AJ stares at Brian Boucher and shakes his head, “Once I got out they pulleddd me back in,” he says.
“Are you done with your Godfather obsession yet?” Boosh asks.
AJ shakes his head no.
“You know it normally takes AJ a week at least to get over his obsessions,” Nick says walking up fully dressed for the game like the others.
AJ nods, “You guys should know me by now.”
“May I ask what started this sudden obsession with your Italian heritage?” Kevin asks.
“I dunno,” AJ says, “It’s me what do you expect?”
“True,” Nick says.
“Now Boosh you ready?” Kevin asks him.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Boosh says pulling his mask down over his face.
“Alright then, lead us out,” Kevin says.
Nick looks over at AJ who is sitting to the left on him on the bench and shakes his head as AJ starts to hum along to the theme from the Godfather. It was the second period by now and the Boston Bruins were in the lead 1-0. It was a fluke goal though and everyone knew it. Boucher had gone behind the net to stop the puke and it took a weird hop over his stick. As he scrambled to get back to the net the puck ended up with Bill Guerin who shot it towards the net. Luke Richardson was standing with his back to the play and the puck bounced off his skate into the Flyers net as he skated into the goalie crease. The goal was answered shortly afterward by a quick wrist shot from AJ though from the point and tying the game at 1-1. Other then the one Boston goal the Flyers dominated the first period.
It was Boosh first start in net and the first game the team would have to play with Neil Little sitting on the bench as a back up goalie. Brian was back in Philadelphia with his family resting up his sprained ankle. He would be out for a number of games now and once again the power between the two goaltenders was being shifted. Both goalies were there own worst enemies. Each put too much pressure on himself whenever they lost a game earlier in the season, but now the two of them had begun to relax…thankfully.
Only 1:45 into the game though Keith Primeau heads down the ice towards the Bruins net using his speed to his advantage. Jarno Kultanen though got a step in front of him and hooked him down sending him crashing to the ice and sliding into the net knocking it off its hinges before crashing into the wall. Keith only stayed down a few seconds and got back up on his own, but left the ice after one more shift out. The rest of the second period was owned by the Flyers though dominating the ice and keeping the puck down in the Bruins end. At the end of the second the shots on goal were 15 Philly 7 Boston, but no goal came from it.
The game ended with a score of 4-1 in favor of the Flyers. The four goals came from Gagne, AJ, Dopita and Marty Murray on an empty netter with three of the four goals coming in the third period. No one was happier with the win then Brian Boucher though, who when the buzzer finally rang to signal the end of the game jumped up and skated over to hug his teammates. The lines had been shifter around putting AJ on the Primeau LeClaire line and moving Williams up with Gagne and Roenick. It was an unconventional move from Barber, but it worked nonetheless.
In three days they would have to play the Calgary Flames though putting the top team in the East against one of the lowest ranking teams.
Kevin was pissed…no wait he was beyond being pissed by now. His defense had crumbled absolutely fucking crumbled tonight. He didn’t even want to go into the locker room in fear that he might blow up at his line mates. So here he was standing in the hallway leaning against the wall trying to calm himself down. There was no answer to why his team, the first seed in the East Coast division, should be losing to the Calgary Flames by one point let alone 4-2. Not even when a goalie who played as well as Boosh did tonight, stopping 28 out of 31 shots, is in the net. The fourth goal had come on an empty netter.
The only goals in the game had come from AJ and Fedoruk while all of the Flames goals came from the defense standing around and absolutely watching the game by Kevin’s observations. All of the Flames goals came from uncovered players who were left alone standing in front of Boosh just waiting for a good pass to score. God only knows what the score would have been if Boosh hadn’t played so well.
Yes they were missing Fedetenko and Primeau, but it was no excuse for them to play poorly. And now Recchi had been suspended form playing in two games for a hit he put on Gauthier…wonderfuckingful. The Flames were a team who they should have gone out and dominated. Dean McAmmond came back into the Spectrum on his new team and dominated the game scoring a goal. Kevin’s partner Johnnson had probably the worst game of the season so far and their top line of Roenick, Gagne and Williams were on the ice during numerous breakdowns. The power plays were God awful with the team being 0 for 11 in the their last eleven power plays. And now they would have to go down to Tampa Bay and face the Bulin wall along with the rest of the Lightening.
