First Impressions

Well another Flyers season is underway and already there is a lot to talk about. As I talked about in my first post there were many questions coming into the season and some already have been answered and some are just different than I thought.

The first one was in goal. When Dayn Belfour decided to leave the club during the summer and try his hand at the U.S.H.L. it automatically left the number one spot open. So the first thought is that Scott Hellyer (last years backup) will just slide into that spot and it would be a situation where it would be his spot to lose.

There were a few guys that played well during camp but no one really took the bull by the horns and showed that they were for sure the number one goalie. But throughout the first two games of the season both Peter Alexander who got the start in game one, and Hellyer who got the start in game two have made it very difficult for the man in charge to pick his man. Or maybe he already has….I don’t know. For the time being anyway that part of the roster will be just fine.

Scoring goals shouldn’t be a problem either. With plenty of experienced fire power on this years team things are looking promising and when they actually find who plays best with each other the Flyers offense will be lethal from top to bottom.

Now here is where I get just a little bit nervous. At the end of last season the entire blue line was eligible to return which made me think that was going to be the best part of their game. And so far it hasn’t. Now I’m not saying that it’s terrible and I know that when you start the season without one of the best d-men in the league it puts you in the hole right off the bat.

Last season when Caleb Suderman missed three months with an ankle injury, it created a big hole and also put additional stress on the guys who have to fill in which in turn can take production away from them. Bad giveaways have been the story early in this season. In game one all four goals were a direct result and a Flyer mistake and the Pistons took a 2-1 lead in the first period in that game thanks to another bad play but the Flyers in their own zone.

You have to wonder if people are trying to do too much in Suderman’s absence or are trying to make an impression early in the year to earn more ice time or are just nervous or excited or both about a new season. But I’ve heard it said and seen it many times that when you are stuck in your own zone with the puck on your stick the most attractive thing in the world is to fire that sucker off the glass and out. You don’t have to make it pretty to make it a good play. There are no style points in victory. You can score 5 highlight reel goals and still lose the game but it might be that hard working second and third and fourth effort around the net that gets you the big win.

I encourage you to make a comment and let me know what you think…