Flowers Embraces Zen

[CowboyinAmerica 2,840]

 

Manhattan -- A third of the way through the season, Lance Flowers does not find himself on a single league top ten list. That might be a minor surprise when it comes to hits, which he's dominated in recent times, or in plus-minus, where a number of his teammates are in the top ten. But where that's truly a shock is one Top 10 in particular: penalty minutes.

 

You see, New York's Flowers has ranked in the top ten of penalty minutes earned four of his five seasons in the league, and many of those years was among the top five. And while his 58 penalty minutes in 27 games don't exactly make him Gandhi, they're still four behind Condor Adrienne and Tony Balonee for 9th and 10th place in the league.

 

So is this something that may stick for the Americans forward? As it turns out, it might. Flowers is still hitting as much as in a normal season, but when it comes to the extracurriculars that often lead to penalties, the defenseman says he's embraced a new side of life.

 

"I'm getting old, I started depreciating this year. I don't need any of that other (expletive)," Flowers told the media after a recent no-PIM game against Davos. "Maybe I don't need to hold sticks or trip guys any more. They can mess with me if they want, but I'm past that."

 

With that said, here is this writer's guarantee: Flowers will have 8+ penalty minutes in the next game, now that I've written this article. It's the writers' curse. But I do hope he's turned a corner and can keep out of the penalty box, because at least this season, it seems to positively correlate with the Americans winning games.