One more stop for the Flyers before they can take a nice, yet short, Christmas break. That stop is in Pittsburgh where they will take on the Penguins. Some things have changed since the last time that the Flyers played the Pens. For one, the Pens have a new coach in Michel Therrien who replaced Eddie Olczyk two games ago. For another Mario Lemieux has had another medical setback, this time with heart problems.

18 year-old Sidney Crosby has become the leader of the team in the wake of Mario Lemieux. Crosby though has been slowed recently by an ankle injury, although he is still second in rookie scoring to Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. The Flyers can expect to face rookie goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury tonight in goal.

Pittsburgh Leaders:
Goals, Assists & Points

Joining American and Canadien Olympians, Simon Gagne, Robert Esche, Mike Knuble, Derian Hatcher and Dennis Seidenberg, will be five more Flyers. Finland named Flyers star defenseman Joni Pitkanen and gritty forward Sami Kapanen to their team. Slovakia named forward Michael Handzus to their team. And Sweden named defenseman Kim Jonnson and forward Peter Forsberg to their team. Notably left off the Finnish squad was Flyers goaltender Antero Niitymaki but he may still yet be named to the team after starting goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff withdrew from the team due to a lingering hip injury. Niitymaki is a front-runner to fill the void left by Kiprusoff. Philadelphia will be well represented worldwide at the Turin Olympics.

For the second time this year the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Ottawa Senators, winning last night 4-3. Simon Gagne had a goal in his return to tie him for the league lead with 24 and Antero Niitymaki made 25 saves to help the Flyers to their second win over the Senators this year.

While the Flyers gained two points on the Senators in the Conference title race, they gained no ground in the division because the New York Rangers won to stay one point ahead of the Flyers. Every game against the Senators could prove huge because the Flyers and Senators are largely considered to be the two best teams in the Eastern Conference. With many people expecting these two teams to battle it out in the Conference Finals, home ice advantage could play a major role in any potential series.

As I braved the cold yesterday to walk to Springboard Media on 23rd and Walnut Sts., I was contemplating what to do if they had no iPods left. I walked in and asked my friend who works there about a 4GB Nano or 30GB Video iPod. No dice. Only expensive 60GB iPods were still in stock, as well as a few shuffles. This didn’t help as I needed something under $300, but stylin’ as well. The Apple store back near my hood in Jersey didn’t have any, nor did Best Buy or Radio Shack. If you’re trying to find one of the more affordable iPod models like a Nano or 30GB Video iPod, you better crackdown and start searching hardcore before it’s too late.

For those of you who are interested in extending the holiday experience just a bit, you might want to check out this Philly FunSaver deal. You can get tickets to the Nutcracker on December 26th and 29th for half price.

Pennsylvania Ballet - The Nutcracker
Presented by Pennsylvania Ballet Association
Monday, December 26 @ 7 pm
Thursday, December 29 @ 4 pm

The Academy of Music
Broad and Locust Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19102

Travel through a beautiful snow-filled forest and on to a magical land filled with sugar plums and gumdrops

In the first of two games last night the Wolfgang Pucks decimated Team Venom 12-2 in a game that barely made it to three minutes into the first period. Team Venom had an all around bad game and looked completely outmatched. They did not get any pressure in the Wolfgang Pucks zone and allowed the Pucks to launch a shooting gallery on Venom goaltender Ben Peterson. Peterson did not return for the second of the two games, going into what can only be hoped of as a temporary retirement instead of the permanent one that he seemed to be going into.

Game two was an entirely different story. Forcing much of the play to the outside Team Venom was able to control play and gain timely goals throughout the contest. After an awful goal scored by Tony Neisser on goaltender Glenn Bergey from beyond the centerline, all hope seemed to be lost for the Venom. But with just over a minute remaining Bergey was pulled in favor of an extra skater. Venom defenseman Bob Goodie got a shot on net from the point and forward Brian Strausser put in the rebound past goaltender Mike Brutschea to tie the game at seven. With just under 30 seconds remaining Venom forward Mark Diviny was able to skate by Pucks defenseman Dan Smith and get a shot on net that beat Brutschea for the win 8-7.

The decisive game three will be played on Wednesday December 28, 2005 at 8PM at the Northeast Philly Palmer playground, located at Comly and Thornton Roads.

Simon Gagne should be back in uniform tonight, after missing five games with a groin injury. Gagne, despite having missed five games is just one goal behind league leader Carolina

So the state of New Jersey spent $260,000 trying to come up with a slogan and well it just didn

Coming up upon the biggest game of the year thus far the Flyers will get some relief from the constant injuries that have plagued them all year. Leading goal scorer, Simon Gagne, and talented rookie, Mike Richards, both should be set to return to the lineup against the best team in the league. The Flyers defeated the Senators back at the end of October but since then have been plagued with injuries. Gagne will retake his spot upon the top line with Peter Forsberg and Mike Knuble. Gagne and Forsberg had started to become one of the league

Flyers star forward Simon Gagne and defenseman Dennis Seidenberg will be making the trip to Turin, Italy for the Olympic tournament. Team Canada announced its roster for the Games today and Gagne was the lone Flyer selected for that team. Notable exemption from the team Canada list was the rookie phenom from our cross state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins