The one where I get angry, irrational, and devious

By Marcello De Feo
Posted on 09/15/2012 at 10:40 am

This time tomorrow, the NHL lockout will be underway and there’s nothing we can do about it as fans. We can swear up and down that we’ll turn away and protest games but it does not matter what we say. Most of us will keep coming back and, now that the NHL has a longterm deal with NBC, the sport will reach a larger audience once it does return. Just think about all that pent up anxiousness and desire all coming to a head with the tease of two of the NHL’s most storied franchises, the Detroit Red Wings …

Lokomotiv: One year later

By Bob H
Posted on 09/07/2012 at 10:00 am

Today marks the one year anniversary of the Lokomotiv air tragedy, during which all 45 members of the team, coaching staff and crew perished as their plane failed to take off from an air field near the club’s home city of Yaroslavl. Among those killed was head coach Brad McCrimmon, who starred as a defenseman for Philadelphia from 1982 to 1987 — three of those years in a memorable pairing alongside Flyers and NHL Hall of Famer Mark Howe. Marcello D and Bob H, the two senior members of Flyers Faithful who were old enough to remember McCrimmon’s playing days, …

As the world turns

By Marcello De Feo
Posted on 07/19/2012 at 11:36 pm

Each of the 30 teams in the NHL shares one common goal: winning the Stanley Cup. Yet no two teams take the same route to the Cup. There are just too many variables involved. If it was as simple as following the plan that brought the reigning champ to victory, every team would inevitably go the same route but the fact of the matter is that it is not the case. Teams are restricted by any number of factors, including the salary cap, funds available, and/or the ability the draft and develop talent. In the case of a big market …

Kings deliver for long-suffering Hextall

By Bob H
Posted on 06/12/2012 at 4:00 pm

Ron Hextall left the ice for good as a player in the Spring of 1999. It wasn’t as a triumphant hero, but as a goaltender whose best days were clearly behind him. The two less-than-iconic images fans of that era recall of the end, and how quickly it came, was of him standing helplessly as a buzzer-beating shot from Kings forward Jozef Stumpel sailed past him at the Forum in Los Angeles in February of that year and of his glaring misplay of a center-ice shot by Rangers defenseman Chris Tamer on home ice on April 5. That game against …

Howe inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame with class, key messages

By Bob H
Posted on 11/14/2011 at 9:05 pm

You might think that Mark Howe, the newest former Philadelphia Flyer to be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame, might introduce the meat of his speech by dedicating a few words to his family, his former teammates, or his famous father. But the 56-year-old kicked off his time at the podium in downtown Toronto this evening by addressing a situation that has been largely ignored: that of compensation for the victims of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl air tragedy, which occurred on September 7 and claimed the life of the club’s head coach and Howe’s former teammate, Brad McCrimmon. “I hope …

McCrimmon perishes in Russian plane crash

By Bob H
Posted on 09/07/2011 at 12:23 pm

Former Philadelphia Flyers defenseman and long-time NHL blueliner Brad McCrimmon has died in a plane crash in Western Russia on Wednesday morning. The plane, carrying members of the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv club of the Kontinental Hockey League on its way for a game in Minsk, Belarus, crashed just after takeoff, killing all passengers. Only one crew member survived the ordeal, and a player who survived the crash reportedly later died of his wounds in hospital. McCrimmon had signed on as the club’s head coach in May following a successful three-year stint as an assistant with the Detroit Red Wings. “I’m personally …

The Numbers Game

By Bob H
Posted on 06/13/2011 at 3:00 pm

October 7, 1990. An otherwise unremarkable day in the history of the universe. In hockey circles, It was the Philadelphia Flyers’ 1990-91 home opener, played against the Detroit Red Wings after opening the year with two straight losses at Boston and New Jersey. In and of itself, that 7-2 victory played out in front of a sell-out crowd wasn’t notable, unless you count falling behind 2-0 early and then scoring seven straight goals. What did make it special was, it was the official retirement ceremony for Bill Barber’s #7. Honored first towards the tail end of the 1985-86 season for his 13 years …

The Lost Season

By Bob H
Posted on 05/27/2011 at 12:00 pm

Nursing the heartbreak of a Stanley-Cup caliber Flyers season that came to a screeching halt with a stupefying early playoff exit is a rare and beautiful thing. Although the Flyers have prided themselves on not shitting the bed in the postseason after being near the top of the NHL standings, it has been known to occur every once in a blue moon. Like in the early 1980′s. Tucked in between the Year of the Streak that ended in a loss to the Islanders in the Finals and the Mike Keenan-led surprise 1985 Cup finalists, was four deeply disappointing years that saw a …

Spectrum Memories: Life is a Carnival

By Bob H
Posted on 02/25/2011 at 2:00 pm

To celebrate my 25th year of hockey fandom, I will occasionally step into the way-back machine and write about events in the Flyers’ past. For the balance of the season, I will be dipping into the well to ruminate about some things related to my love of the Philadelphia Flyers, and in general about the fan experience as a youngster. This is the eighth in the series of Spectrum Memories. For this bi-monthly installment, I promise there’s no description of anger, violence, vulgar cheering or potentially-fatal illnesses. It’s all about the purely fun aspects of being a Flyers fan. The annual Flyers Carnival was actually …

Spectrum Memories: Sometimes They Come Back

By Bob H
Posted on 01/28/2011 at 9:00 am

To celebrate my 25th year of hockey fandom, I will occasionally step into the way-back machine and write about events in the Flyers’ past. For the balance of the season, I will be dipping into the well to ruminate about some things related to my love of the Philadelphia Flyers, and in general about the fan experience as a youngster. This is the sixth in the series of Spectrum Memories. Losing a family member or a friend to relocations, sickness or death is never a good experience, and the emotions are very raw and fresh when you’re a kid. Thankfully, my rather small family …