Phone Booth = Hell

Bell Centre Spectre

C'mon, you knew it couldn't last. Besides, we don't (usually) beat the Habs at home, or ever, unless it's not a play-off game (recently).

Congrats to Asham and Coburn (harem represents!) on tonight's goals.

Semi Off-Topic

Suppose you received a substantial reward for a job well done, in the amount of more than $500 and less than $1000 (taxes already deducted). Since you don't have debts to pay off with it and the economy sucks, what do you purchase with it?

Leave your fun thoughts in the comments.

Deciding what to do for tomorrow's holiday luncheon at work,
Flyers.Femme
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Glor-i-ous!

That was so much fun!

Because my only two other trips to Broad and Pattison resulted in loses, this season has been a little disappointing for me as a fan...until last night. Last night was freakin' awesome. Three key reasons:

• Dude, we won!
• We caused a few of the Avs to lose their composure...though not as badly as the Pens last season.
• I was about 8 seats over and one row behind Shawn!

Something I must point out to my non-Philadelphia readers: Flyers fans do not boo Santa. Santa was in section 216 or 215 last night, and he was greeted with cheers. (Drunken Eagles and Sixers fans are responsible for booing Santa, not Flyers ones.)

Knuble: Looooved your PPG. Your positive attitude, willingness to hang out at the net, and make like a screen keep serving you well. Congrats on number 100!

Blondie: Woo-hoo, another SHG! Tell me, what kind of noise does one of your wristers make, if any, when you score? With the team leading the league on them, and needing just one more to match last season's total SHG count, this is such a fun statbit to track. (Nice intermission interview, by the way.)

Lups: Thank you for putting one in on even strength. Way to do that during the second while I had a very good view of it.

Dear Captain: Another pretty one I saw clearly from my cheap seats. And a three point night? Bitchin'!

Gagne: Way to make sure that PPG entered the net! A second player with a three point night. I'm so glad you're back and playing like your old self.

Interesting off-topic factoid of the night: The announcer still cannot pronounce Ovie's last name with any consistency. How many seasons has he been playing in the NHL? Just make sure you balance that out with a Cindy Crosby, 'kay?'

Interesting game-related factoid: How sick is it that we have six players with 10 or more goals this season already? And I thought last year's seven players with 20 or more goals was cool.

Having a happier holiday season,
Flyers.Femme
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WttH: Two Inductions

Slick Addition

Simon Gagne, you rock!

Sure, last year was not your friend what with the multiple installments of the most feared diagnosis known to the Flyers organization: concussion. Most recently, we've seen you battling the flu and the dehydration that goes with it.

With last night's game winner, you've scored your 2008-09 Flyers.Femme Hockey Harem entrance.

Goalie Addition

Now for some harem controversy. Goalies seem to be take 'em or leave 'em for Philadelphia. Everyone has an opinion on the Biron & Niittymäki Show, myself included.

However, for his play during the Whalercanes game on Saturday, Antero Niittymäki also earned his harem induction for the season.

Waiting in the Wings

Ossi Vaananen, you won me over Saturday night. You have added yourself to my ranks of favored Finnish players from Vantaa and Finnish Flyers.

I admit I was straddling the fence about you. It's not that I doubted your ability to contribute to the club, so much as I couldn't be sure there was truly room in this fangirl's heart for another player from dear Sami's hometown. And while you will never, ever eclipse Sami Kapanen in my hockey universe, you are THIS close to causing me to add a third d-man to the harem.

So, put that body in front of a few more shots. Stifle a few more attempts by jazzy forwards from opposing teams. Hell, get booed for doing an ice-side, Coatsie interview that you - fairly tactfully - end in order to save Coatsie from imminent death for delaying Mites on Ice.

Dear Guys

Best of luck for tomorrow's Dollar Dog night game versus the Caniac Nation. Hope that old schooler Whalers sweater guy is at the game.

Now, I must finish anchoring the light strands for my hockey open house on Friday night.

Plotting a hockey outing with the guys from work,
Flyers.Femme
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Dude, That Sucked!

