Ouch please

During my stint in the minors last year, my favorite games to see were those against the Norfolk Admirals. The Ads had David Koci, and chances were I could see a good fight (but not a win, since I think we lost every game to the Ads last year).

I can't believe poor Koci and his already broken nose fought Chara.

Nadine, you might wanna skip this one...lots of blood (even I squirmed a bit seeing the highlight on SportsCenter).

let the downward spiral begin

Okay, okay, it's not that bad. Except that I totally remember last October's game against the Panthers. For me, that game marked the beginning of the end for last season. Sure, we already sucked by that point (we had only won one of our first seven games) but this was the turning point of the season...the one game that summed up how the rest of the season would go.

And it was all Jokinen's fault. Him and that stupid forehead of his.

Anyhow, enough about the season that shall not be named. I took a page out of Nadine's book (almost literally) and made a few notes. Well, at least for the first period and part of the second. After that, I gave up and started reading photography books. Gah!

First Period

• The roaring Panther sound effect. Really?

• Lupul is up on the first line again. Cmon Stevens, I thought we were on the same page about Knuble here. Well...moving Mike to the 2nd line got him a +2 for the night, which helps with my fantasy team, but still...don't even think about making this permanent.

• First period...guys have their lead skates on again. And apparently, blindfolds now too.

• What on earth is up with this broadcast....there is an eerie fluorescent blue cast to the entire screen. It is making my eyes annoyed. Maybe that is why the Flyers are blindfolded.

• I hate Jokinen. He really is the one person in the NHL that I would punch.

• They should have pulled Marty 10 minutes in...

2nd period...

• insane PK work by Richards, Smith and Kapenen to kill off the four minute Eager penalty.

• The pass from Richards to Lupul was incredible...Lupul positioned himself perfectly

• The Carter/Umberger goal was totally insane too...

• What the heck is Bernie Parent doing in the crowd?

Third period:

• The photographic triangle is fascinating...is that where all my good pictures go?

• I wonder how my fantasy team is doing....oh good, Brind'Amour is having a good night

• If Jim Jackson says "here come the Panthers" one more time, I am going to punch someone.

I think maybe Marty lost this one on purpose, in order to build Nitty's confidence for tomorrow. Whaddya think?

i forgot

how much i hate jokinen

First Star of the week...

Gosh, this is turning into martyblog

oh, the things you'll learn! (and hell yeah)

Oh readers, Saturday's game was a wonderful one. A few margaritas always make the game more enjoyable.

I met up with Nadine before the game...by the time she found me in the AT&T wireless pavilion, I was halfway through my first margarita. I encouraged her to catch up (good luck) and we each grabbed a margarita and headed down for warmups.

I decided to break out the StalkerCam 800000000 (totally copied Teka on this) so I could get some pictures for the blog that don't involve me giving credit to Bruce Bennett/Getty Images, but alas, buying the StalkerCam does not make me a better photographer. I guess I will have to go to practice on Monday to get some practice with the StalkerCam. *sigh*

Luckily, while I was "taking pictures" Nadine was schooling me on the last 85 years of hockey. I have a lot of catching up to do.

I don't have much to report on the actual game, since I was so busy switching seats and getting margaritas. I do know that it ended with a great OT goal which resulted in high fiving, jumping up and down and hugging. The entire third period was great, with me actually on the edge of my seat like one of those annoying people who gets ready to jump up at every shot on net. Look, there were a ton of scoring chances...just watch the replay!

Here are some other highlights of the night:

• Nadine has an interesting way of "watching" warmups at the glass

• Various texts and calls to Teka about dustbunnies and that lame ass Cocoa

• I sprained my ankle poaching some seats. (karma is a bitch, and I love saying poaching some seats. That might be the new name of this blog...)

• I was right to think that Brodeur is a douche.

• Nadine is a saint for putting up with me...how many times did I say "these seats are great!"? You would have thought I had never sat so close before!

Also, I learned post game that Stevens tweaked the lines a bit, putting Lupul up with Briere and Gagne. Interesting.

That's all for now, maybe I will post some of the sad sorry pictures later...

oh stalkercam, you have failed me

It's great...if I change all my pics to black and white, they don't look half bad!

head case

I am the worst fan ever. I am not a fairweather fan, because that would be worse, but I am a bad fan nonetheless.

I am a head case.

I am a sports jinx.

These two things do not go well together. I am the blogger equivalent of Niitymaki. On game day, I wake up with butterflies in my stomach. Not good butterflies, bad ones flying all around and saying this is going to be the game where they lose and then they lose for the rest of the season.

