Comments on: Rooting for Fire, Famine, and Pestilence on a Sheet of Ice

By: buzzard

buzzard — Mon, 12 May 2008 23:59:52 +0000

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - Anyone but Pittsburgh…

But damn, I hate rooting for the Flyers.

By: margaret

margaret — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:59:01 +0000

LOVE IT
my teacher is a huge pens fan, he keeps asking me who I’m rooting for now that the caps are out
I keep telling him NEITHER
its obvious the pens will win this round, I’m just hoping they lose the next one! can’t have the snobbish pens win the Stanley Cup.. eek

By: DCPensFan

DCPensFan — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:26:28 +0000

If you can’t beat them, play dirty, right?
C’mon — you’re better than that.

Besides, this series will be over very quickly if the Flyers can’t stay out of the box. They need to grind out even strenght goals and keep the Pens pinned in their own end to have a chance. Seems like every time they do, somebody gets called (correctly) for holding or hooking. Their first 2 goals of the series had them outworking the Pens down low. That’s how you beat Pittsburgh.

Or, they can continue to play sloppy in their own end, turn the puck over, chase the play and either 1) get burned by the Penguin’s transition game or 2) take interfernce/hooking calls when the Pens cycle the puck down low.

Or, they can take a run Malkin and Crosby. Whatever works, right?

By: JessMan

JessMan — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:25:47 +0000

THANK YOU pucksandbooks. Pennsylvania sucks, and the NHL can choke on their lovefest

By: pepper

pepper — Mon, 12 May 2008 04:55:01 +0000

Well, at least the Flyers have a good injury excuse now. Now let’s see some key players lost for the season on the other side, to recover fully in, say, 2020.

And this Caps fan always drinks his coffee black, no sugar.

By: Grooven

Grooven — Sun, 11 May 2008 16:46:32 +0000

All I’m hoping for is fun hockey to watch. Hard hits, sweet plays.
I guess if it comes down to it, I’m not so much rooting for anyone, but rather rooting against. Against a couple players on the Flyers. But after spending four years in Pittsburgh, I think ultimately I’m rooting against the Penguins (not cheering for the Flyers).
We’ll see if the Penguins best the Flyers the way Montreal should have, or not.
Either way, seven games of stellar hockey would be great. (And maybe decent officiating?)

By: BurghTown

BurghTown — Sun, 11 May 2008 13:08:00 +0000

Just a friendly reminder, the Pens are going to simply roll over the Flyers. Too much solid play from every area for Philly to handle. No need to play Fylers any further, bring on Detroit!!!!

By: working for the man

working for the man — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:05:20 +0000

Wow, so many bitter Caps fans. You guys should wish for the Pens to win, then in ten years, when they can’t afford Malkin/Crosby, you can swoop right in and pick them up for nothing (which is precisely what they will give you in return a la Jagr). I agree that a more physical game would be great, but I’m not sure I’m rooting for any areana implosions. I think some people are just upset that “Alex the Grape” couldn’t lead the Caps past these Flyers (in his defense, both teams were playing great to that point). Well, while all of you Caps fans cry into your latte, I will enjoy my fresh Iron City brew while celebrating. At least you have the Nationals!

By: radbytrade

radbytrade — Sun, 11 May 2008 00:29:32 +0000

Err…okay, Pucks. I’ll just take a Flyers series win. If they start going down in flames, I’m all for a bloodbath.

/pounds some plexiglas and excels in his office job

By: CP2Devil

CP2Devil — Sat, 10 May 2008 19:10:54 +0000

P & B, I always like your writing, but this time you took it up a notch. Pens had not better coast on through this series. We all want 7 games of absolute mayhem. Hope the Flyers get that vengeance they are always spewing about in game 2. Hopefully it will take them all 20 bodies and 10 OT’s to get it too. I like TG’s playoff ending scenario too. It would give us Bitter Pens fans and heartbroken Flyers fans. Only thing better than that is…well pretty much nothing is better than that.

By: Bucky Katt

Bucky Katt — Sat, 10 May 2008 18:42:20 +0000

Bravo P&B! I too was looking for something on the order of the 2 April matchup between these cross-state rivals. Fear not, I guarantee you that the nastiness factor will emerge.

By: Burgh

Burgh — Sat, 10 May 2008 17:40:56 +0000

Well said P&B. While I can’t, due to fear of karma, root for injuries in this series, I have no problems with rooting for it to be extremely violent. Save for a few bit hits last night, I was pretty disappointed. I expected the Flyers to bring the forecheck and aggression that they had in the first round.

While I may be rooting for the Flyers in this series, history tells me that the Penguins will walk all over them and, in the process, figuratively mock the Caps with “Why’d you have so much trouble with this lot?” I fully expect Biron, Briere, Hartnell, Umberger and pretty much everyone not named Richards or Smith to completely fold over the next week.

By: Juan-John

Juan-John — Sat, 10 May 2008 17:11:58 +0000

I woulda been happy with all the rinks in Pennsylvania being mirror images of the Phone Booth’s (with any attendant injuries being labeled by the NHL as “purely incidental”)…

By: zelda

zelda — Sat, 10 May 2008 17:02:25 +0000

I think we saw a foreshadowing of games to come when the Flyers started a brawl toward the end of the 3rd when nothing was going their way. I’m with Sombrero Guy — an Almighty smite of some sort — meteor, tornado or a tidal wave emanating from the Monongahela River — was on my wish list last night.

Just imagine if Timmonen had been out in the Caps series — Ovetchkin would have looked even better than Malkin.

By: Sombrero Guy

Sombrero Guy — Sat, 10 May 2008 16:10:51 +0000

I was rooting for a spontaneous implosion of the arena.

By: pucksandbooks

pucksandbooks — Sat, 10 May 2008 15:17:09 +0000

You’re not vindictive, just a good American.

By: TG

TG — Sat, 10 May 2008 15:10:24 +0000

After much thought and going back and forth, here’s who I’m rooting for. I’m hoping that The City of Brotherly Shove wins in seven games via disputed goal (such as “was it goalie interference or not” in quadruple overtime). Then Detroit stomps them in a four game sweep. This will have multiple positives:

1. Ending the Crosby/Malkin love-fest.

2. Forcing the NHL to acknowledge the problems with the way goalie interference is/isn’t called.

3. Once again ripping the hearts out of Philadelphia fans as they stand at the precipice of one of their teams winning something. Anything. And when their fans say next year, “But at least we made it to the finals.” We can (honestly) respond, “Nobody remembers the losers.”

Yes, I am that vindictive.

By: Francisco

Francisco — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:07:38 +0000

this post is pure poetry at its highest form. to quote
another famous poet — there’s blood on the streets of the town of new haven — only i don’t think he was talking about a blades game.