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Canes at Flyers mock game: Part 2 added-The 1st period |
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With the postponement of the Canes/Flyers game tonight in Philadelphia, Canes fans on Twitter will again move the game to Twitter with an estimated 7pm start time. I do not think an official hashtag has been settled on, but I will post it here later.
It starts like this...
So late afternoon it was announced that the Canes/Flyers game had been postponed due to snow. At this point everyone started making different plans for the 2nd Tuesday night within a couple weeks snowed in at a hotel. Jim Rutherford managed to broker a meeting with Paul Holmgren to chat trades which soon changed everything. In the course of the conversation, Rutherford made passing mention of the Carolina Hurricanes game against the Phoenix Coyotes on played on January 27, 2000 after 20 inches of snow shut down Raleigh. In failing to mention that the game was originally scheduled for January 25 and played 2 days later, Rutherford more or less called Holmgren and the Flyers organization wimps which started things in motion.
Within 15 minutes by 6pm, the game was back on. This sent the Carolina Hurricanes organization scrambling to round up people and push the pace to get to the rink by 6:30 for warm-ups and a slightly delayed start. A quick room check and search of the hotel turned up everyone except Skinner, Murphy, Lindholm, Semin and Tracy. A quick debate started about why anyone wasted any time checking on Tracy’s whereabouts as long as Forslund and Kaiton were in tow anyway, but it was cut short when Pete Friesen pointed out that it was now 10 after 6. In checking with the front desk it was learned that Ryan Murphy had rented a Playstation 4, that Alexander Semin was seen leaving the hotel at 4pm saying something about loving the short walks to the arena and that Tripp had an involved conversation with the concierge about what nearby restaurants might still be open. At the same time Muller arrived after a 2nd check of Murphy, Skinner and Lindholm’s 2 rooms. He thought it strange that there were video games on the TV, sleeping bags set up on the ground and a 12-pack of energy drinks sitting on the desk but no sign of the 3 players. With this Ron Francis who has teenage children sprang into action. All it took was a quick parent-like holler “Come out now or you are all grounded from your electronics for the 2 road trips!” With that 1 by 1, Elias Lindholm, Jeff Skinner and Ryan Murphy emerged from underneath the beds. Meanwhile back in the lobby, natural leader Rod Brind’Amour was assembling a search party to go find Alexander Semin. Along the way it was also learned that Chantel McCabe was also out and about doing the usual “do a quick pregame segment out on the town.” So Brind’Amour declared that he knew the Philly streets pretty well and more importantly knew how to deal with harsh Philadelphia cabbies. Khudobin was added because he wanted to help find his buddy and was the hero who rescued him when the same thing happened before the Buffalo game. And finally Justin Peters was added simply because he looked kind of like the big, grisly strong kind of guy who could trudge miles through the snow with no ill effects. With that the rest of the team started quickly packing the bus with Murphy, Skinner and Lindholm still blaring music through the ear buds in defiance while Ron Francis continued to lecture them about being responsible players in the NHL.
The majority of the team and half of the broadcast staff arrived at the arena at 6:45 with just enough time to get dressed and do a quick warm-up before the game. Lo and behold Tripp Tracy was there and eating a feast of consequence at the arena club. While he was wandering around from 1 closed restaurant to the next, someone told him that the game was back on. Upon seeing John Forslund, he told John not to worry that with the dinner he just had, he had ample color material of the food variety based on the volume of food he had just consumed. At this point someone finally realized that in a moment of poor judgment that the search party looking for Semin included both goalies on the trip. At this point Jim Rutherford completely lost it screaming about how he was mad enough to have to be paying 3 goalies and could not believe that Muller and his staff needed a 4th. So just as he was finishing his 4th dessert and raving to John about the quality of the cheesecake and making goofy comments about it being made with local Philadelphia cream cheese, he was told that he would be starting in net.
Things definitely felt rushed and in a little bit of disarray, but the Flyers would also be minus a couple players who had not yet made it in, and the Canes settled into their pregame routines. Tripp of course interviewed himself on the bench and Forslund settled into the booth minus his usual partner.
Then things got weird…
It started normally enough with Chantel asking Muller 2 random questions in the tunnel before the game, Muller managing to speak 60 seconds worth of words without actually saying anything and both of them looking like they just dreaded this part of the routine. But then things changed when Muller was handed a paper with the Flyers starting lineup late because of the delays and rush to get the game started. It turns out that the Broad Street Bullies refusing to be outdone by Calgary and Edmonton were icing a thug line to start the game. With Gleason and Westgarth gone to trades and Murphy stepping back in for Komisarek, Muller and his coaching staff quickly considered their options. With very little time and not many options, Muller has no choice but to start the game with a timeout to mull over the options with his coaching staff. This early use of the timeout sends Tripp flying out of his net toward the bench. Tripp then marches down the tunnel to steal Chantel’s microphone and launch into a timeout-long assessment of this unprecedented use of the all-important timeout. John Forslund despite clearly being irked by the fact that he still had to deal with Tripp even when he was gone still manages to just carry on with play-by-play duties as if nothing had happened.
When the timeout ends, we find ourselves with the PA playing the theme from Rocky in true Philadelphia fashion, Muller icing a lineup of Skinner/Lindholm/Gerbe and Liles/Murphy and Bobby Clarke yelling from the management levels something about “We’re the Broad Street Bullies I tell you!” Muller’s plan works masterfully. With the opening puck drop, the Canes undersized speedsters take off running. The result is a 70-second 1st shift that features the playground equivalent of big mean kids chasing and trying to kill small kids. Luckily no one is caught and a hockey game finally ensues Murphy accidentally kicks the puck down the ice for icing. Now we have a tired Canes bunch who just skated loops around the rink to save their lives having to take a defensive zone faceoff but catching a small break when Gerbe has to leave due to a minor injury and is replaced by faceoff specialist Manny Malhotra. Tripp can barely contain himself with this turn of events. First, he skates up to Malhotra clearly and motions back toward his net as if to let Malhotra know that he is ready if the draw comes back at him. Then he motions up to John in the press box as if to say ‘I told you so’ about the timeout situation. But the Canes survive the shift and go on to play a solid 1st period. Newly signed Steve Mason has a rough time of it in the net letting in a couple soft goals and 4 total, while Tripp looks surprisingly decent yielding only 1.
At the end of the 1st period it is 4-1 Canes. Mason gets pulled from net. Tripp barely slogs off having digestive problems after his big meal and seems relieved that the search part of Peters, Khudobin and Brind’Amour have arrived carrying a frozen Alexander Semin. Not wanting to waste any time celebrating his appointment to the Russian Olympic team earlier that day, Chantel tries to interview a clearly frozen Semin for the 1st period intermission interview while Pete Friesen pushing his half-frozen body up against the glove warmers and chips ice off him using a spare skate blade.
So things start to return to normal with Tripp headed back up to the booth, Khudobin in net, Semin defrosted and ready to take the ice and the Canes staked to a nice 4-1 lead.
But then...
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