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Meltzer's Musings: 12/22/10 |
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A reported crowd of 11,096 people turned out yesterday for the Flyers Skills Competition. For those who missed it, here are the results and some post-event quotes courtesy of the Flyers:
EVENT 1 – PUCK CONTROL RELAY
Relay Race
Team White (Giroux/Briere/Zherdev) defeated Team Orange (Leino/Nodl/van Riemsdyk)
(White 1 - Orange 0)
One-on-One Race
James van Riemsdyk (Team Orange) defeated Nikolay Zherdev (Team White)
(White 1 - Orange 1)
EVENT 2 – FASTEST SKATER
Team Orange Team White
van Riemsdyk 14.118 Coburn 14.640
Bartulis 15.250 Powe 14.651
Nodl 14.096 Zherdev 14.607
Average 14.488 Average 14.632
Individual winner: Andreas Nodl
(Orange 3 – White 1)
EVENT 3 – HARDEST SHOT
Team Orange Team White
Meszaros 98.6 Coburn 95.7
Carter 95.7 Hartnell 95.8
van Riemsdyk 101.5 Carcillo 94.0
Bartulis 95.0 Powe 90.9
Average 97.7 Average 94.1
Individual winner: James van Riemsdyk
[Orange 5 – White 1]
EVENT 4 – ACCURACY SHOOTING
Team Orange Team White
Timonen 4 for 7 Briere 4 for 6
Carter 3 for 8 Carle 4 for 6
Nodl 3 for 7 Hartnell 4 for 5
Total 10 for 22 Total 12 for 17
Individual winner: Scott Hartnell
[Orange 5 – White 3]
EVENT 5 – POWER PLAY
Team Orange Team White
Round 1 Round 1
Timonen/van Riemsdyk/Leino – 0 goals Giroux/Briere/Zherdev – 2 goals
Round 2 Round 2
Nodl/Betts/Shelley – 1 goal Powe/Carcillo/Hartnell – 0 goals
[Orange 6 – White 5]
EVENT 6 – BREAKAWAY RELAY
Team Orange Team White
Round 1 Round 1
van Riemsdyk – 1 Giroux – 0
Leino – 0 Zherdev – 0
Shelley – 0 Coburn – 1
Round 2 Round 2
Meszaros – 2 Briere – 1
van Riemsdyk – 1 Carcillo – 1
Timonen – 0 Powe – 0
Round 3 Round 3
Nodl – 0 Hartnell - 0
Betts – 0 Carle – 0
Bartulis – 0 O’Donnell – 0
Final score: Team Orange 10 – Team White 8
******
Quotebook (courtesy Flyers' PR department, compiled by Brian Smith)
Flyers right wing James van Riemsdyk
Q: On winning hardest slapshot
“Yeah, I never really take slap shots, I didn’t know what to expect and never really had my shot read by a radar gun too so that’s fun, and I definitely surprised myself a little.”
Q: You had no idea you had that quick of a shot?
“No, I mean I always really take wrist shots so you never really know, and I don’t know, I got lucky I guess.”
Q: Are you going to start taking slap shots?
“Probably not, you never get time to take that kind of wind-up really in a game but I guess it’s nice having it in the arsenal.”
Q: You have fun tonight?
“Definitely, it’s good to get out there and mess around, we have a good group of guys here so when we kind of get to have some fun with each other it’s always a good time.”
Q: Take some stress away from yesterday maybe?
“Yeah definitely, obviously that’s not the way we wanted to go into the break but we’ve got to move on now and kind of regroup and be ready when the break ends.”
Q: You’ve got to feel good about what you accomplished in the first half, the whole team, talk about the first part of the season.
“Yeah definitely, we put ourselves in a pretty good position. We don’t play to be first place now, we play to be first place at the end of the year. Obviously it’s a better path to get there if you’re doing well now and good things are happening, but we’ve got to keep it going and it doesn’t really mean much if we don’t keep on getting better and don’t keep playing games.”
Q. Your thoughts on the fastest skater contest.
“The keys were the turns and not over skating yourself, so you’re not crashing into the boards out there. It was fun to do and see how I did.”
Q. Last year when you were a rookie talk about the west coast.
“That’s when we kind of didn’t do our best, I’m pretty sure I don’t quite remember last year. It’s going to be a challenge for us coming up, and something that will tell a lot about our team.”
Q. What kind of challenges does playing on the road and then on the west coast bring?
“Obviously it’s a long flight to get out there, and it’s a lot of games in a short period of time. It’s just going to be a challenge for us, and there’s some good teams out there. It will tell us a lot about the character of our team.”
Q. What are your plans for the break and the team?
“I think a lot of guys are just going home to send Christmas with their families, and I’m doing the same thing. Maybe I’ll play some pond hockey with my brothers; I know they’re all fired up for that. I’m excited to spend the holidays with them.”
Flyers Goaltender Michael Leighton
Q: It’s never good to see Boucher lose time, but was it good to at least get a couple hours in your own net. What was that like finally?
“It was good for me obviously. I think Boosh [Brian Boucher] had some dental issues. It was good for me to get my own net and practice. It wasn’t a very long one, only about 40 minutes, but I’ll take any practice time I can get. It was good to be out there with the guys again and take some shots.”
Q: Do you think this is going to be some kind of a rotation when you resume play again or do you have any idea at all what’s going to happen?
“You’ll have to talk to Lavy [Peter Laviolette] and Homer [Paul Holmgren]. I have no clue what’s going on. Right now I’m just working hard in practice and try and work my way back in there.”
Flyers center Danny Briere
Q: [question inaudible]
"I bonded a little bit with the fans that showed up and we had a pretty good practice before that, very intense, but after that it was all about having fun."