Opening night post from one year ago: Check it out.

Opening night for 2008-09: There was a game on October 11, 2008? Really?

I saw at least one move straight out of the Mighty Ducks films there. You know, when they stunk at the beginning and Coach Bombay was still phoning it in on his probation?

Here's what I feel comfortable writing about the home opener:

• Team promotion crew tried to page homage to the Spectrum
• Forgot to pay due homage to Kate Smith on an important anniversary (see comments on previous post)
  
• S.P. came to the building.

And she sucked out all of the team's mojo, just like - sorry! - Hextall did last year with his Flyers Hall of Fame induction.

In-house entertainment guys, a small note: When games suck and you play House of Pain's "Jump Around," please focus on Shawn. Don't make us wait for the end of the game. Just give us the goods then. 'Kay?

Niitty: I say this as a fan...dude, I love you! Please play like that all season long. It made me smile and kept me happy.

Kukkie: You have my number! I wore #3 all three years I was on the varsity teams in high school, all three seasons of the year.

As for the rest of the game:

• Thank you, Scott H., for netting a goal so early in the season!
• Thank you, Simon, for coming back strong!
• Thank you, dear Captain, for getting the goal scoring contest between 18 and 48 off on the right foot!

That is all for now. I must go hang with the boys at Four Habs Fans for tonight's game.

P.S.: My condolences to the Cherepanov family and all you Rangers fans out there.

P.S.S.: Blogging will be a bit off this week due to work deadlines. Check out Kristin, K-Mart, or Ryan and Froin.

Oh, and how's that for 200 posts?
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Tshirt Selection

Richards = Must-Buy

You voted. Looks like I'm buying at least Richie's Tshirt this season.

Here are the poll results:

Timonen - 2 votes (I am shocked! He's out top D-man.)
Richards - 6 votes (I am totally not shocked about this result.)
Niittymäki - 1 vote
Biron - 2 votes
Kukkonen - 2 votes
Lupul - 3 votes (Finny or Tamika, were you here?)
Carter - 2 votes

Apparently, there are a few of you who agree with SportSquee's Margee's assessment of Richie as the 07-08 season's Most Awesomely Responsible-Looking Boyfriend.

3/04 Sabres v. Flyers

Congratulations

Derian and Heather Hatcher and family on the arrival of their new daughter, Finley.

Oh no!

Briere's out with a minor shoulder sprain and listed day-to-day.

Batten Down the Hatches

We're taking on the BuffaSlugs, who have something to prove. They're slumping with four losses in the past five games. Crunchy (aka Ryan Miller) has been ridden hard over the past 19 games and starts tonight. Oh, and they want our #8 spot.

Game Stuff

C'mon! Why not just start the game with a shoot-out? I don't know that Pominville could have scored faster that way, but whatever. Why must we come from behind? And there goes another one, this time by Afinogenov. *sigh*

Hey, a four-on-four. What say we make-believe it's a power play?

Upshall: Score! (And more points for Timonen and Carter.)

HUGE scrum with 26 seconds left. After sorting out the penalties, we get the better of the sitch.

Personal Appeal: Bowl-of-Rice and Cote, tempting as it may be to scratch your itch with Kaleta, please do not do it! We're down in this game, we're battling to stay in the play-offs and we need to play smart hockey right now. Repeat: Don't do it.

Upshall makes a large hit on Tallinder. Tally-Ho is slow getting up and perhaps a little fruit-loopy.

Downie: Score! (Yeah Sami on the assist! Also pulling down a point, Modry.)

Argh!

Recap: March 1-2

March 1: Flyers v. NY Islanders

We won. Two points. Woo-hoo!


March 2: Flyers v. NY Rangers

We lost in the shoot-out. (What else is new?) One point. Yeah.


Back-to-back games with early afternoon start times? Yuck!

Next up: The Buffaslugs

2/23 Kitty Cats v. Flyers

First Period

No goals by anyone. We successfully killed two penalties. Overall, the play seems to be waaaay more inspired than Thursday.

