POLL: MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT IN fLYERS HISTORY

[yave1964]

 Saved the Flyers for last, been running this series in here all summer, here is my list, for better or worse of the Flyers most memorable moments. Thank you for your votes and comments. Let me know if i missed any.

 

THE DEATH OF PELLE LINDBERGH

In the early morning hours of November 10, 1985, Lindbergh lost control of his customized Porsche 930 Turbo and struck a wall in front of a Somerdale, New Jersey elementary school. With a blood alcohol level two and a half times the legal limit he was driving impaired at a high rate of speed. He became the first player ever elected posthumously to the all star game and no player has ever wore his number 31 for the Flyers since.

 

THE BROAD STREET BULLIES ARE BORN

 

The Flyers were soft in their first few years of existence, getting the hell beat out of them by the St. Louis Blues and the Plager brothers in the postseason, owner Dan Snyder vowed to never watch his team be intimidated on the ice again. The draft that netted Bobby Clarke, Dave Schultz and Don Saleski, the hiring of Freddie the Fog Shero and the trade for Moose Dupont brought about an attitude, a swagger, and one of the coolest nicknames in all of hockey, Broad Street Bullies, a nickname coined by Jack Chevalier in 1973.

the Flyers would seldom over the next four decades have a soft team, the intimidated became the intimidators as players came down with the 'Philly flu' whenever they were rolling in to take on the Flyers.

 

THE BIG E COMES TO TOWN

 

The circus that was Eric Lindros with the refusal to sign with the Quebec Nordiques, instead sitting out an entire year and then being traded twice in a day with an arbitrator ruling that the Flyers accepted the offer of the Nords before the Rangers offer went thru. For Lindros, the Flyers paid a hell of  a price, top prospect Forsberg, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall, Kerry Huffman, Steve Duchesne, Chris Simon and two first round picks and a whopping 15 million dollars. Lindros did win a Hart in the strike shortened 1995 season and led the team to one cup, but it is considered one of the most lopsided deals ever by many.

 

1974 and 1975: BACK TO BACK CUPS!

 In 1974, led by Bobby Clarke and Bernie 'Only God saves more than' Parent, as well as a underrated cast of characters (underated in regards to they were not all goons, these guys could play0 such as the Watson brothers, Van Impe, Schultz, Saleski, Macleish, Barber, Leach and the rest became the first expansion team to win the Stanley cup when they turned away Phil Esposito and the Big Bad Bruins with Kate Smith singing God Bless America before the deciding game. They followed it up the following season by repeating, this time defeating the Sabres in an itneresting series that saw the fog game (not Freddy, literally fog on the ice) and Jim Lorentz of the Sabres swat and kill a bat with his stick. You could not have gotten a pea past Parent in the final if it had been fired by a howitzer, Bob Kelly was the hero and Parent won his second consecutive Conn Smythe award.

 

1980 CUP FINAL AGAINST ISLANDERS

 

In 1979-80 the Flyers roared out of the gate, from October to January they set a North American record by going 35 consecutive games without a loss. A mixture of young (Linesman, Behn wilson, Propp, Bridgeman and Holmgren) and veteran holdovers such as Clarke, Leach, Barber and Macleish, and the outstanding netminding of Pete Peeters who went 29-5-5 the Flyers roared thru the league going 48-12-20, with 7 all stars.

 The script went great until they met the young upstart Isles in the Stanley Cup finals and the Isles upset them in six spirited games on the Nystrom goal on the infamous Leon Stickle game.

 

LEGION OF DOOM: 1996-97 FLYERS MAKE CUP RUN

 

After a decade since their last finals appearance and with pressure on to justify the high price paid for Lindros, the Terry Murray squad went 45-24-13 for 103 points and finished second in the divison missing the lead by one point to the Devils.

 This club was stacked, John Leclair, Lindros, Brind'Amour, made up one of the top lines in the game, Renberg, Hawerchuk, Klatt, Podein and Otto provided excellent secondary scoring and Desjardins and Ninimaa as well as mid season veteran addition Paul Coffey ably led the back end and The net ably manned by Snow and Hextall they ran roughshod over the Eastern conference clubs, and everything went swell until they met the Red Wings, a hungry veteran team who would not be denied and swept the Flyers in 4 straight.

