Still basking in the glow of le petit Briere...
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Why are there no other Flyers blogs?
I know I am really opening the door for a lot of jokes to be made about the Flyers and their fans, but really, why can't I find any Flyers blogs? Sure there are a few, but none that post with any regularity. There aren't even any Flyers-centric blogs on Flyers Fan Central, a psuedo blog that seems mildly corporate/propaganda-ish and for the months of March April and May had a combined 11 posts. Wow.
I mean, there are a ton of Caps blogs, Pens blogs and even Ducks blogs. But no Flyers blogs? What is up with that?
I mean, there are a ton of Caps blogs, Pens blogs and even Ducks blogs. But no Flyers blogs? What is up with that?
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Michael Leighton...home at last?
Some of you may recall that I love Michael Leighton. He was a bright spot during our very dark season, and gave me a glimmer of hope that things might be okay. Of course, that glimmer of hope was smashed into a fine powder and mixed into a sludge that was the remainder of the season, but I love him nonetheless.
So I was pleasantly surprised to read last week that he was picked up by yet another team. Last year, he was sent to four different teams. My question to y'all is how many teams will Michael Leighton be assigned to this year? Or will this be the year he finally finds a home? I will gladly take him back anytime!
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Slow news week...
I got nothing guys, absolutely nothing!
A few weeks back, Adam Proteau of THN wrote a piece about the Flyers rebuilding during the offseason. He wrote "one presumes the Philadelphia Flyers have been pre-approved to hoist the Stanley Cup next spring."
Um, I don't recall anyone from the Flyers organization using the words "Stanley Cup", "playoffs" or even "contender". Every press conference I watched showed guarded words and cautious optimism about next season. Nobody was getting ahead of themselves.
Until le petit Briere spoke.
Let me digress here for one second. I watched the Hartnell, Smith and Briere press conferences. Hartnell was very articulate. Smith was very boring. Briere was very skittish. Of the three, if I were a GM, I would only want Hartnell talking to the press.
I think the press was a little harder on Briere since he is the "prized free agent acquisition". Some of the questions seemed a bit critical. And Briere's answers, and the faces his made when answering, were a little disheartening. He needs to polish up his skills in this area. But the worst part was the answer he gave to this question:
Q: As a player is there any concerns, questions as to how all these new faces are going to fit together?
Briere: “There are going to be a lot of new players next year. You never know how long it is going to take to mesh. We have a lot of good young players that are still going to have a lot of room for improvement. How it’s going to mesh I don’t know. What I expect from this team looking at our roster is to definitely make the playoffs. That is what I expect us to do at least get to.”
Oh no! He used the "p" word! And this was the question where he made the worst face and hesitated a lot when talking about the new players next year. I will try to upload the video later, but if you feel like watching it, you can look here...
A few weeks back, Adam Proteau of THN wrote a piece about the Flyers rebuilding during the offseason. He wrote "one presumes the Philadelphia Flyers have been pre-approved to hoist the Stanley Cup next spring."
Um, I don't recall anyone from the Flyers organization using the words "Stanley Cup", "playoffs" or even "contender". Every press conference I watched showed guarded words and cautious optimism about next season. Nobody was getting ahead of themselves.
Until le petit Briere spoke.
Let me digress here for one second. I watched the Hartnell, Smith and Briere press conferences. Hartnell was very articulate. Smith was very boring. Briere was very skittish. Of the three, if I were a GM, I would only want Hartnell talking to the press.
I think the press was a little harder on Briere since he is the "prized free agent acquisition". Some of the questions seemed a bit critical. And Briere's answers, and the faces his made when answering, were a little disheartening. He needs to polish up his skills in this area. But the worst part was the answer he gave to this question:
Q: As a player is there any concerns, questions as to how all these new faces are going to fit together?
Briere: “There are going to be a lot of new players next year. You never know how long it is going to take to mesh. We have a lot of good young players that are still going to have a lot of room for improvement. How it’s going to mesh I don’t know. What I expect from this team looking at our roster is to definitely make the playoffs. That is what I expect us to do at least get to.”