Watching a game, either in person or on my couch, involves me hunched over tensely, grinding my teeth and hardly remembering to breathe.

I am not fun to be around.

Don't even think about talking to me about how great the boys are doing this year. I will shut you down immediately. No mention before the game of what you think the score will be. No mention during the game about how many goals we are up. No mention after the game about how good it was.

A strange thing happened though during Thursday's game. It had to have been during the second, because the first was god-awful.

I was smiling.

It was a weird feeling, one I barely allowed myself to enjoy, but it felt good and I might even try it again.

But probably not until we have 45 wins under our belts in mid March!

Wow

From yahoo sports:

The Flyers shut out New Jersey for the first time in the 11-year history of the Wachovia Center. It was the first home shutout against the Devils since they played at the Spectrum in 1987.

Thank you, Marty!

I really did go to practice today...

I swear I did, I just don't have any pictures to prove it. The boys seemed to be wrapping things up about 15 minutes after I got there, barely enough time for me to even think about getting my camera out. (I was going just to practice using my big new camera, so that I can actually get one or two non-blurry pictures the next time I go to a game. I know, I know, it will never happen!)

Anyhow, the guys looked good, and I swear I may have seen Rory Fitzpatrick. There was one d-man I didn't recognize, so I am assuming it was him.

Knuble, Briere and Fitzpatrick were the last to leave the ice. Watching them practice was good for me, as they were practicing things I didn't even know they practiced. It sucks that I am so damn green that it never even occurred to me that hockey players practice deflections. It was a lot of fun to watch Fitzpatrick taking slapshots and watching Knuble and Briere stand there and "catch" them and redirect the puck into the net.

Nadine, if you ever wanna play hooky let me know and I'll come get ya!

Not....at...game....in...person....

Ack! I am so nervous for tonight's game. For one, I have to go to work at 8:45 and will not get to see the end of the game til I get home around 11. Don't you dare screw up, Tivo!

Since I can't be there in person, I don't get to go through the usual gameday rituals, and though I know it jinxes nothing, if we lose it will bug me nonetheless. It will because I wasn't wearing my lucky shirt/socks/jersey etc.

I also don't feel good about this Thrashers team. They are going to be hungry for a win...and is this Hossa's first game back or something?

Oh crap, Hedberg is in.


Okay, see you in the comments....

Fantasy Hockey Update: Week Two and already I am a junkie!!

Wow, what a week. I was head to head with Kirsten (damn, it is hard to type Kirsten when your name is Kristin) and we had a great week of trash talking.

My team started off strong with about a thousand assists from Brian Campbell, and aided by the total drubbing of Vesa Toskala. At one point, I was killing her 8-1, but she had a strong finish on Sunday while Beauchemin and Preissing killed me with their combined minus 8000 for Sunday.

I would really like to thank Vesa for such a crappy week (game, actually)...Kirsten's team actually had two shutouts this week, and my lame ass goalies still came up with a better GAA and SV% thanks to Vesa.

Now, a confession. Yahoo updates their stats every night at 2:30 am EST. I know this because I wait up to see if I kicked any ass. This is gonna be a problem.

Up next....Tracy. Get yer trash talk ready!

Home opener recap

Whew, what a game. The opener was great and I love the new graphics for the team. Reminiscent of something, but I can't put my finger on it. I want to say an early 80s pop band album cover, but I don't know why. If anyone saw the graphics and knows what I am thinking, please feel free to help me out here.

I will skip the introductions, since they were long and overdone and everyone was just waiting to cheer for Briere.

The first few minutes of the first period were eerily quiet. It's like the crowd was afraid of what could happen. After last season, I can totally understand. Turns out, not much would happen, except for the Flyers turning it over like 5000 times. The period ended scoreless, which was good enough for me with how poorly they played. They were lucky to escape with no score.

The second period started, and it seemed like the players had laced up concrete skates. They were sooooooo slooooooow. I will have to watch the replay to see if they were as slow as I think they were, but damn. Again, the crowd was eerily quiet. (Except of course for the seven boneheads sitting in front of me who ALL got up to get beer every five minutes.)

Things get fuzzy for me when the scoring starts. Even though I was looking at the net, I didn't see either goal go in and both times I could have sworn they didn't. My vantage point was pretty bad, as I was nosebleed and also had the up/down people in front of me. The rest of the second period is a blur to me, since I was happy again to just get out of it without the Isles scoring.