It was official…Kevin needed a Prozac.
Flyers Online Journal:
God help us all. Yeah I’m back it’s me AJ. Sorry I have been kind of busy lately you know with all the piss poor games we have been playing and all. Well hey at least we beat the Lightening. I think Kevin was about to have a break down after the Flames game though. Man was our captain pissed. I think that’s one of the reasons he scored a goal last night against the Lightening. It wasn’t the best victory we ever had but it’s still a win. 4-2 over the Lightening last night for those of you who didn’t watch the game. Hey our defense came back at least…of course they probably feared Kevin’s wrath if they played horrible again. God knows I did. So our goals came from Kevin, Carter, an empty netter by Ranheim and yours truly. For those of you wondering Roenick is fine after taking a puck to the face. It split his lip as you could tell after he came back into the game, but that isn’t going to stop a guy like JR.
Anyway trying to look on a better note I want to thank all of you who came out to the Carnival on March 3rd it was a great day I think and the money we raised was over a million. And yes it is unanimous Ruslan is the slowest writer in the world. Unfortunately we have to go and play the Leafs tomorrow though. They have some big scratches like us especially with the absence of Cujo.
I’m sorry if I seem so much unlike myself, but I feel like crap and I’m really disappointed in the way I have been playing lately. I’m not really looking forward to the game tomorrow. I hate the Leafs as it is and now we have to go and face them in this state. Who knows though maybe some good will come of it though. Hopefully Fedoruk or Brashear will take out Domi though. If they don’t I will.
Anyway I have to go and practice. I’m actually sitting here in the middle of the locker room floor writing this now…Boosh says Hi…and everyone is looking over my shoulders. Do I ever get any privacy? No. Kevin is in the trainer’s room icing his knee listening to his Pure Moods stuff with Fedetenko who is still out and Primeau has a problem so he will be out with Fedetenko. Recchi will be serving his second game out and hopefully Boosh will come up big again. Our team is full of bumps and bruises. Well I better get going before I get another lecture form Barber.
P.S: “There’s a lady who’s sure that all that glitters that gold and she’s buying a stairway to heaven. When she gets there she knows if the stores are all closed with a word she cane get who she came for. Whooo whooo whooo and she’s buying a stairway to heaven. “ – Led Zepplin “Stairway to Heaven” * Best song in the world *
“This can not be a good sign,” Nick mumbles to himself as the first shot if fired on Boosh and it sails past him under his right pad giving the Leafs the lead only 9:30 into the game.
The Flyers had gotten a number of good scoring chances through the first period and were carrying the puck down the ice well. The defense was coming back strong and the line of Gagne, Roenick and Williams was pushing the net hard. All in all the Flyers dominated the first and the defense came up big in the form of Desjardins was he scored the tying goal off a pass from Williams. The shots in the first were 10 for Philly and only 2 for Toronto. Of course the game was still tied regardless of that fact.
The second period though was more entertaining when the first and only fight of the game happened 3:16 into the game between Fedoruk and Belak. The two stayed tied up with each other, but later on Fedoruk got the upper hand hitting Belak with his left and knocking his helmet clear off his head before sending him down to the ice. Belak was about to get back up but the linesmen interfered there. AJ was on the ice though cheering Fedoruk on the whole time while the rest of the Flyers beat their sticks onto the outside of their bench cheering their teammate on. There would have been a second fight between Brashear and Domi, but the linesmen stopped them both.
The team was getting affected by the officiating though. The tides had turned and the Leafs were clearly dominating now. It almost seemed to be a one sided game where they were being called for everything while the Leafs continued to run over them all. The second goal also came form Tucker and occurred on a Leafs power play. With only 2:07 left in the period Williams was smacked in the face with a high stick which lead to some blood coming from his nose. Valk though was only called fro a two-minute high sticking infraction. With only 53 seconds left the Flyers tried to just dump the puck out of their end, but coughed it up to Valk coming out of the penalty box on a break away. Boucher made a great save though and kept the Flyers in the game. The shots were 12 to 3 in favor of the Leafs.
