Recently I witnessed a discussion in which two people were arguing whether or not Luke Schenn had a good season. Broad Street Hockey had a great article breaking down his season recently. The individual who was stating that he had a poor season was arguing that his high number of hits mean next to nothing (perhaps true), and that his plus-minus was poor; therefore he is not a good defenseman. That is funny in itself because Schenn was a plus-three, good for third on the team in plus-minus among players playing 10 or more games, and second among defenseman. The …
Flyers Year In Review: The Ugly
Ah yes, we get to the fun part of my three-part year in review: The Ugly. I’ve discussed the Good and the Bad, but now it’s time to look at everything that was just so horrendous and led to the Flyers missing the playoffs. Without further ado… Ilya Bryzgalov: I told you that there would be more on Bryz later. This ugly version of Bryzgalov has nothing to do with his performance on the ice, but rather what happened to and with Bryzgalov off the ice. Since Bryz stepped foot in Philadelphia, he has been a lightning rod of criticism. …
Flyers Year In Review: The Bad
The Flyers season may have been a downer, but there were still positives to take out of it. Such positives were the strong play of Jakub Voracek, Luke Schenn, and the young kids on defense. Now, we take a look at the Bad. Braydon Coburn: Mistakenly, I chose Coburn as my dark-horse for the Norris trophy this year. Coburn has all the tools to be a top-tier defenseman. He has size, speed, offensive skills and awareness, as well as strong defensive prowess. Coburn plays all three phases of the game. Yet, this was not a good year for him. In …
It pains me to say it…but Ilya Bryzgalov’s comments are hypocritical
Yesterday, Dmitry Chesnokov of Puck Daddy published the transcript of a video interview done by SovSport’s Pavel Lysenkov and KHL.RU‘s Alexander Shevchenko with Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov. It pains me a little bit to be writing this because I really like Bryzgalov. All hockey related items aside, I think he is a very intelligent, likable guy, and I genuinely feel bad for the hoopla that has gone on around him in the past two years. In fact, I tweeted this yesterday and truly mean it. I kind of want to just hang out with @bryzgoalie30 really badly. He’s a cool dude. …
Embracing Bryz As Is
Ilya Bryzgalov is one of the most entertaining Flyers in the history of the team. He’s bizarre in almost every way. He’s got this odd voice that ranges from stereotypical movie villain Russian to high-pitched craziness. I’m not a fan of his goaltending. He’s far too inconsistent to rely on. His contract is absurd. It’s a love-hate thing with Bryz for sure. On May 9th, Bryz was benched for a game against France in the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. His Twitter account put out a bunch of Angry Birds Star Wars trophies (automated messages from the game), followed …
The Flyers Season In Review: The Good
The Flyers season is over. We fans went on a long ride through a short amount of time. 48 games in fewer than 100 days. Blood, sweat, tears, injuries and fatigue plagued this 2013 Flyers team from the start of the season. But, let’s not forget, the Flyers gave us plenty of memories from this year. Here is my three-part season in review looking back at the Good, the bad, and the Ugly. The Good: Jakub Voracek Steps Out: In similar fashion to Scott Hartnell the year before, Voracek started slowly, but finished the season strong. Voracek coming off a …
Ilya Insanity: On Sleepgate, Blousegate, and the Over-Sensationalized News
Ask a Flyers fan who they think the most controversial player on the team is, and it’s likely that all of them will say Ilya Bryzgalov. But is Bryz really all that controversial? And even if he is, what’s the big deal? We all laughed about getting Bryzgalov once we saw that great YouTube video back from when he was with the Anaheim Ducks, when he asked a reporter why they heff to be mad. We were so excited to have the funny Russian guy on our team. And then he had a lackluster first season – save for some …
Flyers Faithful Staff Playoff Predictions
Whelp, it’s playoff time and unfortunately the Flyers are not participating this year. While some people may be able to temporarily adopt a team during the playoffs, others need more useless methods of fabricating fandom…such as predictions. So here we go! Marcello De Feo This is a weird season and I expect the topsy turvy nature of the season to continue throughout the playoffs. Western Conference Chicago 3 Minnesota 4 Predators fans further lament the loss of Ryan Suter, who helps lead the Wild over the Blackhawks in a stunning upset until the draft comes around, the Preds draft a …
A Stick Tap to Boston and an Ode to Sports
Sports are an amazing thing. Games, and the athletic culture which wraps around society as part of the 24-hour news cycle, are needed in a variety of ways. This was all too obvious over the past couple of weeks. Sports, and the refuge it provides from the nastiness of the outside world, were a big reason that we, as a country, were able to move forward after the horrendous bombings that took place at the Boston Marathon on April 15. My thoughts are not here to belittle what happened on that fateful Monday. Three people lost their lives in the …
Finally, Some Pep in the Flyers’ Step… Though It May Be Too Little, Too Late
Heading into the final five games of the season, it’s likely that the Flyers will miss the playoffs for the first time in six years. Instead of preparing themselves for Round 1 come the end of next week, they’ll likely be packing up their lockers at the Wells Fargo Center. And it’s a huge bummer. But in these last two games, Monday’s against Montreal and Tuesday’s against New York, the Flyers have reminded us why we love our team — something a fanbase surely appreciates after a season full of asking themselves that exact question. The sudden good fortune …