The Philadelphia Flyers are the model expansion franchise. They've won Stanleys, they've established their city as a hockey hotbed, they have been competitive almost from the beginning.
The Flyers didn't have a personality early on, but once Fred Shero arrived the team became known for grit, toughness and absolutely weird goaltending decisions.
It is perhaps fitting that their goalie for this Stanley run is an also-ran, a discarded journeyman who was lucky and good and needed all at the same time.
The Flyers will be extreme underdogs in the finals, but they do have Pronger, Richards, Carter and the rest. It'll be a fun Stanley this year, with both teams hoping to end a long drought.
- Montreal (11): '68, '69, '71, '73, '76-'79, '86, '89, '93
- Philadelphia (8): '74, '75, '76, '80, '85, '87, '97, '10
- Boston (7): '70, '72, '74, '77, '78, '88, '90
- Edmonton (7): '83, '84, '85, '87, '88, '90, '06
- Detroit (6): '95, '97, '98, '02, '08, '09
- New York Islanders (5): '80, '81, '82, '83, '84
- Chicago (4): '71, '73, '92, '10
- Dallas (4): '81, '91, '99, '00
- New Jersey (4): '95, '00, '01, '03
- Pittsburgh (4): '91, '92, '08, '09
- Calgary (3): '86, '89, '04
- New York Rangers (3): '72, '79, '94
- St. Louis (3): '68, '69, '70
- Anaheim (2): '03, '07
- Buffalo (2): '75, '99
- Carolina (2): '02, '06
- Colorado (2): '96, '01
- Vancouver (2): '82, '94
- Florida (1): '96
- Los Angeles (1): '93
- Ottawa (1): '07
- Tampa Bay (1): '04
- Washington (1): '98
- Atlanta
- Columbus
- Minnesota
- Nashville
- Phoenix
- San Jose
- Toronto
This is Philadelphia's 8th pennant in the expansion era, placing them second overall. They have cashed Stanley only twice, the first two seasons they made it to the final.
I like the way the Hawks play and I've made a lot of cash from betting on them during the playoffs and my next door neighbour's a dick and a Flyers fan as well.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm cheering for Chi but props to Philly for ending my long national nightmare: a Habs long playoff run.
my next door neighbour's a dick and a Flyers fan as well.
ReplyDeleteNo need to be redundant.
LF: A guy two houses down and two grades ahead of me back home was a Flyers fan who liked them because of Hextall and he was more of a geek than anything else.
ReplyDeleteBut the guy next door is a fellow who really only likes Richards and grumbles about everyone else and tried to tell me that Desjardins was better than Pronger.
Somewhere Flaming Pavel is drinking heavily and listening to Mad World by Gary Jules.
ReplyDeleteThis final matchup earned me a cool $100 from a guy at work, who wasn't a Hab or Shark fan, he just likes making bets.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had thrown some cash on Philly vs. Chicago in Vegas when I brazenly predicted this exact finals matchup way back in late September. Could have probably done alright....
Anyways, Hawks are too deep and too good. Chicago in five, maybe six.
I too am glad the Habs were out. One of my best friends is a Habs fan (my best friend is a Canucks fan).
ReplyDeleteI just can't bring myself to cheer for those two teams. There's a mutual hate and schadenfreude resulting from each other team's failures - and I really wouldn't have it any other way.
Thinking about it, the only Canadian team other than the Oilers I am neutral is Ottawa.
Growing up Bobby Clarke and Bill Barber were the Flyers to me. (as well as Kerr and Propp)
ReplyDeletePhilly is actually one of the tougher match ups for the Hawks imo.
Good, big, mean defensemen, and a little depth up front.
Goalies playing at the top of their SV% curve can help too.
Chicago's offense and cycle would kill most, Philly has a chance.
Gonna love watching Byfuegilinininin (sp?) and Pronger go at it.
Hope Dustin breaks some of his teeth.
Hawks in 6.
Forain: Nah, i don't transgress that fine line between the Pro Sports and real life. Sure i get upset for a moment, but it doesn't affect my mood too much.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that the Habs are out. Now we don't have to hear that stupid statistic anymore of how the Canadiens have won the Stanley Cup at least once in every decade. (BTW, even though 2010 is the start of a new decade for most people, had the Habs won this year, you know we would have heard how "technically" the Canadiens won a Stanley Cup in the first decade of the 21st century).
ReplyDeletefor what it's worth on twitter:
ReplyDeleteOilersReport
Oilers will target Brandon Dubinsky from NYR. Sources indicate he is high on Oilers Brass Radar
Jfry: Ironically i was listening to ''For what it's worth'' from Placebo.
