During the third period of the Flyers’ 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday, a typical line scrum erupted. In the middle of it stood Flyers’ forward Arron Asham and a turtled Matt Cooke. As the melee appeared to be breaking up, Asham began furiously throwing punches to the back of Cooke’s head, warranting penalties on both sides.
The cause of Asham’s outburst: He says Cooke bit him.
“There was a scrum, I grabbed him. There were two guys on Harts and my glove got tangled in his mouth and he bit me, so I lost it,” Asham told the media.
But instead of run to dressing room flashing his chewed finger, similar to what Pens’ defenseman Kris Letang did when he accused Flyers’ forward Scott Hartnall of biting in a game earlier this season, Asham challenged Cooke to a fight when the two left the box. Cooke, despite serving up a tapestry of lip service to Asham while serving his minor, refused the fight, which infuriated Asham even more.
“It’s not bad, but he’s a gutless guy,” Asham said of Cooke.” I have no respect for him at all. I lined up against him and asked him to fight and he didn’t want to.
“You should have a little more honor than that. Usually if you bite somebody you stick up for yourself and you fight the guy. Not this guy, he’s chicken and I have no respect for him. He plays the game hard and I respect him for that, but he yaps, he’s a dirty player. At least a guy like (Sean) Avery fights. This guy is just chicken shit and I hate him.
Not sure what Asham meant by ‘usually if you bite someone..’ but the Flyers’ tough guy didn’t stop after putting Cooke lower than Sean Avery on the respect scale. He continued to call Cooke out to the media.
“It would have been better if he dropped the gloves with me, but he’s got no stones,” Asham said. “He’s garbage to me and I have no respect for him at all.”
Phila.Bright 
What the hell? Letang was hurting and Hartnell had him pinned down when he bit him. It’s pretty easy to say, “oh Letang ran away like a coward”, but the fact is, you simply don’t know how bad his finger was hurting at the time.
But whatever helps you guys beat up on the Penguins and their players, since obviously the last 5 years or so the Penguins absolutely own you.
If Cooke did indeed bite Asham, good. I’m glad he did. This is a rivalry, and Hartnell started it by biting Letang.
It might be a dirty move by Cooke, but Hartnell should have thought about his teammates when he did it, because obviously the Penguins were gonna play the Flyers 5 more times this season. So if what he’s saying is true, the score is now even on the biting department. Don’t whine about it when you got Mophead, Carcillo and company taking cheap shots left and right every time the Pens and Flyers play.
Letang fought Powe again today. He dropped the gloves with him last April too. He’s fought four times in his career. He’s not a 4th line goon like Asham. He’s a young, skilled defenseman and he doesn’t back away from scrums, ever. It’s absolutely ridiculous to compare the 2 incidents the way you did just because both players were bitten.
“If Cooke did indeed bite Asham, good. I’m glad he did.”
First off, stay classy. Second off, relax. You’re the only one here implying Letang was a coward in that situation, I don’t need his toughness resume. I simply said he ran to the dressing room flashing his finger. Did he not? Asham tried to fight Cooke after also being bit. Did he not? Other than that, there was no mention of Letang at all other than making a call back to a similar situation earlier in the year.
Insecure a tad, are we?
“But instead of run to dressing room flashing his chewed finger, similar to what Pens’ defenseman Kris Letang did when he accused Flyers’ forward Scott Hartnall of biting in a game earlier this season, Asham challenged Cooke to a fight when the two left the box.”
Please. It’s clear as day what you meant with that sentence. You’re obviously implying that Asham’s a badass (which he is) and Letang is a coward simply because of the way they reacted after being bitten, something that does not belong in the game. And if you’ve paid close attention to Pens-Flyers games in the past, it’s clear Letang’s a solid hockey player, even if he doesn’t fight often. He’s not a fighter like Asham and he was stunned by being bitten. It’s not like he didn’t get into it with Hartnell before the bite occurred. Flyers fans pay a little too much attention to this sort of thing.
Now, when I say I’m glad Cooke bit him, I’m not saying that’s something I’m proud of. But given the Hartnell incident and all the cheap shots the Flyers usually take at Sid and Malkin, I have no problem with Cooke retaliating. I would rather him not cross the line like that, but whatever. This is a nasty rivalry. It’s not like he injured the guy, I’m sure he won’t miss a game. And if he did it on purpose like Hartnell, then maybe he did it because he saw the opportunity to get some revenge for Letang. Good teammate. 😉
Again, you don’t know how hard Hartnell bit Letang and how much pain Letang was in, so to compare the two incidents like you did, as I said, is ridiculous.
