The NHL Schedule Makers Suck Balls

Okay, I'm bored as hell at work so I was taking a look at the Flyers schedule and noticed something RIDICULOUS. So at the beginning of this year, everyone was saying that Pitt would be our "measuring stick" for the season. Since I don't feel like wasting time, here is the discovery. We play them 6 times this season, as usual, but 3 of the games are the back end of back to back games. WTF is that all about! We have to play one of the best teams in the NHL 3 times in the same season after playing the night before and most likely being rather tired. Also, Pitt only has ONE back end game against us, with 2 being the first game of back to backs. I just find this to be complete bullshit. Anyways, moving on, the Flyers are amazing again and are about to tear out a 30 game record breaking win streak. I hope this prediction is right also, haha.

LET'S GO FLYERS!!!

Short and Simple

Before I run out of the office for the day and not have a computer for the night I figured I'd throw up a quick post.

Flyers will win tonight and it will be a blowout. 5 or more goals for the Flyers, bet on it.

Oh yeah, and that's my new Winter Classic jersey that I spoke about, so far it's 2-0-0, so hopfully the Flyers will keep it going.

GO FLYERS!!!

Great Christmas

Happy Holidays everyone, and it has been just that for the Orange and Black. We all got a great present this year with a three game winning streak by the boys. Richards is finally starting to play the way he should and the rest of the team is rallying behind him. The last thing I expected was for this team to play so well with Leighton in net, but it's happening. Although it was against some pretty sad teams, see bottom of the standings, but a win is a win is a win. The picture above is my signed Gagne jersey from a few christmas's ago, and I finally got to hanging it above my TV before last night's game. Also, for the past two games (I didn't get it till Christmas) I have been rocking my Richards Winter Classic jersey, pushing me to five jerseys now. Those would be: Forsberg (my first when I thought he'd be around for a while), Gagne (signed), Lindros, Pronger, and Richards. Anyways, moving into the three wins.

With each win the team has begun to look better and better and closer (still not there yet) to as good as they can be. Some observations I have made from the three games.

* Carter still looks lost out there, but seems to get some things going well. Again, still looking better each game, just not much energy.

* The defense needs to figure out who plays well with who. Carle was sick with Pronger, then it fell apart, and everyone since looks better than usual playing with Pronger, but still not good enough.

* I love the new "pressure the puck at all times" style that Laviolette brings in.

* Leighton is playing well above his head right now and will eventually have a terrible game giving up a ton of goals, I think.

* The Flyers Rule!

We have a decent test Wed. night against the Rangers to see where we are at heading into the WINTER CLASSIC! As you can see I can't wait for that game, and it should be one hell of a game considering how the Flyers have been playing and considering how they played against the Bruins in their last meeting. Also, SNOW is expecting on game day, so that always makes it better. Let's see some blood on the ice on Friday!

Vacation Time!

Still nothing really to say about Flyers hockey. It's the same old story, and another loss over the weekend. Tonight we play my local team, the Florida Panthers up at the Wach. Hopefully we won't get embarrassed yet again. This is usually a winable game, but not this year. And it's not that we are a bad team, although that just might be the answer, but these guys just don't seem to want to play hockey anymore. Most of them have pissed away their chances of playing on the Olympic team, looking at you Carter and Richards. Let's see some wins this week for my birthday and Christmas guys!

Also, as I just stated, my birthday is tomorrow and I am taking the entire week off of work starting tomorrow, so I will not be updating until after the weekend. As I said, let's start the week off right with a big win tonight and I can celebrate all the way through the week.

Let's Go Flyers!

7-0-0 if Not Better???

Am I drunk? No, not yet. Shortly though. But I took a look at another possibility as to why we are so damn awful right now and this popped out at me. In the past ten games we have played these teams: Buffalo, Atlanta, Van., Wash., Mon., NYI, Ott., NJ, Bos., Pitt. Their standings are as follows in the same order: 3, 7, 10, 1, 10, 9, 6, 2, 5, and 4. That's 7 out of 10 teams in playoff position, including the number one team in the NHL, and two teams that are tied for second in the NHL. The results of those 10 games are as follows in order: L, L, L, L, L, W, L, L, W, and L. The wins were against a number 10 team, NYI who pretty much never beat us, no matter how bad we are, and a number 5 team that we had an amazing effort against.

Now, if you will recall back to the past several seasons for the Flyers, we ALWAYS struggle against teams that are in playoff position. Last year was rather scary as we hit the end of the season, knowing we can't play up to their level at times. Now I am not saying we can't play against these teams, just for some reason the team decides not too. Onto why I can see a 7-0-0 run.

