Reflections on the Worst Season in Flyerdom History … after a 4-3 meaningless victory against the Buffalo Sabres.
Franchise low points or as Chubby Checker would ask, “How low can you go?” …
• swept by five teams in a season series
• 13-game home losing streak
• most losses in one season �" 48
• fewest home wins �" 10
• fewest points in one season - 56
• most players used �" 49
• most rookies used �" 15
The 45-point dropoff from last season to this was the most ever in hockey, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
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Greer is putting the ball in play. He gets it out deep and Havlicek steals it!! Over to Sam Jones...Havlicek stole the ball!! It's all over… It's all over!!
- Johnny Most
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Best dancer award: Shawn Hill who entertained us the entire season in the upper level at the WAC. He would give Ottawa Sun hockey columnist Bruce Garrioch a run for his money in a dance contest.
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“It’s been a season-long struggle,” Sam Kapanen said. “Being part of the worst season in franchise history really sucks. You always want a shot at the Stanley Cup, and not even being close at Christmas to making the playoffs, makes it a tough ride. It really, rally sucks.”
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“We got off to a bad start and never regrouped,” Derian Hatcher said. “It’s tough to put in words. Toughest season I have ever been through mentally just with the losing. never saw anything like this coming. You always have that hope even when we were 1-6-1 that we were going to turn it around. I did, anyway. We played somewhat better [at end], but we still weren’t a very good hockey club.”
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All the injuries … 301 man games lost … Peter Forsberg playing on two left feet, so to speak given his problems with the right foot.
“If you want to look for an excuse, you can, but we should be better than to hide behind him,” Kapanen said. “Even last year, he was in and out and we were fairly strong. It’s a bad excuse.”
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“It’s not fun,” Simon Gagne said. “You know, people are going to remember the Stanley Cups. And the other thing they will remember is this year and it’s not fun when your name is part of that season. It’s disappointing for everybody.”
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“It would be very easy for a first-year coach to come in and be pissed off and sour about losing,” Mike Knuble said. “[John Stevens] is always upbeat and personable. A lot of coaches lose that. Nobody doubts he doesn’t want to lose. But he’s not being a jerk to everybody.”
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“I hate losing,” said coach John Stevens. “I hated it in the American Hockey League and I hate it here. I think these players know that.”
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“Only nine wins and I played over 50 games,” said goalie Antero Niittymaki. “That’s not a very good record.”
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“We didn’t expect to be where we are now,” said Comcast-Spectacor chairman Peter Luukko. “It’s so disappointing, especially when you are so used to winning ... But we have plenty of cap room to fill the holes we have and compete at the highest level next season.”
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“I like to believe some good things will come out of it because it’s a learning process for our young guys,” said GM Paul Holmgren. “Next year from the start of camp, we need to have a strong work ethic to get back into the thick of things. There’s work that needs to be done. It starts with the draft and then preparation for [free agency] July 1st, trying to score big in free agent market.”
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“I don’t really feel any relief,” John Stevens said. “I am kind of anxious to get this thing turned around. I keep looking ahead and trying to plan for what lies ahead.”
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“A lot of up and downs,” said Jeff Carter. “Definitely a year I don’t want to remember. There is a lot to learn from it.”
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Thanks to all our readers for adding some humor and insight into an otherwise dreadful season. I truly enjoyed doing this blog all season and with the changes we are making to expand (My Hockeybuzz.com) and upgrade the site, next year should be a landmark year for Hockeybuzz.
Not sure what I will do for playoffs given the Inquirer is budgeting only for the Stanley Cup final. I will try to blog on games off the TV which isn’t the way to do it, but it’s how a lot of hockey columnists do their work when they aren’t assigned to games.
I wish I had a backfield/copy editor for all the typos or glitches that you, the reader catch, because BLOGS and most internet sites do not edit, mostly for legal reasons. So, I have to edit myself after the fact.
As my buddy Jim Morrison would say, “This is the ennnnnd!”
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Mike Richards gets a jam-in goal although it looked like Knuble's goal to me ... 4-3 Flyers ... A power play goal, too.
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Has anyone seen the Easter Clarkie, err, Bunny, at the WAC today?
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Mike Knuble nice shot off Conklin ... if only the game meant something ... 3-3 five minutes into the 3rd period.
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Jason Pominville follow shot in the slot on a loose puck. 2-1 Sabres ... then in the final 10.8 of the 2nd period, bad goal by Derek Roy on a puck that was all over the place, making it impossible for Biron to figure out who had the puck and where.
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Really nice goal by Thomas Vanek off a turnover in the other end of the ice ... then a great, long breakaway pass from Mike Knuble to Simon Gagne to tie it at 1-1 ...
Nothing to be gained in this game either way ...
I am looking forward to the final season debut of The Sopranos tonight in HBO.
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With nothing to prove or really be gained, the Sabres started Ty Conklin against the Flyers and Marty Biron today.
Riley Cote drops his glove to go with Andrew Peters and the latter skates right him. Embarrassing.
Stat of the day: Only 9 Flyers on the ice in this game were in the opening day lineup last October at Pittsburgh.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger • 
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