Dinner Party at the Wach, With Our Invited Guests the Washington Capitals

Dinner Party at the Wach, With Our Invited Guests the Washington Capitals

I'm about ready to head down to the Wachovia Center to see the Flyers play the Caps for the second time this season.  The first time I was there, the Orange & Black won the closest 7-1 game in recent memory.  The last time the two teams played overall, the Flyers came from behind to stun the Caps in DC, scoring three goals in rapid succession in the third period.  Leading the season series 2-1, closing it out with a win tonight should set a great tone for continuing what the Flyers started in last season's playoffs. 

The big news in Philly is the likely return of Danny Briere.  With his history this year, no one knows what to expect regarding his durability and whether the groin injury is in the past or will linger for the remainder of the season.  As they showed in their dismantling of Buffalo on Tuesday, the Flyers can be a great team regardless of Danny's presence or absence, but obviously they have more firepower with him on the ice.  We just don't know how good they'll be yet, because we've hardly seen him play this year. 

One thing we do know for sure is that the Caps will test him as often as possible tonight.  They play the Flyers pretty tough, and there's no Swiss Miss jersey on game day. 

Former Flyers enforcer Donald Brashear may not be in the lineup for the Caps though.  He's listed as doutbful with a knee problem, but you gotta wonder how his jaw is feeling.  After their bouts in the last Flyers-Caps game in Philly, Riley Cote may be just a little happy to see that Brash is out though. 

For tonight's game, we'll be watching to see if the Caps can rely on more than the duo of Ovie and Green, who both logged monster minutes the last time these two teams played, but failed to contribute late in a game that ended badly for the Caps.  At the time, we wondered whether that loss was due to the Flyers' outstanding depth and Washington's seemingly shallow attack at both ends.  Japer's Rink recently took a look at whether the Caps can get production from more than just their Top Four (Semin and Backstrom being the other two), which will be a major factor tonight. 

Another question JP asks is whether the Flyers, who lead the NHL in minor penalties, can stay out of the box and keep the Eastern Conference's best PP unit out of striking distance.  Fortunately, the Flyers PP is outstanding at home, and Briere's return should improve that even further, putting pressure on Washington to keep it clean as well.  Those will likely be the key factors tonight (and what else is new?) 

If the Flyers stay out of the box, they can match up their top three lines against the Caps' for longer stretches, which heavily favors the Flyers.  But every minor they commit takes a little more away from that edge and makes Ovechkin/Green on-ice minutes seem that much easier. 

Matt Rhule's first Baylor hires include 4 Temple assistants

Matt Rhule's first Baylor hires include 4 Temple assistants

WACO, Texas -- New Baylor coach Matt Rhule has made some immediate Texas connections by hiring the president of the state's high school coaches who is a former Bears receiver. 

Rhule announced his first five hires with the Bears on Friday, three days after being named Baylor's coach.  They include four members from his staff at Temple and David Wetzel, the head coach and athletic director the past 13 seasons at Ronald Reagan High School in San Antonio. 

Sean Padden will serve as Baylor's director of football operations, similar to his role at Temple the past four years. 

Rhule didn't immediately announce the titles and job duties for Wetzel, Francis Brown, Mike Siravo and Evan Cooper.  There was also no indication of when the rest of his staff would be completed. 

Brown and Siravo were defensive assistants at Temple, and Cooper was director of player personnel for the Owls. 

Wetzel, who has coached in the state high school ranks for 25 years, was serving as president of the Texas High School Football Coaches Association.  He lettered at Baylor in 1990 and 1991 while playing for Grant Teaff, and also earned a master's degree from the school in 1994.  Before Reagan, he was head coach at schools in Killeen and Austin. 

Wetzel told the Waco Tribune-Herald that he expects to play a major role in recruiting, but didn't know yet if he'd be coaching offense or defense. 

"Given the opportunity, it's really a unique deal," Wetzel told the newspaper. " I feel like it's God's timing for me to be in the right place at the right time." 

When Rhule was introduced Wednesday in Waco, he said he had already received about 480 text messages, many from coaches.  He also didn't rule out the possibility of some of the current Baylor assistants staying, but said he hadn't had a chance to meet with them.  Those assistants were retained from former coach Art Briles' staff with Jim Grobe as acting head coach this season. 

NoteBaylor announced Friday that Jalen Pitre, a defensive back from Stafford, Texas, signed a financial aid agreement that will allow him to enroll for the spring 2017 semester after graduating from high school early.  Before Rhule was hired, Pitre was the only player verbally committed for Baylor's recruiting class in February.  He had 83 tackles, six interceptions and four forced fumbles as a senior. 

Dorial Green-Beckham didn't support any charity with his cleats last Sunday. 

In reality, he was funding the NFL. 

The Eagles' receiver was fined $6,076 by the NFL for wearing Yeezy cleats (Kanye West's shoes), which had no affiliation to a charitable organization or cause, CSNPhilly.com has confirmed.  Players around the NFL last weekend wore decorative spikes supporting a charity or cause they felt passionately about as part of the league's My Cleats, My Cause promotion.  Green-Beckham was fined because his cleats were unapproved by the league; earlier this season Houston receiver DeAndre Hopkins was fined for wearing Yeezy cleats.