By the way, Ollie Jokinen is there tonight but his presence isn't as forceful and all-consuming as usual.

Second Period

Danny Briere scores a goal! (Blondie, thanks for the assist.)

And then we lose focus, earning a too many men on the ice penalty. *eye roll* However, we successfully kill that penalty also and finish out the period with the only goal and lead.

Third Period

Hey, Jay Bouwmeester, like taking out Simon Gagne wasn't enough this season? You had to knock around Richie tonight, too? No, apparently Bouwmeester also wanted to cruelly rob Niitty of a shut-out.

Sound guys waited for it and played GNR's "Welcome to the Jungle" for the mini-intermission before OT. That's when you're supposed play it, not during the third period.

Over Time

Hustle, guys. Be wild.

Jones, love ya, but why the penalty? Apparently, Ollie decided to wake up for OT and he scored.

Dear Guys,

I'm not going to whine much about this one. (Well, I'll curse out the Florida Kitty Cats but that's all.) You played better. You had energy. You created opportunities and took advantage of them.

Stay positive. Work hard but don't think too hard about it. Have fun at the carnival tomorrow.


Side rant: Another ED commercial? AAAAHHHH! My ears are burning! I'm too young to be hearing about this. Always, Kotex, Platex and Stay-Free: help a fangirl out!

Buckle Down

I didn't take notes during the game, largely because I ended up sitting next to Tina. She's nice and knows hockey every bit as well as her boyfriend, a former hockey player. We talked, found common ground on several points and made snarky comments in those moments that were just too painful to watch. (That "we" includes the boyfriend, too.)

The one outstanding positive of last night's game was Riley Cote's first NHL goal. Welcome to the club, Riley.

First Period

I loved the first period. It was exciting, high energy and seemed to last longer than the usual twenty minutes. Kovalev scored, but so what? That's what he does for the Habs. Of course, Richie put one in short-handed and that's what he does for us.

Things that made me want to scream:

Begin's hit on Tolpenko. I like Denis! We'd just gotten him back from a separated shoulder and time spent with the Phantoms. Now he's out with a mild concussion. (The second one of the home-and-home since Downie's out with one also.)

Vandermeer's mental lapse. Requires no explanation at all.

I wasn't too disappointed with the score at the end of the first.

Second Period

The second period seemed to start off with a bang, thanks to Coby's goal in his first game back from the Pain in the @$$.

Things that made me want to scream:

Cary Price. Kid is on his game and that's on fire right now.

Five power plays that don't result in a goal. Four of them were consecutive. Everyone was thinking too hard or telegraphing the shot by taking too much time to line it up. Oh, and Briere was mincing in and causing everyone to slow down.

Creating a 5-3 penalty kill. Self-explanatory when playing anyone, but particularly the Habs.

Third Period

Frustration City. Niitty made some amazing saves throughout the night.

Things that made me want to scream:

The best display of consistent inconsistency in the NHL continues to be the officiating by the referees, something I think all fans - regardless of team colors - can agree on.

We'll see what happens on Tuesday against Ottawa. I'll be present for the Sharks game on Thursday.

Until then, have fun hockey fans!

2/05 Flyers v. Thrashers

Verboten

Yep, pulling out my ancestors' native language for this post.

Context: "Due to my completely ridonkculous superstitions related to Flyers' away games, it is strictly verboten for me to watch the game on TV (even if it's finally on the CW) or to listen to it on the radio."

In this case, it doubly stunk because tonight was one of the times Bill Clement was covering for Keith Jones. Argh!

Thanks, Guys

In the Finnish goalie showdown, we won. Niitty's record increases to 8 straight wins over the Thrash. We'll see what tonight's 3-2 score does to his GAA for that period.

(Psst: I loved the photo on the Flyers' site today of Niitty stretching next to Lehtonen. Finns...squee!)

Other shout-outs go to the Mikes (Knuble = 1 G; Richie = 1 G + 1 A) and Downie.

As a result of the win, we abandon the three-way tie for the division lead. Pens and Devils fans are sure to be gnashing their teeth right about now.