The next seven games including tonight are against: Pitt, NYR, Fla, TB, Car, NYI, and NYR. The standings for these teams are as follows: 4, 12, 8, 13, 15, 9, and 12. I can see Philly coming into tonight really, really pissed off about Tuesday and grinding out a win against Pitt, then all the other teams are out of playoff position besides Fla, but Fla has a hard time beating Philly at the Wach. That would lead us to a nice little 7-0-0 run and pull us out of this craptastic death streak we are in. It would also lead us on a 7-0-0 run into the Winter Classic, which would be sweet.

What do you all think? Am I just completely in my own world here, or is this a real possibility? Maybe I do need a beer or two or ten and then look at this again...

Doormat or Sinkhole?

Hopefully this picture will become more and more common as we see Blair Betts come back into the lineup tonight. Although he is not 100% (refer to previous post about shoulder injuries) he is still a much needed asset to this team. We are 10-3-0 when he is in the lineup and the 3rd loss was when he got injured last early in the game. So he is actually pretty much 10-2-0 when playing a whole game. That's ridiculous. Although many people are saying not to read into this much, that's bullshit. Think of the things Betts does for this team: AMAZING defense when he is on the ice as a utility player; the best Penalty Killer on the team and takes a lot of those hard minutes away from Richards and Carter; and has experience to help anyone on this team through a hard patch. In my opinion he is one of the most underrated Utility players in the NHL. Anyways, enough about my man crush, time for the game tonight.

So Pittsburgh comes to town for the back end of our home and home. This is where my title comes from; will we just sit back and continue to let teams walk over us? Or will we have a secret trap door under the doormat that leads to a cave system with a gigantic Roncor monster (please refer to Return of the Jedi for that one). Just as a note, the Flyers have not been swept in a home and home against Pitt since 1992, for those not talented in math, that's 17(!) years. Even in the "season to forget" they didn't lose the home and home against them. I'm pretty sure everyone in the locker room knows this, and if they don't, then that's just stupid. If there will be anything that will get this team up for this game, that should be it. Who the hell wants to be on the team that let's that streak die? For tonight, I will be keeping a close eye on JVR, Giroux, Richards, and Betts. I'm curious to see if Betts will hold back at all. The other three I will be watching because JVR is still working on getting out of a slump; Giroux can play amazing, but also terrible; and Richards needs to continue to lead this team in the right direction, such as the Boston game when he looked like one of the best players on the ice, which he is. Tonight will be a good game no matter what, let's just hope our boys have come to play. Prediction: Flyers 4 - Pitt 2.

LET'S GO FLYERS!

Betts Back Thursday; Gagne Hopefully Saturday

So I hear Blair Betts will be back for tomorrow's game against Pitt. This is fantastic news for the fact that ever since he went out, we have been absolutely terrible. He brings a shit ton of effort and heart to the team. Also, he is probably the best penalty killer and faceoff guy on the team. This should make for a very interesting game tomorrow, as long as that shoulder stays in place. Just as a side note, I've dislocated my shoulder four times in the last year, and the first time was the first of the four, so I can see why he has done it twice already and yes, it is VERY easy to do after the first time. I honestly just pray that he can build muscle around it so it will stay in.

On the other note, from all indications, Gagne should be back for Saturday's game. This will be very interesting to see if he will have any impact at all after being out for so long. He started off the season pretty bad and wasn't an impact player, but I blame that on the fact that he was probably playing through his injury the whole beginning of the year. Kind of like how Emery fell apart while playing through his injury. Anyways, the lines will get a good make-over this weekend once we have both of these guys back and that is the only thing I can say good about the Flyers right now. This is when they need to show who they really are.

Let's Go Flyers!

What a Joke

This season really is starting to become one big joke by the Flyers on all the sports writers and prediction people from before the season. As everyone always says, they are amazing on paper, but the product on the ice is just sad. I heard some ridiculous rumors that Briere and his wife are going through a divorce and that Hartnell banged someone else's wife in the locker room *correction, it was actually that Carter banged Hartnell's wife* (HAH!) but whatever it is, let's make a move. Florida has Vokoun on the market... I don't know if we need to do that, because we need scoring more than goaltending, but a great goalie such as Vokoun would come in handy. Besides that, I've already mentioned some other possibilities that would send Carter out of town, but who knows. I think almost everyone on the team is at stake besides maybe Richards and Pronger. Well, maybe in the next few days we will see something happen. My guess is if we lose tomorrow and Saturday, the move will be made on Sunday. I think it's time to just wait and see.

