From left to right: Krista, Ralph, and Kellie Manoppello at the 2012 Winter Classic.

Flyers Hockey: The Family of Fans

By Kim Pollock
Posted on 04/25/2013 at 11:00 am

“Hockey fans have an amazing history together, like a small fraternity.” It’s a long-standing tradition in sports, older generations passing their fandom down to younger generations. Scores of fans will tell you that they became fans of their favorite teams because they were brought up in a family of passionate sports fans. You’ll find this often in the major sports towns, like Philadelphia, where a fan’s love for their team is homegrown. 54-year-old Ralph Manoppello of Conshohocken has been a Flyers fan since before the team first lifted the Stanley Cup, and thanks to him, his daughters Kellie and Krista …

brayden-schenn-interference-sidney-crosby

Flyers Hockey: The Team

By Kim Pollock
Posted on 03/07/2013 at 11:00 am

Since its early years, the Philadelphia Flyers have been known for a certain type of hockey — hard-hitting and gritty with a “never say die” attitude. Just before the 1969-1970 season, team owner Ed Snider was fed up with the team being manhandled in the playoffs, and told his then-General Manager Bud Poile to acquire players to make the team bigger and stronger. Thus began the reign of the Broad Street Bullies, a group of players — with Bobby Clarke and Dave Schultz at the helm — who were not only big and tough, but skilled. And feared. Now, that …

Assembling a Stanley Cup winner; breaking down the last seven Cup teams

By Kevin Christmann
Posted on 02/11/2013 at 11:00 am

It’s no secret that after losing the 2004-2005 NHL season due to a lockout, the dynamic of assembling an NHL team changed dramatically. With the implementation of a salary cap, there were a myriad of new limitations and restrictions placed on teams and how they spend their money. Rich teams could no longer try to buy themselves a Stanley Cup, while poor teams felt like they could finally compete. But is there a formula for building a Stanley Cup winning team? When you have no restrictions on how much money you can spend, there’s really limited concern about spending wisely. …

The Tenth Day of Claudemas: 10 Players Who Should Have Won the Cup as Flyers

By Estebomb
Posted on 12/19/2012 at 3:00 pm

Here we are in December with little to do in this tough lockout time. What’s a blog to do? Well, it looks like a 12 Days of Christmas-themed series of posts is the way to go. But, we realize that all of you hockey fans aren’t into Christmas, so we’ve named it after the man nicknamed Orange Jesus and called it Claudemas. On the tenth day of Claudemas, Flyers Faithful gave to me…ten Flyers that Steve J. wishes he had seen win the Stanley Cup with the Flyers. Eric Desjardins Rico! Eric Desjardins was as reliable a defenseman as the …

The Reason I Love Sports

By Hal G
Posted on 10/15/2012 at 11:00 am

It was just over two weeks ago that I sat in the stands at Lincoln Financial Field and began to cry. It was not because I was sad, nor was it because my beloved Eagles were losing. I wasn’t crying because I knew hockey season was non-existent and showed no signs of resuming any time soon. The tears were like curtains upon my eyes because the Philadelphia Eagles were doing what was right and honoring the great Brian Dawkins for a career well played and life well lived. There have been hundreds of stories written about B-Dawk leading up to …

Should have been in orange and black! (Image via nhlsnipers.com)

Coping with a Long-Cupless City

By Estebomb
Posted on 06/07/2012 at 2:00 pm

Are you tired of hearing about Flyers West yet? Too bad! It’s frankly the only thing we can write about at this point, unless you’re clamoring for a piece on how good Claude Giroux is at drinking games (hint: this is the wrong site for that sort of news). So here we are again, on the verge of watching former beloved members of the Orange and Black holding the Stanley Cup. It’s happened before and it will happen again. The LA Kings are the new Carolina Hurricanes: a team featuring former prominent Flyers that you really don’t mind seeing win …

This Week in Flyers History 3/4-3/10

By Bob H
Posted on 03/04/2012 at 2:00 pm

The continuation of a weekly series here at Flyers Faithful, “This Week in Flyers History” aims to provide historical information on Flyers games of the past with some kind of significance, using pictures and videos where appropriate. March 4, 1973 Flyers 10, Maple Leafs 0 — Doug Favell makes 29 saves for the shutout, but the offense was clearly the star of the game. The 10 goals tied a franchise high and the 10-goal margin was the largest in team history to that point. Rick MacLeish tallied four times and added three assists, while Gary Dornhoefer lit the lamp twice. …

Then and Now: Janne Niinimaa

By Craig F
Posted on 06/15/2011 at 10:00 am

What do Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, and Janne Niinimaa all have in common? They were all drafted in the 1993 NHL Entry draft. How many were drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers? Only Janne Niinimaa. Pronger went second, to the Hartford Whalers, while Timonen could be considered the hidden gem of the draft going 250nd to the Los Angeles Kings. Well, we know what Pronger and Timonen are doing with their careers now, but what about Niinimaa? Before the aforementioned question is answered, let us remember Niinimaa’s brief time spent in Philly. Spending three seasons with Jokerit in the SM-liiga after …

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 …

Then and Now: Dennis Seidenberg

By Craig F
Posted on 06/08/2011 at 10:00 am

At the time, Bob Clarke’s decision to send 24-year-old defenseman Dennis Seidenberg to Phoenix for the aging Petr Nedved was a questionable move. All the Flyers have left from their trade with the Coyotes on January 20, 2006 is minor leaguer Joonas Lehtivuori. Seidenberg, at the moment, is helping the Bruins try to win their first Stanley Cup since 1970. So just how did the aftermath of this deal transpire? “Nedved has always been a good scorer and a real good player and we think he’ll solve some of our problems up front,” Clarke told the Associated Press after the trade back in …

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