Timeout

BOSTON - MAY 14: Head coach Peter Laviolette of the Philadelphia Flyers calls a time out in the first period against the Boston Bruins in Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Semifinals during the 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on May 14, 2010 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

It was possibly the most well placed time-out ever called by a coach in any sport.  After falling behind 3-0 in game 7 against the Boston Bruins, Peter Laviolette called time out to settle the Flyers down and reinforce that they needed only one goal to get back into the game and stop the hemorrhage.  At this point, the Flyers were dangling by a thread over the end of their season after battling back from being down 0-3 in the series.  After that timeout, it all turned around.  The Flyers became the team they were against New Jersey after that time out.

All of a sudden it was 3-1, then 3-2 and then 3-3 in the third in front of a silent Bruins crowd at TD Garden.  I was busy putting the boys to bed during the first period so I did not know how bad it was at first.  When I started watching the game, they were already down by 3.  I debated if I should even be still wearing my jersey.  I’ve seen this before.  They battled in the series to get back into it and then blow it in the last game.  That is who the Flyers were to me.  I bleed orange and black but when they get stuck in a series, they just blow it.  Or so I thought.

I stuck to it though, I said “hell, I’m already wearing it, and they’ve come back to tie the series 3-3, wouldn’t it be weird if they ended up winning game 7 and the series by a count of 4 to 3?  I was kept from panicking in part by the Flyers faithful that populate the Flyers’ Facebook page during the games.  Their comments were largely positive that night much to my surprise.  Even with the flood of Bruins trolls creatively instructing us how to insert random objects into our bodies, the overall tone was calm and a bit positive.  As Laviolette called the time out, you could read his lips as he told the team “Just get one goal”, “just one goal”.  The fans on the FB page caught it too and it became the mantra for the remainder of the first period.  We just needed one goal and we got it.  Then the negativity that was present vanished in an instant.  It was 3-1, but somehow we all knew it was just the beginning.

I could go even further back to game 4 in Philly when they won in overtime.  That was the turning point in the series.  The first 2 games were close could have gone either way, the the beginning of the momentum shift was in game 4.  That overtime win lit a fire in that team and they have kept it roaring ever since.  The beat down they delivered in game 5 in Boston, the near shutout in game 6 and the historical game 7.  There’s not a good way of putting it into words other than it’s been amazing and if the season ended tomorrow, I’d be damned happy and proud to be a Flyers fan.

I’ve seen them swept in playoff series, I’ve seen them fight it out to seven games before but I’ve never ever seen this and I want to see more.  Game 3 in the Eastern Conference Finals is Thursday night.  I have my two jerseys next to my chair in the living room and my Flyers hat that I wear nearly every day, I’ve got the playoff beard that’s been there since Game 1 against the Devils and I’ve got my piece of the frenzy that’s surrounding this team as they keep roaring through the playoffs and the last thing I have to say is

“LET’S GO FLYERS!”