Chicago Blackhawks vs. Philadelphia Flyers (Gm 3)
June 2, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Chi-Phi Musings and In-Game Scribbles Stanley Cup Final
My English is as good as yours, I just write these in a stream-of-consciousness mode that I insist excuses me from small things like rules of grammar or general etiquette. Let’s call it conversational English, hopped up on beans. You know what kind of beans (no, Carl Mellesmoen, not the magic ones).
Chicago Blackhawks
visit
Philadelphia Flyers
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
Round Four – Playoffs (Chicago leads series 2-0)
Game Three (score posted following scribbles)
Missed it? Musings capture the game in writing. A written transcript typed during the game, posted and edited about thirty minutes afterward. Based on the RDS French telecast of the Montreal Canadiens game, Musings take about 20 minutes to read. More detailed than an article, fresher than a looping highlight and good with morning coffee. Or late-night chocolate. A unique way to re-experience the game.
I was gonna go with Chi-Fly originally. But Philadelphia stopped being fly about two games ago. So it’s Chi-Phi. And I join the game in progress.
Second Period
We resume with Philadelphia on a power-play. They lead 1-0.
Pronger’s point shot is tipped and blocked.
Open-net one-timer for Mike Richards. So. There’s that dearth of skill I mentioned, Matt. Should have been a goal.
Blackhawks kill the penalty and enter the Flyer zone. They effect one of their typical stay-ahead possessions. Hossa leaves a puck for Kane in the corner. Kane cruises up along a circle. To the opposite point. Duncan Keith shoots. And scores.
Chicago 1, Philadelphia 1
Flyers are called for high-sticking.
Pronger goes to the box.
Chicago’s early efforts see perimeter passing and one decent long shot from Kane. With one minute left in the power-play, Chicago sets up.
Byfuglien Sharp and Kane are on. Chicago has four forwards on the ice.
Kopecky is the fourth. And on further observation, I’d say that Chicago was using five forwards. Toews was the fifth. I could be wrong.
Penalty ends.
Pronger, the kind of man who would defend his sons. In that sinister arm-around-shoulder way. Now, you know Principal Milton, our son can’t have this on his record. You understand, of course.
Chicago’s pressure continues to increase.
At the mid-way point Byfuglien takes a penalty.
Flyer power-play causes a horn and crowd surge but play continues. At the cage, the refs signal no goal. Play continues.
Hartnell carries it on the left side.
Richards comes up with it in the slot. A lot of paddling but no surge.
Power-play ends with the Flyers retrieving a puck deep.
Long Flyer puck is called for icing.
Replay shows that the puck went past the line. McCreary are on the phone.
Crowd reacts with vigour at one of the shown replays.
Goal is called good.
Philadelphia 2, Chicago 1
Pronger is credited. His face remains impassive.
McCreary backs away from centre ice. Crowd rises and then plateaus.
Hawk pass is intercepted in the neutral zone. No matter, they are in seconds later. Flyers are not Cinderella.
One man amongst many. A single Flyer fan stands waving a towel amongst orange t-shirted men. He looks middle-aged.
Kane loses the puck to Carle behind the Flyer net. Hawks keep it in at the blue line but Carle continues the corrective work and moves it out.
Hawks are back in.
Byfuglien takes a bug-legged Flyer out inside the blue line (Carcillo, I think) and a long puck nearly reached, is a Kane breakaway lost.
Faceoff.
Flyers are in. Powe hits a player on the hash. Running start. Slight. On the other hash, another running start leads to a Hawk crushing. Puck remains in Chicago’s possession.
Thirty-two whacks a Flyer after a frozen puck.
Pronger is shown complaining to the skies following a missed call by the refs. Hands down, bud, McCreary is one of the best.
Moments later the Flyers are called.
Faceoff to Leighton’s right is lost by the Hawks.
Carried in. Keith. To Kane. Perimeter passing. Now a hesitation leads to a botch and a clear.
Versteeg is tough.
Faceoff.
To Leighton’s left. To the point. Brent Sopel shoots. Scores.
Puck appears to move undeflected.
