The Philadelphia Flyers missed
the playoffs for the second time in
the past five seasons.
It was a major disappointment.
Coming into the 2016-17 season,
the Flyers were projected to have
an even greater chance of making
it into the post-season. Coming
off a season where the goalie duo
of Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth
were ranked third best in the
NHL, they were both subpar this
season. Another disappointment
was the team’s inconsistency.
This has been an ongoing theme,
having the team being so close to
clinching a playoff berth yet being
unable to string together wins.
In the beginning of the year, the
Flyers once held the top ranked
power play, and were scoring
three plus goals per game. That
was soon history as they fell to
the bottom of the NHL after winning
ten straight games.
A few students at Bucks were
asked why the Flyers had the
season they had and what prevented
them from clinching a playoff
berth. Shawn Costello, 20, a
Levittown resident majoring in
Sports Marketing, believes that
something more than inconsistency
was preventing the Flyers from
having a good year. “There is not
enough goal scorers on the team,
the goaltending was below average,
and there was not enough
defense.”
Rachel Hackius, 19, a Richboro
resident majoring in Pre Aid and
Health, believes that the veterans
are bringing the team downwards
instead of upwards. “Claude Giroux
and Jake Voracek are losing
their touch. They need to start
bringing up the young players that
they have at the Phantoms.”
However, one student, Anthony
Salvatico, a Feasterville resident
majoring in Business Administration,
had high hopes, but was
dismayed when the Flyers fell
apart at the end of the season. “At
the end of the season it was fairly
expected [that they would miss
playoffs]. During the ten game
win streak I actually thought they
had a good chance to make the
playoffs.” Anthony feels that there
is definite room for improvement.
“They need to bring up a lot of
young players to improve their
roster.” He also stated ehat he
felt were the main issues that the
Flyers had during this season.
“There was the lack of scoring,
both goalies had a subpar year,
and the inconsistency throughout
the entire team.”
Stephen Harbeck, 20, a Sellersville
resident majoring in Computer
Science, felt that injuries
and lack of scoring were the
most pressing problems facing
the team. “The injuries that Mase
[Mason] and Neuvy [Neuvirth]
went through towards the end of
the season killed them, and they
weren’t able to score. If both
goalies had a great night, the offense
wouldn’t show up. Stephen
knowns the Flyers are in a rebuild
stage and fells that continuing this
process with only make them a
better team. “They need to continue
rebuilding, and also bring up
their prospects.”
On the other hand, one student
at Bucks, Chris Alker, 20,
majoring in Exercise Science,
had little hope for the team from
the beginning. “I wasn’t really
disappointed; I knew it would
happen [getting eliminated] they
had a slim chance to make it into
the playoffs.” Like his fellow
students, Chris felt that one of
the biggest issues was the team’s
inconstancy. “Oh yeah defiantly
the inconsistency, I felt like some
games were weren’t even trying
to play and other games we were
working our asses off.”
Furthermore, Justina Yost, 19,
was disappointed at the dismal
results the Flyers’ 2016-17 season
brought. “I was kind of disappointed,
they were doing so good
in the beginning then they blew
it all at the end.” Justina believes
the majority of the Flyers talent
will come from the Flyers’ farm
team, the Leigh Valley Phantoms.
“If we bring up some of
our prospects and continue the
rebuilding process, then the Flyers
will become a better team in the
near future.”