Nailbiting, Flyers pizza and..Identity Theft...???

Aside from being busy canceling credit and debit cards due to identity theft (don't get me started on THAT whole thing), I've been making a weekly appointment with my manicurist. Doesn't sound very hockey-ish. Oh, but it is. If you're a Flyers fan, you'll understand.

We've been biting our nails since the last game of the regular season. As I've previously stated, it's been an absolutely insane ride to get to this point. But here we are preparing for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals! Game 1 should have been thrown out since it was basically a track meet followed by a shooting gallery. Both teams admitted they didn't play their best hockey. Game 2 was tighter although it didn't have the outcome I wanted. Now Game 3? THAT was a hockey game! Both teams fought hard but MY team (and dare I say, the better team?) won! I can't wait to see what's on tap for Game 4.

Julie, our hostess for all the games this playoffs, is working midnight shifts for Games 4 and 5 of this series. She will go without sleep before she'd go without hockey! Henrik the Swede, wakes up at two in the morning his time to watch the games with us via internet! THAT'S a real hockey fan! And about that Flyers pizza. We order from the same place every game. The thing is, the scoring doesn't begin until the pizza is delivered. Superstition? Well, call it what you will but we're not messing with a good thing!

Eastern Conference Champions!

Another series done. Another nailbiting series. The FlyGuys have silienced the Ole's of the storied Montreal Canadiens! What a wild ride it's been! The Philadelphia Flyers are going to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1997 with a chance to win a Cup for the first time since 1975!

Captain Mike Richards took hold of the Prince of Wales trophy and had his picture taken with it and then...superstition or no he grabbed that trophy and took it to the dressing room! So amazing! Team of Destiny! Who cares about the superstitions! Crosby touched it last season and ended up hoisting the Cup a couple weeks later!

Jack was jumping around like a little kid! Sean had his first taste of beer (shh...don't tell anyone). A champagne cork was popped and we celebrated!!!! I had tears in my eyes just taking it all in. It was amazing. But just like the team, we put the celebrating behind us and look forward to the next series.

Now for the downside, if there is one. Chicago's Cup drought has been longer than that of the Flyers. They haven't won a Cup since 1961. This was the one reason I was hoping to not face them.

In the meantime, we bought our EC Champion tshirts and hats. We watched the replay of the game a few times and now we focus on winning the next period. And the one after that. And the one after that. Until we stand victorious. Now, I'm not being cocky or over confident. I said weeks ago that the stars were aligning and whatever was going to happen, it was going to be big. This...THIS is HUGE!!!!!!!!!!

In mini-mite news, Sean's been cleared for light, no contact activity. That means he can ride his bike and skate, but no hockey or karate for another three weeks! We took him right to the SkateZone in NE Philly for public skate and he looked like he hadn't missed a minute on the ice. He'll make the last two weeks of the spring season before the summer season starts. Then we watched the Philadelphia PD deliver a crushing defeat to the Pittsburgh PD on the ice. It was great! Thanks for the invite, JB!

Heartfelt Sentiment From My Husband

My husband posted this on facebook about This Team! I have nothing more to add.

"So I said I was going to post something heartfelt before Game 1. I think that it is appropriate to write a bit about this team. Not because I know they are going to win the Cup, I don't. And not because I think that they aren't going to get out of this round, because if any team can, this one can. But because I think that the time period from about 5:35pm on April 11, 2010 (the moment the the New York Rangers decided not to participate in a clutch, season saving overtime period to guarantee themselves a shootout win) until 9:34pm on May 15, 2010 (the precise moment that our team matched and made history following an epic comeback) I, and many of you, witnessed the most improbable and impressive display of relentless hockey this town has seen in a long, long time. It is when Peter Laviolette, Danny Briere, Claude Giroux and Brian Boucher said loud and clear..."We will not die."