And there was absolutely no reason for you to mention that unless you meant to imply that Letang’s a coward for running to the dressing room instead of fighting like Asham.
As for Asham’s comments on Cooke, well, Cooke’s an agitator. Is he dirty sometimes? Sure. Most of the time though, he’s a player who plays hard, and he does fight on occasion. Hockey is a tough sport, and things happen sometimes, and although Cooke’s been suspended before, he plays with about as much honor as an agitator can have in the NHL. There are plenty of dirtier players in the league, and the Flyers have two of them.
Asham can run his mouth all he wants and if he doesn’t like Cooke and wants to say that to the media, I’m fine with that, but he’s full of it when he said that he has no honor.
Plus he was clearly a little too emotional, because he contradicted himself. First he says that he has respect for Cooke because he plays hard, but then he says he has no respect for him at all. Yeah, whatever.
Ryan,
Did I really read ‘stay classy’ coming from a Flyers fan? If there was an photo entry for despicable it’d be your logo.
Flyers writer, not fan. And I didn’t know Yinzers had the copyright on calling out classless comments.
I guess I have to respect that fact that you’re “paying the bills” rather than hopelessly waiting for for something to happen like everybody else in Philly.
Where do you get your material? I mean, you are writing about a team who hasn’t made a change in their undoubtedly unsuccessful strategy in 30+ years.
So Ivan… I like this one: “But whatever helps you guys beat up on the Penguins and their players, since obviously the last 5 years or so the Penguins absolutely own you”
I would tone that down to 3 years.
So in 07-08 & 08-09, the Pens bumped Philly from the playoffs. In 07-08, Philly won the season series 5-3. In 06-07, Philly was awful and lost every game. There are your 3 years. In the prior 10 years, the Pens only won a season series 1 time. In that time, the Pens lost to Philly in the playoffs twice (97 & 00), went AWOL from 2001-2007 (during which time the Flyers unfortunately couldn’t play crappy hockey consistently enough to get 2 first overall draft picks and 2 second overall picks, as did the Pens).
Sorry for the brief history… my point is that for a long time, the Flyers “owned” the Pens. It’s been their turn now for a few years, but the salary cap is going to present some significant challenges to Pittsburgh if they intend to keep all of those superstars they drafted 1 & 2 overall (following that stretch of rancid hockey) while still maintaining a solid supporting cast… the NHL ain’t basketball.
Drew you are my hero
OK yeah, you’re right, it’s been 4 seasons of the Pens kicking Philly’s ass (we’re 4-1 so far against you guys this year) and last time I checked, the Penguins are winning close to 70% of the games during that stretch.
Now, as for the 2007-08 season, the Flyers got a little revenge early on. I believe they won the first 4 games, but then when the games mattered most down the stretch, the Penguins rattled off 3 wins in a row.
You only won the season series because the Pens had locked up the division and the #2 seed and pretty much threw the last game of the season. Crosby sat out the game for rest (which was a smart move given his ankle injury that year) .
But whatever, you’re right, it’s not 5 years. Now, as for the Flyers owning the Pens before that, well in the 90’s they didn’t, really. It’s a shame the teams only met in the playoffs once that decade, and then again in 2000. Never saw the ’97 series because unfortunately I was living in Europe and the games weren’t on TV or on the Internet, but the Pens should have won the 2000 series. They blew it.
Had they scored a goal in OT in either Game 3 or 4, they would have had a commanding 3-0 or 3-1 series lead. Those OT goals by Delmore (WTF!) and Primeau were just too much to overcome. It was great hockey though.
Luckily for the Flyers, hockey is played with pants on, or else Crosby would be trying to bite their weenies. Fact.
it’s nice for asham to play the gamesman role, but the fact is he was pissed off not only and not just that Cooke bit him, but that he couldn’t be a man and stand up for what he did. I love the way Asham plays and to think that Cooke did an honorable thing is just part of the Pens bandwagon bs on which people love to jump. If he was really a man he would have handled what he had to handle. He didn’t. Hence, Asham’s reaction.
I agree. If Cooke would have fought Asham over it, no one would have known anything about the bite. Asham isn’t mad he got bit, he’s mad Cooke wouldn’t stand up to him. Refreshingly old school.
