Accomplishments Big and Small

"Thats a load off my mind, I thought I was going to have to start giving the money back."

If you watched Monday night’s game versus the Toronto Maple Leafs, you saw something of a legend scoring his first goal for the Philadelphia Flyers: Scott Hartnell. Just kidding everyone… relax. The legend that we were talking about was the everlasting hockey dynamo known only as Jaromir Jagr. Jagr, obviously the oldest member of the team, came into the league with a lot of questions surrounding him. “Can he still cut it?” “Will he be worth the money Philadelphia paid him?”… so forth and so on. Naturally, as game 8 approached on Monday, a lot of the doubters were gloating because they thought they had gotten it right (Obviously these people are idiots because they don’t watch the game they just see 0 in the goals column and think he hasn’t done anything). Even before Jagr put these two goals in, he was having a pretty good season. He has shown he still has a lot of juice left in the legs. Along with that, he and Giroux are really meshing on their line and Jagr had already produced 4 assists in 7 games, which isn’t earth shattering, but still fairly productive. Along with the stats and chemistry he is forming with Giroux, he is bringing about a character and work ethic that needs to become contagious for a young Flyers’ team. When a group of young guys have success, they can sometimes let that get to their head, but bringing in a vet like Jaromir will help keep the young bucks in line over the season. His late night skating regiment with weights has already spread to the likes of Jody Shelley and James van Riemsdyk. If JVR learns a couple lessons of commitment from a legend like Jagr, we will have another explosive diaper dandy (Thanks Dickie V) to put alongside Claude Giroux and stack up a lot of goals and a lot of winning for years to come.

Also, Bobs did a number on Monday night. He looked extremely crisp in his 4-2 win against the Leafs in which he faced a total of 26 shots. He came up big on several occasions. Although he is not the starting goalie right now, it is critical that we have a solid back up so that we can give Bryz a ton of rest for our postseason run. A lot of times the backup is an underappreciated beast, but if we can keep Bryz fresh we improve our chances of winning immensely. On top of this, if something were to unexpectedly happen to Ilya, it’s important that Bobs has had enough reps where he is ready to step in right away. Good showing by Bobs on Monday night and is really a good thing to see for Laviolette and the rest of the organization.

Based on haircut and the obvious age of the gentleman in this picture, this individual is definitely Jagr, not Hartnell.

And yes… Scott Hartnell did get the monkey off his back as well against the Leafs. He scored his first two goals of the season on Monday night. That’s all that can be said about that. We will let you know immediately if he unexpectedly cuts his hair.

Congratulations are also due to 5’10” Danny Briere. The Center recorded his 600^th NHL point on Monday night with an assist in the game. That says a lot for a guy who many doubted because of his size, but coming from two undersized twins, we are proud of a fellow short athlete. Way to go Danny!

Atleast we still have one good team in Philly...

On the eve of one of the most important/disappointing games in Phillies postseason history, another team was just beginning their season. The *new* Philadelphia Flyers started their run at the Cup on Thursday night with a 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins. The best part about the game was how they spoiled the Bruins championship ceremony night and hopefully sent the fans home crying. The fans maybe even went home a little scared last night with the likes of Ilya Bryzgalov, Jaromire Jagr, and Claude Giroux probably haunting their dreams for the rest of the season. With that being said, let’s take a look at some of the big things to take away from a solid 2-1 victory in Beantown last night.

1.     Jagr and Giroux are monsters.

"And we're the three best friends that anyone could have..."

We already knew that Giroux was a game changer, and that Jagr USED TO BE a superstar, but how would they perform together on one line? Giroux is now expected to be the star and leader of this team’s offensive punch all year, which is a lot to put on him since the trading away of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter. Jagr is almost 40 years of age, coming off a couple seasons in the KHL so no one really knew what to expect of him. We’ll tell you one person who knew what to expect: Paul Holmgren. Jagr and Giroux were put on display last night in a nationally televised game and they didn’t disappoint. The two connected for the first goal of the game on the powerplay where Jagr fed Giroux up the middle, made a ridiculous move around 2 defenders and then finished with a “What the hell just happened” goal around Tim Thomas. It was only one play, but with a lesser goalie on the ice, the “Dynamic Duo” could have put two or three more goals together. Once JVR gets going, this line is going to be a lethal machine that will be getting almost all of the ice time in big situations.

2.     Ilya Bryzgalov

"Yeah, I agree, I am the bees' knees."

We didn’t need to say anything else. Just the name of the man says enough about how he played last night. He looked as if he was the No. 1 goalie that Holmgren promised when he brought in. While the Flyers were busy making dumb penalty after dumb penalty to try and give the game away in the third, Bryz was a rock in the net. Shot after shot, you could see what makes this guy so successful. He comes out of the net and is always square to the shooter. His glove hand is quick and was there to catch a point blank chance by Brad Marchand in the second period after he got through the defense. All in all, he ended the night stopping 22 of 23 shots. This was a great opening night for a man who is slated to be the answer to the Flyers woes. We think he is going to be the best goalie we’ve had in town since the exit of the man, myth, and legend Ron Hextall.

