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!!!

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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!