 

2010-THE MOST IMPROBABLE CUP RUN

 

Led y Chris Pronger on the back end and Richards and Carter at forward, the 2009-10 Flyers were nicely built except for in net where first Ray Emery went down, then Michael Leighton did likewise leaving broke down Brian Boucher who went 9-18-3 (his typical season) that year, but he won a thrilling overtime winner on the last day of the season outdueling Lundqvst to steal the final playoff spot. Nobody gave the team much of a chance, in spite of Briere, Giroux, Hartnell and Gagne teaming up with Carter and Richards up front and Pronger and Timonen on the back end. The goalies were just that bad.https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=lo_35r-dvzs

 Boucher had the series of his life and the Flyers upset the Devils in 5, and then they fell behind 3 games to none with Leighton taking the reins back from Boucher, the series looked over before the Flyers stunned the Bruins by storming back and stealing the series in 7. In game 7 they fell behind 3-0 in the first period before they came all the way back and won 4-3 behind Leighton. From there they defeated the Canadiens to advance to the Cup final where they gave the young ungodly talented Blackhawks all that they could handle before bowing out in six games.

 

1985 AND 1987 FLYERS LED BY IRON MIKE KEENAN MAKE TWO CUP APPEARANCES IN THREE YEARS

 

The soup nazi of head coaches, Mike Keenan began his legend by taking a young Flyers squad that was losing long time captain and heart and soul player bobby Clarke to retirement and with young players such as Kerr, Propp, Poulin, sinisalo, Craven and Zezel, Ron Sutter and Brad MacRimmon and veteran holdovers such as Mark Howe and Brad Marsh, one of the youngest teams in the league at the time, they advanced first to the cup finals in 1985 under the masterful netminding of Lindbergh before losing to Gretzky and the Oilers in five games, before returning two years later, this time with Rick Tocchet, Eklund and Smythe winner ron Hextall.

  Not the most talented team in Flyer history, but a bunch of young hungry players who played their hearts out due to a combination of fear of their head coach and because they did not know they werent supposed to do so well. Forgotten by many, this era of Flyer hockey was a fun one to watch.

 

Thats it. Others that i considered were Hextall attacking Chris Chelios and Kate Smith herself as well as the outdoor game. Hope you find this enjoyable. Happy voting!

[pilldoc]

Some very interesting moments and all them during my lifetime.  Now granted the back to back Cup victories I was only 5 & 6 and hockey was not yet in my vocabulary.  The Cup victories and the birth of the Broad Street Bullies certainly changed the face of the NHL forever.  It placed a name and monicker on this town that is still felt today.  For bad or good ask any non-Flyers fan and the 1st thing that comes to mind are the Broad Street Bullies.  However the face of the NHL has changed and either rightly or wrongly, the Flyers are still associated with that icon.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate and love what this team did in the 70's and 80's.  However, today, that icon no longer applies to this team.  Are they hard nose and battle hard and like to play physical hockey.  Aboslutely!  But the Broad Street Bullies style hockey went out in the 80's. 

 

For me, the most memorable or unmemorable moment in Flyers history, sadly is the death of Pelle Lindbergh.  The events surrounding that tragic day are forever part of Flyers history.  His death changed the face of this team forever.  I was in high school at the time of his untimely death and I remember reading the paper the following morning and just crying.  As any Flyer fan who was alive during that time period and to a fan I bet most can tell you where they were when they found out about his death.  Most older Flyer fans still remember that day as if it was yesterday.  It is a testament to that team and to Hextall back then to get them back to the Finals a year later.  Pelle's death affected this team.  Now it has happened over 25 years ago and I don't remember all the details anymore (too much fermented hops in college will do that to you!  ).  The Flyers were set in goal for years to come and with Pelle's death it dealt a severe blow to this team.  This is not a knock on Hexy.  I love Hexy and we as Flyer fans should be appreciative and grateful that he was in the wings.  One must often wonder were that team and the following Flyers teams could have gone had Pelle lived and had an outstanding and productive career. 

 

I have to vote Pelle's death, that tragic moment in time, will forever mark this franchise.

 

A very close second would be the back to back Cup wins as they became the first expansion team to win the cup.

 

RIP in Pelle.....you are sadly missed by this fan and by many other Flyers fans.

 

 

 

 

[Yorick]

Dave Schultz.

 

 

[doom88]

This will strongly vary by fan age. I ended up with 2010.

