Flyertown: News Archive: February 2002

Flyers 1, Devils 0

(2/27) Roman Cechmanek got his fourth shutout of the season as the Flyers shut down the Devils offense tonight in New Jersey. Former Flyer John Vanbiesbrouck got the start and played very well against his ex-mates--in his first game since April 2001, the Beezer frustrated John LeClair and other Flyers snipers time and time again. Simon Gagne did sneak one by Vanbiesbrouck on the short side, however, and it proved to be the difference in this hard fought game. Gagne's goal is his 25th of season. Rick Tocchet got his point of the season by assisting on Gagne's goal.

Notes: There was a scary three player collision during the second period that sent Bobby Holik, Scott Niedermeyer, and Ruslan Fedotenko flying. Holik emerged unscathed; Fedotenko was badly shaken; Niedermeyer had to be helped to the locker room and did not return. . . . Kent Manderville, Todd Fedoruk, and Chris McAllister were the healthy scratches. . . . The stars of the game were Vanbiesbrouck, Gagne, and Cechmanek. . . . The Flyers return to action on Saturday at Madison Square Garden versus Eric Lindros and the Rangers.

Flyers 5, Blackhawks 4

(2/26) The Flyers just barely held on to their lead in the third period, as they skated to a 5-4 win over Chicago. The Orange and Black had a 5-2 lead going into third period, but they allowed goals to Eric Daze and Tyler Arnason. Jeremy Roenick, Keith Primeau, Eric Desjardins, Simon Gagne, and Ruslan Fedotenko scored for the Flyers. Gagne's goal came on the power play. The reworked units went 1-3 for the night. Roman Cechmanek got the start and the win

Notes: Stars of the game: 1) Gagne 2) Phil Housley 3) Roenick. . . . Desjardins' goal leaves him one point shy of 500 for his career. . . . Rick Tocchet got 6:35 minutes of ice time in his season debut. . . . Todd Fedoruk, Kent Manderville, and Chris McAllister were all scratched. . . .The Flyers only managed 3 shots on goal in the third period. . . . The Flyers have a one point lead in the Eastern Conference over Boston, who tied the Islanders. . . .The Flyers return to action tomorrow night on ESPN's Wednesday Night Hockey. They're playing in New Jersey.

Olympic Statistics

Player	Team	G	A	P
Jiri Dopita	CZE	2	2	4
Ruslan Fedotenko	UKR	1	0	1
Simon Gagne	CAN	1	3	4
Kim Johnsson	SWE	1	1	2
John LeClair	USA	6	1	7
Jeremy Roenick	USA	1	4	5

Roman Cechmanek did not play in any games.

Canada 5, United States 2

(2/24) Well folks, I was pretty bummed to see Team USA lose to Team Canada today in today's gold medal matchup. Nevertheless, I was very impressed with Team USA's performance in this Olympics. They carried themselves very well--even in defeat--and I was proud of them. And Team Canada deserved to win this game. They carried the pace of the game, kept their composure, and scored some clutch goals. Simon Gagne had an assist in Canada's winning effort. He comes back to Philly with a gold, while Jeremy Roenick and John LeClair come home with silver.

It's been a joy to watch Olympic hockey. All of our Flyers acquitted themselves admirably. But I'll be glad to be able to root for all our guys again. It's time for our players to put their Olympic dreams aside for four more years in favor of an even bigger prize--the Stanley Cup.

Olympic Update, 2/22/02

Canada 7, Belarus 1: Simon Gagne scored shorthanded in the Canadian rout to notch his first goal of the Olympics. Now every skater that the Flyers sent to the Olympics has scored a goal.
United States 3, Russia 2: Whew--that was a nailbiter! The US advances to face Canada in the gold medal game. Neither Roenick nor LeClair had a point in this game. Roenick took several key faceoffs and saved a goal during a last minute scramble around the American goal.

Olympic Update, 2/20/02

United States 5, Germany 0: Twenty-two years to the day after they met in Lake Placid, the US knocked off Germany again as US goalie Mike Richter pitched a shutout. Both Flyers had good games. LeClair got highsticked twice in the mouth--losing a tooth in the process--but he ended up with a goal and an assist for his pains. LeClair now has six goals and one assist in four Olympic games. Jeremy Roenick scored his first Olympic goal while on the power play and made a beautiful play on Tony Amonte's goal. Roenick now has one goal and four assists in four Olympic games. By the way, Flyers draft pick Dennis Seidenberg played for Germany in this game.
Russia 1, Czech Republic 0: Jiri Dopita and Roman Cechmanek's hopes for a second gold medal ended today, as both will come back to Philly without a medal of any color.
Belarus 4, Sweden 3: What an upset! Belarus knocked off the highly rated Swedish team, and (in the process) eliminated Kim Johnsson's chance at a medal. Johnsson had an assist in today's game and was -1.
Canada 2, Finland: Canada advances to the semifinal to meet Belarus. Simon Gagne had his second assist of the tournament on Joe Sakic's goal. Interestingly enough, Gagne is the only Flyer skater in the Olympics who has not scored a goal.