Super Tuesday, aka Fat Tuesday

Dudes, I don't care. The Pennsylvania Presidential Primary isn't until April 22. Even though we have a few delegates the candidates would like to have, I feel it will hardly matter by then.

Besides, all three of my first choices have dropped out of the race. They each had more of the "experience" need to effect "change" to truly benefit the country.

I guess my intuition works for picking who's going to be on fire for the Flyers any given year. You know, I can live with that!

And all of you states that moved to create "Super Tuesday": Shame on you for ruining the attention that would normally go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras! The nerve of some people.

11/20 Sens v. Flyers

Flyers subtitle: We'd really like more of the same
Sens subtitle: We're really tired of losing and we may have Alfie back

I'm looking forward to tonight's game even though I won't be in attendance. I wanted to be there. I tried to make myself buy a ticket. In spite of the fact that my employers actually do observe the MLK holiday, I just couldn't suck it up enough to deal with a cab from Center City on a Sunday.

So, guys, sue me.

I'd dearly love to see us win at home against the Sens. I'd also like to see huge plays by everybody on the ice. One baby, tiny, yet HUGE hiccup: We're playing at home and we kind of suck there right now.

But, I'm game for this game. I mean, who wouldn't be, what with Downie in the line-up and the Sens in town?

Pre-Game Update

I'm going to rub this in a little more because it keeps me entertained. Headed in to tonight's game, here's the tally in the Official (Unofficial) Points Race, brought to you by Nadine of Flyers.Femme:

All-Star Richie: 21 G + 31 A = 52 (+/- is 14)
Tiny!Briere: 19 G + 26 A = 45 (+/- is -12)

First Period

Awwwww, no Alfie for the Sens. Of course, Heatley is also out while recovering from a separated shoulder. (Ouch! Those hurt and are annoying.)

Niitty in net for us. Ref talks to Downie, so the convo means "walk away and let the other teams' guys visit your lovely away sin bin."

Coby scores! Cote kills McGrattan(shoulder). Hartsie + Cartsie, 2gether 4ever!

Second Period

Scottie truly comes back from that ankle sprain tonight by putting one on the board. Umby nets one shortly thereafter.

Am I the only one who feels Sami's frustration? He's the new Scott Hartnell since his knee sprain. Plenty of hard work and chances, but nothing going in the goal. Of course, he also makes tons of big plays for us by stopping the other teams' guys. Oh, and he's not afraid to take on the big guys (like Chara the Giraffe).

Breaking news: Hockey Harem Shake-up

No, I'm not removing or demoting Sami. Jonesy and Richie are being promoted. Marty is demoted. Niitty is being added. (Goalies are my favorites, remember?) Don't ask for a reason. I don't have or need one. ;p

Third Period

Gerber's out. Emery's in.

Samiiiiii! And it was short-handed. Woo-hoo! (Thank you, God, for hearing my prayer. I totally called that one!) [jumping up and down, shouting for joy]

Scottie works his second one in on the power play. Vandermeer takes on Donovan.

End of Game Update

I am one happy Flyers fan tonight!

Five different guys put six on the board. Three of them hadn't netted goals for quite some time. (Coburn in 18, Upshall in 14, and dear Sami in 34. Flyers TV guys: Please interview those three. We haven't seen and heard them in some time.)

We beat the Sens again. Okay, Alfie and Heatley weren't there. Don't rain on my parade! It pushed us into a three-way tie for first in the Atlantic with...

1. Lucifer's little minions: We play them at home on Tuesday. They like to beat on us...and for some reason we let them do it. Of course, Jersey Marty is like a brick wall and robs everyone all the time.

2. Cindy-less Pens: Hurry up, Thursday! I can't wait to watch the latest installment of the 2007-08 Battle of Pennsylvania live.

1/10 Flyers v. Evil Rangers

A.K.A: The Scott Hartnell Show

Can you say "hat-trick?" Hartsie can! Way to step in to the void following Lups' injury and to carry on the tradition.

