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...

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?

Berube is back!

Last year, Craig Berube coached the Phantoms for six games before being tapped to be the Flyers assistant coach. Berube had a 3-2-1 record and I imagine if I check the stats or hockeyfights.com, I would find some good scrums in those games. Berube is a fighter, not a lover.

Berube was replaced by Kjell Samuelsson. Kjell is a nice guy. He has very many good qualities about him. He is very tall, I like that in a hockey guy. He is Swedish...I have nothing against the Swedes, as far as I know. But he discourages fighting. I like fighting. It's part (most) of the reason I like the AHL. In the AHL, things are a little looser and a little crazier. The fighting is part of that.

Yesterday, Craig Berube was named head coach of the Phantoms. Kjell was bumped down to assistant. I am gonna call and renew my tickets tomorrow. (yes, there was some doubt as to whether or not I was going to get the full season plan...)

P.S. I just checked the stats: there were more fighting majors in Berube's six games than in Kjell's first 16 as coach. Ouch! No wonder it seemed like the season was boring after October!

A rough night for Philly hockey fans...

I mean, at this point in the season, every night is a rough night, but last night was particularly rough. With both hockey teams in action, it should have been a dream come true for a fan like me. Instead, both teams were shutout and poor Fridgey sustained a potentially career ending injury.

I get nervous any time I see Fridge fight, since when he first joined us this season, he was still wearing a cage. The first few fights after the cage came off, Fridge seemed very tentative. I wouldn't say scared, but he definitely seemed aware that he had a metal plate in his cheek and that can affect the way you handle a fight.

Last night was just gruesome, seeing him go down like that. It is hard to tell from the news reports whether he is really okay or not, but hopefully he will be okay.

The game itself was lackluster and did little to hold my attention. I was tired from a long day, and that didn't help either. I have no friggin idea why Nitty was in net, but he actually did not suck as much as usual...or I should say, he didn't suck as early in the game as usual.

The Phantoms were shutout by WBS in a game that I didn't watch but looked lame according to the box score. At least Bronty is back! This sounds like something I am glad I didn't see:

Shortly afterward, the lead became 4-0 when an unfortunate bounce gave the Pens a goal. Nate Guenin was trying to clear the puck out of his crease after a Wilkes-Barre shot and inadvertently put the puck in the net. Dixon was credited with his second consecutive goal at 14:24.

Doh!

Back from New England...

So I took a little road trip this weekend in celebration of my birthday (which is today by the way but please don't make me lie about my age). I went to Providence on Friday and Bridgeport on Saturday to see my boys play on the road. I mean, really, what would I do without seeing them play for a whole week? Sadly, they lost both games. Happily, players who never score seemed to score in my honor. For example, Bronty had a goal in Friday night's game. I swear to god it was his first of the season.

*runs to check stats*

Okay so he has two goals this year and I would bet the other one was on the road as well because I surely would have remembered that. One thing that I noticed about Bronty this weekend is his leadership. When the ref makes a bad call or something unfair happens on the ice, he is there pleading his case for the team. From what I understand of this weekend's games, there was plenty of bad officiating, and Bronty was there to keep things in line. It is something I admire about him, and hope it will help his hockey career, because he is so very slow on the ice. I feel so bad when he is out there, because he is so big and slow!

Some other notes from the roadtrip:

• I was blown away by the Projo's coverage of the p-Bruins. Articles and pictures!
  
• The Dunk smells like the Big E
• The Dunk has terrible and embarrassing frozen margaritas. The season ticket holders in my section were amazed at the foot tall frozen concoction. I was underwhelmed by the lack of alcohol in it.
• I hate seats behind the players bench. I can't see anything going on!
  
• I hate Connecticut.
• Rhode Island accents are so cute!
• Everyone in Providence was wearing some sort of Red Sox attire
• You snooze you lose on Sigalet bobblehead night
• Steve Regier from the Sound Tigers looks like Prince Charming
  

I guess that is all for now. I did see Heather over in section 103 snapping tons of pictures, but without any alcohol in me, I was not feeling very social. Plus, it was a long way to walk!

Road trips are the best!

