In Defense of the Broad Street Bullies

Ok, so I have to admit that since the Philles made the playoffs in September, I have been rather religious in following my home sports teams (well, not the Sixers). Not to say I didn't follow them closely before; now I just tend to read the Philly Inquirer online and ESPN updates. It tends to be a helluva lot more interesting than sheep respiratory disease, but I digress.

For those of you who are not hockey fans or root for NY teams, you can stop reading now. (NY fans should seek therapy immediately.) Everyone else, let's chat, shall we? Ok. The Flyers came out of last season dead last in the NHL. They did some hardcore restructuring in the offseason, picked up a bunch of new talent, and trained their asses off. Their slogan for the year is "Back With a Vengeance", and how! They had a dynamite start: went 6-0 at home, stormed into first place in their division, and all of a sudden there was life in Philly hockey! Then we hit the end of October....Simon Gagne went down with a "concussion" after an elbow to the face. After a week off he came back, took another head shot and has been out since. (He has been skating with the team, but no contact yet. Baby steps...) Derrien Hatcher was out 4 weeks with a knee injury. The team couldn't seem to find a groove; they played kick-ass against the best teams in the NHL and won, then had lackluster perfomances and lost to teams they should have beaten. They are currently 0-3-2 at home, and in second place to the bloody Rangers...

And then there were the suspensions: Steve Downie and Jesse Boulerice took monster suspensions of 20 and 25 games respectively due to pre-season idiocy (both of these were warranted). Jones hit Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins) while his head was down near the boards causing injury and was out for 2. Scott Hartnell finished a check on another Bruin who decided to go after the puck on his knees and sat 2. The latest is Riley Cote who gave an elbow to the face of Matt Niskanen and will sit for 3. (That one was deserved.) The team is now on watch by the NHL discipline board, or as Philadelphians are calling it "double secret probation". It seems that hockey fans and administration alike are on a witch hunt, and the Flyers are living in the heart of Salem.

As I see it, the penalties to Hartnell and Jones were unnecessary. If the Bruins players don't know enough to keep their heads up and not put themselves in vulnerable positions, then they should go back to peewee. Bergy is still out, and I wish him well, but come on! Even Messier said he should have known better! The inconsistency with penalty calling is appalling; the Flyers are not the only team making these hits, but God forbid anyone not in black and orange serve a suspension!

I'm sick to death of people bashing Philly, its fans, and its team. Yes, we can be a VERY unforgiving sports town; you would be too if you hadn't had a championship in ANY sport in 24 years. However, we love our teams with a vengeance, and wouldn't have it any other way. Woe to the city who attacks us! The Flyers have always been a physical team, and this year we have the size to play our brand of hockey. As someone over at ESPN said, let the Flyers play; the league commissioners can go have their tea party by themselves. And oh my God the Boston fans (as if I didn't hate them enough already *cough Cheatriots and Bo Sux cough*). Yes Bergy is still out. So is Gagne!! He took an elbow to the face, but there was no penalty on that one! Deal with it. Sigh.

I have to give the Flyers coaches credit. In the face of the latest suspension, they have called up Steve Downie from the Phantoms to fill the roster spot - take that Colin Campbell!! Talk about giving the league commissioners the finger....The next few games should be VERY interesting indeed.

So in defense of my boys - they're young, and there are a lot of new guys. They've had to face lots of line shake-ups due to injury and such. The consistency will come with time played together. They've already shown they can defeat some of the best teams in the league (Ottawa, Carolina), and they're improving all the time. Once Gags is back, and the guys have found a rhythm, they're gonna be scary good. So beware NHL - the Flyers are back with a vengeance, and they're coming for YOU! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!