The Fat Lady Has Sung

     Well that's it for the Flyers, folks.  The regular season is over and without having clinched a playoff spot, the boys are on the outside looking in.  There are a few positives to mention, however.  For one, goalie, Steve Mason, had his 100th career win in the Flyers' last regular season game and a few rookies had accomplished some milestones in their first year.

     There are a lot of questions up in the air about who is going to be a part of the team by the beginning of the 2013/2014 season and who is going to be traded off of the team.  Will Mason take Bryz's spot as the lead goalie?  Will Danny Briere go on to play with another team?  Will Claude Giroux continue to wear the C of captain on his chest?  Like I said, there are a bunch of questions that we're going to have answers to in the months to come.

     It's been fun writing about the Flyers this season and I really want to thank the people who have been reading what I've been writing.  You guys are alright in my book.  Really the only thing that's left to say is that at least we finished one point above the Devils.  It's funny how some of the biggest rivalries can draw people together.  Enjoy the playoffs, everyone.

-Faithful Flyers Fan

Out But Not Down

     Well the Flyers are officially out of contention for a playoff spot.  With four games left (possible 8 points), they were 9 points short of the last playoff spot.  Even though the boys are out, they are not down.  If anything, there has been a weight lifted off of their shoulders.

     Last night, I was fortunate enough to go to the Flyers game as they played the Boston Bruins.  Before the National Anthem, there was a video about the Boston Marathon attack.  While at the game, I bumped into a fellow Marine that I used to play hockey with.  John Cleaver just got back from a 7 month tour in Afghanistan and was able to get to check out a Flyers game.  Here's a picture of me, him, and my dad aka John's old coach!

     The Flyers had an amazing game!  Lauridsen had his first NHL goal ever and turned out to be one of the biggest flukes I've ever seen.  The Flyers went on to win 5-2 and have two more games left in their season.

Fighting for a Playoff spot

     Well, playoffs are coming up fast in this shortened season and right now the Flyers are on the outside looking in.  As of right now, they are not sitting in a playoff position, but all hope is not lost.  Only one team in the conference has secured a playoff spot (Penguins).  Right now the Flyers are four teams out of the last playoff spot.  They need to overcome the Devils, Rangers, Sabers, and Jets.  The Flyers play three of those teams between now and the end of the regular season in need-to-win games. 

     So in short, the boys absolutely NEED to kick it into high gear here to enter the post-season glory of playoffs.  With the addition of Mason into the ranks, things are looking a little bright.  That reminds me that I'll have a poll off to the side for you guys to drop your opinion on the goalie matter.  Hopefully next week I'll have great news to share!

     In the meantime, here's a reminder of how awesome Wayne Simmonds is:

New Sheriff in town

     Every year at this time, hockey fans sit on the edge of their seats with sweat running down their face with their hearts in their chest.  I'm talking about the trade deadline.  The trade deadline is the last day that any teams can trade players before the playoffs.  This is the General Manager's last chance to tweak the roster.  Yesterday, the Flyers' GM, Paul Holmgren, announced their big final trade.  Flyers have acquired goaltender Steve Mason from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for goalie Michael Leighton and a third round draft pick in 2015.  Here's a compilation of his efforts since he entered the NHL back in 2009:

Injuries

     In hockey, you get a whole bunch of injuries in a season.  Since the NHL has been playing a very compact season, this year has been even worse for the players.  Having little time to rest, they're more prone to injury.  Now I'm well aware that some injuries, like Tye McGinn's face, have more to do with fights than the stress of playing four games in a row, but playing so often with little time to rest has really taken a toll on NHL teams.  The Flyers being no exception.  Below is a list of players who have missed games due to injuries this season and how many games they have missed.

Pronger 24
Meszaros 20
Hartnell 16
Shelley 12
Leighton 10
Read 6
Briere 4
Rinaldo 4
Simmonds 3
McGinn 3
Couturier 2

     The Flyers need to be healthy if they want to have a chance to bounce back and pick up a playoff spot this season!

Positions

     Since the Flyers are taking some time off and haven't had much going on in the past week, let's talk about some super simple stuff.  Today we're going to touch on the positions in ice hockey.  Each team has 6 players on the ice at a time (unless they are short-handed for a penalty or if they are in overtime).  They are split into offensive positions and defensive positions.  On the offensive side of the house, there is one center and two wingers.  Back on defense are two defensemen and a goalie.  When players line up at the begining of a period or after someone scores a goal, this is how the team will line up:

     The roles of the positions are pretty self explanatory.  The offenseman's job is to get down in the offensive zone and put the puck in the net.  The defense are more worried about making sure they they keep the goals against down to a minimum.  One of the great things about hockey, however, is that even though someone may be a center, if the puck is in their own zone, they are playing in a defensive manner to make sure that the other team doesn't score.

     The Flyers are on a break from now until Sunday when they take on the Penguins.  This is a big game for the Philly team because the Pens are currently leading the Atlantic division (the one the Flyers are in).  It's also a big game because no one likes the Penguins or Sydney Crosby.  But I'm sure we'll talk more about him next week.

Fights

     This week I'm going to touch on a subject of ice hockey that is held in different lights by different people.  Some people see it as something that holds back the skills of the game while others see it as one of the most important parts of the game.  I'm talking about a good old fashion fight.

