Danny Carcillo, The Little Punk

Danny Carcillo. The little punk. He’s like the Philadelphia Flyers in a nutshell. Little guy, big ol’ fight. Every time he touches the ice, it’s a jab here and some words there. But he gets the job done. Every time he graces my television screen, my cousin and I are compelled to yell “Danny Carcillo, the little punk.” Sure, she works for the Bruins. And sure, I’m a Flyers fan. But the message is the same, and Danny Carcillo, the little punk, embodies these Flyers perfectly.

When my mom was about my age, the Flyers won the Stanley Cup. I’m sure she lived by the saying “Only God saves more than Bernie Parent.” We watched the HBO special on those Broad Street Bullies, and my mom kept saying how what they showed was real. The city truly rallied around that group. The players would go to local bars and supermarkets and really interact with the city. They embodied this city.

The best part about these Flyers, about those Flyers, they were the underdogs. They use their brute force to fight back. They may not have the raw talent the Blackhawks, or Penguins, or Canadiens have, but they’ve got the team. These Flyers will fight for one another, stand up for one another. Take Ian Laperriere. He took stitches, concussions, and the works, and came back. But he didn’t just stand there, or take it easy once he was back on the ice. He dove. And he didn’t care. Teamwork.

Hockey’s not my first choice for a sport. And I can’t find the puck half the time, to be honest. And I still think it’s weird that I’m watching a hockey game, a winter sport, on Memorial Day weekend in 90 degree heat after watching a baseball game. But the way this city could rally around the underdogs, it’s incredible. They keep saying “History Will Be Made.” It’s the NHL’s catchy new slogan. But we don’t need records and history books to document the emotion around this series, this team. We don’t need history to remember this Stanley Cup Final.

And I knew they could come back from three down against the Bruins in the series, and three goals down in Game 7 (sorry, Sammy). They have that much heart. And they may be up against the #2 seed in the Western Conference, but they aren’t the team to back down easily. And they’ll give the Chicago Blackhawks quite a fight before giving up the Stanley Cup. And leading the charge to the upset?

Danny Carcillo, the little punk, & company.