A Visit to the Dickuins

Philly has made the trip from Boston to Pittsburgh and tonight we have one hell of a game ahead of us. Pitt sits at number 4 in the East, tied for 2nd for the most points and one point behind being number 1 in the East. Also, they are in a three way tie for second in the entire NHL. That means the Flyers have one hell of a team to play tonight, and guess what, they are now 100% healthy and have a full team to put on the ice. I just wish we could say the same thing at any point this season, but I HIGHLY doubt that. Possibly this weekend we can be close to saying that with Gagne, Betts, and Powe all do back, but you never know if there will be a set back with any of them.

If Philly can put in an effort such as the 3rd period from last nights game, but for the entire game, I still think it will be hard to get a win. This team is just too deadly. I hate every single last player on the team, but I'm not going to lie and say that they aren't good. When you have 4 or 5 straight years of the number 1 or 2 pick, I guess you end up with names such as Crosby, Malkin, Fluery, and so on. Anyways, Philly and Pitt is always an amazing game and I am going to enjoy this one while I can. Sit back, sip down some cold beers and then proceed to throw them at the TV as soon as Hartnell or Carcillo do something stupid (no offense to Carcillo since he's been "sane" this year, but I still have a bad taste in my mouth since the playoffs last year). Let's Go FLYERS!!!

P.S.: Philly claimed Michael Leighton off re-entry waivers today. He played for Carolina with Laviolette and is a pretty terrible goalie, but my guess is this is just for depth until Emery gets back, then he's gone.

Big Win, but Don't Get Excited Yet

So last night was a HUGE win for the Flyers. With all of the struggles we have had the last month(!) it is refreshing to see them win a game against a very talented team. But, it was still a lucky win with some lucky bounces and some really terrible missed calls going in Philly's favor for once. I'll do a quick break down of the three periods:

First Period. Came out very flat and looking like the team we are used to seeing lately. Gave up a lot of chances to Boston and Booooosh looked very good to keep us in the game. By the end of the period I could see that Philly had realized it was time to play, but still didn't play over the top of Boston, they pretty much just played at the same level, which I guess was good enough.

Second Period. Walked into this period still playing with Boston instead of over the top. We looked good in spurts but also gave up a lot to Boston. Then Hartnell's interference penalty seemed to give Boston the little kick in the pants they wanted and they ended up with a very ugly goal with the usual lucky bounce that goes against Philly. That was with 1:28 left in the second and I figured Boston would come out on fire in the third, but to my surprise it was the exact opposite.

Third Period. Philly came out with a purpose and absolutely dominated Boston. It was one hell of a surprise for me. They had a TON of pressure on the puck, were shooting well, getting in front of Thomas, just really playing the way they should. A great hustle play by Asham and great smack in by JVR got us to the tie, and then a very lucky deflection off a Boston player's glove on Timonen's shot got us the lead that we wouldn't surrender. I believe they said when Timonen scored his goal we had already been outshooting Boston 10 to 2 or something like that. Overall, very impressive third period and a strong way to head to Pitt for tonight's game. Philly 3 - Boston 1

Oh yeah, and I swear Chara is a 6'9" robot from some far away planet. Not a single person on the Flyers could push him around, and watching Richards trying too was just plain funny. And I WISH Carcillo could have fought him, that would have been extremely funny too.

One last note about this game; as you all know I live in Florida so I have to watch these games on Center Ice. Most of the time they have a feed for both the Home and Away teams, but last night they only had the Boston feed. Going into the game I already know the Boston annoucers are GIGANTIC homers so I figured it would be a terribly called game from a Flyers fan perspective. I did find it quite hilarious how they freaked out about the non-calls and the called back goal early in the first, but it really is annoying as hell to see these guys going insane over this stuff and not saying a word about the missed calls that would have been against Boston. There were at least 4 or 5 missed calls against Boston as well. I think I saw 2 that could have been called boarding, and probably 2 or 3 high sticking calls that could have been made. Now this is not complaining as it was pretty entertaining to hear them make so many excuses and get really upset over a couple missed calls, but I just wanted to point this out. At least the Philly announcers get almost just as excited when the away team scores a goal as when the Flyers score one...

A second post will come later with a short preview of tonight's game against The Cry Baby.

