Discussion about hockey history focusing on the Flyers, Spectrum, etc.

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

The cursed 'Naming Rights' where millions of dollars are spend for long periods of time IMO has killed the ability to be creative with Venue Names... as well as establish long-term places on note... The Spectrum lived for decades and everybody around the World knew it... Rocky I was there for God's sake... There were many; the Aud, the Coliseum, the Forum... Boston Garden!!!!... Now we have to fight, threaten and cajole to have Lincoln Financial allow us to call their Field 'The Linc'... It would nice to incorporate a nickname with a sponsor such as 'Wachovia Spectrum' which could cleanly be morphed into, 'Wells Fargo Spectrum', which could serve well for all concerned and do the job BUT... Corporate Sponsors spend millions of dollars and don't want people to say Spectrum, as we all know we will... they demand for their money that their trade name is said every time. Baltimore got around it a bit by calling it 'Oriole Park at Camden Yards'... but that to me is different... It was suggested to call the Phillies park, 'Ashburn Field at Citizens Park'... but who here would call it that and not Ashburn Field... or simple the Ash, or Ashcan, or something like that?

To me the most insane thing involving Corporate Sponsors... and IMO bordering on a real crime of esthetics... was 'The SubWay Series'; WTF?!?!?! It took me a while to understand that was not a tourney/series involving local teams... But of course Subway was the corporation shelling out the buck to have their brand showcased.




... Yo, Fehr and Bettman... see what you have brought me to... we need real NHL hockey games to talk about.

So you must love the college football bowl season.

The Jersey WHA team you mentioned earlier, moved to San Diego, and was eventually bought by Ray Kroc (the McDonald's businessman) with a purpose of trying to get an NHL team for San Diego.

 

[Sawdalite]

So you must love the college football bowl season.

The Jersey WHA team you mentioned earlier, moved to San Diego, and was eventually bought by Ray Kroc (the McDonald's businessman) with a purpose of trying to get an NHL team for San Diego.

You got it... Hate the Tidy Bowl.


... Could you just see the Anaheim Mighty Duck Vs The Dan Diego Big Macs? ...Please hand me a loaded gun and stand away from splash range.

 

[PHILOUDELPHIA]

cant believe i found this, but for any of you billy joel fans, here is a full concert from 1986 and im almost positive its at the spectrum



i wonder if any of you guys were there, i was 4, but i saw billy in 1998

 

[Sawdalite]

HOLY MOLY!!!!!


I'm a big Joel fan... and that may even have been the one I attended that year... Maybe I can tell.

Thanks, Dude

 

[Sawdalite]

PS:

 

[PHILOUDELPHIA]

HOLY MOLY!!!!!


I'm a big Joel fan... and that may even have been the one I attended that year... Maybe I can tell.

Thanks, Dude

well, wow I'm glad I made someone's xmas, man this guy looks like he got what he wanted lol.

I'm a big billy guy to, and have all of my dad's VINYL collection ahhh yes if pierre robere could see that he might play them on wmmr. Anyways happy holidays man and im still shopping for a CBA deal, and as pierre would say, it will run ever so slightly behind schedule.

 

[Sawdalite]

well, wow I'm glad I made someone's xmas, man this guy looks like he got what he wanted lol.

I'm a big billy guy to, and have all of my dad's VINYL collection ahhh yes if pierre robere could see that he might play them on wmmr. Anyways happy holidays man and im still shopping for a CBA deal, and as pierre would say, it will run ever so slightly behind schedule.

Haha... yeah, an entire concert from back in the days of the Spectrum, and late-early Billy is perfect to fill in the gap of what I really asked Santa for... NHL Flyers Hockey.


That may be the first Joel concert I went to... depending which date it is... I've attended many since, in various venues and circumstances, but that first one may have been the best, considering my fantastic seat location and the concert friendly confines of the Spectrum and his being so up for the show with his youthful energy... We were right to his right side on the front row of the second level which at the Spectrum meant that we were almost right in his lap... we had binoculars for when he wondered away a bit and we noticed him 'playing' to a blue-jeaned casually dressed Christy Brinkley who was a few rows back. It was obvious that he was making a point not look directly at her as to not tip off the people around her. We saw what was going on though -- she was not made Hollywood-made up... just a regular girl for that night... but she was naturally gorgeous just the same -- towards the end of the concert she went back stage and got the recently born Alexa Raye and brought her to the back apron of the stage where she handed her to him to hug and kiss... right below us... They were still basically young and in love and he was full of vim and vigor and his performance displayed it... He had something like five or more encores as we kept calling him back on stage.

