Practice facilities change, names change, nothing changes. It is the end of February, and the Flyers don't know the identity of their No. 1 goaltender, and it is time for the deciding to start, and the questioners have begun their questioning. It is a dance as old as time, be the person on the other end of the tape recorder named Ron Hextall or Garth Snow or Brian Boucher or Roman Cechmanek or Robert Esche or Antero Niittymaki.
Only this one has its own special twist, with Esche coming off of a great playoff run the last time the Flyers were in it, and Niittymaki coming off an MVP performance for silver medalist Finland at the Turin Olympics.
"I know that you guys are dying for there to be the goalie controversy of old," Esche said yesterday. "But I think I've done a reasonable job with that for the last bunch of years. The main reason, I think the more you guys get to know me and understand me, is I really don't care. I just want to win.
"I'm a big enough man to realize that, if I'm not playing well, I can't point a finger. I can't go out there and cut the guy's skate laces. I can't go out there and slash his tires. The truth of the matter is, you're either going to win or you're not. And I think if you carry that attitude along in Philadelphia, it alleviates a lot of pressure and a lot of [nonsense]...
"I'm not stupid," he said. "I know how well Niitty played over there and how well his team played, and I know how well I played in the past. And I know Hitch, and Hitch is going to play a winner. That is just all there is to it."
Hitch would be Ken Hitchcock, the Flyers' coach. He is keeping his own counsel on all of this, for the most part. It is probably fair to say Esche would have been declared the winner in the past if the competition between him and Niittymaki were a tie - such is the value of Esche's 2004 playoff run. But no one knows anymore because of Niittymaki's Olympic success - although it is only fair to say his team played a system that amounted to defense first, last and always. He was very good in Turin, but also very well supported.
"He's an up-and-coming goal-tender," Hitchcock said. "He's a first-year player. The thing I value the most is that this is just another notch of experience for him to become better. He's had a chance to play in the Calder Cup playoffs and do very well, obviously, and he's done very well in the Olympics. This is just another level of experience that he's going to be able to bring forward playing for us.
"But he's still a first-year player. If we start leaning on him in a big way, you never know. We've got another guy, this is really only his second go at being a go-to guy, so we've really got two guys who are emerging as good goalies. But they've got a lot of experience to look forward to."
As for the whole hot-goalie thing, Hitchcock acknowledged that "if somebody is going really well, we'll just run the table with him as long as we can." But when asked whether the Olympic experience meant that Niittymaki now qualified as "hot," the coach said it didn't.
"Not really - let's see how he looks when he comes back over here," Hitchcock said, adding that Niittymaki would see more shots and more traffic over here than in the Olympics.
With that, the ancient dance begins.
Flyers notes
At a news conference today, Keith Primeau is expected to make official what the Daily News reported last week - that he has decided to sit out the rest of the season because of continuing symptoms from a concussion he suffered in October...
Ken Hitchcock offered updated timetables on other injured Flyers. Petr Nedved and Mike Rathje are back from groin injuries. Simon Gagne (bruised knee) is day-to-day. Kim Johnsson (concussion symptoms) and Chris Therien (head) are a little better but can't yet start exercising. Michal Handzus (shoulder) is a week to 10 days away... Antero Niittymakiwas expected back in Philadelphia yesterday, with gold medalist Peter Forsberg arriving today following a celebration in Sweden. Forsberg was quoted as saying he wants to play tomorrow at New Jersey.