Philadelphia 2, Chicago 2
CBC colour man tells us that there are often unexpected heroes in the Stanley Cup finals. Hm. If one watches four or five regular season games involving the same team, one might observe the same.
Crowd has lost all the sheen from the God Save the Flyers anthem. And the Hawks are playing no more loosely than in the first.
Pronger sends a long pass for Briere on the right side. I decide to observe Pronger’s passing for a while. Put an alert on it. This one is a board-bounce a bit far.
It’s easy to take the word of a zealot. But the Pronger report is more than fifteen years old and I should know for myself. Right now, I believe he is a great passer and has good vision. But this is my conjecture. For the rest of the series, I’ll see for myself.
With shooting, Pronger delivers a wild, uncontrolled shot far more often than I would have expected for a man of his reputation. But as I have learned from this unlearning process (hardy, har), Canadian players don’t usually live up to their advance billing.
It’s quite bright and bellicose.
Second Intermission
Philadelphia 2, Chicago 2
Ron McLean meets with Gary Bettman. A favourite guest of mine. RDS should get him more often.
McLean effects the silver dollar and snake teeth while Bettman is the savvy, old businessman whom we must not underestimate. It’s always amusing.
Lots of questions about franchise ownership. Bettman has to stay in balance. McLean knows he has the crowd on his side.
The pre-interview bantering was as entertaining as the showdown. McLean sang Happy Birthday to Bettman and the commissioner referenced Marilyn Monroe’s singing of the song to the president (as an explanation for his blush).
There are some pluses and minuses says Bettman when asked about the Olympics. This is not the popular position amongst most Canadian fans and many Canadian hockey media members. Damien Cox took exception earlier this week with similar statements from the commissioner.
Many, if not most, Canadians want to remember the Olympics as a golden moment for their golden boy. And as evidence of Canadian hockey supremacy. Of course, none of those things are true. But triumphalism and denialism aside, Bettman represents the general managers of the NHL.
And Bettman’s position is based on economics.
And the NHL is digging in; the league has taken the public position of not wanting to send its players to the next winter Olympics.
Why risk injury to your league’s assets, the players? I agree. There is more to say but the faceoff distracts me.
Third Period
Philadelphia 2, Chicago 2
Faceoff outside the Flyer zone.
Action is brusque, fairly clean.
Puck goes out of play.
My mother (or someone who claims to be my mother) asks why I am irritated with the story-lining of the CBC and I explain that the network’s simplistic theming and insistence on sticking with that theming is in stark contrast to the RDS model.
Now a short pass to Kane sends him in over the blue line. Enough room for a clear shot or a move. Shoots. Scores.
Chicago 3, Philadelphia 2
Flyers respond within a minute.
Ville Leino. Groaner. Pass. Shot. Rebound. Shot. In.
Goalies’ World magazine ranks Niemi 32nd in the league. Professor Strand (he of the theory of Strand) informed me today that Niemi is not a very good goalie.
Philadelphia 3, Chicago 3
Opportunistic goal. But the Flyers have made those chances for themselves.
Flyers complete two passes in celebration. Then they turn it over. (Usually it’s a turnover. Or a pass and a turnover.)
Carle carries it out from behind the net.
Replay of the Kane goal shows that Leighton was beaten at mid-height on the stick side.
Now I hear a colour man say “you’re right, the Flyers gotta shoot more”.
I guess in Philly’s case that’s about all they can do.
Neutral zone. Briere. Leaves it for an advancing defenceman. Chicago puck after a dump-in.
They advance it without a shot. Carter responds on the right side. Doom-bash fence-gate on the right. Falling Hawk. Shot. Save. Flyers continue the pressure. Two good shots.
Stoppage soon afterward.
CBC Colour: There has to be a guy. Who says? You know what guys. Don’t play with fear.
They’re focusing on pea-soup can man Scott Hartnell. A good kid from – what – Regina, was it? Cherry mentioned it.
Swearing is forgiven during the hockey game.
In the corner to Leighton’s left. One Hawk on his knees. Two Flyers watch. Puck goes to the hash. Quick shot. Voice rises. The one in the booth.
