Did Bryz Nod Off or Not? The Flyers Sleepgate Scandal Rages On…

Yesterday, Crossing Broad and 97.5 FM reported that Flyers ‘tender Ilya Bryzgalov was benched during Tuesday’s game for falling asleep during a team meeting. The Flyers’ denials came fast and furious, trumpeted by the team’s own beat writers. Then, the Daily News‘s Frank Seravelli broke the story right back again, reporting that several team sources confirmed that Bryz did indeed snag some shut-eye in a team meeting.

Said one player: “Whether he was actually sleeping or not, no one knows for sure. It seemed like he may have been doing it to get a rise out of other players. I’m not really sure why he did it, or if he was faking it. Either way, it seemed to catch and lot of people by surprise and angered a few people.”

That said, it turns out the team meeting occurred after he was benched, puncturing the theory. Still, there’s hope yet for Sleepgate. Because maybe, just maybe he was benched for falling asleep during a game in Winnipeg last weekend. (See below) Whatever the truth is, it’s telling that the most exciting thing going on with the Flyers season is a scandal involving the word “sleep.”