ReplyDeleteI was cheering for montreal because my uncle died this year, and that was his team. I miss him more then someone to cheer for. Love live the Oilers.
ReplyDeleteDubinsky would be nice but he's the best center the Rangers have and his cap hit is only 1.85 next season. I don't see why he would be available for anything less than Gagner.
ReplyDeleteSeguin - Dubinksky - Lander sure would be a nice foundation at center though.
Hey LT,
ReplyDeleteI've wanted to post this for awhile and I'm not sure if it's ever been discussed here before...
Al Gore never claimed to have invented the internet.
Gore simply saw the potential of the technology that eventually became the internet, in use by the US military and at the time, and used his position as a US Congressman and Senator to secure funding for it's development into what eventually became the internet.
In his 2000 campaign one of his aides was asked about this and she replied with the information above and Gore's political opponents spun her answer into "Al Gore says he invented the internet."
A quick search on the old Al Gore should clear up any doubt:)
Vince:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnFJ8cHAlco&feature=related
LAWYERED!!!!!!!
Technically he says he created the internet, not invented. Generating funds to develop the modern internet is pretty close to creating the modern internet. Not exactly, but its also not a claim that he invented it either.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to Al Gore, this comes up once in awhile. Saying "Al invented the internet" is like saying Pierre Trudeau invented the deficit.
ReplyDeleteNot technically true, but close enough for jazz.
RE: Al Gore
ReplyDeletehttp://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp
this was the matchup i wanted of the 4 teams left! hoping for the Hawks to win it all, but both teams prove that the Oilers don't need a Crosby, Malkin or Ovechkin to get to the finals. i'm hoping that Hall/Seguin, MPS or Eberle can be a Toews/Kane or Richards/Carter type.
ReplyDeleteVince - Screw off with your facts and 'information!
ReplyDeleteAL GORE INVENTED THE INTERNET!!
Dug, don't forget that for your Richard/Carter, you also need a Gagne, Briere, Pronger, Timonen, not to mention your also very goods in Carle, Coburn, Hartnell, Van Riemsdyk, Giroux, with guys like Leino and Carcillo rounding out the rest of the roster. Betts and Asham on the 4th as should be.
ReplyDeleteAlso for the Chicago besides the Toews/Kane, all you need is a Sharp, Hossa, Bolland, Versteeg, Byfuglien, Keith, Seabrook, Campbell, with very good and some still developing in Hjalmarsson, Beach, and filler in Sopel, Kopecky, Brouwer, Madden etc. Doesn't hurt having Niemi in net either as the young goalie of the future.
In other news, Yzerman as GM of the Tampa Lightning after 4 years as a VP for the Wings and GM of the latest Olympic Team Canada.
Looking at the Philly lineup, and the X-Factor of Pronger or Hartnell going ape and injuring a few Hawks, they stand a much better chance than I would have anticipated. Especially with the returns of Gagne and Carter.
ReplyDeleteEach team can roll 3 lines with capable 4th lines, have solid top 4 D (Philly's Parent/Krajicek a bit more suspect than Sopel & Co.), and rookie goalies, with Niemi being better in all likelihood.
Chi-town is still clearly the favourite, but I wouldn't be surprised if Philly made it very interesting...there's a good chance they can take this to 6 games or pull something miraculous off. This can be a very fun finals. Richards is one of my favourite players, and I've followed Timonen since his first season in Nashville.
Am I creating a narrative after the fact (as JW says) if I say that Philly was a much better team than it showed this year but were held back due to poor goaltending during the regular season?
ReplyDeletere: Al Gore aka Internet
ReplyDeleteThanks for clearing that up guys. Could you please do a follow up report on how Chuck Norris can't actually punch someone so they stay punched?
re: demise of Habs
As one of LT's generation, I had a favourite team growing up before the Oilers were invented. I was fortunate enough to be a Habs fan back then, starting in 71, but I didn't really hate any other team. Once we had our own team and they knocked off those same Habs in the playoffs, the connection was broken. Now they are on a list of Canadian teams I could live with winning the Cup, behind Ottawa, but ahead of the Flames, Canucks and Leafs.
re: the Stanly Cup
Now I want to see the best team win, and that is Chicago. They are due, since they haven't won since the year I was born. Hawks in 6, and it will be nasty. Philly isn't close to being as good as Chicago, but that doesn't mean they can't cause problems.
Since the 21st century technically started in 2000, one can't say that 2010 is part of its first decade.
ReplyDeleteCup Final should be great - mostly because of how much the fans in both cities want to win it. It'll be a huge deal no matter which way it goes.
As it should be.