[pilldoc]

This will strongly vary by fan age. I ended up with 2010.

 

Yeah, I thought about that doom.  As each of these memorable moments happend in different decades it will greatly influence by how old each fan is.  That is an excellant point.

[Vanflyer]

I was in a hotel in NJ (going to see a grateful dead concert that evening), watching the Eagles when CBS broke in with the newsbreak of pelles death. The concert was good, but I was numbed by the news. Its odd to feel that way about a person you never met- perhaps how it occurred.

 

I have been to sweden 2x and where I live now there are many swedes. I have had many conversations on the travesty of his death. There is a greaty book with his biography. The irony is that he was not a drinker - at all. One night and one night only. Shame on his team mates for not watching out for him.

 

For those that have not lived in the burbs of philly / njj, many roads are old and windy and slim. Add a porche, alcohol to that and its a lethal combination.

[pilldoc]

I was in a hotel in NJ (going to see a grateful dead concert that evening), watching the Eagles when CBS broke in with the newsbreak of pelles death. The concert was good, but I was numbed by the news. Its odd to feel that way about a person you never met- perhaps how it occurred.

 

I have been to sweden 2x and where I live now there are many swedes. I have had many conversations on the travesty of his death. There is a greaty book with his biography. The irony is that he was not a drinker - at all. One night and one night only. Shame on his team mates for not watching out for him.

 

YEAH...I remember reading that somwhere.  Pelle was not a drinker.  Can't remember where I saw it, but I did read it somewhere online.

 

For those that have not lived in the burbs of philly / njj, many roads are old and windy and slim. Add a porche, alcohol to that and its a lethal combination.

 

Throw Dalton and Dykstra into that mix.  I remember seeing that on the news.  You are correct the burbs in Chester County where I used to live were very windy, slim and narrow.  I believe their accident was in the southern part of Chester County.

 

see my comments in red

[doom88]

Yeah, I thought about that doom. As each of these memorable moments happend in different decades it will greatly influence by how old each fan is. That is an excellant point.

Yeah, and 2010 > 1997. So there's that too.

Pelle was more memorable than adding Lindros, as far as I can tell.

Yeah, I'd say this is going to get striped by decade too. I didn't really notice they were that well spaced.

[mojo1917]

I voted for the Keenan era teams , they were exciting and damn good, they were just unlucky to have to beat Gretzky's Oil when they were at their zenith. They took them to 7 the first go round and shoulda coulda woulda.

That was the team that cemented my fan hood.

[ruxpin]

I actually clearly remember watching the Cup wins and was at both parades. I remember jumping up and down and running all over the house like a fricken lunatic. It was fun as hell.

But I voted for Lindbergh. It was one of those things you forever remember where you were and what you were doing when you heard it. For me, nothing comes close.

[yave1964]

The death of Pelle Lindbergh was one that i nearly took off the list, i didn't put the Konstnantinov injury on the Wings list, as tragic as it was, i felt that seeing Vlady on the ice the following year and in the owners box in 2002 gave us some sort of closure. Somehow, with no disprespect to Vlady i felt that the death of Pelle was more poignant with the Flyer fans today than what the Wings fans endured.

Perhaps it is because we went on to win another cup the following year and then tear up as we saw Vlady on the ice. We got our closure, we got our cup. The Flyers, it was there, a great young team with a great young coach led by a brilliant young goalie, and then it was snatched away. No disrespect to Hextall, i don't know what more Lindbergh could have done in 1987 then Ron Hextall could have (He won the Conn Smythe as the losing goalie!) but fans in Philadelphia have to wonder. Could they have won a cup or more than one, with Lindbergh in net? We will never know. And that, i believe is the rub. The Wings kept on winning, the Flyers kept on coming oh so dangerously close and Lindbergh might have been the missing piece if only......

[jammer2]

@yave1964  What a great job you did on this "greatest moment in team history" project....thanks for all the hard work, countless hours you devoted to this....we are very lucky to have you bro!!

 

 Went back to back cups....how could I not?

[flyercanuck]

Ditto on the props to yave and the B2B cups. Its what you play for.

[pilldoc]

@yave1964

 

Ditto to what @flyercanuck and @jammer2 said.  Outstanding job for the hard work in posting these articles.  Glad you are a part of us here on HF.net.

[Samifan]

@yave1964- Thank You for doing these all summer!

