Flyers try to shed the bullies-eye for game 2
It is a success we will end up paying for… long after this season concludes. The championship teams of 73-74 and 74-75 were a different breed. They could beat you with skill or they could beat you with their fists. They raised the Stanley Cup for two straight seasons. They were held high for all to see when they beat the Red Army back in ‘76. But then perceptions changed. Bobby Clarke, captain of these bruisers and eventual GM of the Flyers did not. He sculpted his teams into what he thought a successful Philadelphia Flyers hockey club should be. Big forwards like Lindros who could bowl you over on the way to the net. Tough defenseman who would destroy you like Derian Hatcher if you got in front of his net. His protégé, Paul Holmgren now rules the Flyers, but in a different time. A New NHL. And yet we’re still known as the Bullies… as thugs and goons who can’t play the game. If yesterday was any indication, the Flyers will continue to be the scapegoat for an NHL that doesn’t know what it wants to be.
Just last season, five Flyers’ players were suspended by the NHL. Steve Downie, Jessie Boulerice, Randy Jones, Scott Hartnell, and Riley Cote all saw significant fines and lost games. It was a point brought up by opposing teams for the rest of the year, anytime something marginally illegal happened. It was Michel Therrien’s calling card after his own team acquired Georges Laraque, ran Biron and boarded Steve Downie. Some of those suspensions were valid, and some were a bit excessive. But it begs the question, “Are the Flyers still being punished for reputations of the franchise?”
This season, the Flyers iced a team with the 2nd leading goal scorer, the leading shorthanded goal scorer, and 6 twenty plus goal scorers. That is skill and speed and passing and stick handling. It’s not fighting and head shots and the things that suspensions are made of. The Flyers were far and away the most penalized team in the league this season, a fact that didn’t get any rosier once they traded for Dan Carcillo. He was leading the league in penalty minutes in Phoenix even before getting traded for fan fave, Scottie Upshall. I’ve watched the replay of the hit to the back of Talbot’s head over and over again and I can’t help but think that the Flyers and the Flyers alone have been made to be the scapegoat for a violent NHL.
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I’ve watched every televised playoff game since Tuesday. To be completely honest, Game 1 of Flyers/Pens was boring compared to the physicality of the Canuck/Blues game. Or the BJ’s/Red Wings game. Or the Bruins/Canadians game just last night. I’ve scanned the headlines on TSN and NHL.com hoping upon hope that there’d be some sort of hearing for any of the players involved in the scrum from the end of that game. Nothing. The Versus crew, which I’m sure all you Pens fans will cry is biased due to Jonesy manning the desk, was puzzled as well by the one game suspension to Carcillo. They didn’t exactly come out and say it, but hoped as well that the NHL would look into the MULTIPLE skirmishes from the end of the Bruins game and dole out suspensions. What took place in those final minutes, basically Montreal “sending a message”, is the exact scenario, if not worse than what took place with the Flyers and Pens.
What has to be most concerning for the Flyers and their fans is that they rely on a game with emotion, physical presence and an edge. How in God’s name are they supposed to compete with a muzzle and shackles on? For years, the fan base has been scrutinized for conspiracy theories about the league hating the Flyers and doing everything in their power to stop them from being successful. I say to those fans… if there are no suspensions handed down to any other teams later today, and if the Flyers are again victimized by biased officiating in game 2 and come out of it down two games to none… you’re right.