Any hockey fan worth his or her salt knows the opening scene of the seminal 1977 George Roy Hill-Paul Newman flick “Slap Shot,” where goaltender Denis Lemieux is explaining to host Jim Carr and the presumed television audience what certain penalties are and how bad you should feel once you get caught committing them. Basically, you follow the rules and everything should work out all right. If you don’t, you sit in the penalty box and…well…you can quote me the rest. Not that Ian Laperriere or the selection committee for the Bill Masterton Trophy should be locked up in a …
Laperriere wins Masterton Trophy
Las Vegas, NV – Philadelphia Flyers forward Ian Laperriere was honored with the 2011 Bill Masterton Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. The 37-year-old native of Quebec sustained a concussion and fractured orbital bone during the first round of the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs when he blocked a shot with his face. He was expected to miss the remainder of the postseason, but returned and helped the Flyers to the Stanley Cup Finals. However, concussion-related symptoms returned and he remained on the club’s long-term injury list this season, but he’s continued to serve the Flyers in several capacities, …
Flyers and Winnipeg, imperfect together
Now that the National Hockey League has decided to return to the flat hinterlands at the exact center of North America, I thought it’s about time to reminisce about how Philadelphia fared against that other Winnipeg team in its first go-round. There were a ton of thrills and chills, collisions and explosions, and an awful lot of interesting hockey games between the Flyers and Jets from 1979-96, and here are some notable matchups. January 2, 1981 – The Jets spent their entire second NHL year sucking badly. They finished 9-57-14, and one of those nine wins was in Winnipeg against the Orange menace. I hope …
Winnipeg officially returns to the NHL
It’s official. After a 15-year absence, Winnipeg is back in the good graces of the National Hockey League. For the first time since the Hartford Whalers moved to Carolina in 1997 to become the Hurricanes, the league has approved a relocation. Courtsey of NHL.com The League’s Board of Governors gave its stamp of approval for the sale and relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers to the group from Winnipeg at its meeting in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday. True North Sports and Entertainment purchased the club from the Atlanta Spirit group for a reported $170 million and paid the NHL a …
Holmgren pre-draft conference call transcript
Q: Can you walk us through the depth of this draft and the overall look at this draft and how it compares to others in the past? “I think this is a fairly decent draft. We had our end of the year scouting meetings, it ended ten days ago, and our list looks pretty good. If you look at guys that we think are going to be first round picks I think it’s comparable to last year. There are drafts that have been better, think back to the draft of 2003. It’s not looking like that but there are a …
Just a reminder to keep those fires burning…
…or, A Child’s Garden of Stanley Cup disappointments. 1976 1980 1985 1987 1997 2010 2011
Friday roundup
First, there was this from Flyers GM Paul Holmgren: “Spent the day getting to know Ilya and Jeniya. There will be no comment on discussions that are ongoing.” Then, there was Peter Laviolette personally chauffering his presumed netminder around town. Now, this: Ilya Bryzgalov left town and a deal was not signed. Well…there’s always next week’s draft… In other non-local, non-garment-rending news: The Minnesota Wild have a new head coach. Good luck with that. And the Dallas Stars begin a new era where they can’t admit they’re rebuilding with a new bench boss. $50 if you can say his name …
Former Flyer Recchi retires a champion, but legacy here is mixed
Mark Recchi, a 22-year NHL veteran, announced his retirement from the game early this morning after the Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Recchi made his pro debut with the Pittsburgh Penguins late in the 1988-89 season, and completed his career with 577 goals and 1,533 points in 1,652 games. He added 61 goals and 146 points in 188 playoff contests, winning a trio of Cups with Pittsburgh (1991), Carolina (2006) and Boston (2011). The 43-year-old British Columbia native spent two separate and memorable stints with the Philadelphia Flyers — the first coming …
The Numbers Game
October 7, 1990. An otherwise unremarkable day in the history of the universe. In hockey circles, It was the Philadelphia Flyers’ 1990-91 home opener, played against the Detroit Red Wings after opening the year with two straight losses at Boston and New Jersey. In and of itself, that 7-2 victory played out in front of a sell-out crowd wasn’t notable, unless you count falling behind 2-0 early and then scoring seven straight goals. What did make it special was, it was the official retirement ceremony for Bill Barber’s #7. Honored first towards the tail end of the 1985-86 season for his 13 years …
Bryzgalov conference call transcript
Courtesy of the Philadelphia Flyers PAUL HOLMGREN The Flyers have acquired the rights to Phoenix goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov for a 2012 3rd round pick along with the rights to Matt Clackson. There’s also a conditional pick if we sign him. Q: Are you confident that you can sign Bryzgalov? “We’re going to give it our best shot. Obviously we gave up an asset to get a chance to get in early so we have every intention of trying our best to get a deal done.” Q: I spoke to Rich Winter yesterday for quite a while and he wants four …