 

As a life long Flyers fan, I could have voted for any or all of the choices offered by yave. Just proves what a rich history this franchise has and I would argue that outside of the Original 6, Oilers, Penguins and possibly Islanders not many other teams can make that claim. Back to Back Cups were great, Bully years were fun, 35 game unbeaten streak was something to see and follow, Keenan working miracles with a bunch of kids and coming up just short and the Big E's time in Philly are all great choices.

 

That being said I went with the 2010 Cup run slightly edging out the death of Pelle. 2010 was just a magical run period. Clinching the last spot on the last day in a SO, Goalie Roulette, Historical comeback against the Bruins and a tough 6 game series against a very tough Hawks team.

[pilldoc]

@yave1964- Thank You for doing these all summer!

 

.

 

That being said I went with the 2010 Cup run slightly edging out the death of Pelle. 2010 was just a magical run period. Clinching the last spot on the last day in a SO, Goalie Roulette, Historical comeback against the Bruins and a tough 6 game series against a very tough Hawks team.

 

I'm out of "agreeing with this for the day"  But even though I voted for Pelle....I wholeheartly agree with your last statement.  It was a very magical run.

[JackStraw]

One choice that probably should have been on the list- the game against the Soviet Red Army in '76.

[radoran]

The two Cup wins were the defining moment for this franchise as well as expansion and the new NHL.

Great job on the project. Agree with everyone's praise.

[yave1964]

I'm out of "agreeing with this for the day"  But even though I voted for Pelle....I wholeheartly agree with your last statement.  It was a very magical run.

Arghh i totally missed that one! it didn't even make my cutting room floor, lol, it completely skipped past me.

[Vanflyer]

Arghh i totally missed that one! it didn't even make my cutting room floor, lol, it completely skipped past me.

 

Hi yave-

 

I would maybe change "85 and 87: Underdogs to two cup finals in 3 years". Or you could add / change Ron Hextall wins Conne Smythe against Juggernaut oiler team in SCF. The keenan (while he was the maestro)  thing to me detracts the emphasis on what those teams accomplished.

[yave1964]

Hi yave-

 

I would maybe change "85 and 87: Underdogs to two cup finals in 3 years". Or you could add / change Ron Hextall wins Conne Smythe against Juggernaut oiler team in SCF. The keenan (while he was the maestro)  thing to me detracts the emphasis on what those teams accomplished.

It amazes me how much Keenan to this day is such a lightning rod. He is hated, reviled damn near everywhere he went. He thought he was going to be Scotty Bowman, instead he turned into a bit of a cartoon character.

But what he did with that 1985 team was a work of art. A young club who had just lost Bobby Clarke, unarguably the greatest player in the history of the organization, Bill Barber, his hall of fame winger, Darryl Sittler, the HOFer center was unceremoniously shipped out. Enter a smart ass kid coach who took over a team that had been an easy first round exit for 4 straight seasons and replaced the old guard with hungry kids, the Flyers went to the cup final, damn cheeky for a bunch of players in their early twenties. Then they managed to overcome adversity, the loss of Lindbergh and a year later they did the same thing, this time pushing to dominant Oilers to 7 games.

To me, when i think of this bunch of Flyers, i cannot help but think of Keenan, just an amazing coaching job, scaring the kids into giving more than they thought possible. Of course, he couldn't help but turn into an idiot, running to Chicago where he ran Secord out of town (Granted for Chelios) and then the Rangers where he won his only cup, he was still on top of the world, but from there the drop was fast and Hard, first in St. Louis, in Vancouver, then off to Boston for a minute and in Florida before a few rotten years in Calgary. What works with some snot nose twenty year old will not work with a thirty three year old Iginla or Bure. Of course, he just won the Gregorin cup in the KHL last year, someone might bump their head and give him another chance, doubtful but i wrote him off for dead before and he seems to always find new life. But for his first few years, he was all that and a bag of chips, a great coach, one of the greatest before he put himself ahead of his team.

[ruxpin]

@yave1964

I still respect and have great memories of Keenan as a Flyer head coach. He was the perfect coach at the right time for that group of players.

He became a caricature sometime right after leaving the Rags but he's been a joke for years and years.

That takes nothing away from the job he did in Philly, though.

[Yorick]

If there are Flyers fans here who have not watched this awesome documentary, then here is an opportunity for you to do it right in this thread.