UPDATE 11:30 AM
Russian newspaper Sport Express is reporting that Ilya Bryzgalov has signed with CSKA Moscow, joining Detroit Red Wings star Pavel Datsyuk in playing for the former Red Army team for the duration of the lockout.
Awaiting official confirmation.
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A few quick hits on the Flyers:
* If you want to see members of the locked-out Flyers train to stay in shape, their rented ice time sessions at the SkateZone are, of course, free and open to the public. The regulars each day thus far include Danny Briere, Scott Hartnell, Matt Read, Kimmo Timonen, Nicklas Grossmann, Erik Gustafsson, Ilya Bryzgalov, and Jody Shelley as well as Phantoms rookie goaltender Niko Hovinen and Phantoms defenseman Oliver Lauridsen. Also attending is ex-Flyer and current LA Kings forward Justin Williams, who makes his offseason home in Ventnor.
* Ruslan Fedotenko's HC Donbass club hosts Amur Khabarovsk in KHL action today. I do not know if Fedotenko and Alexei Ponikarovsky are ready/able yet to play for the team. A webcast of the game is available
here at 2 PM EDT.
* The annual Flyers-Capitals prospects game has officially been canceled due to the lockout. This year's game -- the kickoff to training camp -- would have been held tomorrow.
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Former Flyers goaltender Rick St. Croix has been hired as the new goaltending coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, replacing the ousted Francois Allaire. Before the NHL opportunity arose, St. Croix had been the goalie coach with the AHL's Manitoba Moose, working with the likes of Eddie Läck and (previously) Cory Schneider.
During his playing days in Philly, St. Croix primarily served as the backup to Pete Peeters. He had a strong season in 1980-81 but faltered badly when he briefly had the opportunity to take over the starting job. With Peeters establishing himself as a two-time NHL All-Star prior to being traded from the Flyers to the Bruins -- and with future Vezina winner Pelle Lindbergh waiting in the wings -- St. Croix always seemed like the odd man out in the organization's plans.
Midway through the 1982-83 season, the Flyers traded St. Croix to the Maple Leafs in exchange for the late Michel "Bunny" Larocque, a veteran backup goalie best known for his stint behind Ken Dryden with the Canadiens' Cup dynasty of the late-1970s.
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Speaking of Bunny Larocque, it just my imagination or have hockey player nicknames gotten much less creative over the years?
Players today still refer to each other by nicknames, but it seems that 90% of the sobriquets are just some variation of the player's surname with a "-y" or "-er" on the end.
In the past, nicknames were much more colorful (if less polite and politically correct) because they often referred to a physical characteristic or personality trait. Even when it was a variation of a given name, there was usually a little more effort put into the name.
Example: Virtually every member of the Flyers' Stanley Cup teams of the mid-70s had a nickname. While some were obvious word plays ("Crispy" for Terry Crisp, "Dorny" for Gary Dornhoefer, "Roscoe" for Ross Lonsberry, "Bennie" for Bernie Parent) or common nicknames ("Chief" for Bobby Taylor and a zillion other players with even a drop of First Nation heritage), many other had great stories behind them.
For instance, the cast of characters on the Broad Street Bullies included:
* Sparky (Tom Bladon, a jab at his quiet, laid-back demeanor)
* Thundermouth (Joe Watson, who hardly stopped speaking-- at a high volume)
* Chan (Jimmy Watson, for his cleft chin)
* Arnie (Bill Barber, nicknamed for his supposed resemblance to Arnold, the talking pig on Green Acres. He was also known as Piggy)
* Whitey (Bobby Clarke)
* Duke (Bill Clement, for his uncanny John Wayne impersonations)
* Bedrock, Beauty, Hawk (nicknames for Rick MacLeish and his nose)
* Zeus (Dave Schultz -- "The Hammer" was more of a media-created nickname)
* The Hound, Hound Dog, Muttley, or Mutt (Bob Kelly, not to be confused with his NHL contemporary J. Bob "Battleship" Kelly)
* Big Bird (Don Saleski, for his height and curly mop of hair)
* Ashcan (Barry Ashbee)
* Cowboy (Bill Flett, who was basically a real-life, two-fisted, heavily bearded, whiskey drinking Alberta cowboy)
* Izzy (Larry Goodenough)
* Little O, Russ or Chuckles (Orest Kindrachuk; Little O was an answer to basketball's Big O, Oscar Robertson. Russ referred to Kindrachuk's bushy walrus-like mustache. Chuckles was a variation of Kindrachuk)
And, of course, there was Moose Dupont, who was never called Andre by anyone outside of his mother. He was so protective of his nickname, in fact, that when the Flyers traded for Bob "Moose" Dailey from Vancouver, the first thing Dupont did was come over to the new acquisition and announce in his heavy Quebec accent, "There's only one Moose around here, and that's me."
Noticing the 6-foot-5 Dailey had slung his jacket over his shoulders, Dupont told Dailey he looked like the Count from Sesame Street. From then on, Bob Dailey was known as the Count. It fit, since the team already had a Big Bird.
By the 1980s, there were fewer Flyers with colorful nicknames, but still more than today. For instance, Murray Craven was "Crafty" or "Muzzy" to most of his teammates, while Pelle Lindbergh went by "Gump" (homage to Gump Worsley) or "Tex" (stemming from a humorous incident on the road where a waitress heard Lindbergh's Swedish accent and asked him if he was from Texas).
More recently, there have been a few good nicknames that have stuck, such as "Fridge" for the hulking Todd Fedoruk and "Bundy" for Chris Therien. But, mostly, there have been a lot of Jonesy and Klatter type of nicknames.
What is YOUR all-time favorite Flyers nickname?
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