Taking a page out of Heather's book, I decided to take a road trip last Saturday to see my Phantoms play the Hershey Bears in the second half of a home and home. The Friday game was a loss, but I was okay with that, since I won Bronty's jersey in the post game auction.

Now mind you, unlike Heather, I don't have hockey friends that I can call up at the last minute and say "hey, let's go to Hershey." That turned out to be fine, since I got the last available ticket for the game. Phew!

The ride to Hershey is a pleasant, relatively quick one. Maybe an hour and a half, tops. The Giant Center is the opposite of the Spectrum: new, clean, well lit, and sold out. I got there, downed my three shots of tequila, put on my Bronty jersey, and made my way inside.

I only saw a handful of Phantoms fans, which surprised me, since there are always a ton of Bears fans at the Philly games. Much to my surprise, I did see Shamrock Eager. Shamrock Eager is what I call this woman who has the jersey I covet most: the Ben Eager St Patrick's Day jersey from last year. I love the color green and Ben Eager, so when I see her at every game, it is all I can do to keep from tearing if off her! She and her family were standing by the visitor's bench, waiting for the players to come out for warmups. Emboldened by the tequila, I decided to join them.

They were of course, very nice. I called her Shamrock Eager and told her I loved her jersey. She said she gets complimented on it all the time. Her husband and I talked trade rumors. They liked my Bronty jersey and when the team took the ice, the husband said "there's your boy." They asked Riley for a puck, said hi to Muny and generally made me jealous.

Anyhow, this post is turning out to be longer and more boring than I hoped it would be. The point of the story is:

1. road trips are awesome
2. road trips rule, especially when your team wins
3. nobody is gonna mess with you when you are wearing a Bronty jersey
   

At least it wasn't a shootout...

Just a regular old loss in OT.
Phantoms 3, Admirals 4

I'm glad we play Norfolk three more times at home this year, because they seem like a bunch of jerks and I see lots of potential for Koci and Richmond getting their asses kicked. Plus, I have some good ideas for signs brewing for these guys...

I hate shootouts!

So last night was the highly anticipated (by me at least) Phantoms/Bridgeport game. It was a decent game, with the Phantoms scoring first and holding off Bridgeport until the third period. The Sound Tigers had two quick goals in the third, but we were able to tie it up and send it to OT and eventually a shootout. This is all info you can get from the boxscore, but here is what you won't find in the boxscore:

• Munroe went down hard blocking the first shooter. At first, I thought his ego was bruised because Tambellini scored and Muny takes his job very seriously, but he stayed down, flat on his face for a scary long time. Two guys plus the trainer helped him off the ice, and even that wasn't really enough. He looked very shaky and I didn't think he would make it off the ice without falling. Yikes. Don't know what they will do for a backup keeper now as Beauchemin is out and there is only Houle...maybe they will send down newly acquired Michael Leighton from the Flyers. I wouldn't mind taking a look at him.
• If you are going to make signs for a game, make sure you set aside some time to do them right. Doing them in the trunk of your car right before you go in is not a good idea. Our signs were totally ghetto and did not have the desired effect. We learned a lot and will know for next time.
• Other tips for sign making:
• Use half a posterboard...a full posterboard was a little too big.
• Get there early enough so you catch the whole warmup. We missed maybe the first 5 minutes and they were so busy warming up we didn't hold it up towards the end and by then it was nearly too late.
• It is too much to hold up the signs during the game itself, too distracting for the players...unless you have a player specific sign like the one I saw after a fight that said "Grant's Fight Club" not the greatest sign but their timing was good. Having a variety of player specific signs would be a good idea.
  
• Have a second piece of posterboard to put over the one you are holding up, so that the small children and delicate adults behind you can't see that your sign says: "Reid...we wanna see some action from that hot stick!!!!

I think that is all for now. The guys in our section had a good laugh at our "hot stick" sign. When Keeli held it up, she tried to put her hands over the part that said hot stick so as not to offend the kids behind us. The guys next to us said "yeah, don't worry about all those kids over there that can read it!!!"

The most important part of the evening is that we finally found the bar that is in the Spectrum (it is downstairs and a pain to get to and you have to get a ticket for re-entry) and games will never be the same again.