Reporters are generally inquisitive, but Anthony San Filippo’s column on the Delco Times proves how a persistent reporter operates. He asked Coach John Stevens directly for clear details of the strategic plan against the Pittsburgh Penguins and he delivered.

According to the insider article, Coach John Stevens will stop Sidney Crosby by using Darien Hatcher in their key line. “With Crosby, if you try to stick check him all night you’re not going to be very effective. You have to be physical with him and that plays right into Hatch’s hands,” referring to the defenseman’s acumen.

But then there is the question of Malkin, the Hart trophy finalist and power play creator for the Pittsburgh Penguins. “We’d like to split Timonen in half so we can have two of him so we can match him up against both of them,” said Stevens referring to Coach Therrien’s deadliest offensive playmakers Malkin and Crosby.

Shutting down players using Timonen worked in the quarterfinal series against Alexander Ovechkin in Washington and then in the semifinals against Alex Kovalev in Montreal. It could be done.

Unfortunately, the most pressing question remains unanswered by John Stevens: What will Gary Roberts do?

I’m not disappointed in the Flyers level of play against the top seeded Montreal Canadiens.  In fact, I’m just disappointed in the quality of their hockey sticks. 

Nowadays hockey sticks are made of technological advanced materials, special coatings and graphite blades.  Anyone would think that broken hockey sticks would be a thing of the past with the future of science.  Of course, this might be just part of the advertising campaign to emulate hockey heroes such as Sidney Crosby.

During the first period of game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, Flyers Scottie Upshall broke his Easton S17 stick after shooting a tying goal against the Washington Capitals.  The infamous hockey stick is even on sale on Ebay. 

But the most dramatic Flyers stick break occurred this past Thursday during their first semifinal game against the Montreal Canadiens. With less than a minute left in the third period, Flyers center Jeff Carter’s Bauer stick broke as he tapped it forcibly on the ice on a faceoff to Canadien’s Saku Koivu.  Christopher Higgins then shot the loose puck to Alex Kovalev who sent it straight into the top right corner beating Flyers goaltender Martin Biron tying the game. 

 

It seems that Tom Kostopoulus with his RBK Pro-O stick made more damage in overtime than the Flyers could realize for the Canadiens win.  His Pro-O stick did not break. 

So, why not sue RBK, Easton or whichever company makes the hockey sticks for broken damages?   A broken stick can lose the game. 

“It’s not like you win three of four and they give you a mercy rule,” said Martin Biron to the press after the Capitals beat the Flyers 4-2 in game 6. Biron is right; Flyers hockey is based on no mercy. For goaltenders and players alike, you fight to play till after the end of the season. In the case of the Flyers, despite two in between losses against the Capitals, they fought to play till the end of the series.

Game 7 proved just how pivotal it is to count on special teams especially a sound power play. Capitals Nicklas Backstrom and Philadelphia Flyers’ Scottie Upshall tallied power plays in the opening period. It was not until Flyers Joffrey Lupul netted a rebound during 6:06 of overtime play that the Flyers untied the game for a win. The Flyers converted a total of 2 of their 5 power plays while the Washington Capitals converted only one of their 4 shots on goal.

The next series will be against top seeded Montreal Canadiens, a team that despite having a 24% power play percentage during the season, struggled with the same in the quarterfinals against the Bruins. Their power play converted at a mere 9.1%.

But will a sound power play be enough for the Flyers to beat the Canadiens? Biron, certainly, wants to play without mercy.

Tonight is close out time in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals for the Montreal Canadiens. Coach Guy Carbonneau even wore his bright lucky tie, perhaps bought at a clearance sale. But it would take more than just luck to oust the Boston Bruins.

Last year as I watched the American Hockey League Calder Cup Championships, a rookie goaltender named Carey Price made his debut. Pucks would fly and linger towards the crease and with one sleek movement he would make the save. My friends from Hamilton, Ontario joked with me, “Seriously, he’s hexed.” I was in disbelief. I'm a skeptic and a scientist by nature. I analyze everything. I broke up the goal statistics and still was in disbelief. Then they managed to tell me that Carey Price’s mom, Lynda, is the Chief of the Ulkatcho First Nation in British Columbia. “They must have placed a hex on him since he doesn’t allow one goal during playoffs.” That year he won the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the Calder Cup playoffs MVP and proved to be the youngest player ever to win this award.

Perfect games for $870,000 per season. Playoff wins optional with bonus.