Eleven and a half minutes left in the period.
Pronger is shown on the bench. Watching. That same look. It’s developed some. Like adding a turtleneck under a power-suit. And maybe a handkerchief. Same guy though.
He could be related to William Shatner. Looks-wise, looks-wise.
Ville Leino is one of the skilled Flyers one might see flitting about the neutral zone cleaning up after long, lumber passes from the Flyer bulwark.
Hawks pass back and forth. It’s almost as they are showing off. Admonish them, someone.
Seabrook and Keith complete four passes to one another as they exit. Mild horizontals.
Briere is on. This is when the Flyer offence is at its most prepossessing and dangerous. Briere is not afraid to operate anywhere in the offensive zone. And he turns his back to the middle areas as often as he crosses the crease or moves along the hash area.
His first-period goal from Hartnell was a pretty piece and all Regina. Hartnell turned and flicked a stick at the puck to send it across to Briere for a big cave netball.
Blackhawks are about as careless with the puck in their own end as Philadelphia is on offence. At least this period.
Now a two-on-two.
Give and go. Back to Byfuglien. Carter hits Byfuglien to end the threat. Byfuglien slides into the back boards. No penalty. I thought there might be.
There is no satisfying synopsis by Pierre Houde to explain the situation.
Briere is on the left. Off-wing. Pauses. Space. Mid-slapper. High chest save.
Stoppage.
Icing against Chicago. Timonen has to stay on the ice.
Hawks wait and watch. Seabrook is the beneficiary. Let the Flyers circle our ice. Let them test their, uh, skills.
Flyers are much stronger with the puck in their own end, of course.
Broken stick. Hawk defender sees it fly up. Leino creates some stretched spazza. And now Briere is referred to as “Danny” again. Expletive deleted.
Three minutes. Both teams are going to keep it on the boards. It’s an unholy agreement.
Who will veer to the lane first?
Hawks. Of course.
Turning pass to the slot. Kept in. Hossa wheels. Finds. Kept in again.
Finally the Flyers clear it out.
Moments later a stoppage and a time-out. It’s a fatigue timeout.
CBC camera goes badly out of focus for a moment and I see a huddled Sasquatch.
Last minute.
Chicago. Keith.
Chicago. Pulford.
Chicago. Mikita.
Chicago. 1962.
Pressure. No goals.
Faceoff to Leighton’s left. Flyers get it.
Flyers ice it. Hawks exit. Mistake under the Flyer end line. Puck floats to the crease. Not enough time.
Overtime.
Third Intermission
Philadelphia 3, Chicago 3
Ron McLean’s faux everything is on my nerves. It’s meant as genuine. Maybe it is. I dunno.
I’ll take Elliotte Friedman.
Scott Oake and Kelly Hrudey stand at an arena entrance.
Overtime
Chicago 3, Philadelphia 3
Sudden-death overtime. I feel the sudden urge to make a prediction. I lack most skills to be the seer. Ok, all of them. No prediction.
Brian Campbell has it. And again. Sends a puck into the corner opposite.
Bolland is in moments later.
High shot.
Hawks control now. Versteeg, one shot.
Free floating radical. Hither and tag. A shot. Versteeg again. A faceoff.
Sharp wins it. Puck is nearly pushed out.
On the boards now. Three Flyers. Three Hawks. Carle emerges horizontally. Is shouldered.
Eager and Pronger bend together as they close to the endboards. Snow rises. The slow-motion replay is beautiful.
Suddenly the Flyers win.
Siren.
Nobody reacts the way they should.
Now some discussion. It’s not a goal. McCreary reviews. You don’t review a whistle we are told. Puck slid along the goal line. Then was punched in. But McCreary may have blown the whistle.
Call is no goal.
Moments later the crowd can cheer for real.
Philadelphia 4
Chicago 3 (OT)
HDS Stars: Patrick Kane, Scott Hartnell, Claude Giroux
CBC Stars: Don’t think they provided any
Chicago leads the best-of-seven series 2-1. Next game is on Friday in Philadelphia.
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