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Not so Fast, Beach...
By Bruce Augustine
10-25-2002
I read your little flyers article on page2 today and was quite impressed by the use of large 3 syllable words. You and I have watched many games together over the years whilst crying in our beers as we watched the curtain drop prematurely on another season. I am as big a flyers supporter as the next guy but I have to respectfully disagree with your prediction. As much as I would enjoy seeing the cup carried down broad street on the shoulders of Roenick, Recchi, etc. I just don't see it happening. I'll give you 3 reasons the flyers won't win the cup.

1.Rico

2. Therien

3. The Romanator.

Desjardins is so far removed from his norris trophy candidate years its not even funny. He is slow and regularly gets beaten by average forwards. Combine him with the equally slow and dim witted Therien and the turnovers in our own zone keep coming. The scariest thing is that they are the starters on most nights. "Hit Man" McGillis and Johnnson are solid backliners but 2 defenseman isn't enough to get it done. Cechmanek is a whole other story. His unorthodox style is more trouble than its worth. He's not sure if he should be a butterflyer or a stand up goalie. If you saw last nights game, which I'm sure you did, he gave up two goals which I might have gotten. Koivu through the 5 hole from a sharp angle and a shot which trickles through him. Those type of mistakes don't come back to haunt you in October but once March and April roll around the deficiencies of this team will be magnified. I agree that Hitch will install a more disciplined system which could work to the strenghts of the biggest team in the league. Clarkie didn't really address the 2 biggest problems in the offseason - team speed and defense. Although its too soon to think about the playoffs, lets revisit the past. Can the Flyers get past the speed of Toronto and Ottawa or our all time playoff nemesis New Jersey? We still haven't exorcised that demon. Then you have Detroit out west. I agree that the loss of Bowman is big but they haven't changed the system any and replaced Hasek with Cujo. So like many fans this year I'm praying for the best but expecting the worst.

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