I have been watching the Flyers my entire life. A life that is the length of the team's existence. The team and I, and many of my friends, grew up together. My life is defined by the eras of Flyers hockey. I remember the Cups. I remember 1980 like it was yesterday, spinning around in my basement listening to the "Flyers Fight Song" over and over and over again and then watching my Dad and Frank flip out over the botched offsides (I learned many new words that day). I remember Gene Hart's "ala Bjore Salming" and his joking with Chief about his playing days, Mike Emrick and Prism, staying up "late" and "drinking" with my Dad during the games. I remember Clarkie's bloodied face, MacLeish's hair, blade measurements, the "H" in Behn Wilson's name and Propper's guffaw. I can still see the LCB line crossing the blue paint, Hexy tapping his stick on the pipes, the orange and black room in our house and the serene look on Pelle's face as he lay in the ICU at Kennedy. I remember cheering for the '85 and '87 Wales Conference Champions, being let down time and time again by the early 90's teams, and riding high and crashing with the '97 team. Years, decades and scores of mostly highs and a few lows. Wonderful memories, nonetheless.

So thank you Dad and Frank for teaching me how to watch the game. I hope I am passing that on to my son in a similar way. And Clarkie, Reg, Rick, Moose, Hammer, Hound, Bernie, Dorny, Donny and the Watsons for teaching me how to love the game.

Thanks, Homer, Propper, Ben with an H, Timmy, Glen and the Rat. Pelle, Hexy, Poulin, Tocchet, Zezel, Brownie, Howe, Marsh and the Sutter Brutters. You are the guys we talked about in school the day after a game and the guys we wanted to be.

And hats off to Brindy, Johnny, Jonesy, Prims, Eric (s), Rex, Bundy and Gags. I will NEVER forget May 4 (and 5), 2000 and jumping around like a madman at 2:35am. I was so exhausted. You might have thought I was actuall playing!

So why is THIS team so special. I mean, after all of those names and all of those memories I don't ever remember having this kind of feeling about a team. Maybe I'm getting old and sentimental. Maybe it's my desire for the underdog to do the impossible. Maybe it's that I see myself in my boy and his love for the game. Or maybe it is just the right time, right place and right group of people. Think about it. Briere, Richie, Prongs always shwoing heart and never sitting back. Lappy risking his life to prevent a goal. That's why he's Sean's hero...and in a way, mine too. Gags, barely able to skate, orchestrating one of the greatest comebacks in all of sports history. Clood, Carbomb, Reemer, Carle, Ville Mays, Scotty and Kimmo getting the job done. Leighton getting us close, Boosh getting us there, Leighton getting us closer. And Lavvy, knowing exactly what to say, exactly when it needs to be said. If any fan thinks that this team doesn't have the heart, they need to be institutionalized.

And it's not just the players, either. I am enjoying this with old friends (John, Scott, Doug, Paul, Mike) and family (Colleen, Kim, Sean, Roman and Dad). Relatively new friends (Julie and Vern, Cool C, Ed, Kat, Chris, Jimmy, Henirk and Mark) and Facebook friends (too many of you!). And these are fans with heart. Fans who live and die and with the team.

I've tried to analyze it. I treid to figure out why this team is doing what they're doing and why I'm delighting in it so much. I've looked at stats, player bios, history and all of the hard evidence to find the answer. All I can come up with is that it's the right place, the right time and the right group of people...on all fronts.

Win or lose, I am having the time of my life!

Good night and good hockey."

Courtesy of Jack Manning

Somethin's Bruin in Philly!

Here I am sitting at my local bookstore (since my wireless network is down at home and I can't even get internet access on my desktop). My mouth is STILL hanging open at this point. Could this be happenning? Is it really true? The Flyers have forced a Game 6 when NO ONE (including my diehard Flyers fan husband) thought we had a chance to come back from a three games to none deficit! I feel like someone needs to pinch me. I still can't quite comprehend.

It would seem that the Flyers should have been counted out yet here we are preparing for a Game 6. The boys in black and orange have been faced with nothing but adversity since the slide they took back in November. A sudden coaching change. The loss of our star goalie to a potentially career ending injury. Our second string goalie coming back to Philly after ten years. Our third string goalie getting picked up off waivers and starting the Winter Classic after injuries to our second goalie and then facing a possible season ending injury himself. BARELY making the playoffs when it came down to the last shooter in a shootout on the last day of the regular season. Eliminating the number 2 seed in 5 games of the first round. Losing two of the top goal scorers in that series to..you guessed it, injury. This is the stuff of Hollywood.

Now facing elimination in the second round. Backs against the wall. They win game four in overtime with the game winner coming from a player who was thought to be done for the season! Game 5 brings us injury again, losing our newest number one netminder, who was our second stringer earlier in the season and is destined to change his past by redeeming himself after ten years.