This perfectly sums up the entire situation. I’m actually glad that Asham called Cooke out… and it has nothing to do with Asham nor Cooke. When a player does something and doesnt stand up for his actions, then I have no problem when he gets called out.
It just so happens that this isnt an isolated incident– this has been his M.O. ever since Vancouver.
Yeah Noah, you’re right… we should follow the Pens strategy of sucking immensely for years and year to pick up high draft picks. That just points to you Pittsburgh fans bandwagon-ish tendencies.
If you had any heart or allegiance, you wouldn’t stand for such a long run of mediocrity. Which is exactly why you don’t see the Flyers tanking year-after-year-after-year.
Though, you’re right… you guys won the Cup… and nearly lost your team to Jim Basielle in the process. Excellent strategy for success.
Success is success. Your “wins” have amounted to nothing and ours have amounted to championships.
Flyers are stuck in the past- that strategy used to work but the game as changed and as much as the Cryer fans might hate it, that’s the way it is.
So keep your head up high accepting first round defeat after first round defeat in the playoffs because that’s all you are going to get unless the team strategy changes. It’s a shame team’s talent is overshadowed by a set of ancient ideals.
Keep your mediocre seasons, I’ll take a championship after a while- whatever it takes.
***I’ll take a championship once in a while-
Anyway, don’t automatically question my love of the game or love of Penguins hockey because my team won cups and yours hasn’t (well at least probably not in your lifetime). I can’t speak for anybody else in Pittsburgh, but I play and understand the game so don’t worry about my “bandwagon-ish tendencies” as you pointed out. I’ll be just fine.
That’s the thing about Philly fans. Since the Pens have been kicking their ass for a while now, all they can ever say is Pens fans are all bandwagoners, as if they had no fan support and no sellouts and poor TV ratings during the rebuilding years. They got nothing.
I’m sure the Flyers’ fan support was the same during the 1968 season and the 1975 season. Surely they didn’t all of a sudden get a lot of new fans in 1975.
Everyone becomes a fan at some point in their life. You see who the true hardcore fans when things don’t go well. I’m pretty sure there were plenty of empty seats in the 2nd half of the 2006-07 season in Philly.
Ivan said: “I’m pretty sure there were plenty of empty seats in the 2nd half of the 2006-07 season in Philly.”
And your basis for that is what?
Flyers average attendance:
2005-2006: 19653
2006-2007: 19283
Net loss on a losing season (on average): 370 seats.
It’s called Google. Ever heard of it? Spend 90 seconds there some time.
Ronnybrook… right on. I was laughing abiut that myself. Went to a game near. End that year, still pretty much filled. Philly draws one of the top attendance in the league year in and year out, regardless of standings. People here are obsessed with Flyers hockey – win or lose, and the team doesn’t need the hype of one or two guys to draw fans – even on the road.
Google? What’s that? Be careful though, not everything online is true.
Long run of mediocrity? Huh! 3 years of having the NHL’s lowest payroll because of financial problems off the ice… Yeah, what an incredible run of mediocrity! LOL
They missed the playoffs for 3 years before the lockout, then Craig Patrick came out and signed Recchi, Gonchar, LeClair, Palffy and Thibault. His signings didn’t work out and soon enough, LeClair was hurt, Mario and Palffy retired midway through the season, and Crosby was left to play with a bunch of AHLers. The biggest problem was that the defense sucked that season.
But hey, the 2006-07 Flyers would probably sympathize with that 05-06 Penguins team. They were just as bad.
So we’re talking about 3 years of having the lowest payroll in hockey because of poor ownership, the oldest arena in the league, and 1 very unlucky year. Since then, they’ve put up 3 stellar 100 point seasons (99 last year, close enough).
The Penguins HAD to rebuild. They did all the right things during those years. It was totally worth it. They did the right thing on so many levels. You’re just another jealous Flyers fan who just can’t stand it so you have to say we tanked for picks in order to try to put the Flyers above the Pens in some way because you can’t stand that we’re better.
Fact is, if it had been the Flyers playing in a much smaller market, competing with an NFL powerhouse and a baseball team for new buildings at the same time when they needed a new arena, they could have very easily found themselves in the same predicament.
Whoa. Well put Ivan.
Ivan Says: “Fact is, if it had been the Flyers playing in a much smaller market, competing with an NFL powerhouse and a baseball team for new buildings at the same time when they needed a new arena, they could have very easily found themselves in the same predicament.”
Ed Snider didn’t beg for tax dollars. He paid for the new stadium himself. Zero predicament.