Question: Seeing as I'm not a stat-bit queen, does any other team have three separate players with hat-tricks this season? (What about a single player with back-to-back hat-tricks?)

Welcome to the Jungle

Congratulations, Rosie, on your first goal of the season! I don't know why but I thought you already had one. Mentally, I probably changed one of your assists into a goal some time ago. Again, congrats!

Welcome Back, Gags!

Simon, way to re-enter the line-up! I know that the Flyers faithful are very happy to see you skating at game time. Pushing one in on your 2/3 French Connection line is just icing on the cake.

Other Notes

Dear Niitty,

You had me scared for 20 minutes. Way to stick it to the Blue Shirts.

Dear Guys,

Okay, now I'm looking forward to Saturday's game! It's the Bruins. Remember, those funny guys who have trouble keeping their heads up? Yeah, them. So, please fall over backwards - literally, if you must - to keep them from earning any of you a suspension.

Love yas,
Nadine

1/8 Flyers v. Thrashers

Oh, Atlanta

The capitol city of Georgia. The hockey team that has to have it's city name, not the team name, on the jersey just to remind its players and the opposing teams about where they reside.

Question: Do any of the Thrashers' players stay in Atlanta over the summers?

My sister-in-law is from Georgia. I suffered through August weather for her wedding this past summer. I just can't imagine hockey players from the northern U.S., Canada, or various locations in Europe and Russia sticking around for it.

Dude, The Game!

Yep, we're injury-laden but we beat the Thrashers anyway! Here's my brief format game review, sponsored by my stupid superstition that allows me to watch only the game summary insta-refresh for away games.

This annoying guy named Kovalchuk scored first, in the first. (Annoying because he's not on the Flyers, I don't care if he is leading in goals-scored.)

Downie scores 32 seconds into the second period. This is his second goal in as many games. Fortunately, he didn't St. Jason Blake anyone tonight from what I can tell.

Cartsie scores at 13:42 on a power play, then Hedberg pulls a Britney Spears 13 seconds later when the teams are at even strength and Cartsie shoots it in again. (Hit Me Baby, One More Time.)

Hartsie decides he wants to have the most statistically impressive goal of the night and plugs in a short-handed goal at 19:59 of the second, just because he can. (It's also his 100th career goal.) ;p

About Those Injuries

A few HLOG sisters are upset about Lupul being out. It appears their fantasy teams will suffer. Sorry 'bout that. I feel your pain because my actual team could suffer without him also. (Dude has earned 35 points that seemed to accumulate faster than Canadians can say "eh.")

Lups met up with the not-so-nice side of Hatcher. It's not surprising that he sustained a mild concussion from the run-in. What really stinks is that Lups is out of all action for two weeks due to spinal contusions. Those aren't nice. My mom, a nurse with 37 years experience and the proud owner of three spinal fusions herself, says they're quite nasty.

An aside: I mentioned to Kristin in last night's semi-regular chat that Hatch may be a behemoth but he isn't really that scary. He's basically a Michigan-raised teddy bear, unless you're on the other team. Kristin seemed to be near-death from laughter following that remark.

Next, let's not forget my HH Sami (unlike most of those jerks at the major MSM outlets), who, after taking a puck to the face, received a fine Epiphany gift of 25 stitches to the face.

I don't know how the stitches to the face feel. I do know about being hit in the face by an object moving at a high rate of speed. At least I wasn't hit by a frozen galvanized rubber biscuit!

Sami, I hope you only have the stitches and tooth replacement to confront. Trust me, permanent jaw dislocations are a b...are awful.

Our injury line-up is rounded out by Scottie Upshall (ankle), our dear captain Gator (leg), and Simon Gagne (concussion). Gagne could return for Thursday's game against the Rangers, but I don't know how I feel about that possibility.

¡Felicitaciones Niittymäki!

Antero, just in case you actually read this, that first word means "congratulations" in Spanish.

Thanks for getting your injury issues resolved over the off-season. I knew you had it in you to work back to this. (I mean, you are a Finnish goalie.)

