriate time. [It was kind of like a sit-com, but less funny, because I had a 9 a.m. meeting and what if I hadn’t been awakened by the cats’ crying for breakfast until TOO LATE?? (gasp)] Other things followed through the day, and I had hoped that I had left behind the boneheadedness when I left the lab and went up to the Spectrum with J. for our second hockey game in as many nights. The Phantoms were playing the Portland Pirates. Parked at the Naval Base, I tore what I thought was the correct ticket out of the booklet, even marveling that it came out cleanly (as the others mostly have ripped out badly at the top). We walked in the blustery cold up to the arena where I discovered when I tried to get in that I had the wrong ticket. Of course, I couldn’t do this on a night where I’d parked at the arena. And without thinking, I got out of line to simply buy a $10 ticket to get in, only to be chastised upon entry by K. who wondered why I hadn’t simply let him exchange the ticket (which was one for a past game that I didn’t go to) for me at the booth inside.
I felt crushed and stupid. Well, at least it was only $10, but when I’d already paid $15 for the stupid season ticket it was annoying to me to have paid $25 to see the game. When they announced the attendance as something like 7208 we all knew it was only 7207.
One of Those Days stopped after I bought a water ice that was so hard it was like trying to eat a popsicle with a spoon (boo!), and the Phantoms made my day. I wasn’t sure it was going to be all that good because Aubin was in net, but the Phantoms made it easy for him. He made a few good saves, but everything else he did (and the score sheet says he did a lot) was tempered by a good Phantoms defense, bolstered by the addition of Lasse Kukkonen and his shot-blocking prowess. By the standings, you wouldn’t have expected Portland to be as super-sucky as they were that night. It was only 1-0 after the first period, but in the second, things fell apart for them. Their goalie, Enroth, wouldn’t have been able to stop the clichéd beach ball, and when they finally put in their backup after he allowed Patrick Maroon to score two goals within 40 seconds (he just came skating away from the net like he knew what was going to happen), George Costanza [it was easier and funnier (to us, at least) to call him that rather than by his proper last name] promptly gave up a goal on what I think was the first shot he faced – Maroon’s third, a nice hat trick, and the game was 5-0. Enroth came back in for the duration of the second period, but Musical Goalies was concluded in the third when diCostanzo took over. Boyd Kane scored a second goal of the night to make it 6-0, and Aubin finally let one in to ruin his shutout (some dude behind me is to blame, he said the s-word earlier). Rossco scored to make it 7-1 and it was just getting ridiculous. But Aubin was not to be trusted, and he let in another. The final score was 7-2 and was never close. We left the arena once again in high spirits, feeling good. 2 for 2 so far on the weekend.
The Phantoms had worn special jerseys at the game – black, white, and orange striped with the words BROAD STREET BULLIES across the chest on two lines. I kind of liked them (but of course, I really like stripes). Not enough to try to win one in an auction though.
Before the game, Frank Miceli, former long-time Phantoms COO, had been inducted into the Phantoms Hall of Fame. During the ceremony, Peter Luukko was introduced to a chorus of boos. While I feel he should be booed, I didn’t feel that this ceremony was the right time to do it, especially later when Mr. Miceli was giving his speech. He mentioned Luukko, again to a rain of boos that I felt were in poor taste at that time. There is a time and place, and that wasn’t a good time.
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Next on the schedule was the original Point of the weekend, the Flyers/Penguins game Saturday afternoon. The Penguins were in a bad way, and the Flyers were pretty much riding high, having won a few in a row. I had read that Niittymaki was to start the game, but it ended up being Biron again. I was surprised (while also not being surprised, if you know what I mean) that he was going to get the start because he had not really been very good at all on Thursday. Frankly (no pun intended?) I would have felt more comfortable with Niittymaki in net on Saturday, and who knows – perhaps the end result still would have been a loss for one reason or another, but what I do know is that Niittymaki would have been exceedingly unlikely to commit the catastrophe that Biron did at the end of the game. But I will get to that (though you almost surely already know what happened).
We were in the upper level again for this game, but not quite as high. The seats were decent in section 215, row 6. The seven-row difference is noticeable, though the same viewing aspects from there apply here. Nice to be on the Flyers end though.