Q: Any plans on what you plan on doing for the next couple of days or for the holiday?
"Just relax, spend time with the kids a little bit. It's not too often that we have the chance to have six or seven days off at Christmas time so we're going to try and take advantage of it and relax. The last couple of weeks have been tough on us, a lot of big games, a lot of emotional games, I think we ran out of juice last night, the tank was empty and it showed in the game. So we're starting to refocus and get our energy back."
Q: Do you think your team will get better, even after last night's defeat?
"Well yeah, yesterday's game was not fun, but if you look from the beginning of the season it certainly shows we are going to be much better than where we are at. It's a good start but we all know that the most important part is what's in front of us."
Q: You guys are always close together, will you do a little bonding on your long road trip?
'Yeah, definitely, and the West Coast trip for these conference teams is always a fun time, going over there spending lots of time with the guys. We get to do it during the holidays, so I am definitely looking forward to it."
Philadelphia Flyers Head Coach Peter Laviolette
Q: So, are you going to line [James van Riemsdyk] up for a few one-timers now?
“That was a heavy shot.”
Q: Unexpected?
“No, we knew it was in there.”
Q: It didn’t look like he knew it?
“Yeah. He’s got a good, hard shot.”
Q: What did you think of something like this? Was it good to get out there and see the guys compete like this?
“I think it’s a good event for the fans. Even the practice part of it, that wasn’t really scheduled that way. But, to have the fans come in and watch a practice in the building and get out there for the skills competition afterwards, I think it’s good. You know, you get to see the players on a lighter side and you get to see them without their helmets on. They’re a good group of guys. To go out and have some fun on the ice like that, I think is good for the fans and good for the players.”
Q: Does it show you anything that you didn’t know about these guys?
“Not really. I mean, it’s a fun event so we should probably just take it at that. The guys can go out there and have fun with it.”
Q: It’s probably nice to do something like this after last night?
“Yeah, maybe to lighten the mood a little bit. It’s always a tough night when you lose 5-0 in your building. It’s always harder when you go to bed and you first wake up in the morning. But, when you come in and you go to work, practice, and sweat a little bit, then the guys get out here and get back on the ice and start doing the work again, and you start looking forward to the next game. It’s a long season and guys have played really well up until this point. There’s always going to be a blip in the road. Nobody’s happy about it, but they happen and you deal with it and move on. I think it’s important to just start focusing on the next game; and to get away for a couple days, but to start thinking about the next game and not dwell on the past too much.”
Q: Can you talk a little bit about the West Coast swing that’s going on? It’s obviously tough to play on the road and on the West Coast.
“Well, it’s a big stretch. There’s the swing and then there’s all the road games coming up here, nine out of ten. It’s a chance for us to get out. I think as hard as road trips can be sometimes, they can be really good for your team. You know, you can really solidify your team as a group. You can do some things on the road that you don’t get to do at home. There are always personal obligations at home with family, kids, and other things you attend to. You simplify it a little bit and it’s, more or less, just hockey. So, at times road trips can be a good thing. You have to win the games, but it’s a chance for your team to get out together.”
Q: What did you think of Michael Leighton in practice?
“I think Mike has looked good. It was the first time that he had a full net, with [Brian Boucher] not here. He looked good.”
Q: You didn’t want to go into the break with a loss, but can you talk about the whole body of work so far this season?
“If you evaluate everything as a whole, there have been a lot of positive things. That’s why I said that it was important to come in today, get back to work and practice. After a few days start thinking about Vancouver and looking forward to the road trip that we have coming up and get back to winning some hockey games. Nights like last night, they are tough to take. They are tough to swallow. But you got to move on. At this point, the guys have done a lot of good things, and that shouldn’t be forgotten either. Like I said, it’s a break. We got to come back. We got to get back at in and win hockey games. But as a whole body of work, it’s been good.”
Q: Do you like the change of pace with the time off?
“There are always things that come up in the schedule. Four games in six nights, off for seven days. They are things that you can’t control. Whether I like them or I don’t like them. Or whether they are god for the team or they are not good for the team is almost irrelevant and not worth the time to think about it. There’s no wiggle room on it. We can’t call the league and schedule a game on the 26th. We may as well just deal with it. The guys can take a break. We have some guys that are banged up a little bit. They get a break, they get a way to get away mentally and physically and then get back into it. I hope we take care of ourselves. We come back, and have a couple of good practices then get ready for Vancouver. No body has a crystal ball to foresee the future on it. How your team comes out of six or seven days off? But we have that. We have to figure out a plan to get the guys back on the ice, skating hard, and get them ready for Vancouver because that’s the reality of it.”
Q: James van Riemsdyk says there’s a pond hockey game in Middleton and you should coach it.
“I’m probably going to stay out of that one.”
Q: What are you doing for the holidays?
“I’ll be local here. I have family here, so I’ll be here.”
Flyers defenseman Andrej Meszaros
Q: Thoughts on the rest of the season
"We’ve got a tough team, so it should be a challenge, but also should be fun."
Q: How did you feel about your performance tonight?
"I felt great. I thought it was great for the fans. Hopefully everybody had a good time."
Q: What is your take on last night's game?
"Well it was a tough one, we didn't play hard enough. We didn't play our best. It was just the one game, and now we can just rest, forget about it and focus more for the road."
Q: Do you have any big plans for the holiday?
"Not really, I am just going to lay low, rest, recharge the battery so we can get on the road soon."
Q: Many people are saying that since you have won so many games that maybe you were destined for a downfall, do you think that's true?
"No, I don't think that is true. We want to win every game, and the main thing is; we want to play good every game. Sometimes you are not going to win, but last night was unacceptable. You can lose, but not this way, not the way we did last night. We just need to learn from that. It was a good lesson for us, and we will go from there."
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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