Flyers Rolling With Steel Born From a Dismal '06-'07

With the same core of players from last season putting them in the conference finals the Philadelphia Flyers obviously weren't as bad as last year's record (dead last with a franchise worst 22 wins and 56 points) indicates. Several times they seemed set to dig themselves out of the hole, winning in spurts, such as a Western swing that saw them come back from blowing a 3-0 lead to beat L.A. 4-3 in overtime in an exciting game,followed by a 5-1 drubbing of record setting and eventual Cup winners, Anaheim. They finished fairly well on that roadtrip and had numerous other such stints, each instance offset by injury which made it all the more difficult to shake off the duldrums of a horrible '06-'07. The fans knew the team was better then its record and with a long history of contiguous playoff appearances, along with owner Ed Snyder being just as livid as the rest of us (the GM and coach were shown the door early on) we had no reason to become disinterested or dispondent,especially with some of our best players (Simon Gagne[IR], R. J. Umberger, Mike Knuble and the newly arrived Scotty Upshall) putting up points well into April when every game, since January it seemed, had become meaningless. This tireless work ethic amdist injuires and all else going wrong was certainly in some way aided by the unwavering support of the Flyers fanbase, which in turn cheered all the louder. As responding to adversity is the true distinction of character, the Flyers clearly laid the groundwork for their current run in the depths of failure.