And nice to see the orange jerseys again. I think the orange is a wee too bright, which is part of the reason I haven’t bought one yet, but it grows on me every time I see it. Maybe next season I will get one as a birthday present to myself or something.
People on Thursday had been warming up the “Crosby sucks!” chant, and it came out in full force to start the game on Saturday. The Flyers took the lead with a goal midway through the first, but Marty had another very bad second period and allowed really soft and bad goals, leaving that the Penguins up 3-1 to start the third. I hated that score because it’s the kind of score that is tough to come back from. The team up by two goals generally starts playing a defensive game that’s hard to break through. But I tried to remind myself that Pittsburgh has been extremely good (?) at blowing leads this season, so the game wasn’t out of hand yet, right?
Right. The Flyers worked their tails off in a way that was simply pure will and determination, led again by Richards. Another shorthanded goal, his seventh of the year, and third in three games. Right before it happened, he was ready for it. He had started to peel forward, expecting a pass, but the puck got blocked and he had to curl back into the zone. From our vantage point his intention was obvious; too bad he had been thwarted (I remember saying to J. something about how he had been ready to take off as soon as he got the puck). He got his opportunity a few seconds later. All alone on Fleury and boom, the Flyers were back in the game at 3-2.
More digging deep, outworking the Penguins, and the Flyers scored again, to my amazement, another goal by Braydon Coburn to tie it up. The place was pretty much a madhouse at that point, enjoying the Pittsburgh lead-losing meltdown. Too bad Marty couldn’t make the save that would have kept the score from becoming 4-3. It seemed like a travesty that the game could be broken so easily, after the Flyers had worked so hard to bring it to a tie. Had I known what was going to happen, I wouldn’t have lamented that so seriously. The Flyers had not given up. It is unfortunate that Biron forces them to have to score 5 goals a game to win, but they were just about up to the task. Mike Knuble managed to tie the game with about 5:30 left to go. Richards got his third point of the night on that goal. He is simply an outstanding player. All superlatives apply.
The game was tied and the tension was extreme, but the Flyers were playing well enough to keep the Penguins from going ahead. And then Martin Biron did the thing that simply boggled the entire arena, Flyers fans and Penguins fans alike. Dupuis was coming down on a breakaway, but from what I could see Coburn was on it. In my mind’s eye, imagining what might have happened, I don’t see Dupuis escaping Coburn. Either Coburn makes a good defensive play and robs him of the puck or the scoring chance, or he takes a sacrificial penalty to prevent a goal. Something. Coburn would have done his job. But Marty either didn’t see Coburn, or didn’t think Coburn was going to be able to do it – did he not trust his teammates?? – and he came out of the net, WAAAAAAY out of the net, to challenge Dupuis. And by WAAAAAAY out of the net I mean he came out to the top of the circles.
It was a WHAT THE HELL? moment for the ages, unfortunately. Way out there, Biron couldn’t cover the puck without taking a delay of game penalty. And I guess he decided trying to play the puck would be better than that. He bobbled it up behind his back. I don’t know what he was trying to do because he wasn’t anywhere near clearing it or getting it out of the way. It just bobbled up behind his back and dropped behind him. The other Flyers around were slow to react – perhaps as stunned as we were. Dupuis pounced on the puck and passed it to Crosby, who was skating in on an essentially open net. Carle was there, but completely incapable of responding to what was going on; Crosby got the puck past him for the game-winner. You’d have thought he had scored the most awesome, Stanley Cup winning goal in the history of the universe, the way he reacted, as though it wasn’t basically some empty net goal. Just another reason to hate him so much that it almost makes me feel sick.
Biron gave the game away on a monstrously irresponsible play. What in the name of all that is holy was he thinking coming out of the net like that in such a close tie game? What did he have to say for himself? “I made a bad play and it ends up in the net.”
One of the worst plays I have ever seen. At least one point completely thrown away there, possibly two. I would have hated it against any team, but that it was against the Penguins only makes it impossible to accept.
I would have traded the two wins we had seen the two nights prior for a win on Saturday, but that kind of trading simply doesn’t get to happen. I had to be satisfied with seeing two wins in three games. Also, my theory of when I see a win/when I see a loss holds up. The tickets were sort of expensive ($100 apiece to sit upstairs) and it was a Highly Anticipated Event (we’d been planning J.’s visit to go to that game for some months). I know I don’t actually believe that kind of thing, but sometimes trends seem to suggest something.