Tanking is never an option for rebuilding in Philadelphia – even in 2006/2007, where they sold off Peter Forsberg (who had one healthy wheel, FLEECING Nashville) and a WAY past his prime Alexi Zhitnik. Throwing spare parts like Freddy Meyer, Randy Robitaille, and Kyle Calder into other deals are moves similar to trades the Flyers make every year.
That’s not exactly selling off all your assets to collect a lottery pick.
They went to the ECF the next year, so comparing what the Flyers did with what the Pens did is complete bullocks. A bump in the road – not a rebuilding strategy.
You know, Pittsburgh probably wouldn’t have the rep that they do if they hadn’t pulled the shenanigans it took to get Lemeuix. You do realize that incident is the SOLE REASON there is a lottery for the first overall pick in the NHL, right?
Then they collect five lottery picks in a row, and nobody is supposed to wonder why lightning keeps striking the same spot over and over? Pssh.
Hey Ronnybrook – big deal. So they threw a bunch of games late in the ’83-84 season. They had absolutely nothing to gain by not trying their best to get a player who was touted as being the next Wayne Gretzky.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09351/1021485-125.stm?cmpid=penguins.xml
That right there pretty much sums up what happened. Molinari explains this perfectly at the end. The Devils ended up with Kirk Muller and a strong sense of self-righteousness while the Penguins ended up with the most talented player ever. If it had been the Flyers instead of the Devils, then the Flyers would have been just as retarded as the Devils were.
And great. I’m glad there’s a lottery now to determine who gets the first pick. Blame the Penguins for that? Ha! As if they’re the only team to do something like that. Please.
Now, just because they did tank the last 20 games or so in the mid 80’s doesn’t mean they did anything on purpose to get Crosby, Malkin or Fleury. That was simply a byproduct of being forced into the league’s lowest payroll because of financial hardship, as I’ve explained.
You just don’t get it. As I said, if the Flyers had to deal with the same circumstances in terms of ownership and the arena fiasco, they likely would have done the same thing. It’s always been Mario Lemieux’s goal to win the Stanley Cup every season. And just because they had a low payroll, that doesn’t mean they didn’t go into the 2002 season after trading Jagr NOT hoping to make the playoffs. They were trying their best with the players they had year after year. They just couldn’t get any good players and after they got rid of Kovalev and Straka, they were pretty much left with Mario, who was injured almost every year after 2001, and a bunch of AHLers and bums.
So you got absolutely nothing. And I’m glad we got Lemieux the way we did. It was a very smart move and it was more than worth it, if you ask me. You can keep saying the Penguins tanked Sid, Malkin, Fleury and Staal for all I care, but just know that you’re flat out wrong.
Also Ronnybrook, nice stat lookup there with Google. Guess what? I have a friend who works for Comcast in Philly. He’s a season ticket holder.
Just because the tickets were sold doesn’t mean the seats weren’t empty. So when you look up your stat from ESPN.com there for the attendance figures, all you’re saying is how many tickets were sold.
He told me the upper bowl in Philly had whole sections of empty seats for some games towards the end of the 2006-07 season. And he’s been a Flyers fan all his life, so he’s got no reason to make that up.
Hi Ivan,
Haha (high voice) “my friend at Comcast says…”
Unless you have some data, STFU.
Mario obviously doesn’t try to win every year. Otherwise how do you account for missing the playoffs in stretches?
The FLYERS, now there’s a club that goes for it every year. Buy mercenaries. Draft what they can. Trade like idiots – ANYTHING to make the playoffs every season, whether they have enough ammo to win the war or not. They don’t take seasons off to “rebuild.”
And as I said before, you’d never see Ed Snider go hat in hand to the Commonwealth and beg for a stadium or threaten to leave for greener pastures. The dude bought his equipment, and he’s never had a problem putting a product on the ice that would pack the house. Can’t say that about Pittsburgh, whose fans only come out when there are future HHOFers on the rosters.
No winners in 34 years. We know. But at least we get an honest effort over here.
Funny thing about bandwagoners… only the true ones get upset when being called that. Must be hitting too close to home.
If you called a Philly fan that, they’d just laugh in your face.
Sorry to have offended you… now get on your bandwagon and get outta town.
By the way…. that’s get outta tahn where I come from. HA!
I just hope that no one bit anyone… no room for that anywhere in the game.
Ryan, quite the charged post, eh? Anyway, Keep the good stuff coming…