What I'm happy about for the finals is the fact that I might be able to watch some of it. Chicago/Philly means start times no later than 9pm out here in Halifax. Now if we can just get rid of these fucking mid-afternoon games on a 28 degree Saturday. Does no one else in the world have kids? Such a piss off to finally sit down at 8pm on a Saturday night, crack a beer and have to watch Criminal Minds on PVR.
ReplyDeleteKnighttown, I hear ya on the time zone thing, up here in Moncton. There was rumblings here few years ago when Bernard Lord was premier, about moving New Brunswick to eastern time zone, first thing I thought of was right on, earlier Oiler games.
ReplyDeleteClark, Barber, Leach, McLeish etc. Mid to late 70s, those guys were the deal to me, only saw them on HNIC maybe twice a season. It was the Oilers win in '81 vs. Habs that hooked me, and I painfully bid the BStreet Bullies adieu.
This should be a great series to watch, fast, tough, gritty. Looking forward to it.
I'm torn. I live in Chicago so I instinctively support the hometown team, but the Blackhawk 'fans' I run into are all invariably jackasses who leaped from the Cubs bandwagon. I didn't like them when they were yelling GO CUBBIES and I don't like them now.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Philly fans are insufferable assholes and Chris Pronger is a jackass.
I guess I'm rooting for seven games, three or fours deaths, and whatever team I have money on to win. Amen.
@uni--i guess i was implying that Kane/Toews and Richards/Carter were the leaders of their respective teams and have helped lead them to the finals, so if Edmonton can come up with a Kane or Toews or Richards or Carter type (Hall? Seguin? MPS? Eberle?), then we may have a chance to get to the finals without needing an Ovechkin or Crosby. of course you need a great supporting staff, we all know that, so here's hoping Stu will find them in this draft coming, like McIlrath or Petrovic, or trading for another 1st rounder this year, and maybe? has some coming from the previous 3 or so drafts (Nash, Lander, Omark, Hartikainen, Rajala, Petry, Plante?)
ReplyDeleteSince the 21st century technically started in 2000, one can't say that 2010 is part of its first decade.
ReplyDeleteThe 21st century started on Jan 1, 2001. It seems silly, but that is the way it is. Don't blame me, blame Pope Gregory XIII.
Am I creating a narrative after the fact (as JW says) if I say that Philly was a much better team than it showed this year but were held back due to poor goaltending during the regular season?
ReplyDeleteNope. I've been saying that ever since John Stevens was fired. As the Flyers' goalies went, so went the team. When Ray Emery got hurt in November, the team went down the tubes and took Stevens with them: when Leighton took over for Emery and played like his pants were on fire, Laviolette mysteriously got the credit for that, even though there'd been no material difference between his performance and Stevens's as coach to that point. Rinse and repeat as the season progresses.
See also: Byslma, Dan and Gonchar, Sergei. Or Martin, Jacques and Markov, Andrei.
After Pope Gregory IX, apparently it all went downhill.
ReplyDeleteI blame society.
ReplyDeleteWow.
ReplyDeleteI spent a whole year from 1/01/00 to 1/01/01 telling everyone who said we were in the 21st Century that they were idiots, and then I inexplicably go posting about the same moronic thing myself less than a decade later.
- Tuesday mornings after long weekends are tough.
Also, anyone in withdrawal and needing a sports fix tonight should really do himself a favour and tune in to Lakers-Suns Game 4 tonight.
ReplyDeleteWith my most hated current player (Kobe) going against my favourite current player (Nash) and trying to take a strangle-hold on the series, I'm starting to freak out a little already.
Here's hoping Nash can come up big and tie things up, even with his busted nose.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2010/news/story?id=5215555
Pope Gregory XIII
ReplyDeleteWho does he play for?
Pope Gregory XIII
ReplyDeleteWho does he play for?
Whoever pays the most.
book¡e, Pope Gregory XIII is just a problem for you neophytes.
ReplyDeleteI'm still on Julian myself, Julius Caesar was the man. Little bit awkward celebrating the Navidad festivities 20 days later than everyone else though.
And I got what you meant Dug, but I'd argue that while Kane is very important, Toews, Sharp, and Keith are the real leaders in Chi-Town, and they have another elite in Hossa.
Also while Carter destroys soft comp, Richards/Pronger/Gagne drive the bus more.
It's not one or two elite players, its quality depth, something the Oilers have not had in a long long time. If all their prospects pan out better than 4th and 3rd liners then hallelujah, but it all comes down largely to luck in the playoffs.
uni: Julius Caesar was the man? Maybe, and you have a fantastic argument without saying another word, but for me it's got to be Vercingetorix.
ReplyDeleteDude could step into any metal band on earth, 2,000 years after his prime.