Olympic Update, 2/18/02

United States 8, Belarus 1: The two Flyers on Team USA continued to acquit themselves beautifully in the Olympic hockey tournament. John LeClair had two goals and was +1 while skating on a line with Mike Modano and Brett Hull. Jeremy Roenick had two assists and was +2 skating on a line with Mike York (Keith Tkachuk is out with a bruised thigh) and Scott Young. LeClair, still looking reborn, now has five goals in three games, while Roenick has 4 assists in three games.
Canada 3, Czech Republic 3: Joe Nieuwendyk scored a late goal for Canada to force this tie. Simon Gagne continued to play with Joe Sakic and Jarome Iginla, but he was held without a point. On the other side, Jiri Dopita scored his second goal of the tournament while playing with Patrik Elias and Petr Sykora. Roman Cechmanek dressed as Hasek's backup.
Sweden 7, Germany 1: Sweden finishes the round robin 3-0. Johnsson did not figure in the scoring.
Matchups for the quarterfinals on Wednesday are: US-Germany, Sweden-Belarus, Russia-Czech Republic, and Canada-Finland. This means it is possible for all six Flyer Olympians to advance to the semifinals. I'll continue to keep you posted on their progress.

Olympic Update, 2/17/02

Canada 3, Germany 2: Canada edged Germany on the strength of three second period goals. The Canadians allowed the Germans to get back in the game in the third, but Martin Brodeur and company managed to hang on to the victory. Simon Gagne got the only assist on Joe Sakic's goal in the second.
Sweden 2, Czech Republic 1: Two more Flyers got their first goals of these Olympics in this game. Kim Johnsson scored Sweden's first goal while on the power play, while Jiri Dopita knocked in his own rebound to score the Czech Republic's only goal. The win assures Sweden of the top berth in Group C, which means they will likely play Belarus in the first game of the medal round.

Olympic Update, 2/16/02

Simon Gagne was moved to Joe Sakic's line during Team Canada's practice. The other winger is Jarome Iginla. Of course, things could change before Canada's next game--this is Pat Quinn, after all, and Gagne could even be Canada's healthy scratch--but this is how things stand at present. It's gotta be a thrill for Gags to play with the player he idolized as a boy in Quebec. I also think Gags will play much better with Sakic (style-wise) than with Eric Lindros.
Russia 2, United States 2: The US needed to score late to get this tie. Neither Flyer involved particularly distinguished themselves. LeClair was in the penalty box when the Russians scored their first power play goal. Roenick finished the night no points. JR did manage to interrupt Keith Tkachuk's interview with Darren Pang during the second intermission....what a ham. New US lines: LeClair-Weight-Guerin and Tkachuk-Roenick-Young. I don't know how long these will stick, as Tkachuk appears to have injured his knee. By the way, this tie virtually guarantees the US first place in their group (goal differential is the second tie breaker), which means they'll probably play the qualifier in the quarterfinals of the medal round.

Olympic Update, 2/15/02

Sweden 5, Canada 2: Simon Gagne and Kim Johnsson's play was generally representative of their teams' play. Gags struggled. He started on a line with Eric Lindros; later he played with Owen Nolan and Joe Nieuwendyk. He looked much better there. On a side note, Gagne is wearing #21 for the Olympics. Jarome Iginla also wears 12 in the NHL, and he gets to keep the number by virtue of seniority. Johnsson was the offensive defenseman in the torpedo system, paired with Niklas Lidstrom. I think Johnsson is wearing #3 for Sweden, as Lidstrom has #5.
Czech Republic 8, Germany 2: I didn't watch all of this game. Jiri Dopita has great linemates: Patrik Elias and Petr Sykora of the NJ Devils. Dopita got two assists and was +2 as the Czech team laid a sound beating on the qualifiers Germany, who was clearly outclassed. On a side note, Flyers draft pick Dennis Seidenberg played for Team Germany. I'm not sure if Cechmanek dressed as Hasek's backup; I assume that Cecho would get the nod before Hnilicka.
United States 6, Finland 0: Wow. The United States was just flying tonight. The US forwards were on the top of their game tonight--they looked much more comfortable than the Canadian forwards and didn't seem at all troubled by the big ice. This is probably because their passing game was working very nicely. The two Flyers involved in this game, Jeremy Roenick and John LeClair, came up huge. LeClair had a hat trick, while Roenick had an assist on Keith Tkachuk's nifty goal. LeClair looked like the 50 goal scorer of a few years back. LeClair played with Brett Hull and Doug Weight, while Roenick played with Keith Tkachuk and Chris Drury.