While tonight doesn't top the 54 saves on 56 shots, it does put you into the win column for back-to-back games. Keep up the good work!

We beat the Leafs!

1. About last night:

Had Pandolfo played last night, I would say it was Pando-monium. But he didn't, so I won't.

I have nothing nice to say about last night's loss to Satan's boys. I'll take a cue from my parents and grandparents and not say anything at all.

(Lack of posting last night due to a celebration with my best friend over my promotion at work. Nuh!)

2. Road game susperstitions: check

Tonight I observed them all!

a.) Wearing black sweater with orange cami
b.) No watching game on TV or listening to it on the radio
c.) Reading all of the new posts on HLOG

That second superstition means that I once again relied on the the Game Summary insta-refreshes to keep me on pins and needles.

3. Positives from tonight's game:

a.) We won.
b.) While Lucifer's minions have our number, the Leafs don't seem to have learned it just yet.
c.) Richie scored a goal!

4. Negatives:

a.) Sami took a puck to the face and is now the proud owner of 25 stitches. Yikes!
b.) Lups slammed into Hatch, had to be helped from the ice and, in all likelihood, will be out with a concussion, err, "dizzyness."
c.) Briere had a Cindy Crosby assist on Richie's goal. Grrr!

Side bar side note:

Since a few individuals have trouble keeping the members of my hockey harem straight, I created a list displaying their photos and the appropriate (current) order.

P.S.: Sportsquee's Bunker Christmas Party (parts 1 and 2) feature Kristin and I, as well as the other HLOGers and some other well-known hockey bloggers.

11/24 Flyers vs. Sens

Sweeeeeeet!

Dear Guys,

I love yas! That was fantastic. Everybody was in there, swinging away. I am just ecstatic!

• Eager, who lit a fire under you?
• Niitty, hon, I wish I could be on the ice to give you a little helmet-to-helmet tap.
• Kapi, really, there's a reason you're my HH and on my sweater!
• Richie! Woo-hoo!
• Briere, I even enjoyed watching you tonight.
• Hartsie, niiiiiice one. (And the assist was really pretty, too!)
• R.J., the only bad thing I can say about you is that you don't wear your mouth guard correctly (and you really should).
• Jonesy and Kimmo, I love your pairing and nominate yas for Co-Presidents of Defense.
• Kukkie, you are such a sweetie, in a totally "I will crush your dreams of scoring" way.
• Braydon, thank you for diving into the goal (in the good way).

One question I'm dying to have answered: Gator, did you shave right before the game? That's the least stubbly I've seen you all season.

So, Gentle Readers, you'll pardon me for the gushing tone, but hey, we just beat the freakin' Sens! At Scotia Bank Place!

(BTW, I'm sure my neighbors really love me now, since all the screaming and jumping up and down for joy was probably...um...intriguing to them.)

Oh, how I love this game!
Nadine

And the streak ends...

At 22 days. Danny Briere finally scored again last night, in another away game.

Do you people have any idea how nuts the WC will be when he scores before a home crowd for the first time? I wouldn't put it past the guys in the booth to have some appropriate song lined up and their hand on the horns volume control.

Now, Mr. Richards, thank you, thank you, thank you. That's why you have an "A" on your sweater. Whatever lit you on fire this season, keep it with you.

By the way, please take something for the pain today and be careful with those stitches. Yeesh!

R.J., what's that old saying about if at first...? Thanks for assisting Danny onto the board, then following it up with a goal of your own.

Niitty, I saw my favorite kickers on the bar's HD TV...niiiiice. See, I knew you could do it. Keep that positive feeling with you. (And I think you should have had the assist, too!)

Right. Guys, you may be seeing me tomorrow at practice. I won't be earning a restraining order (like Kristin with her StalkerCam 80000000), but it would be nice to have a small tide-me-over until November 12. It's just not right to have to go this many days with no in-person hockey.

[Edit/update material below]

Boys! Barring an unforeseen change to the schedule...I'll be there tomorrow! Yeah!

