Last night at the Skate Zone Paul Holmgren had a team of maintenance guys removing Purell hand sanitizer stands from the Flyers practice locker room. Earlier in the day they had been doing the same thing at the Wach.

"I thought these things were meant to protect people, but look at us," Holmgren said, "three games into the season and (we) already have two guys injured."

Like almost anywhere you go now-a-days the Flyers locker rooms had hand sanitizer stands placed around them over the summer so that no one on the team would ever get sick or hurt. Holmgren was no pleased with the results.

"When I first talked to the guys from Johnson & Johnson I honestly asked them how humanity had survived the past 50,000 years. They said it wasn't easy and I agreed that it mustn't have been. And then I asked them if this meant the end to all common colds, viruses, and separated shoulders. And they said, and I remember this very clearly, '99.9% is not 100%, Paul.' And I thought 'I like those chances."

Holmgren is now a bit snake-bitten.

"For the past month I've seen all these guys rubbing their hands together like they were Oprah coming back from a commercial break everywhere I went. I thought I could deal with it if it meant that all our guys would be available for all 82 games, but now that the junk doesn't work? Just think about it, you think cleaning off your hands 2 to 3 times a day is going to keep you safe at all times? It's preposterous."

The unprotected Flyers play the Penguins and the Swine Flu tonight at 7. Tickets are still available.