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Jose Theodore at Kettler. Picture by Monica McAlister So it appears right now that Jose Theodore will not be returning to the Washington Capitals next season. Capitals’ are faced with either going with their two young gun netminders in Semyon Varlamov and Michael Neuvirth or bringing in another veteran from Unrestricted Free Agency. Some of [...]
Everybody knew it was coming — 14 straight games away from the friendly confines of General Motors Place.
It has been rough to be a goaltender in Philadelphia recently. Bouts of the flu and many poor performances have led to benchings, call-ups, starter switches, and views from the end of the Flyers’ bench. In fact many Flyers fans are still arguing as to whether or not Biron and Niittymaki will be with the orange and black for the remainder of the season let alone years to come. Not since the days of Hextall have the Flyers been able to say they have consistent goaltending year in and year out. That has led to even further frustration as it seems to be the one thing holding them back from their Stanley Cup dreams.
It’s no question that Mike Richards knows how to win. He has led his team in the Canadian Juniors Ontario Hockey League to a championship followed soon after by a Memorial Cup victory against the best that Canadian Juniors has to offer. Afterwards he was the captain of one of the most impressive Canadian teams ever to enter the World Junior Tournament including names such as Sidney Crosby, Dion Phaneuf, Ryan Getzlaf, Jeff Carter, and Shae Weber. With that team he brought gold back to Canada in the WJC for the first time since 1997. Then he won the Calder Cup with the Philadelphia Phantoms. So there are only two things left on Mike Richards’ “Captain Championship” checklist; a Stanley Cup of course along with an Olympic Gold Medal.
Flyers head coach John Stevens remained cool, calm, and collected the other day as he announced no actual goalie controversy in Philadelphia. He said Niittymaki had the hot glove, and he was in fact going to ride that glove until it cooled down. Of course he didn’t have to wait very long as the Flyers brand new starting goaltender for little under a week let in 5 goals against the struggling Ottawa Senators tonight only managing to fend off 18 of the 23 fired shots in his direction.
NHL On The Fly has become my new best friend. Not only did Carter’s two goals (add on the assist as well for good measure) out of the Flyers three goals on a lovely Sunday afternoon in Atlanta spark a debate on how good Jeff Carter actually is, but there was also mention that he scores “so easily”. It must be awesome to be able to score like Jeff can. The rest of the commentary seemed to touch on other players trying shoot from areas they can’t score from in order to be more like Jeff. Apparently Jeff is having a negative influence on other players because he is so good. That doesn’t matter much though. What matters is that Jeff Carter has landed this season and isn’t going anywhere.
It’s no secret that Randy Jones gets very little love in Boston. In fact everytime he touched the puck during today’s Saturday afternoon game up north echoes of booing flooded the TD Banknorth Garden. It would be impossible to guess why there was such dissatisfaction in Jones’ presence in Boston without knowing an event from last season. One hit connects the entire city of Boston to the Flyers offensive defenseman. From tonight onward though he will be remembered in Boston as the cause of even more heartbreak as he nets the overtime game winner against the dominant eastern team.
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