CHICAGO _ This is what I love about Danny Briere.
He speaks his mind, he doesn't bullwinkle, and if he can't say something that is going to really offend someone, he politely tells you, I better now say this.
He is a consummate pro, one of the most congenial men I have met in 35 years of covering sports
So how does Briere feel about this Stanley Cup Final which begins tonight between the Flyers and Blackhawks?
“We can't wait to get it started, to start skating, to start playing, to get that physical contact, the battles, just to get involved,” Briere said. “I mean, I'm enjoying everything that's going on around the rink and the media stuff and everything. The weird part is we don't know much about the ‘Hawks. We've seen them once. And I guess it's the same thing on their side.
“I can't wait to start playing, to start the hatred going a little bit. Right now everybody's nice to each other. I can't wait until it feels like this is going now and there's no love anymore.”
The Flyers can win this series just by sticking to what got them here: physical play. Get pucks deep, get them behind the Hawks' D, make them go back and handle it and bang the hell out of them.
They also have to come out hard and not try to "feel" the Hawks out to see what kind of game it's going to be. Teams that don't know each other well often take a period to figure out what the game is going to be like.
I agree with Peter Laviolette when he says the Flyers need to initiate and establish what the "series" is going to be like.
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Best line of the week comes from Ian Laperriere, telling us how Chris Pronger gets more respect from officials than other players and he can get some shots in that might be called as penalties on younger players.
“You get an accidental elbow in the head,” Laperriere said. “Prongs is 6-6. Accidents happen out there. Ask [Brian] Gionta. He ran into his elbows. That’s what makes him a special player.”
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Hitch says: From my conversation with Ken Hitchcock this week ...
“Philadelphia has as much or more firepower than anybody in the league,” Hitchcock told me. “When they needed scoring in these playoffs, they got it.
“I think that is significant. Mentally, it’s hard on any team when you know the team you play against can score at any time. When you watch Philly play, all they need is one chance and it’s going in the net. That wears on teams. And I think that will wear on Chicago.
“It’s going to be a helluva series, Tim.”
Oh, yeah.
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