Ironically... it was either the next time, or the time after that, that we saw him again at Spectrum and he was breaking up with Christy, although it was not announced nor publicized... It was a lackluster performance -- I'd say the worst I've personally seen him give -- He claimed he had a cold... but to this day I'm convinced he was just depressed... He did a minimum type show, which actually was still great because it was Billy, and did the least number of encores he could get away with. His subsequent concerts that I saw were back up to his usual standards... but those two were the best and least best of my many attended anywhere... and that includes the final Shea Stadium one with all the guest stars which included Sir Paul.


Thanks once again for the posting... and Happy Holidays to you too... As Billy always says, "Don't take any **** from anyone".

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

We can keep this thread open to all things history related -- Spectrum, Flyers, hockey in general, etc.

Roenick has released a book:

http://flyers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=647603

The book is available in a lot of places – book stores, both physical and online – but maybe the best place to purchase the book – especially in time for the holidays – is through Roenick’s Website, because there, you can get your copy of the book personalized by J.R. himself.

And it’s worth the purchase just for the stories about his time in Philadelphia alone.

He talks about his run-ins with then-Flyers coach Ken Hitchock. He describes the struggles of returning from the broken jaw he suffered in 2004 when getting hit by a shot by Boris Mironov. He talks at length about the great run to Game 7 of the 2004 Eastern Conference Final and the emotion that went into that trip.

But probably the most memorable part of what he said about his time with the Flyers is his outright criticism of goalie Roman Cechmanek. Roenick believes that the Flyers were talented enough to win a Stanley Cup had Cechmanek cared about playing in the postseason.

Here’s an excerpt from the book:

“He would look good in the regular season, and then the playoffs would start and suddenly he was giving up bad goals. In 2000-01, he had a 2.01 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage in the regular season. Then, his playoff numbers were 3.11 and .896. The way he performed in the playoffs made me believe he had come to the NHL just for the money and not to play with the world’s best players and win the Stanley Cup. To me he seemed like a phony, a true fraud. I had no use for him.”

Later he added:

“In my career, I only ran into a few teammates whom I considered lost causes. I couldn’t stand playing with goalie Roman Cechmanek in Philadelphia because I felt like he had one foot back in the Czech Republic the minute the regular season was over. He didn’t seem to be as serious about the NHL playoffs as the rest of us were. It made me wonder whether he would have preferred playing for his country in the World Championships rather than the Stanley Cup playoffs. Players only get paid in the regular season, not the playoffs. It didn’t seem like a coincidence to me that when the paychecks stopped coming, Cechmanek’s performance level went downhill. I remember telling teammates after the 2001-02 season that if he was in Philadelphia’s net the following fall, I wasn’t [bleeping] coming back.”

 

[PHILOUDELPHIA]

We can keep this thread open to all things history related -- Spectrum, Flyers, hockey in general, etc.

Roenick has released a book:

http://flyers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=647603

thanks for i guess giving the thread a proper name of the pass i wasnt sure what to call it lol other then the good old days lol

 

[Kermit the Prog]

Attended my first game at The Spectrum in March 1976 when the Flyers trounced the Red Wings, 6-1. Great moment when there was a donnybrook behind the Wings' net about 10 rows below us. I remember Schultz dusting it up with Nick Libett but more memorable was Big Bird bouncing Hextall and his unnaturally red face all over the glass. It was midway through the second period and the Flyers' "nasties" took part in a five-on-five. Flyers fan for life.