Oh no! He used the "p" word! And this was the question where he made the worst face and hesitated a lot when talking about the new players next year. I will try to upload the video later, but if you feel like watching it, you can look here...
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Hating on Briere...special investigation
Now you all know I love le petit Briere (in a non-squee way). However, it is kinda fun to hate on him. When I saw this picture of him posted by Caps Chick, it made me laugh. A lot. And sparked much Briere hating with Jordi. But Jordi decided there was no way he would ever drive this car (even though it does match his outfit, which he is all about). So I decided to do some investigating, and I was able to find his real mode of transportation:
Hate away, haters!
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Avert your eyes! Puckbunny moment ahead...
Well I didn't get to check out the Trial on the Isle, but I did get to check out the slideshow! Who knew Lars had all that going on underneath his sweater? He also had an interview on SportsNite that I wanted to post, but my video editing skillz are a bit lacking. So you will just have to settle for this picture for now...
Sunday, July 15, 2007
No more hockey in July....
Well, having spent 3 days watching the prospects this week, here are more of my observations:
1) I am still addicted to hockey. I got up early on both my days off to sit in rush hour traffic to go watch our damn rookies do speed drills. Not much gets me out of bed early on my day off!
2) New Jersey is weird (sorry Schnookie and Pookie). I guess I have lived in PA so long now that the way other states are set up just seems wrong somehow. I am not going to make fun of the whole jughandle/u-turn thing, because I am sure it is a great system once you get used to it. Seeing strip mall after strip mall is more disturbing. Sure we have strip malls here in PA, but not nearly as many as NJ. Lastly, I used my GPS to try and find a Starbucks and a Barnes and Noble (I am soooooo suburban, I know) and both times it led me to a place that was not my destination. For the Starbucks, my GPS was yelling "your destination is on the left" but what was on my left was a huge field . No coffee beans in sight! Oh well. And there has to be something wrong about a state that won't let its residents pump their own gas...49 other states get by just fine!
3) You should know that I am very shy and I hate crowds...concerts annoy me, movies that aren't a matinee are too crowded. I hate to be around people, and I would never start a conversation with anyone anywhere anytime. However, that all goes out the window at the rink. I start conversations with strangers, get email addresses and make new friends. It is a very shocking thing for me, but I love it. I love being at the rink around hockey people.
Oh, I guess I should tell you about the boys as well. And yes, many of these guys were boys, barely legal. I even saw one prospect's mom there keeping a watchful eye on her son.
First of all, I mostly saw group B and their drills. I only got to see group A for about an hour. Based on that hour however, group A seemed slightly more developed. Not sure if that was random or not, but group A did in fact win the Friday scrimmage.
Secondly, performance in the drills wasn't necessarily an indicator of how well they played in the scrimmage (I do realize that contradicts what I just said above). Excellent personal performance in the drills did not mean they rocked it in the scrimmage. For example, Patrick Maroon seemed okay in the drills, his speed was decent but he seemed a bit awkward on his skates. In the scrimmage however, he was fantastic. Stayed with the puck and had some decent plays, in spite of the fact that every time I looked, he was falling down (okay, just twice). So yes, he was a little awkward but it didn't affect him ultimately.
I am not going to give you a rundown on everyone (I will save that for the Flyers boards) but here are a few more notes:
1) I am still addicted to hockey. I got up early on both my days off to sit in rush hour traffic to go watch our damn rookies do speed drills. Not much gets me out of bed early on my day off!
2) New Jersey is weird (sorry Schnookie and Pookie). I guess I have lived in PA so long now that the way other states are set up just seems wrong somehow. I am not going to make fun of the whole jughandle/u-turn thing, because I am sure it is a great system once you get used to it. Seeing strip mall after strip mall is more disturbing. Sure we have strip malls here in PA, but not nearly as many as NJ. Lastly, I used my GPS to try and find a Starbucks and a Barnes and Noble (I am soooooo suburban, I know) and both times it led me to a place that was not my destination. For the Starbucks, my GPS was yelling "your destination is on the left" but what was on my left was a huge field . No coffee beans in sight! Oh well. And there has to be something wrong about a state that won't let its residents pump their own gas...49 other states get by just fine!