Watch him on net and surely Carey Price does appear incredibly calm on

goal for a rookie netminder. Never in Boston Bruins history, has the team

come back from a 3-1 series deficit and won. It didn’t happen tonight

either as the Canadiens took the last game to close out 5-0.

Quarterfinal Clearance Sales --

Will the Calgary Flames be closed out tomorrow by the Sharks?

Will the Flyers revive after Ovechkin woke up after napping the

greater part of the series?

Honestly, I’m thoroughly surprised with the resurgence of the Bruins in the playoffs. The crowd was fueled tonight in the third period singing to the cult Bruins song, “I’m into Bruins y’all!” everytime their team scored. Don Cherry would be proud.

Clearly, the Bruins Coach Julien figured out the Montreal Canadiens’ method of madness. Then again Coach Julien was once the coach of the Bruins rival team. Montreal rookie goaltender Carey Price is not invincible. To beat the Canadiens the Bruins worked, overworked and outskated the competition and let their first round draft Phil Kessel produce goals. Boston coach Claude Julien scratched Jeremy Reich, fourth-line winger, and placed Kessel on the second line with Milan Lucic and Marc Savard. The rest was the outcome with a game lead of 5-4.

“Phil Kessel, I love Phil Kessel what?”

Phil Kessel was named first star of the game for reviving the Boston Bruins with two key goals in the second and third period.

If Boston wins, Julien would have a chance to repeat his feat from 2003-04 when he led his now rival team, the Canadiens, from a 3-1 deficit to win a first-round Eastern Conference series against his current team, the Boston Bruins.

Will Claude Julien succeed leading the Boston Bruins to victory against the top seeded team this Monday?

Join a Facebook group and you will become a hockey fan sooner than later. You can join “Max Talbot Superstar Club” and watch videos.  

or you can join “If Bob Errey Ever Scored A Goal then He Didn’t See It” referring to the FSN broadcaster who tends to call Jordan Staal by a dinosaur name “Staaldactyl”. My favorite still is “Carey Price is the Next Patrick Roy” started by minor leaguers who think that the Canadiens goaltender is hot enough for shut outs to be compared to the “great”. All this talk about groups, inspired me to make my own pointless cyberspace hockey club –“Mike Keenan Is as Grumpy as Bill Belichick “ Nobody can dispute this claim after Mike Keenan’s Flames lost in the face of utter disgrace in the last seven seconds of the third period. At the end, Keenan’s team was outshot 32 to 10. According to Keenan, it’s a matter of the effort placed by the Sharks in a game which the Flames believed they were ahead and winning. After a 3-2 loss to the Sharks, his expressionless face simply reminds me of Belichik’s during any Patriot game.

Keenan                                   Belichick

 

During the end of last season, fed up with the media frenzy of being the media I had the bright idea of retiring from hockey writing.  It all started when the Chicago Blackhawks extended their losing streak closing on to a 1960s record.  Sadly enough, I sought solace in other sports such as baseball and soccer.  Now, that summer is over and the hockey season has started I’ve been anxious pondering what I should do in Pennsylvania through the winter months.

Before I dared take such a drastic step as being bored all winter long without hockey, my friend enticed me to visit the roots of the sport in Canada.  So, I took on the idea thinking that it was just October and that bad weather wouldn’t hinder our plans.  Driving through sleet, snow and freezing rain I barely made it to Niagara Falls through a slippery demise.  The Canadian Border Patrol only asked us one question:  “What are you going to be doing in the country?”  My friend and I both answered in concert:  “Watching two hockey games, what else!”

Our first stop was in Hamilton, Ontario a town which many people in our whereabouts refer as the Johnstown, PA of Canada.   My friend, Nichole, who is a native of Johnstown and a direct descendant from a long line of Chief fans as in the movie Slapshot grimaced as she looked upon the fuming skyline of the steel city.  It was like Johnstown alright and she felt close to home.  This time around we prepared for the game as spectators not writers sitting behind the glass.

 Familiar faces skated down the ice as they winked, threw pucks at the glass and showed off their skills.  The ex captain of the Norfolk Admirals, Ajay Baines, smiled as he read a sign with a message from an old Admiral friend.  It was an inside joke which Baines understood as he chuckled his way back to the line up.  Baines who has never played a game up in the NHL is a hard working veteran who leads through example.  In his other community, down south in Norfolk, land of baseball and of David Wright, where he lived for five years, Baines educated his fans about diabetes, a disease he himself copes with everyday.  Baines now wears an A for alternate captain with his new team.    