(And any of you readers out there who will attend, perhaps you will stop by and introduce yourselves. Just look for the 5'1" young lady with long, curly brown hair.)

Dear Antero Niittymäki

Now that is some SERIOUS stretching!

Niitty,

We haven't forgotten you. We all know you're waiting for your turn between the pipes. Yeah, we're sticking with Marty right now, 'cause he's hot. (You know how that goes!)

But I feel like some people may not know very much about you. So, here are my favorite things about Niitty.

1. You have kick @$$ black kickers!
2. For the week ending Nov. 16, 2003 (when you played with the Phantoms), you had a 0.41 GAA and .984 SP.
3. On Apr. 11, 2004 (still playing for the Phantoms), you scored a game-winning, empty net, overtime, short-handed, unassisted goal.
4. You stepped in as the goalie for the Finnish national team at the 2006 Winter Olympics as a relatively unknown player.
5. You were named the tournement MVP for the 2006 Winter Olympics.
6. You played with a torn labrum during the whole 2006-07 season. (The hip injury was sustained during training camp.)

By the way, that goal was the first overtime one scored by a goalie in North American professional hockey history.

Last season stunk for the whole organization. However, you had the summer to get better and shake it off. I'm looking forward to seeing you play one of these times and giving us the show we've seen before.

Whistle while you work

Note to the Flyers: Guys, really, you're having too much fun at work lately!

(In a former life, I was a counselor at a camp with a high- and low-ropes course like this one. It can be a lot of fun, with the right kind of group. I was completely envious when I saw the photos, sitting in my Center City office while it was almost 90 outside.)

Marty: You slay me!

From the road trip blog: "As expected, the defensemen and goalies were really effective and really pulled through and got our heads together. But, we really did some crazy things. If there was a way where we could have as much fun to get the task done, we did."

From video 2, Marty to Hatch: "We're safe. Let's leave now." (Meanwhile, everyone else is on the other side of the "electric fence," including Coach Stevens, if I'm not mistaken.)

Bonus: Tape of the four Finnish guys, with Sami, Kimmo and Lasse ordering Niitty around in Finnish!

(X-posted to Hlog)

Welcome back: Sami K

Dear Sami,

Thank.God.you're.back!

I was so ticked to hear that the Department of Homeland Security was keeping you from us, thinking that part of your family tried to illegally enter the country after your Toronto vacation. Obviously those people were either (a) not hockey fans or (b) Rangers, Devils, Sabres or Pens fans.

As you saw, things are not going well with the pre-season games...again. We, the fans, need you to lead the team with your work ethic, physical conditioning, and five years as a Flyer. We also want to see how you fit in with the possible new lines.

My opinion is that we needed you back before anything started going right. You're so plain-spoken and up-front about what works and doesn't work. (I really appreciate it since I'm the same way at my job.)

On another topic, about which I've already written to coach, but now I'm going to appeal to you as well:

Please, please, please (!) help Niitty. Maybe he just needs to be told in Finnish, but his game sucked last season and I don't see any improvement from over the summer. (Even though Marty is clearly our #1 goalie and I've always had my doubts about a post-injury Niitty, I still want to see him succeed.)

By the way hon, I'm really hoping they offer you the captaincy. I know you will give it your all to keep everyone on board.

Niittymäki: 1:12

Dear Coach Stevens,

I've lived with a goalie (my younger brother). I've seen the hard work it takes to learn and play that part of the game.

I love goalies...I truly believe they are the most important part of the team. I love philadelphia flyers goalies best. (I can't wait to see Biron in action on October 13.)

But...p l e a s e...help Niittymäki with his game! His objective is to keep the puck from entering the goal. That's not what I see happening with him this pre-season.

I'd say send Niitty to the phantoms for remedial goalie school...because sitting him down won't fix this. But on the other hand, we need a back-up goalie on the bench in the big show.

I understand that against the Devils there were two separate two-man advantage power plays contributing to the situation. But what were the extenuating circumstances for last night?

I'm sorry...but Niitty's playing soft and it has to stop! He needs to lock that thing down, and he can do it.