Olympics

The Sochi Olympics ended yesterday, so it was the last game for the men's hockey. The final four teams came down to Finland, United States, Sweden, and Canada. Both Canada and Sweden won in the semifinal rounds. This left Finland vs United States to decide who was going to win the Bronze medal.

Unfortunately for the United States, they were shut out 5-0. For Flyers fans, however, long time defenseman, Kimmo Timonen, was able to bring back a medal. Congratulations to him because I believe that is his 4th medal that he has won. In the gold medal game, Canada won the gold once again. This was another shut out win (3-0) for goalie, Carey Price. This year's Olympics mostly depended on defense and goaltending, rather than offense.

The NHL starts back up again tomorrow, Tuesday February 25, but the Flyers do not play until Thursday against the San Jose Sharks.

Catching Up

Since I have not posted in a few months, I thought I should update on some of the biggest things that have happened so far.

Head coach Peter Laviolette fired and Craig Berube hired:

After only 3 games the head coach was fired. This move was not surprising to me, but happened a lot earlier than I thought. It really made no sense when he could have just been fired over the summer. If they do that, the team has more time to learn a new system under a new coach. This may have been a more effective move because after the coaching change the team was still playing poorly.

Max Talbot traded for Steve Downie:

It was not until after October 31 when the Flyers traded Max Talbot in exchange for a former Flyers draft pick, Steve Downie, that things started picking up for them. I believe the Flyers got the much better player (although some only remember him for this dirty hit). Downie brings physicality and a bit of playmaking where Talbot was just a 4th line penalty killer for the team.

Unfortunately, in his debut game back he suffered a concussion. A few games later he returned on a line with Sean Couturier and Matt Read where all three played extremely well. They continued to play well until Downie got hurt again. Since returning from his last injury he has not been as good, even getting benched a few games. Hopefully the long Olympic break will allow him to recover more. 

Steve Mason:

The biggest and most important player on the team this year (besides point leader Claude Giroux) has been goaltender Steve Mason. He has been outstanding in net & the best player on the ice, even stealing a few undeserved wins. His record is currently at 23/14/5 (W/L/OTL) with 3 shutouts and a 2.49 GAA. It looks like the Flyers finally got a good starting goalie. He will continue to be the Flyers starting goalie for the next 3 years, after signing a contract extension on January 18.

Back Again!

My name is Jayson. I am a 23 year old at West Chester University. Being a huge Philadelphia Flyers fan, I originally created this blog to stay more up to date with other hockey/Philadelphia Sports news stories.

For the remainder of the season, I plan on consistently writing about the team’s big games and news. This may be the best time to start blogging because, just passed the halfway point, the team looks to make a run for the playoffs that hopefully will be exciting.