Come to think of it, he'd probably make a hell of a hockey player - kind of like Larry Robinson, but a lot more dangerous in the crease.
Bookie: Weird, when i check the Yankee's depthchart, he's not there.
ReplyDeleteObscurity reigns on days when no NHL games are being played.
ReplyDeleteVercingetorix eh? That explains your love of the Oilers then Hunter, always rooting for the underdogs. Too bad the Gauls didn't really have a Getafix, Asterix, and Obelix.
ReplyDeleteIf we're going for failed resistance to the Romans I'll have to say Boudica gets my vote. I likes the ladies and she does have "Boud" in her name ;).
Hunter:
ReplyDeleteIf you are into obscure enemies of Rome, check out King Mithridates.
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/mithridates/a/aa053000a.htm
Matt.N, if you're looking for the greatest threat to Rome I'd say Hannibal was the man. If the Carthaginians weren't such fools Rome would have been ashes before there was ever a Roman Empire.
ReplyDeleteMatt.N, if you're looking for the greatest threat to Rome I'd say Hannibal was the man. If the Carthaginians weren't such fools Rome would have been ashes before there was ever a Roman Empire.
ReplyDeleteI've read some interesting academic journals that made a good case that Hannibal posed no threat to the capital whatsoever and didn't have the means or ability to actually win his war.
Part of his mystique was propagated by the Romans themselves to make their victory over the Carthaginians all the more impressive.
I imagine NHL GM's salaries aren't readily available but 2.5 mill for Yzerman in TB?
ReplyDeleteWholly fuck that seems a bit high for a guy who has never steered a ship.
http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/05/hawks-keith-loses-seven-teeth-in-game-4-win.html
ReplyDeleteGood Canadian kid (in my best Don Cherry voice)
I don't buy the arguments that Rome had enemies who could have destroyed it in it's prime(republic).
ReplyDeleteLike China before and America to come(my personal estimate by the end of this century), Rome only went down the tubes after it had reached it's zenith, went corrupt, lost it's original virtue, and was forced brought in barbarians to replace the lost old timers.
The Romans weren't particularly much better than anyone else at anything other than engineering, but having once seen a bronze Roman waterpump that looked like an internal combustion engine...
Rome only went down the tubes after it had reached it's zenith, went corrupt, lost it's original virtue, and was forced brought in barbarians to replace the lost old timers.
ReplyDeleteKind of sounds like the post '80s Oilers under Pocklington.
I feel like I'm letting the Oilers down for cheering for my hometown Hawks, but man they look good.
ReplyDeletePhilly should be a handful. Boston and Montreal had little time or space to set up the offense, so I doubt the Hawks will either. It comes down to Niemi vs. Leighton, neither of which are a sure thing.
Maybe it's time for Hossa to step up and win a game single-handedly.
Matt.N : Snap!
ReplyDeleteRick: Enjoy it, championships don't come around often. It's a lot of fun and one of the few times when a city rallies around a fun cause. I always enjoy a deep playoff run because even your assclown neighbors can get behind it.
ReplyDeleteMatt N. wins the best comment award.
ReplyDeleteAs for the calendar, it's been fucked up since the moment it skipped from 1 BC to 1 AD without stopping at 0 along the way, and it's kind of been stuck in daylight savings mode ever since. (And yes, I know there was never such a "moment" in the present tense, but such a continuity gap was effectively created after the fact, I belive in the Council of Nicea in 325.)
But one offshoot of that is that since there was no Year Zero, the first millennium definitively started in 1, the second in 1001, and the third in 2001.
In astronomy we use a number line for dates which includes the year 0 meaning we have to do a stupid +1 adjustment to every BC date going. Damned inconvenient, that.
Guess I should have looked into the gore thing a little more. haha
ReplyDeleteI've read some interesting academic journals that made a good case that Hannibal posed no threat to the capital whatsoever and didn't have the means or ability to actually win his war.
ReplyDeletePart of his mystique was propagated by the Romans themselves to make their victory over the Carthaginians all the more impressive.
Smarmy, you're partially correct. Like I said, if Carthage's leadership had gotten its head out of its rear Rome would have been ashes before it was an Empire. The only reason Hannibal didn't pose a threat to the city of Rome itself was because Carthage refused to send him troops. The man crushed Roman army after army with quite inferior numbers, and then when he got worn down through attrition he fought a guerilla campaign, all the while begging his leaders to send him troops so he could go after the city itself.
Means no, ability yes. In retrospect Carthage would have done well to go after Rome and deliver a death blow when they had a decent chance to. The Romans certainly did when they got the chance, there's a reason we don't read about the Carthaginian Empire.