On Monday the cafeteria manager at work asked if I’d been to the game; apparently he’d seen me driving back on I-95. He asked me if I was anywhere near the fight that had happened in the stands. No – but we had a good view of it. It happened in the section behind the goal on the Flyers’ end of the arena and a lot of people were involved. It was a serious distraction – I found myself watching that action instead of the game. Someone had someone else in a headlock and was throwing punches while the arena personnel stood around until suddenly many of them came boiling through the entrance to the section and threw themselves on the fighters. It took some time to break it up and drag the people away, leaving many open seats. I recall a fight happening at the first home opener J. and I went to in 2006, but it was not in our line of sight; all we ended up seeing was some Rags fans being escorted out. This was the first time I saw what was happening. A little bit exciting, but, as I said, a distraction that was unnecessary. Behind us, someone got a talking-to by the arena staff, but no one was kicked out.
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Sunday was the Carnival. I’ve never been to one before, so didn’t quite know what to expect -- that is, I didn’t realize I was going to have to pay $15 per autograph outside the ones we’d gotten tickets for. I know it’s money going to a good cause, but there are a lot of Flyers and I’m being furloughed for two weeks this quarter, you see? Ok, maybe I’m just a little bit of a cheapskate. Still, I ended up having a good time in spite of not being able to meet as many Flyers as I’d hoped I would.
The weather was no good when we got there shortly before 1:30. Windy and drizzly, and the lines wrapped all the way around the building. We were relieved we hadn’t decided to go up extra early, or else we would have had to stand out in that nasty for much longer than the 5-10 minutes we ended up being there. We had 2 p.m. tickets for getting Mike Richards’ autograph. We got in line, each of us with our black Richards jerseys (pre-“new” style), pretty excited. I didn’t imagine I would say anything to him, because I had nothing to say that would not be the same “You are so cool”-type stuff he would hear all day long. Besides, he wouldn’t remember me and I wouldn’t expect him to. I just wanted his autograph. And that is all I got; he barely met my eye and said hi.
We folded our new prized possessions carefully and then had until 4, when we had tickets for Briere’s autograph, to wander around and see what there was to see.
I enjoyed the carnival games at the concession areas and scattered around the concourses. I didn’t mind having to play these in order to get autographs from various Phantoms, since they were maximum $5 a pop, AND you got a chance at some prize. I didn’t get a prize at the first couple I did, where I got Patrick Maroon’s autograph and Boyd Kane’s. There was a “fishing pond” with a bunch of mystery bags. J. got an autographed picture card of Bobby Clarke in hers, and here I thought that would be standard in all the bags. All I got was a Pez dispenser and a magnet to go along with my Danny Syvret autograph. And when I did it again later to get Andreas Nodl’s autograph, I got nothing more than the same thing. However, that bummer was completely undone later at a game where you got six little tabs of paper with numbers on them. Unfolding the tab revealed the number, and if it ended in 00, 25, 50, or 75, you won a prize of your choosing. Well, one of my six tabs had a 75 on it, and the girl behind the counter cheered noisily in response. I had originally thought I would get a Flyers travel mug, but then I saw a little statuette of Bernie Parent in goal. I asked if that was really one of the prizes I could pick. “Of course!” the girl said, still all cheery. So I did. It turned out to be autographed – for real. I was pretty excited about that, because it had been only a $2 game. I won another prize later, at a Wheel of Fortune-type game, putting my $1 on Jeff Carter. It barely ticked to his wedge on the wheel, but, whee! Another prize! Here I did pick the travel mug. (And got Derian Hatcher’s autograph while at that station.) All told, I won a few things and got autographs from Maroon, Nodl, Kane, Bellamy, Laliberte, Curry, Syvret, Ross, Ratchuk, and Hatcher. (I may be missing one, but these are those that I can remember as I sit here and write.) It was a good way to pass the time until Danny Briere’s autograph session.