3) You should know that I am very shy and I hate crowds...concerts annoy me, movies that aren't a matinee are too crowded. I hate to be around people, and I would never start a conversation with anyone anywhere anytime. However, that all goes out the window at the rink. I start conversations with strangers, get email addresses and make new friends. It is a very shocking thing for me, but I love it. I love being at the rink around hockey people.
Oh, I guess I should tell you about the boys as well. And yes, many of these guys were boys, barely legal. I even saw one prospect's mom there keeping a watchful eye on her son.
First of all, I mostly saw group B and their drills. I only got to see group A for about an hour. Based on that hour however, group A seemed slightly more developed. Not sure if that was random or not, but group A did in fact win the Friday scrimmage.
Secondly, performance in the drills wasn't necessarily an indicator of how well they played in the scrimmage (I do realize that contradicts what I just said above). Excellent personal performance in the drills did not mean they rocked it in the scrimmage. For example, Patrick Maroon seemed okay in the drills, his speed was decent but he seemed a bit awkward on his skates. In the scrimmage however, he was fantastic. Stayed with the puck and had some decent plays, in spite of the fact that every time I looked, he was falling down (okay, just twice). So yes, he was a little awkward but it didn't affect him ultimately.
I am not going to give you a rundown on everyone (I will save that for the Flyers boards) but here are a few more notes:
- I hope Triston Grant was hungover, because he played like it. I wouldn't let him make the Phantoms with the way he played!
- Jordan Hart displayed some leadership qualities during the drills, and looked like he was having a good time...kept it fun for those around him.
- Parent, Ruzicka, and Potulny stood out overall from this camp.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Putting the "petit" in le petit Briere
So I made my way back to the lovely state of New Jersey today, to catch another day of Flyers conditioning camp. And oh yeah, Daniel Briere was there too.
The first session ended at noon, and the second session didn't start until 2:30, so I had some time to kill. As I was leaving to go get some lunch, I noticed a small line at the bottom of the stairs. At first, I was thinking these crazy people thought they were going to be invited upstairs to the press conference. Then I realized they were waiting for le petit Briere to come down the stairs after the press conference. I am such a terrible stalker that I would never even know where to wait for my intended stalkee.
Anyhow, I decided to sit down and watch the press conference on TV, and wait to see if I could catch a glimpse of Briere on his way out. Here's as close as I got (remember, I am a terrible stalker and close proximity to hockey players causes severe anxiety):
Heather B, try not to pass out at the sight of Briere in a Flyers jersey.
I personally like this shot the best, as most of my pictures are always taken too late like this one:
So that is my first Briere sighting! Hate away, haters!
The first session ended at noon, and the second session didn't start until 2:30, so I had some time to kill. As I was leaving to go get some lunch, I noticed a small line at the bottom of the stairs. At first, I was thinking these crazy people thought they were going to be invited upstairs to the press conference. Then I realized they were waiting for le petit Briere to come down the stairs after the press conference. I am such a terrible stalker that I would never even know where to wait for my intended stalkee.
Anyhow, I decided to sit down and watch the press conference on TV, and wait to see if I could catch a glimpse of Briere on his way out. Here's as close as I got (remember, I am a terrible stalker and close proximity to hockey players causes severe anxiety):
Heather B, try not to pass out at the sight of Briere in a Flyers jersey.
I personally like this shot the best, as most of my pictures are always taken too late like this one:
So that is my first Briere sighting! Hate away, haters!
I saw Briere!
I have pretty much sunk to a new low...I rank among those waiting to see Daniel Briere after his press conference today. In all fairness, I was there to see the Flyers rookies practice, but still, I feel weird. Seeing the kind of people that wait in line to see Briere scares me...and now I am one of them!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Tired of Typepad
Well, I am over here now. I like the blogger interface a lot better. I like that it is free. That is all for now.
