BLOG: The Flyers' Goalie Carousel

By: Bill Campbell

When I was a kid watching my first baseball games, either A's or Phillies, there was a guy who always walked through the stands hollering, "Getcha score cards! You can't tell the players without your score cards."

Any day now I expect to see and hear a guy walking through the aisles of the Wells Fargo Center hollering, "Getcha score cards! You can't tell the Flyers' goal tenders without your score cards!"

And you really can't.

As expected, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette did the expected on Monday: he started Brian Boucher in goal. But early in the second period, he made a change. In came Sergei Bobrovsky. Boucher had come up with some kind of injury but did return in the third period and played through the overtime. Bobrovsky did well during his tenure, keeping the 2-2 score until Boucher was able to return.

In their first eight playoff games, the Flyers coach has made goalie changes four times, so you can't really tell the Flyers goal tenders without a chart of some kind.

The opposition in these playoff games continues to keep the original starter in place: Ryan Miller for Buffalo and Tim Thomas for Boston. Both have had brilliant individual performances. On Monday night in Philadelphia, Thomas was spectacular with 52 brilliant saves, 22 in the third period alone.

The score card might have been used to track Chris Pronger's appearances. After playing in three games upon returning for limited action, Pronger was scratched again in a game the Flyers should have won. And they very well might have if he had been available. The status of Pronger's injury was unclear, whether it's his broken hand or a different injury. General Manager Paul Holmgren said, "There is nothing to talk about." Not even the guy selling the score cards could have helped.

If you ever had any doubts about the business side of professional sports, consider the interesting case of the Eagles' David Akers. Here is a guy who has played for the same team since 1999, has made 82% of his field goal tries during his career, has played in 189 games – a record at his position – only to wind up with a "transition" tag.

The tag may or may not exist if a new collective bargaining agreement is ever resolved. But A "transition" tag would give the Eagles a virtual lock on Akers' services because it will give them the right to match any offer he could possibly receive from any other team. Last February, as talks with the Eagles on a contract extension broke down, Akers expressed his disappointment. He had just finished another fine season during which he connected on 32 of 38 field goal tries, scored 143 points and was voted to his fifth Pro Bowl. But you will remember he missed two field goals well within his range at the end of the season. The Eagles suffered a close playoff game loss to Green Bay and Coach Andy Reid made his memorable comment, "We can all count. Those points would have helped."

Akers was despondent after the game and when it became public knowledge that his young daughter would undergo cancer surgery in a few days, the relationship between the Eagles and Akers seemed to fade a bit, at best. Akers' post-game remarks about it's having been a nice run but was hardly the way he wanted to go out as an Eagle pretty much confirmed it.

The new Eagles kicker appears to be Alex Henery from Nebraska, a fourth round pick in the draft last week and the NCAA record-holding kicker. The draft's fourth round is a much higher spot, which teams normally don't use to select specialists, even kickers. But it's a spot high enough to earn Henery a $450,000 roster bonus, should the Eagles ever be inclined to cut him. He will finish his college career as the most accurate kicker in NCAA history, having connected 68 times over the years in 76 tries. He becomes the first kicker drafted by the Eagles since 1984 and their highest kicking selection since Tony Franklin in the third round in 1979. Henery may turn out to be everything the Eagles hope. But I, for one, will miss David Akers.

An added significant hockey comment: a few notes on Flyer James Van Riemsdyk are very much in order. The Flyers seem to have a budding star on their hands. He scored 2 goals in the first period Monday night, giving his team a 2-0 lead. He is just turning 22 years of age and has been simply outstanding in these play-offs. In 9 games, he has 7 goals and has produced a team high 59 shots. Four of his goals came in the series against the Sabres and during the regular season he recorded 21 goals in 75 games. You may not ever need a score card to identify him.