Tuesday Updates 1/27/09

I haven't posted in a while but I figured I would write a few quick things: some old news, some new news, and some thoughts. First I'd like to wish the site's founder, Justin Evans, a happy birthday. He'll probably be loaded watching the Flyers start their 3-game road trip in Sunrise, FL. The game starts at 7:30 and the Flyers hope to avoid a repeat of last season when they slumped like hell coming off the break.

In old news, we heard about the Phantoms player who got knocked out on the ice and had a seizure for about 30-40 seconds. Garrett Klotz,20, was released from the hospital on Friday after the Thursday incident reported the Philly Inquirer. It was very scary because a few weeks prior, a 21 year old rookie died in an Ontario Hockey Association game. We all wish him a speedy recovery.

In other Phantoms news, center Jared Ross was named the MVP of the AHL All Star game reported the Philly Inquirer. He set AHL All Star game records with 6 assists and 7 points. He helped the American Stars beat the Canadian Stars 14-11. He became the 3rd Phantom to win MVP after goaltender Jean-Marc Pelletier (1999) and John Slaney (2001). MOre after the jump.

The Sixers traveled to and lost to a hot New Orleans 3-point game by a score of 101-86. Peja Stojakovic was disgusting in the 4th quarter, nailing 5 threes in a row. The Hornets completely blew the Sixers away at that point and didn't look back. When trying to stop Peja, they would allow Chris Paul to knife his way to the basket. Paul ended up with 27 points, 15 assists, 10 boards, and 7 steals (3 shy of a quadruple double). The Sixers did get 22 points from Thaddeus Young, 19 from Andre Miller, and 17 from Andre Iguodala but it wasn't even close to being enough to match up with what Paul and Stojakovic did to them.

And in the Phillies world, some great news arose. Chase Utley said he is confident he will be back for Opening Day the Philly Inquirer said. Utley had surgery to repair a right hip injury that was nagging him since last Spring Training and his on schedule for the 4-6 month time-table he was given after a successful surgery. He is currently rehabbing.

"Everything is progressing in a positive manner," he said. "So, yeah, I am more
optimistic than I was before. But I didn't really know what to expect before."

As long as he's confident, Phillies fans should be as well. It would be great to start the defense of our title with the best player in baseball in the lineup.