More Hockey in July...le petit Briere Press Conference Eve Edition
The local media has been all Flyered up this week. Hockey news has been the second story every day on CSN. Guys, they are showing hockey news five minutes into the broadcast...and it is not even hockey season! And the past two days, they have had "breaking news" on the noonday show to broadcast Hartnell and Smith's press conferences. Last year, you could find nary a Flyers score, let alone a Flyers story, and now they even yap about van Riemsdyks' week at conditioning camp on KYW news radio! Weird.
I suppose all of this is due to Homer and the moves he has made. Well tomorrow is the day a lot of people have been waiting for...le petit Briere's press conference. It will be held at the Voorhees Skate Zone. The very same Skate Zone where the little guys are having their camp this week. The very same Skate Zone that I will be at tomorrow watching rookie camp. Remember? So, yes I will be in the same building as le petit Briere. Unless of course, the Flyers organization reads this ahead of time and decides to move it to the Wachovia Center. That would be just my luck. No matter, I will be chilling at the Zone with the boys on a hot July day. That's good enough for me.
I suppose all of this is due to Homer and the moves he has made. Well tomorrow is the day a lot of people have been waiting for...le petit Briere's press conference. It will be held at the Voorhees Skate Zone. The very same Skate Zone where the little guys are having their camp this week. The very same Skate Zone that I will be at tomorrow watching rookie camp. Remember? So, yes I will be in the same building as le petit Briere. Unless of course, the Flyers organization reads this ahead of time and decides to move it to the Wachovia Center. That would be just my luck. No matter, I will be chilling at the Zone with the boys on a hot July day. That's good enough for me.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Hockey in July!
Damn, I am so lucky to live in Philly, where I am a short driving distance to the Flyers/Phantoms practice facility. Today was the first day of their conditioning camp, and for some reason, I actually went. Here is what I found out:
1) "the reamer" is a pretty big guy. Definitely the tallest kid there, and pretty well built for a kid his age. He is fast as well, and seemed to enjoy himself. He looks like a natural. I was gonna say a natural Flyer, but he just looks like a natural: very comfortable on the ice.
2) I can't take a picture of hockey practice to save my life. Honest to god. I was gonna post some, but they are all blurry, or pictures of hockey boys backs. I hate those kind of pictures. Rod is a much better photographer than I am, but he takes pictures of bands. I hate bands. But sometimes he takes pictures of hockey boys and lets me look at them.
3) Becky thinks one of the players has been supplementing his diet because he is bigger and faster than he was last year. I will not name names because I refuse to believe it is true! He is only 22 years old and finally shedding some of his baby fat...that is my theory! But he really was faster than last year. And taller...is it possible to get taller at that age?
4) We saw a great new goalie that from a distance was a ringer for Scott Munroe. This nineteen year old Czech was on fire today (as much as one can be on fire at a conditioning camp) and was stopping everything that came his way (yeah I know, it is only camp!). At first we thought it was Houle, but that didn't make sense, since he was stopping shots...then when he took his mask off we thought it was Muny. But after getting a roster, it turned out to be Jakub. I will be keeping my eye on him in the OHL next year...
5) It looks like we have a potential douchebag...I can't remember if it was number 62 or 63 that looked mean and made a half-assed attempt at some of the drills, so I won't name names until I can confirm it when I go again on Thursday.
Okay I guess that is all for now. I will be making the trek to South Jersey on Thursday and Friday, so I will report any exciting news. Perhaps there will be an actual Flyer sighting? Maybe a Briere or Smith or even Eager sighting?
We did see Paul Holmgren pulling out of the lot when we got there...could Weasel be far behind?
1) "the reamer" is a pretty big guy. Definitely the tallest kid there, and pretty well built for a kid his age. He is fast as well, and seemed to enjoy himself. He looks like a natural. I was gonna say a natural Flyer, but he just looks like a natural: very comfortable on the ice.
2) I can't take a picture of hockey practice to save my life. Honest to god. I was gonna post some, but they are all blurry, or pictures of hockey boys backs. I hate those kind of pictures. Rod is a much better photographer than I am, but he takes pictures of bands. I hate bands. But sometimes he takes pictures of hockey boys and lets me look at them.
