Well, it's official. Jeff Hackett is the Flyers' new goaltender for the next two years. There's some uproar on the Flyers message board on AOL (where I'm a regular poster). Some of the people who are griping that we should have gotten someone else weren't paying attention to Hackett's season last year. I was, because he was on my fantasy hockey team, and darned if he wasn't one of my better goalies during most weeks. I think Hackett will be a bit of all right in Orange and Black, especially if the team keeps buying into Hitch's defense-first system. Shoot, I think he'll be all kinds of happy to backstop a team that actually gives him some HELP.

Speaking of the Flyers, I am still waiting QUITE impatiently for them to schedule some of those charity softball games like they had during the past two summers. By this time last year, we'd already had two or three games. It's been our first look at some of the incoming kids who are headed for the Phantoms (some of whom also take part in the games). OK, they're playing softball and not hockey, but still it's nice to see them and welcome them to Philly before the season begins. But we can't actually DO that until someone schedules some softball games, so let's get cracking, for cryin' out loud! ::sigh:: I hate the offseason.