     Now some "outsiders" have the image of two players dropping the gloves and mauling each other with bare fists as soon as you mention the sport of ice hockey around them.  A lot of times, they'll toss in the old joke, "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out" making it sound like fighting is the main reason to watch hockey.  I will admit that sometimes things do tend to get a little our of hand when the benches clear and the goalies go at it.  Those kinds of fights, however, are the ones that are remembered for years.

     Let's break down the penalty of fighting in hockey for a second.  When two players square off and drop the gloves, they duke it out for a bit until the referees step in to break it up.  Sometimes refs decide to step in too soon though and pay for it.  Once the dust settles, each player goes to their respective penalty box for a five minute major penalty.

     The Gordie Howe hat trick is an unofficial term that has been used to describe when a player gets a goal, an assist, and drops the gloves in one game.  These are usually rare, but this season, Wayne Simmonds pulled off two Gordie Howe hat tricks... in one week!  Simmonds has been a huge gun for the Flyers this season proving that he can do just about anything from putting the puck in the net to putting another player on the ice.

     Tonight, the Flyers take on George's team, the Devils.  So far this season, the Devils are sitting ahead of the Flyers in the standings by 4 points.  These next two games are huge for the Flyers because they play the Devils at their home rink tonight and then drive back to Philly to take them on again Friday night.  If they Flyers win both of these games, they will catch up to the Devils in points.  This is big for both teams since they are in the same division.

Gagne is back!

     Gagne is back! Gagne is BACK! GAGNE IS BACK!!!  In case you couldn't tell, I'm excited about Simon Gagne returning to the Flyers.  He started his NHL career with the Flyers when he was drafted in 1998.  He was a crucial asset to the team as he eventually made his way to the position of assistant captain.  He played for the orange and black for over a decade when he was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning and then later to the LA Kings.  While out, he went on to win a Stanley Cup with the Kings in 2012.  Then last week he sat down with the Kings' General Manager and was told that he was being traded.  Usually that gets a player down in the dumps, but not in this case.  He says that he was instantly excited when he was told where he was going.  He was going home.  He was rejoining the Flyers.

     Luckily, I had already bought tickets for this game.  

     My first game of the season was going to be Simon Gagne's first game of the season in the Wells Fargo Center, too.  I went with a Marine buddy of mine, Wojo.  Needless to say, we were excited to see Simon back in orange and black.  We both knew that he was going to score.  He had to.  And he did.

     The Flyers went on to win that game 4-1.  It was the perfect welcome home for the former Flyer.  Since that game, they went on to beat the Ottawa Senators but then fell to the New York Rangers.  They are now prepping for a home game against the team up the turnpike, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

10 lbs of chips in a 5 lb bag

     That's exactly what's happened with this NHL season.  With disagreements between players and owners rising, the NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman (he is a very bad man that no on likes. No, not even his mother), put the NHL into a lockout.  That means exactly what it sounds like- no NHL.  Days turned to months as fans awaited an agreement so they could enjoy their beloved game and employees awaited an agreement so they could get back to work.  There was obviously a thirst to end the lockout as you can see the passion in this video:

     On January 6th, Gary Bettman's heart grew three times it's regular size and the lockout was officially ended.  Three days later, a schedule for the NHL was thrown together with the idea of fitting as many games as they could into a shortened season.  In most seasons, back-to-back games are extremely rare, but with the shortened season, an NHL team's schedule resembles more of an MLB team's schedule.  There is a large controversy over the idea of fitting 10 pounds of chips into a 5 pound bag this season, but the majority of players, fans, and employees are happy to be able to participate in the culture of NHL hockey again.

     So how did the Flyers handle this baseball-like schedule?  In short- not good.  Not good at all.  They quickly found themselves on the wrong end of the league's standings as they watched teams like the Blackhawks, Devils, and Ducks climb up to the top of the league's standings.  The sight of such would give any Flyers fan a headache, heart attack, and temporary insanity.  The Flyers have, however, turned around since then and have started to climb ever so slowly back up the standings. 

     Math time!  Let's go over exactly how the NHL breaks down into conferences and divisions.  There are two conferences: East and West.  Easy stuff.  Now, in each conference, there are three divisions.  The east calls them Atlantic (that's where our Flyers are), Northeast, and Southeast.  The west calls them Central, Northwest, and Pacific.  The Atlantic division is made up of our beloved Flyers, the Devils, Islanders, Rangers and certainly not least, the Penguins.  You can take a field trip now to the Standings link up top to go see the layout of the NHL and how the teams are doing.

Welcome

     Have you ever found yourself wearing your favorite Flyers shirt and a fellow Flyers fan approaches you and sparks a conversation about the Flyers and you realize that you have no clue what he's talking about?  He's going on about how he can't believe how Lavi pulled Bryz in that last game when it clearly wasn't his fault that we were getting torn apart.  Or maybe he's trying to get your opinion on who you really think should be Claude's partner during the PK.  And all you can do is just nod, because you have no clue what this guy is saying.  You're pretty sure that you recognize some of the words spilling out of his mouth, but you know that you're lost.  You panic.  You search through your brain trying to find something relevant to say, and all you can come up with is, "yeah man... couldn't have said it any better myself."
     Well this blog is here to help you.  I'm going to be talking about the Flyers as they barrel through this shortened season and will be explaining the game of hockey as I go along.  If you're new to the sport, welcome!  If you've been watching your whole life, well you're welcome here, too!