What I remember from the third period (at least the last 10 minutes or so) is the amazing defensive play by pretty much the whole team, but especially Kapanen. This team was fighting to hang onto this lead, and did a pretty good job as a team of doing so.

The last minute and a half were so intense that I nearly passed out. First off, the crowd started clapping like we had won. Gah! Don't do that unless you are up 8-2, people! A little hockey etiquette please! The Isles had the extra attacker and both teams were passing, giving it away, and basically skating around like crazy. It was really insane!!!! And when Gator cleared the puck (was he down on the ice?) and got the empty netter, I really did almost pass out! I'm not trying to speak in hyperbole here folks, I had some physiological problems!

That's pretty much it, I will add more after I watch the replay if I see anything that bears mentioning.

A few other notes:

I don't really know how many times I can say it, but Smith is truly amazing. He blocked some key shots in the first period. His skate, stick, leg, arm or whatever always seems to be in position to stop the puck. He is so subtle about it that you don't even realize he is doing it (unless of course you are me and you are mesmerized by his every move). It looks like the puck is magnetically drawn to him just so he can deflect it. It is weird.

Biron was magical again. The best part about him is how he doesn't get rattled.

Gagne and Witt...what was going on there? Nice to see Simon getting scrappy.

Hope Eager is okay. At first I was scared when he was laying there, then I was scared he was going to get called for diving. We'll see what happens.

Cote and Simon....really, that's all ya got? Lame, and looks like Cote didn't even land a punch.

Somebody should have kicked Bootland's ass, but I can't remember why.

I hate going to games with people, next time I am going alone (except next time I will meet up with Nadine first....sorry it didn't work out this time).

Game on!

Home Opener!!!

OMG!!!!! I am so excited! It feels like a holiday! I made sure to get the day off from work so I don't have to rush around after work to get ready. Also, I got to sleep in so I won't be tired. It is a beautiful day and I hope to get to the Wachovia Center early and maybe meet up with Nadine before the game...

If you're looking for previews, here are a few:

THN tale of the tape
yahoo
flyers
Flyers Goal Scored By... (This isn't really a preview but a funny blog you should be sure to check out..)

I guess that is all for now!

Have a great day everyone, and I will still be happy win or lose...just happy to see the boys back at home and excited to be a part of the opening night crowd!!!!

I am going to barf...

I can't listen to people talk about the "miscreants" anymore. I just can't take it!!!

I understand the suspensions, blahblahblah, but I am sick of hearing about these two players like they are criminals.

I would love to post link after link of videos that show similar hits this season and NO SUSPENSION, but honestly, I really don't have the time or energy and I don't want to make myself barf.

Hell yeah and Jesse why did you do that?

Weird game. Weird because they won and scored a LOT of goals. A weird feeling for a Flyers fan.

And why oh why Jesse did you cross check that dude in the face? We already have a big enough PR problem on our hands with the Downie thing. Sheeesh!

baby faced bullies and rory fitzpatrick. WTF?

Yeah, so the latest issue of The Hockey News arrived today. The headline? Baby Faced Bullies: So Cute, So Dangerous. And a big picture of Tiny!Briere looking twelve. I haven't actually read the article yet, because I have been busy trying to scan it in so you can see it with your own eyes!

While scanning and getting frustrated with scanning, I hopped over to THN.com to see if they just had a picture of it instead, but no, they still have last week's cover up. Sheesh. While I was there, I saw this little gem: NO VOTE NECESSARY, PHILADEPHIA FLYERS
SIGN FITZPATRICK. Um, what?

Looks like the -ookies may have spoken too soon about the crazy....

Hell Yeah, part 2

Yeah, we lost, but it was seriously a great game. Pardon the typos, as I have had an entire bottle of Malbec during tonight's tivo'd broadcast.

A few things:

1) Smith is so amazing that it brings tears to my eyes. Fer real.

2) Briere is seriously gifted, keep it up lil fella!

3) This team has a good D

4) Biron is freaking sick. Really!



That is all for now...more after I sober up!

Hell yeah!

First off, let me just say how weird it feels to watch a Flyers game where they have the lead for the entire game. Secondly, it is weird to feel that they deserved to win due to the way the played.

Last season was really so terrible that it has programmed me to not get comfortable with any sort of lead/positive play/good goaltending. I know this was just the first game, but it was truly a pleasure to watch the guys play. I would have been disappointed if they lost, because they played better and deserved to win, but even a loss would have been okay because of the potential they showed.

Way to go boys!

Told you so!

Not to be annoying or anything, but he was my prediction and also my choice for captain.

Bruce Bennet Getty Images