The third period though had both teams coming out hard and amidst all of the commotion Roenick and Gagne collided with each other both falling to the ice. The Flyers were having trouble getting out of their own end and the outlook looked grim. With 1:53 left in the game Boucher was pulled until the Flyers iced the puck at 1:07 and brought him back in for the face off. After that though he once again returned to the bench with 43 seconds left. With only 14.9 seconds left thought the Flyers defense was unable to clear and Roberts made the empty net goal making the final score 3-1.
This was the first of two back-to-back match ups against the Leafs. They would loose the first and come out of the second with a tie. The return of Recchi and Fedetenko would prove not to be enough along with the solid playing of Boucher in net. Boucher covered up their mistakes, but the one mistake the team made defensively coast them the win. The Flyers were slowly losing their lead on the Boston Bruins in the East Coast standings.
“What the fucking hell is going on!” Kevin yells at his team in the dressing room after the game, “What the hell are we doing out there! We look ridiculous. Absolutely fucking ridiculous! We look like a team that has just started playing together and by these last few games I can tell you we have no chance in hell for that damned Cup! We’re sitting on our asses offensively! We have so many damn scoring chances and we never follow up. If I hear wide one more damn time I’m going to loose my mind! These are easy goals and we are missing the damned net. Hell at least charge the net and pray you’ll hit the puck with a part of your body and it will miraculously bounce in. Anything guys give me anything! We should be 4-1 you hear me! Boosh has worked his ass off for us all and we do nothing to support him. I don’t give two shits what Barber tells you to do I want you to go out there and play your game. Jesus Christ give me anything!” Kevin yells before storming off through the locker room into the trainer’s room leaving the rest of his team sitting in the locker room looking at the floor or each other.
Nick looks over at AJ whose locker was positioned next to his and locks eyes with him before AJ lets out a long breath and shakes his head. No one could say Kevin was wrong that much they all knew. They were in a slump and the whole team knew it. The only ones going out there and pushing themselves were Dopita, Justin, Boucher and AJ. LeClaire had been in a drought since the Olympics. Roenick had come up with only a few goals and the defense of the team wasn’t holding their ground. The power play was awful and the team needed a big win to wake them up now. The Boston Bruins were hot on their heels in the East and the play offs were drawing closer and closer. Barber shrugged it off with the saying that he would rather have a slump now then later. Boucher let it go by saying he had been playing his best and playing his game. AJ was just pissed as all hell and worried as anything about the playoffs, while Kevin made his anger known. The next was against the Buffalo Sabers and after that it was the defending Cup champions the Avalanche.
The Flyers would loose to the Sabers 3-1. Once again Boucher played well in net, but got no support offensively with the team not finishing their chances. Johnnson’s play would diminish yet again and the big names on the team would never be able to find the back of the net. Sixteen games left in the regular season…that wasn’t the frightening thing though that belong to the fact that it was only five days before the trading deadline.
“My team is gonna kick your team’s ass,” AJ says to Kevin as he skates around the First Union Center for practice.
“Oh please,” Kevin says, “Wanna put money down on this?”
“Hey!” Boucher yells down from his end of the ice near the net, “It’s my team first off AJ.”
“Minor detail I left off,” AJ says.
Kevin shakes his head and skates away from AJ back to his team.
Today was an optional practice. It was the day before the Avalanche game on home ice and the team was in a slump. Barber decided that he wasn’t going to put the pressure on his team this time though. That’s all they needed was to be put down more other then what they had already gotten from Kevin, the fans and themselves. Instead of running a normal practice everyone that attended was going to be playing in a scrimmage amongst themselves.
There were a few teams:
Kevin’s: Tocchet, Roenick, himself, LeClaire, Desjardins and Neil Little in net
Boosh’s: AJ, Fedetenko, himself, Fedoruk, Marty Murray and Luke Richardson
Primeau’s: Williams, Nick, himself, Therein, Gagne and Brian Littrell, who came back to start practicing again.
Recchi’s: Manderville, Brashear, Ranheim, Luke Richardson, Johnnson, Ouellette in goal form the Phantoms.
“You know I told the kids in my neighborhood if they keep up their grades in school I’ll take them to meet any hockey player they wanted. Guess who they picked?” Roenick says to Kevin and the rest of his team.
“Who?” Kevin asks.
“I figured it would be someone on this team…no Joe Sakic,” JR says.
Kevin smiles broadly and shakes his head, “Canada what can I say.”