We got in line at 3:30, and I am glad we did that because we were pretty close to the start, and the section filled up quickly such that the line would take a very long time to get through. I had brought with me a photograph taken from the Game 7 against the Capitals last season’s playoffs, of Lupul and Briere just after Lupul had scored the game winner in OT. I wanted to get Lupul’s autograph on it too, but J. was telling me she thought you had to have a ticket in advance to get in his line. Well, it wasn’t “sold out” so I figured we’d see. I was willing to pay $15 for it. Briere came out a little bit after 4, and the line moved pretty quickly. He was a little friendlier than Richards, saying “Hi” and smiling at me, signing the picture and nodding when I said, “Thank you!”
So, half my mission with the photograph was complete; J. had him sign her carnival program and then we went down to see about Lupul. The usher at the entrance said that it was still available for purchase, so we headed down to get in line. The queue was already pretty long, but I was willing to wait for it along with my $15. As I mentioned, the lines moved pretty fast.
Lupul was friendly too – kind of in between Richie and Briere in terms of friendliness – and my mission was completed when he signed the photo.
I love this picture and it makes me very happy to have had it autographed. It has center place on my shelf of hockey stuff.
We had considered getting in line for Niittymaki’s autograph, but by the time we’d endured Lupul’s line, we were pretty much done with being at the carnival. We went outside and the drizzle was gone, but it was still chilly and windy. The sky looked good, and the Philadelphia skyline to the north was pretty with the reflection of the setting pink sun. With the Spectrum in the foreground, I thought it looked pretty classic.
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So concluded the Major Hockey Weekend. I drove up to south Philadelphia five times in five days, and I have been glad not to have to go back for a while.
This week has been good on the TV hockey front. The Flyers played the Capitals on Tuesday and I saw the first period, which ended with the Flyers down 1-0. I read about the game the next day and realized I’d missed a good one, so that evening, while waiting for the Flyers/Kings game, I watched the rest of it even though I knew what had happened, just to see it. After the Flyers got down 2-0, Niittymaki closed the gates and the Flyers battled back again to win the game 4-2. It was a rough game, much hitting and action, the kind of game that is fun to see even when you know the outcome. I amused myself late in the game, after it was 4-2, when I had to remind myself that exciting scoring opportunities I saw were not going to result in anything.
The Kings game was boring. But at least the Flyers won, 2-0, the second goal a very late EN by Gagne (one second left!). So they go into tonight’s game against Montreal having lost only one in the last six (right? They won against both New York teams, they won against Buffalo, they lost to Pittsburgh, they won the two this week. Ok.).
Yesterday, the Flyers waived Metropolit and Vaananen, ostensibly to clear up space for Briere to come back. I just read that they both have been claimed … The news all said this morning that the decision on bringing Briere back to play tonight would be made after the morning skate, i.e., is a game-time decision. I think, from what I have read, at least one other move would have to be made in order to fit him in, wouldn’t it? I have read that Timonen is expected to still be out tonight with the flu (third game), so now that they have gotten rid of Vaananen, that leaves Kukkonen to fill the last d-man spot so they can’t send him down, too, to make space for Briere. I don’t see Briere coming back tonight unless something else goes down before the game or I am mistaken or the people I am reading are mistaken.
Something else going down has been in the rumor mills the last couple days. Apparently the Panthers’ general manager was at the Kings game the other night and this has fueled speculation just about out of control. All kinds of maybe-deals have been postulated that would bring Jay Bouwmeester to Philadelphia. A couple of them that I have read I would do in a second. Others…I’d be a little more hesitant about. It’s quarter to one on Friday and so far, nothing has come out either way.
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Tonight is a Phantoms home game vs. Bridgeport and tomorrow is another game, vs. Providence. Since the Flyers play at home tonight, too, which means the traffic’s going to be an extra nightmare. Another special jersey for auctioning – a Spectrum-themed sweater with the strips of primary colors down the sleeves. I kind of like them. Again, not enough to be bidding on them.
I got a letter in the mail the other day from Peter Luukko informing me that they will be offering current Phantoms season ticket holders the opportunity to get Flyers season tickets for the 09-10 season at $20 a game. More information as to seat locations and payment plans is forthcoming. This is extremely tempting. I will go out on a limb and say that there is a strong possibility that I will take them up on this offer. I have a few things to consider before leaping wholeheartedly into it, but … it’s pretty hard to turn down, no? I’m sure the seats are in curve or end mezzanine sections rows 13 to 15, but at $20 a game, who’s going to be griping about that? Not me.
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All right, I think that’s the end of the mega-post. Congratulations! You made it.
