Ok, this is the last of my "Pence is the GOAT" jokes.  

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So I finally got home and actually had some time to get this done.  I know most of you had already seen the game and read the recap(and yes, I could only laugh when Jody Shelley scored that goal), o I wont bore you with anything about the actually game itself.  First, I will say that a couple inches of snow absolutely destroyed the city.  all the roads were icy as heck, and the sidewalks were all sand, obviously they never really expect that kind of snow, so its hard to blame the city itself.  but the whole downtown area is really nice in general.  the two stadiums are right next to the park, CNN, and the coke museum(pretty cool, actually) and aquarium.   

via sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net

Now Phillips Arena, well, just may be the best Arena I've ever seen.  Finding the seats was a tad tough,(we walked down the wrong opening even though the wall clearly read sec 212.) but the seats we sat in were phenomenal.  The club boxes on the one side of the arena look awesome from the inside, and by the scoreboard they had these two Thrashers that shot fire after goals and before periods which was also pretty badass.  

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The Thrashers also has some....uhhh, banners too : /

via l15.sphotos.l3.fbcdn.net

via sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net

We sat by where the Flyers came out, so we walked down to take some pics.  I saw Cotsey walk out of the Flyers tunnel and yelled to him and he pointed to me, so that was the first of all good things to come.  Then the Flyers came out for their practice.  

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via sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net

via sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net

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Side note, bobs skated by and looked over(guessing surprised with all the Flyers fans there) and I showed off my #35 on my sleeve and he did a little head nod to me.  That was epic.  Then Danny at the end came over and flipped some pucks over the boards, I got one that bounced off my cousins hands haha, the he caught another anyway.  I would have gave mine to this dad and his kids but he got the very 1st one.  Another note, the only other game puck i ever got was from a Thrashers game years ago at the WFC.  

via sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net

So thats all my pics.  The stadium was about 60-40 with thrashers fans, but the ones that i talked to all knew hockey, which was good.  in all it was a very satisfying time.  Good sights and good hockey.

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Updated by Travis. Original post by JpH here:

 Yeah, I just thought it would be cool and all, and Im down for skate or foot, whatever works best with the majority of people. I was thinking an Orange team and a Black team, so bring a jersey or tee for both colors. I live In Ardmore, PA(right by St. Joes and Nova), so as long as its not somewhere ridiculously far, im down. I was thinking just sticks, skates?, and the color shirts, I dont think we’ll needs any pads and junk, unless your a goalie.

  P.S. – I have one set of goalie pads and a net (neither are regulation size) so i’ll bring them if we do this, but if anyone else has better equipment, feel free to let me know.

      P.P.S. - Whats a good date for this?  Im good whenever, except the 5th and 14th of April, and the 10-15th or May.

Yes, the team has been better lately, but still they are playing nowhere near the level that they should be at.  So my simple request is this: list the main reason you believe the team is having such an off year.  Is it the players, coaches?  Does the team play with heart or for a paycheck?  Maybe the players you though were going to be stars turned out to be average at best?  Is it all JVR and Powes fault?  who knows, but I kind of want to know what all of you out there think the biggest concern is.  

So today was pretty big, but I see the signing of Laviolette as a sign of better things to come.  For him to be successful, though, will be to correct the mistakes that were made by Stevens. 

The first thing that needs to be done is for Laviolette to make himself known.  I want him to beat the living hell out of any player thats not giving 100%.  It always seemed as though Stevens was never hard enough on the players, and that led to the lackluster that ultimately got him fired.  No more of this "3rd line better then the 1st line shit" or "why is Aaron Asham better then Carter tonight."

The lines need to be adjusted, and kept in place.  Im tired of new lines every game, it builds no chemistry.  I don't want Giroux playing center, its a wast of his talents, especially with Carcillo and Lappy.  Put him on the top line with Richards and Danny, and let Carter center Hartnell and JVR.  It would be nice to see a line play more then 3 games with the same players.

Not too much with the D, just don't wanna see as much pinching.  It seems as though Coburn or Carel are always playing catch up.  I know its there style, but Im getting pissed of seeing all the odd man rushes against us.  Other then that the defense has been pretty solid.

I think Laviolette can bring us back to the top, but its up to the players(looking at Richards and Carter the most) to start playing like they can.  If not, then we can start looking at the trading block next.

Reports are saying that Blair Betts is a week away from returning to the Flyers, which is great news, but who do the Flyers send down for him?  The guy that was brought up was Asham, and i think he has locked up a spot on the team.  the only two Flyers with two-ways i believe are Mika and Powe, but i don't think that Powe is going to be sent down.  I like Mika, but he does seem like the odd man out right now.  Does anybody have any other idea of who the Flyers will send down for Betts?

O.K. its not like this was shocking news, jones was a 3rd paring defenseman getting paid 3 mill.  Its not like Jones was a terrible dman, he was somewhat decent, but too inconsistent for most fans to really get a liking too.  The release now gives us cap space to sign Betts, JVR, and Mika to the team and Jones will most likley be replased by a combo of OTK and Syvert.  In all i always did like Randy Jones, but his cap was too high for his spot on the team.  I do want to wish him luck wherever he goes.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=Aix5lm7arEjLIHvu8b0UDBI5nYcB?slug=ap-blackhawks-kanearrested&prov=ap&type=lgns

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