First things first: I hope that all of you on the east coast who live in the path of destruction that Sandy took throughout the day yesterday and last night are safe and sound this morning. To those whom I know personally and have not yet checked on phone call, text or email, I will do so today.
There are two Flyers-related games in Europe today. Starting times are listed in eastern U.S./Canada:
HC Bili Tygri Liberec vs. HC Kometa Brno (12:10 PM)
One game after playing a disappointing road match that was marred by a small group of idiots starting a racist chant in Czech,
Wayne Simmonds and the win-starved Liberec Tigers will play host to second-place Brno.
The game will be televised in the Czech Republic. Correspondingly, there be a
webcast available on the Tipsport site.
Södertälje SK @ Västerås IK (1:00 PM)
In their last game,
Matt Read and his linemates shut down and frustrated Gabriel Landeskog's line in a 4-2 win for Södertälje over Djurgårdens IF. Although Read has not recorded a point in his last three games -- after racking up 10 points in his first five matches -- he has continued to play very well. Read's line with Carl Hagelin and French winger Damien Fleury may be the best two-way unit in Allsvenskan right now.
SSK boasts the best home record in the league and has won six of its last seven games. However, five of those wins came on home ice. The club has struggled on the road, with just one win to date. Today, they will travel to take on a third-place Västerås club that boasts a 5-1-1 record on its home ice.
The game will not be broadcast on Viasat; hence, no webcast on Viaplay. However, as always, live updates in English will be
available here.
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A special thank you goes out to everyone who PMed, emailed or left Facebook messages yesterday asking about the safety of my family yesterday. We are fine, and I truly appreciate your kindness and concern.
I have been back in the Philadelphia area since Sept. 3 -- with the exception of a six-day return to visit my wife in Texas in early October -- taking on a pair of non-hockey-related copywriting projects while waiting and hoping for an NHL season to cover. Barring a settlement to the lockout, I will return to Texas from around Thanksgiving to the week of New Years and then be back in Philly for another 6-week stretch.
While here in the Delaware Valley, I've been staying at my sister's house in Newtown and my mother's house in Havertown. Yesterday, the windows were rattling and the lights periodically flickered during the height of the storm. But we never lost power and, thankfully, there was no significantly damage done in the neighborhood. We were lucky.
During the late morning to mid-afternoon hours yesterday, I filled the time by writing an article for IIHF.com. It made the hours pass a little faster.
Over the course of the lockout, I have shifted my focus on HockeyBuzz to covering the Phantoms, Titans, Flyers junior prospects in all leagues and current Flyers players who are playing in Europe. I will continue to do so, except on days where there are significant lockout-related developments.
Unfortunately, the lockout has forced a lot of my usual feature-piece writing outlets to tighten their belts financially. For instance, NHL.com has suspended all of its freelancers' assignments at least for the duration of the lockout. I had written "Across the Pond" and various other features on an uninterrupted weekly basis from early March 2006 until Sept. 30, 2012. It also doesn't look like my monthly articles for the Flyers' official site will resume until after the end of the lockout.
My philosophy of writing and of life in general is to just keep plowing forward whenever possible. Try to go around the road blocks; don't just stop moving. I have focused on finding other ways to write about hockey, and have been gaining some new experiences.
I'll be covering some Titans games in person for HockeyBuzz. I've been doing online in-game commentary for selected Czech Extraliga and KHL games on eurolivescores.com. I've gotten the chance to write a pair of NHL-related articles (one on the Dallas Stars, another on the Islanders' John Tavares) for the Sweden-based Pro Hockey Magazine.
I have also been able to increase the volume of international hockey-focused work for the International Ice Hockey Federation's official Web site. There are three upcoming pieces, and all have been interesting and enjoyable to assemble.
In the weeks to come, I'll have an IIHF.com feature piece published on Bensalem native Ray DiLauro. He has played pro hockey around the world (including the AHL, Germany's DEL, Austria's Erste Bank Liga, Italy's Serie A, and even in the Asia League of Ice Hockey for a Japanese club Nippon Paper Cranes) and is now the captain of the ECHL team located only about 20 minutes from his hometown.
In addition, I have a feature piece in the can -- that was the one I completed yesterday during the storm -- on Matt Read's Södertäjle SK linemate, Damien Fleury. I recently had the opportunity to interview him about what it was like to grow up a hockey player in France, relocate to Sweden to advance his pro career, play international hockey for the French national team and now to play with NHLers Read and Carl Hagelin as his linemates.
Once the DiLauro project is done, I'll finish off a piece about Team Denmark's preparations for the upcoming Olympic qualifiers in February. Their chances would improve considerably if the lockout wipes out the entire NHL season and players such as Lars Eller, Frans Nielsen, Mikkel Boedker and Philip Larsen become available to compete against Belarus, Slovenia and another yet-to-be determined team. However, the Danes need to prepare as though these players will be unavailable.
At any rate, friends, I'll be OK, both professionally and personally. Thanks again for asking.
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