“Oh just get to your position,” JR says to him.
The first game was between Boosh’s team and Primeau’s. Boucher’s team won even though AJ was called for basically tackling Nick down to the ice as the two wrestled around for a little. The second short game was between Kevin’s and Recchi’s team. Kevin’s team won. So the final game would be between Boosh’s and Kevin’s.
“You’re mine AJ” Kevin yells at him.
“Don’t hit me!” AJ yells, “I’m the leading goal scorer on the team you need me tomorrow…and you hit too hard.”
Today was just a practice to let the team cool down and have fun. Barber had a good idea of just letting them let the pressure go…they all needed it. Boucher’s team would go on to beat Kevin’s team 2-1. There were cheers and some casually used profanity from Kevin, but it was all in good fun. Boosh’s team picture was taken and Kevin dumps the rest of the Power Ade on AJ. It was probably the most fun they had had in practice all year.
AJ sits on the bench and looks down the ice as the Avalanche players drop back to cover Roenick’s line that heads up the ice. The Flyers were coming out hard in the first period and trying to prove to the home crowd that they were indeed Stanley Cup worthy.
“That man is insane you know that,” AJ says to Nick about Patrick Roy.
“He’s a damn good goaltender though,” Nick says.
“Oh yeah brilliant goaltender,” AJ says,” absolute basket case though.”
“Why do you say that?” Nick says.
“We were skating around during warm ups, Justin and I, and we skated by and the man was talking to the goal posts. It’s like his ritual and he refuses to step on any cracks when he is walking out to the ice. And I thought Boosh was nuts,” AJ says, “Great goaltender though.”
Nick looks up at AJ and shakes his head before breaking into a smile.
“Talk to you later man,” AJ says as Roenick’s line comes to the bench and he hops over onto the ice with Primeau and LeClaire.
The line heads down the ice quickly back to their own end trailing after the Avalanche players. Boucher makes a quick save and the puck bounces to the corner. Kevin sends the puck up to AJ and he takes off down the ice quickly with Primeau behind him and LeClaire next to him. As Roy comes out of his net and skates down the ice towards AJ he quickly drops the puck back to Primeau as Roy throws himself onto the ice. Primeau steers around him towards the empty net as Roy throws his goal stick out trying to prevent the shot to no avail as Primeau scores on the open net. The First Union Center goes insane and the crowd begins to twirl around towels that had been given out at the game. The Flyers were in the lead 1-0 now. The rest of the first period was fast moving, but not many shots. It was more of a defensive game and it ended with the Flyers leading going into the second.
During the second though the Avalanche came back to tie the game up. Boosh made the first save, but as the rebound went out it found an Avalanche player who shot it off quickly. Boucher, who was already down in the butterfly, made a diving try and stuck out his goal stick. The puck seemed to touch the top of his goal stick blade lightly, but it still went into the back of the net. The rest of the second was controlled by the Flyers though. The majority of the time was down in the Avalanche zone with countless number of shots on Roy.
The third continued where the second left off though with the Flyers dominating the ice and with Roy coming up huge every time. With minutes left in the game a shot is taken on Boucher down in their own end. He lines up the puck perfectly, but it is deflected into the other corner of the net by another Avalanche player. He had no chance. With the last two minutes ticking down and the Flyers on a power play they pull Boucher for a 6 on 4. Yet again though Roy comes up big for his team. The game ends 2-1 in favor of the Avalanche. The Flyers were now tied with the Boston Bruins for the first place
Kevin stands up in the locker room and looks at his team, “Cheer up guys,” he says as they all look at him expecting the normal lecture, “We played the best game in a long time out there. We would have won to if it wasn’t for Roy. Our defense was good, our offense took shots and above all our power play was magnificent. The Avalanche didn’t deserve to win that game, but Roy is that team. They’re nothing without him. Maybe JR should have hit him a little harder in the head that time, but still I am nothing but proud to say your guys are my team after that game. We played out there like we should every game and that is the way a Stanley Cup winning team plays. Boosh you had no chance on those goals don’t worry about them. Don’t beat yourself up about them we’re gonna need you Monday night. Just remember this I am nothing, but proud to say that you are my team,” Kevin says putting his hand on his chest before walking back to his locker.