3) Becky thinks one of the players has been supplementing his diet because he is bigger and faster than he was last year. I will not name names because I refuse to believe it is true! He is only 22 years old and finally shedding some of his baby fat...that is my theory! But he really was faster than last year. And taller...is it possible to get taller at that age?
4) We saw a great new goalie that from a distance was a ringer for Scott Munroe. This nineteen year old Czech was on fire today (as much as one can be on fire at a conditioning camp) and was stopping everything that came his way (yeah I know, it is only camp!). At first we thought it was Houle, but that didn't make sense, since he was stopping shots...then when he took his mask off we thought it was Muny. But after getting a roster, it turned out to be Jakub. I will be keeping my eye on him in the OHL next year...
5) It looks like we have a potential douchebag...I can't remember if it was number 62 or 63 that looked mean and made a half-assed attempt at some of the drills, so I won't name names until I can confirm it when I go again on Thursday.
Okay I guess that is all for now. I will be making the trek to South Jersey on Thursday and Friday, so I will report any exciting news. Perhaps there will be an actual Flyer sighting? Maybe a Briere or Smith or even Eager sighting?
We did see Paul Holmgren pulling out of the lot when we got there...could Weasel be far behind?
Pensblog where are you?
It started off as as normal Sunday morning: chatting with Jordi, feeding the cat, checking the blogs.
Then I checked the Pensblog.
ACCESS DENIED!
Wha?!?
I frantically emailed the address that I tried to remember from the blog..."Please let me read!"
I looked for the guys online....nothing.
Now we just sit and wait and hope
Then I checked the Pensblog.
ACCESS DENIED!
Wha?!?
I frantically emailed the address that I tried to remember from the blog..."Please let me read!"
I looked for the guys online....nothing.
Now we just sit and wait and hope
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Monday, July 2, 2007
A blast from the past, or, Kristin's dreams come true
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
le petit briere
Yup, he is the one I secretly cheer for. I'm pretty sure it's because I wish he played for us, but even when his team is kicking our arse, I kinda hope for him to score. And with 3 goals (2 gwg) and 4 assists in three games vs. the Flyers, he does like to score against us.
I think I like the fact that he makes Esche look so bad too. Eschy has got to go and Briere can only help make that departure happen faster.
Oh my god, why am I telling you this? I am such a traitor...I feel so guilty!
Thanks Marty!
From the Philadelphia Inquirer:
How cute! He was afraid we weren't going to call him! Aww!
About 10 teams inquired about him, and some offered a higher annual salary over a shorter term, Briere said.
"In the past few weeks, every time I was thinking about it, for some reason Philly always came up at the top of my list," the center said. "I don't know how to explain it. There is a lot going for Philly. . . . I was a little afraid the last few days [that] they would not call or be interested in me."
He credited goalie Martin Biron for selling him on the Flyers.
"I'm very happy for him," said Biron, who was Briere's roommate in Buffalo. "This is another piece that makes our whole team better. Danny is a great player. He makes everyone around him better. He will be a great fit."
How cute! He was afraid we weren't going to call him! Aww!
Sunday, July 1, 2007
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4 comments:
Danny Boy! You can't help but love him! But I pray daily that we can keep him and Drury next year. I heard that the Flyers are willing to empty the bank for either him or Drury (or was that another team?). It would just bo to weird to play the Flyers with both Biron and Briere...!
It sounds like Esche is on his way out with Biron moving into Flyers Land.
In order for Esche to move somewhere, someone would have to want him first!
And yes, they would break the bank to get Briere (fingers crossed).
I'll be surprised if Danny goes to Philly and SHOCKED if Chris goes there. Danny wants some stability but Chris wants to win and while I think Philly has some potential I think it might take them a few years to get there yet. We'll see though. This could just be my desire to a) Keep Danny and Chris b) Not see any more of my boys in Flyers' colors. (Sorry, Flyers fans. You know how it goes.)
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