Flyers Are a Dying Breed

So I know I have been missing in action the last week or so, but I had all my major company marketing and sales meetings last week so I've been insanely busy. Anyways, moving on I know I haven't missed much. The only big news was Stevens getting the boot and Lavi coming in as his replacement. Since everyone has covered this thoroughly, I will just say I thought it was the right move and still do, but it will take time for Lavi to get his system in place. Also, I love hearing that Lavi is hating on the players quite a bit, saying they aren't in top shape, and they are lazy, and so on and so forth. Hopfully he will beat the crap out of them and they will start to actually look like they want to play hockey.

So yes, we are essentially 0-10-0 besides the 2 wins against the Islanders (which I don't really count as wins). This week we play some of the top quality teams in the league, so I'm not really expecting much. First we have Boston tonight, then Pitt, then Pitt again, then the Rangers. Pretty much all of the afformentioned teams can beat us with how terrible we are right now. Unless we put in one hell of an effort, which doesn't seem possible right now, we will loose the next four games. I'm going to take the high road and say we will win 2 of the 4, if not 3 of the 4. Hopefully we can get back on track and play like a real team in the next week.

Lastly, trade rumors are flying around about Carter possibly being moved. I think this is a smart move, since he just doesn't seem like he knows what he's doing on the ice anymore. He is an amazing player, but in order for him to get back into true form he needs a new venue. Players most talked about possibly coming to Philly: Eric Staal and Bobby Ryan. I want Ryan, but it would be more likely that Staal will show up because of Lavi. As usual with the Flyers, who the heck knows who could end up coming in. Anyways, let's see a great effort tonight and continue it into Pitt tomorrow!

GO FLYERS!!!

...

My mother always taught me "if you have nothing good to say, don't say anything". See you after the weekend...

Fun Fun Fun; Canucks in Town Tonight

So we have hockey back after a four day hiatus. As I sit here staring at the mounds of shit paperwork on my desk I will make this quick.

Philly vs. Van. at 7:00 at the Wach. Watching on Center Ice. Luongo should not be in net since he played last night, although they do ride him like Tiger Woods has been with his hoes (baaaazzzzzinnnngggg), which leaves Raycroft playing. Colorado and Toronto's outcast... If we don't light this guy up, I give up, until Saturday. Watch for Briere back in the line-up tonight. Let's play lights out hockey guys.

GO FLYERS!!

All the Talk, EVERYWHERE

Alright. I know it's been a LONG time since I put up a post, but I was testing to see if I was at fault for starting this blog right when the Flyers started sucking the big one. Since they won one and lost one, I figured that my superstition is not warranted. But even still, losing 5 out of the last 6 is bogus.

Anyways, I'm going to talk about what EVERYONE is talking about the last couple of days. Some great quotes came from our future captain, Chris Pronger, yesterday and it has been the talk of the town. Finally someone unlike the laid back Richards and Stevens is speaking up. I LOVED everything Pronger had to say, and honestly, I didn't think he had as dirty of a mouth as he does. It was F this and shitty play, and so on and so forth. The only reason I am writing this today is because I just found a quote from Richards that sums up the HUGE difference between the two. First, a couple of the great quotes from Prongs:

“He’s [Richards] been here four years and sees how things have progressed from being a shitty team to a pretty good team, to having even higher expectations."

“How could we have won that game in Atlanta?” Pronger asked. “Could it have been that [3-minute] power play? Absolutely! Could it have been not to take that fucking penalty-and go down 5-on-3? Absolutely! How about scoring some goals 5-on-5?"

“We need to make it fucking happen on Thursday,” Pronger said. “It needs to fucking happen now, so we can get over that hump and get this ship headed into the right direction.”

Now that's some positive and aggresive talk that I like to hear from someone, but it pisses me off that it's our best defensman and not our Captain or our Coach. Here is the quote I just read from Richards that he rolled off his dumbass tongue yesterday.

"We went from being the worst team in the league" to "a team that is kind of a contender now," Richards said.

KIND OF A CONTENDER?!?! Are you kidding me Richards...KIND OF A CONTENDER!!! In no way should Richards, while talking about the team he leads, leave it at kind of a contender. "A TEAM THAT IS GOING TO WIN THE CUP NOW!" is the proper response dildo. Don't get me wrong, I love Richards as a player, but right now, it is him and Stevens that need to straighten things out and get this team going again. If he doesn't have the balls to get in some players faces and make things happen, then we may need to demote and promote Prongs to take the helm. Either way, I have this feeling if we don't pick it up soon, it's either goodbye Stevens, demote Richards, or possibly both.

Okay, so enough of my complaining. We've got a "winnable" game tomorrow against Vancouver coming to town. Honestly, I would say it's a sure win game, but not with the style of play we are showing. Game time is 7:30 at the Wach. Let's see something good.

GO FLYERS!