Miscellaneous links

Here's a Flyers link that might be of interest to you:
Flyers, AHL affiliate enjoy close relationship

Flyers trade Boulerice

(2/13) In a very minor transaction today, the Flyers swapped minor leaguers with the Carolina Hurricanes. The Flyers sent forward Jesse Boulerice to Carolina in exchange for center Greg Koehler. Koehler is 26, with 36 points in 56 games with the Lowell Lock Monsters. Boulerice, who was involved in a rather infamous stick-swinging incident in junior hockey, had never managed to become an impact player for the Phantoms. Koehler gives the Phantoms a bit of size of scoring, while Boulerice gets a second chance in a new organization.

Islanders 1, Flyers 0 (OT)

(2/12) In the last game before the Olympic break, the Flyers blew an opportunity to increase their lead over the Islanders in the Atlantic Division. The two teams were scoreless after three periods, partly due to the sterling goaltending of Roman Cechmanek and Garth Snow. With 1:56 remaining in overtime, Snow took a delay of game penalty. The Flyers' inept power play proved their downfall, however, as Michael Peca scored shorthanded with just 8.7 seconds remaining in the game.

Notes: The overtime loss puts the Islanders eight points behind the Flyers in the Atlantic. Boston, who is playing tonight in Vancouver, can pull into a tie for first place in the conference with a win. The Flyers will have two games in hand on Boston. . . . This was Garth Snow's third shutout against the Flyers. . . . The Flyers are off until Tuesday, 2/26, due to the Olympic break. Their first game back is at home against Chicago. The Flyers have 25 games after the break. Fourteen of them are at home, and all of them are in the Eastern timezone.

Olympic Update

(2/11) Flyers winger Ruslan Fedotenko helped lead Team Ukraine to a key victory over Team Switzerland in Olympic preliminary round men's ice hockey. Playing on a line with fellow NHLer Sergei Varlamov (St. Louis Blues), Fedotenko had Ukraine's second goal in a 5-2 victory. (Oh to be a fly on the wall when Fedotenko and Varlamov were officially introduced. Rusty: "Hi there. Sorry about kicking your team's ass the other night." Varlomov: "No problem, man. Just doing your job.") Fedotenko also took two amusing penalties--one of which showed his lack of familiarity with international hockey. His first two minute minor was for playing without a helmet; it got knocked off along the boards, and in international hockey you have to return to the bench after that happens. (Poor Rusty.) He also took a two minute minor for roughing. Fedotenko is expected back in Philly for tomorrow's game against the Islanders.

Flyers 5, Blues 0

(2/9) After their terrible loss in Anaheim, the Flyers were looking for some redemption tonight in St. Louis. Boy, did they find it! Five different players scored for the Flyers. Reunited with Mark Recchi, Keith Primeau led the way offensively with a goal and two assists. Chris Therien, Kim Johnsson, John LeClair, and Justin Williams also scored for the Flyers. Roman Cechmanek got the start and made thirty saves to get his third shutout of the season.

Notes: Keith Primeau scored his 300th career assist. . . . Ruslan Fedotenko, who is scheduled to play for Ukraine in the Olympics on Monday, left the game with a sprained left knee. His status is unknown. . . . Jiri Dopita missed another game with neck strain. . . . The Flyers maintain their one point lead over Boston in the Eastern Conference. Their lead over the Islanders in the Atlantic stands at nine points. . . . The Flyers' next game is at home on Tuesday against those Islanders.

Ducks 5, Flyers 4

(2/7) The Flyers played one of their absolute worst games of the season last night in Anaheim, somehow managing to blow a two goal lead in fifteen minutes against the woeful Mighty Ducks. Paul Kariya led the charge with a hat trick, while Brian Boucher was in net for the collapse. The Flyer goals came from Marty Murray, Kim Johnsson, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Simon Gagne.

Notes: The Flyers now have a nine point lead over the Islanders in the Atlantic. They have a one point lead and one game in hand over Boston in the Eastern Conference. . . . The Flyers return to action on Saturday at St. Louis.

Flyers 3, Kings 1

(2/5) The Flyers seem to have enjoyed their time off over the weekend, as they came out West for their game against the Kings with some of that previously missing spark. Back in goal after fending off a sinus infection, Roman Cechmanek turned in another sterling effort, while the Flyers got some offense from an unexpected blueliner, Eric Weinrich. Weinrich had not scored a goal in 43 games before chipping in with a goal and an assist tonight. Ruslan Fedotenko and Simon Gagne had the other Flyers goals.

Notes: The Flyers still lead the Eastern Conference by two points over Boston. Their lead over the Islanders in the Atlantic is now eleven points. . . . Dan McGillis returned to the lineup after missing time with a strained back. . . . For the first time in seven games, the Flyers didn't give up a goal in the third period. . . . The Flyers remain undefeated when they score three or more goals. . . . The Flyers return to action on Wednesday in Anaheim.

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