In preparation for the Flyers upcoming home-and-home with the Boston Bruins, and considering the Bruins are the only Eastern Conference team we've yet to see, Evan over at Stanley Cup of Chowder appeased me by answering a few of my questions.

BSH: How surprised are Bruins fans that your team is where they are right now? Did you guys expect it... at all?

SCoC: I thought that they would be much improved this year, but I didn't expect them to be this good. At the beginning of the year, I would have predicted them to be somewhere around a 6 seed in the playoffs this year. Expectations were higher than usual this year after taking the Habs to 7 games, but anybody who says that they predicted the B's to be this good is a liar. A lot of the younger players have made big strides this year: Phil Kessel has developed into a legitimate goal scorer, David Krejci has exceed all expectations, and Blake Wheeler stepped in right away and contributed to the big club.

BSH: Do Boston fans have any ill will toward the Flyers for what happened to Bergeron and Alberts last year?

SCoC: I think anytime that there are questionable hits especially when such serious injuries result, there is going to be some ill will. The Jones hit did cost Bergeron pretty much an entire season. I think that will still be in the back of everyone's mind on Wednesday night because this will be the first time that Bergeron will take the ice vs. the Flyers since the hit. I didn't think that Randy Jones intended to injury Bergeron. I thought it was just poor timing. I'm not sure everyone else has that same view point. I can't say the same thing for Hartnell's hit on Alberts. I thought that Alberts was in a vulnerable position and Hartnell still lined him up for a hit. But, apparently that is water under the bridge because both of those guys are in the Flyer's room now.

For what it's worth, I think Northeastern is gonna take the Beanpot. Should be a good game, though.

Head on over to Stanley Cup of Chowder, which should win some award for best blog name, to check out my answers sometime before game time.