At this point in time, it looks like nothing can stop the Flyers. After winning their first two games in December last week, the Flyers went 4-0-0 this week winning a pair of games on the road and a pair of games at home. With their wins this week the Flyers are currently on a six-game winning streak, their first six-game winning streak since their undefeated run from October 26-November 6 early last season. Facing two Northeast Division opponents this week before traveling west, the Flyers look to keep their winning ways intact. Claude Giroux intercepted a pass in the defensive zone before depositing it past …
The ‘How’ of Homer
When Paul Holmgren took over as the general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers on October 22, 2006, I received numerous messages from my friends who grew up as fans of the Hartford Whalers. Those messages ranged from, “Good luck with that,” to “What a terrible choice” to the simple but poignant, “Bwahahahahaha.” These were people jaded by the abysmal record that the Whalers posted during his tenure as Hartford’s coach and his brief stint as GM in the years that eventually led up to Hartford’s relocation to Carolina. (His DUI and stint at Betty Ford likely did not help matters …
On the Masterton: Happy for Lappy, but he wasn’t the best man
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, …
An open letter to Paul Holmgren
Dear Paul, We’ve had our differences in the past. The lack of value you see in draft picks and prospects worries me. Your willingness to give picks away in trade, and hand out no trade clauses like candy was mystifying at one point, but now I have become numb to it. Additionally, the idea of putting all of your eggs in one basket, like you did this season, is far from an approach I prefer take. There’s still no guarantee that you’ll win the Stanley Cup, as we saw, and now we’re left in the same spot where we always seem to …