P.S. This guy is a character if you haven't seen an interview with him we recommend clicking here.

3.     Sean Couturier is going to be GOOD

"Yeah, my mom says I have a great smile too. She is always pinching my cheeks in front of the other kids on the school bus though... Embarrassing."

Sean is someone that even we can say is a youngster or “wet behind the ears” and that is saying something. A kid of only 18 years old, there is a lot of hype and pressure on a man of his age to produce for a team and city that is ready to win. Well, after game one, it looks like he is ready to deliver the goods. He had 14:04 of ice time and every time he was on the ice, it looked like he was making plays. He created numerous turnovers in the neutral zone, and looked aggressive and hungry on the forecheck. He only accrued two shots, but looked like he had a nose for the goal and you can expect that to continue going forward. His biggest contributions, however, came while killing off the powerplay. Couturier had the confidence of his head coach to go out there and produce late in the third period and almost all of the game killing off the powerplay. And of course this unit was successful killing off 4 of 5 attempts throughout the game. If he is this good this early in his career, imagine in the next two or three years learning and growing with the likes of JVR and Giroux and maybe even picking up a thing or two from the Wiley Ole’ Veteran Jagr. This kid could be dangerous.

4.     Defense will carry the team.

"C'mon guys its time, FLYING V!"

Even with some of the exciting offensive additions the Flyers made in the offseason, this Flyers team is definitely made to win defensively. The Flyers have the best defensive line pairings in the NHL all the way from 1-6. Pronger, although he is getting older, is still as good as they come in the NHL. Then there are some of the younger guys out there like Meszaros, Coburn, and Carle who are going to be key defensive pieces on this team for a long time to come. Finally, let’s not forget Kimmo Timonen. The often forgotten Finnish superstar showed last night that he is once again, a force to be reckoned with. He may have single handedly saved the win for the Flyers when stopping a gimme for Nathan Horton in front of an open net. With all of the talent in front of Bryz, the defense should put up a lot of 0’s as the season goes on. This is something that most Flyers fans weren’t alive for the last time it was happening. Paul Holmgren may have changed the philosophy, but the one thing that won’t change is the winning of the Flyers going forward.

Quick Hits

In case you missed it….

Quick Hit #1:

On Friday, the Phillies traded a living legend (Mike Zagurski) to Arizona for a player to be named later…

The real question here is: How much later? And: Is that player one of the Uptons? Because we deserve at least that for the services of Baby Face Bronco.

If we may, we’d like to say a few words –

Bronco,

Ever since you graced our mound on May 25^th 2007, we’ve enjoyed watching your pitches land up and down in the strike zone, which was oddly what you did between the Major Leagues and the Minors in your illustrious career. Ever since then, the jokes we’ve all made about your fun, bare little face and big belly have said it all – you were fun. Not to mention your career 6.82 ERA and average fantasy draft order of 260, which only screams pure class. Please know that wherever you go – we will always be looking for you…

Love,

The Twins (and all of Philadelphia)

Quick Hit #2:

In the midst of watching the Phillies’ play terrible baseball, good ole’ Roy Halladay decided to take a break. He picked up a new hobby and tried his hand at coaching college football for the Marshall Thundering Herd. Albeit, he wasn’t successful because he went up against a very strong Virginia Tech team…

We know what you’re thinking when you checked the score line and saw that they lost 30-10… ‘Why were the boys so bad, Doc?’ The answer: Does it really matter? At least he didn’t have to watch the Phillies’ lineup swing aimlessly at minor league pitching staffs.

Please also take note how deep Doc is with his quote.  He’s only been in the game for a short amount of time, and he gives pretty insightful football information. You, Doc, are a gem.

Quick Hit #3:

In case you aren’t watching the Phils’ game tonight, in the 4th inning Placido Polanco was up with the bases loaded. With a full count Sarge proclaimed, ‘it sure would be nice for a base hit up the middle’ (or something like that) and then, IT WAS. Polanco hit a ball right over the second base bag and got an RBI.

Don't know why this picture is here? Neither do we.  

Bottom line: Sarge is officially psychic. He’s added another tool to his already staggering repertoire. When will he stop? Can he stop?

Quick Hit #4:

Sidenote: This is a fantastic present for us for our birthday. Wow. 

Don’t go to sleep on Jarmoir Jagr (pronounce the ‘J’s as hard Js. Not soft. It’s way more fun.) The man had two goals and one assist tonight in the Flyer’s big preseason game. (One in which they won 5-2) While everyone else is playing it easy because it’s preseason, the Flyers and Jaromir are on the bench screaming, “WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR? THE ICE TO FREEZE? LET’S PLAY!” (First Mighty Ducks reference of the blog… enjoy.)