Kind, gentle hockey keeping Flyers at loss

News Type: Opinion — Seeded on Thu Feb 1, 2007 3:42 PM EST

Article Source: Delaware County Times

sports, nhl, hockey, philadelphia, flyers, philadelphia-flyers, ice-hockey, jack-mccaffery

PHILADELPHIA -- The game began with 10,000 seats still empty, then ended, amid boos, in another Flyers loss. Happy now? Isn't that what everybody wanted? And if not everybody, too many? Didn't the know-it-alls yell for years that in order for hockey to thrive, it had to be Euro-ized? Wasn't it said to be oh-so-necessary to remove the violence and the red line from the game, to allow the figure skaters to do their figure 8s -- and 9s, too?

Didn't so many frustrated Philadelphia fans, who never appreciated one of the greatest sustained runs of excellence, if not championships, in the history of modern North American sports, demand that Bob Clarke be fired? That would be Bob Clarke, who routinely built playoff teams, division champions, sides with triple-figures in standings points. He had to go, right?

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Michael Sautter's Column, All of Newsvine
Groups: Puck U, Sports Fans
Regions: United States , Philadelphia

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{"commentId":508224,"authorDomain":"greer"}

greer

But for years, it was argued that this is what must happen: Softer hockey.

Did a single person, ever, argue that hockey must get softer? Lots of people wanted faster hockey, but I don't think anyone wanted softer hockey.

This is a pretty narrow-minded article. It sounds like McCaffery thinks the NHL is in ruin just because the Flyers are horrible this year, and the All Star game got poor ratings. Big deal. Suck it up. The Leaf fans survived the '80s, Philly fans will survive this. All teams go through ups and downs, franchises don't stay strong forever. As far as the All Star game goes, it never got great ratings in the past, so why is it a big deal this year?

Maybe he should talk to fans in Buffalo, and ask them how the NHL is doing?

{"commentId":508224,"threadId":"73097","contentId":"548205","authorDomain":"greer"}

1 vote

#1 - Fri Feb 2, 2007 9:50 AM EST

{"commentId":509371,"authorDomain":"jaybutler"}

Jay Butler

This is just sour grapes.

If the fans did not like the product on ice, they would not have come out in the numbers they have to see the games in person. January's attendance was an all-time record for the month. Almost 3.2 million fans in the seats. Arenas were at 92% capacity. That hardly sounds like the failure McCaffery is talking about.

The Flyers (and a few other teams) are having some issues this year. The league, as a whole, appears to be doing fairly well.

{"commentId":509371,"threadId":"73097","contentId":"548205","authorDomain":"jaybutler"}

2 votes

#2 - Fri Feb 2, 2007 10:15 PM EST

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MICHAEL SAUTTER

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Kind, gentle hockey keeping Flyers at loss

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