Posts Tagged ‘Joe Buscemi’

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Flyers Confidence and Special Teams Shine in Win vs Habs

February 3rd, 2016 by Joe Buscemi | Comments Off on Flyers Confidence and Special Teams Shine in Win vs Habs | Filed in Flyers, General, Hockey
Forward Ryan White Celebrates the Flyers win with goalie Steve Mason

Forward Ryan White Celebrates the Flyers win with goalie Steve Mason

The Flyers returned home to Philadelphia as they hosted the Montreal Canadians to begin the second half of the season. They went into the all-star break with a win and were five points out of the wildcard and needed another regulation win to inch closer to the final wild card spot and distance themselves from the Canadians. They did just that, thanks to a full sixty minutes of good/disciplined hockey. The special teams played a vital role in last nights victory, as they went 2-4 on the powerplay, goals from Simmonds and Schenn, and killed 3 of 4 Habs penalties, including a 5 minute major given to Radko Gudas for his hit on Lucas Lessio.

The Flyers 2-0 lead would be cut in half thanks to a powerplay goal scored by Habs Andrei Markov, with just 1:42 left in the first. After scoring late in the first, the Canadians would score the tying goal just 2:30 into the 2nd period, courtesy of defensemen Jeff Petry, Halfway into the second, Wayne Simmonds netted his second goal of the night, giving the Flyers a critical 3-2 lead. After killing the five minute major, Matt Read put the dagger in the Habs, as he scored the empty netter to put the Flyers up 4-2 with just 43 seconds left in regulation.

Wayne Simmonds 3rd period go-ahead-goal.

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Flyers Offensive Outage

November 4th, 2015 by Joe Buscemi | Comments Off on Flyers Offensive Outage | Filed in Flyers, General, Hockey, Sports

EDMONTON, AB - DECEMBER 28: Jordan Eberle #14 of the Edmonton Oilers exchanges words with Claude Giroux #28 of the Philadelphia Flyers prior to a face off on December 28, 2013 at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Marko Ditkun/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Flyers will stay North of the Border as they head to Edmonton to take on the Oilers tonight at Rexall Place. They are currently on a four game losing skid, and have been outscored 15-6 during this recent slump. They did however put up quite a fight last night to the Canucks for most of the game, especially during the third period where they outshot, out-hit, and had the majority of scoring chances. None of this would matter to Canucks goalie Ryan Miller, who to his credit stood on his head throughout the entire game and kept the most promising of Flyers opportunities from reaching the back of the net.

  • Takeaways: Despite the tough loss, the team’s only highlight came just under three minutes in the second period, where captain Claude Giroux scored a dazzling goal. He muscled through a Canuck defender and just has he approached the net, he went fore-hand, back-hand and flicked the puck top shelf to tie the game at one.

NHL: Edmonton Oilers at Dallas Stars

  • Planning for Connor McDavid: Despite the Oilers slow start, as they are 4-8 on the season, the Flyers defense has to plan carefully for the always dangerous Connor McDavid. Just in case you were living under a rock the past few months, he was the first overall pick in this season’s NHL Draft and has been the talk of the league ever since. The Oilers are currently undergoing a youth movement somewhat similar to the Flyers and are no team to take lightly. The Flyers are going to need to stay solid on defense and absolutely need to start cashing in on scoring opportunities, especially during powerplays as they are only four for thirty-four on the man advantage, if they want to end their current losing streak.

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Flying High Again

October 23rd, 2015 by Joe Buscemi | Comments Off on Flying High Again | Filed in Flyers, General, Hockey

flyers bruins OT gw

If any team knows how it feels to give up multiple leads against the Flyers it would be the Boston Bruins. No Flyers fan can forget the memorable 2010 Eastern Conference Semi Finals, in which the Flyers overcame a three game and three goal deficit to make history in Boston on their road to the Cup. While that was not exactly the case last night, the Flyers did overcome a 2 goal deficit late in the third period and wound up winning in overtime.

A far cry from the team that hit the ice against the Stars on Tuesday night, the Flyers played a much better game on all sides of the puck, despite losing Sean Couturier and back-up goalie Michal Neuvirth to injuries.  Couturier left the game after taking a nasty elbow to the head by ex-teammate Zac Rinaldo. According to sources the team is being extremely cautious on his return as it does not appear to be too serious. He’s listed day-to day with an upper body injury. There is no doubt that Rinaldo will be getting a call from the office of player safety to discuss the hit and as a repeat offender he will most likely be fined and or suspended.

Michal Neuvirth seemed to injure himself when attempting to make a save on Patrice Bergeron’s 2nd period power play goal. He fell to his knees and remained there for a few moments in pain, but got up on his own power and finished the period. However he would not return to action after the second intermission. The team has also listed him day-to-day with an unspecified upper body injury.

  • Takeaways:  Both teams were involved in a shooting gallery for the better part of the first period as each scored twice. After a solid first by the Flyers, it was all Bruins in the second. The flat footed Flyers returned and failed to convert on the five minute misconduct to Rinaldo. To add insult to injury they gave up a short-handed goal during the prolonged power play as well.