A couple of slams against the glass later, and the Montreal Canadiens farm club lost the game as we cheered in the multicolored empty seats of the Copps.  Will an NHL club ever make it to Hamilton?  I asked my friends who are season ticket holders in the arena.  “The Pens might be playing here in Hamilton.”  According to the media, NHL bylaws wouldn’t permit another arena in Toronto’s precious communications air space.   “It must be that the CN Tower needle picks up everything,” I told them.

After I talked to my friends during intermission, I realized the importance of the game.  It brings people together.  In the vast province of Ontario, hockey spectators drive miles just to meet up with others.  It is a social event that encompasses hours broken down into three periods and two intermissions meant for socializing.  During those two breaks, you catch up with everyone you haven’t seen since the last game.  At this level, the hockey is still homely.  Many fans greet the players as they hop on the bus waving goodbye preparing themselves for the next game, the next adventure, and the next town.   

Here in Hamilton, I hadn’t seen my friends from Selkirk in over two years while Nichole hadn’t seen her friend Cliff in over a year.  He showed up from Waterloo after the game and posed an interesting question.  “What would happen if the Pens moved to Waterloo?”  I had to think twice about Ontario geography.  In my mind, I imagined Napoleon’s Waterloo with the ABBA soundtrack in the background.  It was the wrong image.  Cliff proposed that the Pittsburgh Penguins might be moving to Waterloo which is the birthplace of the Blackberry (that do it yourself wireless gizmo) empire and the home of its new owner.  Cliff was excited but Nichole squirmed at the thought of her beloved team moving out of town.  For her, it was the equivalent of the Pittsburgh Steelers losing Big Ben.  It was a devastating thought.  Nichole was raised a Pens fan despite the fact that she is from the home of the Johnstown Chiefs and had watched Slapshot too many times to count.

The next day we headed over to Toronto under a hail storm to the Hockey Hall of Fame.  I posed next to Bobby Hull’s glass memorabilia and strolled over to the Canadiens locker room.  It smelled refreshingly clean unlike most fetid dressing rooms in the NHL.  I then attempted to shoot a puck at Eddie Belfour in his hologram form in the interactive goalie section.  Of course, I won. 

But the highlight of Toronto was returning to our hotel with the harbor front view of the city.  Around 4pm, we ran into some well dressed men waddling through the lobby.  “It’s Jarome Iginla,” Nichole told me as we lounged with our shopping spree bags layered around the lush carpet.  “Sure it is,” I said.  Nichole is always kidding around except this time.  Jarome greeted us with a huge grin on his face.  I guess it was a warm welcome for him in the city of his rivals, the mighty Toronto Maple Leafs.  That night we decided to attend the game and cheer on for the Calgary Flames.  Maybe we would bring Jim Playfair’s team some luck.

The game turned out to be an action pack sequence where Kipper saw pucks flying around his crease like popcorn.  At the end, Mats Sundin's team prevailed as he struck his 500th goal to win in overtime.  History was made in the ACC and the next day we were to return back home.

On our return trip on a Sunday afternoon, we decided to make a stop at the International Hockey Hall of Fame.  It was closed which isn’t surprising since it is located on the outskirts of Kingston next to the town’s old memorial arena.   This is Don Cherry country with a huge giant square puck as the only landmark for the hall of fame.  Nevertheless, after a stop at Tim Horton’s, we escaped the aftermath of the storm in Buffalo by cruising through the winding back roads of upstate New York.  It was a memorable trip.  Maybe it isn’t time to retire my number just yet. 

The Buffalo Sabres are about to win an NHL record for the best start in a season.  They are undeniably undefeated and the rest of the league is just plain jealous.  They have a secret and it’s not just eating Wheaties.   

The Buffalo Sabres play as a team.  Yes, even Saku Koivu, captain of the Montreal Canadiens, admitted to the fact that the Sabres do not make mistakes. “If they do, they’re little ones and yes, they know exactly what to do with the puck,” he said to the reporter of CanWest. 

Mind you I’ve only driven through Buffalo on my way to Canada in drenching snow, but their 9-0 start makes me want to stop and watch the record breaking moment.  I would celebrate like Jessica Simpson eating Buffalo Wings. 

Interestingly enough, the record of the best start is carried by the 1993-94 Toronto Maple Leafs going 10-0.  Some Leafer fans are upset since back then in the day in pre-lockout era the shootout did not exist.  The NHL office was inundated with calls from the Toronto media.  Would the Buffalo record break still be legit?