Matt Carle blog: No choice now
Matt Carle has blogged regularly for the Daily News during the Flyers' playoff run.
Matt Carle blog: No choice now
Flyers defenseman Matt Carle has blogged regularly, and exclusively, for the Daily News during the NHL playoffs.
Carle, 25, is in his fourth NHL season and his second as a Flyer. Carle captured two NCAA national titles in three seasons at the University of Denver, where he became the only junior defenseman to ever win hockey's Heisman Trophy, the Hobey Baker Award, in 2006. Carle is just one of 11 players in NHL history from Alaska and resides in Minnesota in the offseason.
Here is his latest entry:
I was pretty surprised to see Simon [Gagne] on the ice today. I never really knew the severity of the injury, but any time there is surgery involved, it’s pretty serious. It’s good to see him back out there. But it’s that time of the year where guys go above and beyond to be a part of the team and to contribute.
I don’t know if he is playing tomorrow or not – we’ll see tomorrow – but it’s good to see him moving in the right direction. It’d be a big boost to see a guy like Gaggy – who is a big leader on our team – to step up like that and get back in the lineup. It would be an added bonus to our team.
You never know what he would be able to bring to the table.
Unfortunately, I have been in a 3-0 hole before, when I was in my last year with San Jose [in 2008]. That year, in the second round, we were down 3-0 to the Dallas Stars and ended up losing the series in Game 6 in quadruple overtime.
It’s never a position you’d like to see yourself in. It’s kind of cliché but you need to take it one game at a time. You can’t focus on being down 3-0, you need to look at each game as a chance to survive.
This is what the playoffs are about. I don’t think you’re ever going to see every game that is completely dominated by just one team – or a whole series. We’ve had our chances to win every game so far. We’ve played well at times in every game. That’s what’s hard – it’s not like we’ve played particularly bad in any of the games.
We’ve just got to use that and try to get one tomorrow.
I’ll probably get a good meal in tonight, catch a little bit of the Pittsburgh-Montreal game and lay low to focus on tomorrow.
yo matt, how much of Pronger's salary do you get for chasing every dump in ? does he ever make himself susceptible to a forecheck ? i loved how he covered his mammaries on the 3rd Bruin goal last game. You Matt, carry that whole pairing, he's so overated, and has left our team in a cash strapped mess with no draft picks.
Carle's been so-so but Hartnell just stinks.. Why is he still on the top line. Move his rear down to the third line...— DeTom- Matt, you are not the problem. You had a very good plus-minus rating all year.— rjsmith
- LIKE I SAID ABOVE... 4 assists, Matt Carle! Great job! Keep it going!— E
- Okay, so Carle was +5 with 4 assists tonight. Not too bad.— bufalo626
- Crossi, you are almost exactly 100% correct. That defensive pairing sucks.. pure and simple. A turnover machine. Carle blows. He camps in the crease facing the net while the play goes on behind him.. he's clueless.. no idea what's going on or what his assignment is. And I'm calling out everyone on this team that continues to either make lame clearing passes around the boards only to be stopped instead of just lifting the damn puck up ans over the blue line...and/or have no clue where they're passing or clearing the puck to. Blind passes to no one or worse, directly onto the stick of an opposing player. I coached a mites team of 6 and 7 year olds and the 1st thing I told them was DON'T PASSS THE PUCK UNLESS YOU KNOW HERE IT'S GOING. It was correct then and it's correct now. This bit of common sense is obviously lost on the Flyers. The thing I disagree on is laying the blame on Homer. He turned this team around in less than 1 year and made them competitive. Yes we need 1 or 2 more of the right minded players to put us over the top, but going through 6 goalies, Carter, Gagne, Lappy doesn't help.. And let's not even mention that totally useless piece of... Hartnell..He couldn't score in a $2.00 ho house with a fist full of fifties.— dedhed
- SOME FLYER FANS,YOUR A BUNCH OF SICKO'S,GO GET THEM FLYERS— frank martino
- Idiots! Four points mean anything to anyone. Everyone says Philly is an educated hockey town. Well, replys to this blog have proved otherwise. Carle is the best offensively playing defenseman right now. That is why he is paired with Pronger. He is not expected to clear the net, he is expected to break out once Pronger clears the net. You will need to look further then Pronger, Timmo, and Carle to blame the defense at this point. Faceoffs are far more important at this point.— Mike Derr
- And don't be scared to post with your real name either.— Mike Derr
- haha, way to shut up all these idiots with your FOUR ASSISTS on friday, matty!!! keep up the good work!— sre135
- My apologies Carle...your 4 point night was stupendous!!— rubberbullet
- This isn't saying all that much since the top guy is Timonen with a whopping +2 (tied with Carcillo) and the Flyers WON the first series in 5, obviously from www.ads4world.com— ads4world