What can I say? This team is making me believe in hockey miracles. This Hockey Mom is definitely saying prayers to the hockey gods at our hockey altar (my son's unused hockey equipment in the livingroom) and hoping for a Game 7!

In mini-mite cross-ice news: Sean goes back to ortho on the 24th to see if he'll be playing the rest of the season. He's suffering from hockey withdrawl and has resorted to playing video hockey on the big screen to get the feel of playing on the ice. It's not the same but it's all he's got for now. Poor Kid. I will say this. He put on his brand spankin' new Ian LaPerriere jersey and the team started winning. He's really feeling like part of the team. As we all are!


Do YOU believe in miracles??????

The Second Season

Well, it's been quite a while since I posted anything on this blog. I've been super busy with Sean's season and have been without a desktop/modem for about two weeks now too. But I'm sitting in a bookstore that has free wifi and figured I should update!

So, here we are. In the midst of the Playoffs. They call this hockey's "second season". I have wondered why that is. Now I know. The Flyers were unsure of the their playoff status until the last game on the last day of the regular season. It came down to a shoot out. Lundqvist versus Boucher. One goalie, one shooter. Boucher bested the Rangers on the third shooter and the Wach went nuts!!!!!

Then we faced the NJ Devils in the first round. We won the first game! WooHoo! We thought we had it locked up...we did. But it took 5 games to do it! But even still. It took 7 games to determine who we would play in the next round. Much to our surprise the 8th-seed Canadiens beat the 1st-seed Capitals and we're now playing the Bruins! That hasn't happened since 1978! I hope we have better luck that the 77-78 Flyers who lost that series in 5 games.

I guess anything can happen in the Playoffs. THAT's why it's the Second Season. It's ANYBODY's Cup!

In mini-mites news: Sean is an injured scratch for at least the next three weeks with a fractured arm.
He fell while skating and sure enough, it's broken. He went to practice/game Friday night in a show of support for his team. He even had some of his team mates sign his cast.

Making a Run For It

Well, it's been a long few weeks since our hockey hiatus but we've been watching the NHL. The Flyers have been teetering on the playoff bubble for the last couple of weeks. It's been rough. We're in decent position now with only two games left. We'll see what happens next.

It's really kind of sweet to see my son really enjoy watching this playoff run! It was adorable to see him jumping up and down tonight when the Islanders beat Montreal! He doesn't understand all the points and game-in-hand lingo but he does look at the standings and wants to know where the Flyers are every day!

Sean starts back to hockey on Friday. His cross ice mini season starts. He's excited! He wants it to start tonight!

Off the ice, he's learned how to ride his two wheel bike...today! I teared up a little when I got to my room. It's kind of sad for me. He's growing so fast. Before I know it, he'll be graduating high school. That's where I am right now with my daughter. She will be finishing high school this year. Very sad for me. Ugh!

Hockey Hiatus

Four weeks. Four weeks with no traveling to the rink. Ah...I can't really believe it but I miss it! I miss the chats with the other moms. I miss watching my little guy try his hand at the various positions. But, luckily, it won't be long until our cross-ice mini season starts. April 9th!

We had a hockey party at an indoor playplace this past Friday night. Sean was so excited but he didn't know why there was going to be a party. I told him it was to celebrate the end of the hockey season. He got pretty upset and said, "but I don't want my hockey seasons to end. I want to keep playing!"

In the NHL we've made some impressive moves in the standings. We've moved into 5th in the East. Wow! Emery's out for the season with his hip injury. Leighton, our waiver-wire wonder, is out for 8-10 weeks with an ankle sprain. Boucher started twice this week. He had a very impressive game against Dallas but had a pretty poor showing in Atlanta in the first of a home and home series, giving up five goals. Not sure who's going to get the start tonight in Flyers vs Atlanta part II.

As any hockey fan knows this is a very precarious time in hockey. Every game, every win, every point can make the difference of being in the playoffs or not making the cut. It will also make the difference for those teams in the playoffs to determine their opening round.

For the Fly Guys, fifth is actually a pretty good spot for us to be in. It's an intense rivalry but not nearly as intense as say, Pittsburgh. New Jersey is a team we can beat but not without consistant goaltending! This has been our problem all season. It's our problem EVERY season!

I, along with the rest of Flyers Nation, will be watching this game very closely!