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Flying Jet-lagged

October 22nd, 2015 by Joe Buscemi | Comments Off on Flying Jet-lagged | Filed in Flyers, General, Hockey, Sports

IMG_6499

Too much of anything is no good, just ask any athlete about a long lay-off and they will give you a similar answer to that of Jake Voracek in reference to the the Flyers six day break.  “We will most likely have to shake off some rust in the first twenty minutes of play against the Stars”. Unfortunately it took the Flyers a good forty-six minutes to shake off the rust and score their first goal to trim the Stars 2-0 lead in half with 8:57 left in the 3rd period. The offense looked flat throughout the first two periods, this included a lot of ill-advised passes, turnovers, issues setting up, and barely any time on attack. The Flyers also failed to convert on all four of their power plays as the team continued to turn the puck over multiple times while entering their own zone.

Despite winning 56% of their face-offs and out shooting the Stars 35-33, the Flyers failed to capitalize during multiple opportunities and to add insult to injury Braydon Schenn wound up committing an untimely slashing penalty with only 2:08 remaining in the game, which pretty much ended the Flyers from having any shot at potentially tying the game.

  • Positive Takeaways: Despite ending up with the loss and an early 2nd period goal, Steve Mason played brilliantly between the pipes, especially for returning from what seemed to have been a serious personal issue.
    • The defense really picked up for the lack of play in the team’s offensive zone and weak fore-checking. Had it not been for the solid play by both Mason and the team’s defense, the deficit could easily have been larger.

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History Made at Villanova

September 25th, 2015 by Joe Buscemi | Comments Off on History Made at Villanova | Filed in College Sports, Football, General, TalkSportsPhilly
Nova Penn 2015 (1)

History Made!

The annual Schuylkill rivalry between the Villanova Wildcats and Penn Quakers was one for the ages, as Penn knocked off Villanova 24-13 under the lights at Villanova Stadium. The game start was pushed back from Saturday night to Thursday due to the arrival of Pope Francis. It was the first time since 2005 that Villanova played a Thursday night home game. A lot of history was made as Penn defeated Nova for the first time since 1911, to put that in perspective Franklin Field, home of the Quakers, was only in its sixteenth year of existence. This win was quite memorable for head coach Ray Priore, not only was it his first victory with the Quakers, but his first against Nova and a ranked team. Talk about a first impression.

There was very little for Villanova to celebrate as the team looked flat throughout the entire game. After coming off a big win versus Delaware last week, where red shirt freshmen quarterback Zach Bednarczyk led the team to victory (after taking over for the injured starting QB John Robertson who went down with a PCL injury), the team could simply not put anything together. After the first half the Wildcats went three and out three times and coughed up the football, which eventually led to a Penn touch down. The Wildcats only owned possession of the ball for a little over twenty minutes, whereas Penn owned possession for just under forty.

The numbers certainly do not lie as Penn took advantage of just about every one of their drives. The Quakers converted multiple third downs and were assisted by the multiple penalties taken by Villanova on a couple of fourth downs. Penn’s wide receiver Justin Watson had quite the night as he recorded five receptions for 87 yards including two touchdowns. Quakers quarterback Alek Torgersen wound up completing 14 of 22 passes for 171 yards, including the two touchdown passes to Watson. That would be just about all the offense Penn would need. With just under six minutes to go in the game, the Wildcats found themselves close to narrowing Penn’s 17-7 margin as they drove all the way to Penn’s fifteen yard line. However as luck would have it, Villanova’s running back Javon White would cough up the football at Penn’s ten yard line, and linebacker Donald Panciello would return it for a ninety-three yard touchdown. That was the longest recorded fumble return against Villanova. As mentioned earlier, tons of history was made during this game and it will be one spoken about for many years to come.

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Back to Hockey 2015 Pre-Season Edition (Did somebody say free food?!)

September 12th, 2015 by Joe Buscemi | 1 Comment | Filed in Flyers, General, Hockey, Sports

flyers opening promo 2015

 

That’s right Flyers fans the orange and black are set to open the season in a little under a month, on October 8th, when they face-off against the Tampa Bay Lightning.  However before I go on about the upcoming regular season, here are a few things you should know about the pre-season, which is only ten days away!

flyers time change

2015 Flyers pre-season schedule:

September 21st vs the Islanders (split squad)

September 22nd vs the Rangers

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Sean Couturier Signs Six Year Extension

July 30th, 2015 by Joe Buscemi | Comments Off on Sean Couturier Signs Six Year Extension | Filed in Flyers, General, Hockey, Sports

coots

The Flyers signed center Sean Couturier to a 6 year contract extension worth $25 million on Tuesday July 28th. He is in the final year of his current 2 year $3.5 million contract, in which he will be earning a cap hit of $1.75 million.

Most fans have mixed feelings about “Coots” due to his moderate offensive numbers, however many forget that he is only 22,  has played under two different coaches at a very young age, and despite being a center he has been heavily utilized as a defensive specialist during many penalty killing opportunities. He has done an excellent job shutting down opponent’s star players including Evgeni Malkin, especially during the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Couturier has generated 45 goals and 73 assists in regular season contests and 3 goals and an assist in 18 playoff games as a Flyer. He also assisted in Team Canada’s 2015 World Championships Gold Medal run, where he recorded 3 goals and 4 assists in 10 games.

During an interview with CSN Philly, Couturier mentioned that he is extremely excited to continue his career with the Flyers but most importantly he understands that it is time for him to step-up his game on offense and feels as though he can really improve under new head coach Dave Hackstol.

It would be nice to see if Hackstol could help revamp Couturier’s offensive skills as he continues to develop. It would turn him into quite a highly skilled two-way forward that would strengthen the team’s offense as he could be utilized on both the 2nd and 3rd lines.coots 2

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