Carts_benchBlonde on bench? Two goals H/T to Doug

The Flyers beat the Oilers last night, 4-1.  They somehow managed to outshoot Edmonton 17-1 in the first period. After that, it was all downhill- at least according to Prongs: [Philly Sports Daily]

“There’s winning and then there’s winning in spite of how you play,” a steaming Pronger said. “Yeah, you’d like to think we can build on that first period and build on getting two points. But obviously when you look at the last two periods and how you leave the rink, we still have a lot of work to do and we need to sharpen up.”

 

According to Stevie Why, Prongs could be heard yelling “Some people just don’t learn” as reporters entered the locker room. I assume he wasn’t referring to Tim Panaccio’s blazer.

Speaking of Stevie Why, last night was his last game on the Flyers beat. He was recently offered a job covering the Capitals for the Washington Times. I think I speak for everyone in saying that I’m sad to see Steve go. 

For those of you who don’t follow closely, Steve has been the Flyers beat reporter for Philly Sports Daily. I partnered with PSD in mid-October, just a few weeks after Steve, who was previously an assignment editor at the Washington Times, was brought on board. In getting to know Steve for just a few short months, it’s been amazing to see how he has changed the way the Flyers – and to an extend, all sports – are covered in this city. He routinely wrote five or more Flyers stories a day, providing obsessive coverage for obsessive Flyers fans. His Twitter acount has almost become a running joke in media and blog circles, as he would often Tweet out an update from a game and already have a link to a story about it. 

A couple of weeks ago, when Scottie Upshall leveled Oskars Bartulis, I’m fairly certain Steve had a story written about it before Bartulis made it to the locker room- that’s coverage you don’t get from veteran media types who are programmed to write for an aging, I-get-my-news-12-hours-later audience.

In case you haven’t noticed, one of the things I am trying to do with this site is change the way sports are covered in this town. I firmly believe that people can A) get their news – especially sports news – in an entertaining fashion and B) get it in real-time. It pains me every time I see a story that was posted on this site appear 12 hours later in the Inquirer or on the local news. Steve embodied that second goal better than I, or anyone else, could. He wrote stories as they happened. While most of his beat reporter colleagues were sitting on their couches taking advantage of a 12 hour deadline cushion, Steve was writing articles.

The first time I met Steve was at the intermission of a game I attended with my girlfriend. We had planned to meet outside of the AT&T Pavilion. Ironically, my AT&T coverage failed me and my texts were unable to reach Steve, who was taking the elevator down from the press box. By the time we saw each other, there was about three minutes left in the intermission. Steve, who looked like he was running late for a wedding (his own), skipped the pleasantries, told me it was “nice to meet me,” and rushed back to the elevator. He most likely had to finish writing a story before the period started.

For those of you who are Flyers fans, believe me when I say that Steve’s departure is a loss for us all. Of course, with every death comes news life (that was a little strong). Please join me in welcoming Dave Isaac and Ryan Bright to Philly Sports Daily- they will be filling Steve’s shoes.

For the last time, you can read Stevie Why’s recap right here. There are no highlights today. You have no choice. Read the recap.