Here we go again…another one goal loss with several questionable calls/non-calls costing the Flyers a couple points. Does it happen every night? No, but the zebras penchant for sending Flyers to the sin bin is becoming an alarming-common occurance.
Since the days of the Broad Street Bullies the Flyers have been known as one of the toughest franchises in the NHL. Actually when your team beats up one of the dominant hockey powers of the 70′s so bad that they have to leave the ice in protest “tough” just might be an understatement.
So what’s the problem then? As Sam Carchidi discussed in a great article for the Inquirer back in late January, the Flyers bad boy image has carried over to modern times and just may explain why there have been so many marginal calls against the orange and black.
Think about it: if your team has a reputation for physical play, how much does that contribute to the officials coming into a game more on-guard and sensitive to ticky-tack calls than usual? How differently might a ref approach a Flyers-Bruins game than a Bruins-Leafs game? It’s a valid question, and even some of the Flyer players and coaches have wondered aloud why the bad calls keep coming back to haunt them.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is a league-wide conspiracy against the Flyers or anything ridiculous like that. I guess you’d have to expect there to be some side-effects to having such an incompetent man in charge of the league, but this crap is getting old.
If any of you out there have a theory of why this is happening then by all means enlighten me, but for the time being we’ll just have to hope this BS doesn’t carry over into the postseason.
Jack Edwards is a DOUCHE!
For those of you who missed the NESN broadcast of the game tonight (lucky bastards), here’s an interesting little clip. Seriously, I almost threw up when Edwards started cackling like a buffoon after Jones almost got injured. And to those of you who still insist Jones’ hit on Patrice Bergeron was dirty…get over yourselves. Bergeron should have protected himself better in the corner and Jones barely nudged him. Still, laughing about a player almost getting seriously injured is pathetic, classless, and an embarrassment to the game. Then again, Edwards general broadcasting ability already defined most of those terms so I guess this would make him a repeat offender.