One of my first games on TV was a Saturday in May 1974 when the Flyers beat the Rangers, 4-3 to clinch their first trip to the Cup. I was over my grandmother's house and I left between periods to see if the new packs of baseball cards had come in (they hadn't). The old man behind the counter said they have some of "these" cards, so that's how I purchased my first hockey cards. Walking across the field, opening my first pack, there staring back at me was the yellow-bordered, #30-wearing, unshaven face of Flyers goalie, Bernie Parent. As it turned out, there he was on TV as I walked back in the house. This collecting stuff was fun.

I remember Bladon's 4-4-8 game. Incredible. Some other highlights of that era: Al Hill's NHL-record five point (2G 3A) debut vs. the Blues, hearing Gene Hart saying as they were going into a commercial break during the May 1976 playoffs, "It's Reggie Leach - 5, the Boston Bruins 2," The Streak (natch), Terry O'Reilly's shaggy hair bouncing in odd-symmetry as yet another Behn Wilson punch landed to his face, Gene Hart bellowing, "We drafted a scoring machine!" when watching Brian Propp during his first Flyers' practice, the sheer terror in my heart every time Bobby Orr stepped on the ice, Schultz's two (!) hat tricks within eight days, loving to see The Moose Shuffle, NHL Showdown...

And I should not forget Peter Puck, who introduced me to the sport in a way I could understand while Gene Hart made me love it.

 

[Flyers845]

Since there is a void in current play, a couple of events that took place on December 11 in team history:

The comeback against Carolina in 2008:



And Tom Bladon's remarkable performance in 1977:

http://flyers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=647461

I remember that comeback. It snowed real bad that day my normal seats are 218 row 14 I sat 5 rows behind the net bc it was pretty empty great game

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Attended my first game at The Spectrum in March 1976 when the Flyers trounced the Red Wings, 6-1. Great moment when there was a donnybrook behind the Wings' net about 10 rows below us. I remember Schultz dusting it up with Nick Libett but more memorable was Big Bird bouncing Hextall and his unnaturally red face all over the glass. It was midway through the second period and the Flyers' "nasties" took part in a five-on-five. Flyers fan for life.

One of my first games on TV was a Saturday in May 1974 when the Flyers beat the Rangers, 4-3 to clinch their first trip to the Cup. I was over my grandmother's house and I left between periods to see if the new packs of baseball cards had come in (they hadn't). The old man behind the counter said they have some of "these" cards, so that's how I purchased my first hockey cards. Walking across the field, opening my first pack, there staring back at me was the yellow-bordered, #30-wearing, unshaven face of Flyers goalie, Bernie Parent. As it turned out, there he was on TV as I walked back in the house. This collecting stuff was fun.

I remember Bladon's 4-4-8 game. Incredible. Some other highlights of that era: Al Hill's NHL-record five point (2G 3A) debut vs. the Blues, hearing Gene Hart saying as they were going into a commercial break during the May 1976 playoffs, "It's Reggie Leach - 5, the Boston Bruins 2," The Streak (natch), Terry O'Reilly's shaggy hair bouncing in odd-symmetry as yet another Behn Wilson punch landed to his face, Gene Hart bellowing, "We drafted a scoring machine!" when watching Brian Propp during his first Flyers' practice, the sheer terror in my heart every time Bobby Orr stepped on the ice, Schultz's two (!) hat tricks within eight days, loving to see The Moose Shuffle, NHL Showdown...

And I should not forget Peter Puck, who introduced me to the sport in a way I could understand while Gene Hart made me love it.

In my opinion (I think it was a Sunday game), the win against the Rangers is the most important in team history not a Cup Finals' game. Even more so than the win against the Soviets.

Orest Kindrachuk had a hat trick in that brawl-game against Detroit.

Bladon's 8 points were incredible and almost forgotten was he was +10 in that game.

Hill's game was broadcast nationally, too, through a syndicated outlet. I hope it was kept on film but I don't think it made the cut; I don't recall seeing any video.

 

[Sawdalite]

In my opinion (I think it was a Sunday game), the win against the Rangers is the most important in team history not a Cup Finals' game. Even more so than the win against the Soviets.

Orest Kindrachuk had a hat trick in that brawl-game against Detroit.

Bladon's 8 points were incredible and almost forgotten was he was +10 in that game.

Hill's game was broadcast nationally, too, through a syndicated outlet. I hope it was kept on film but I don't think it made the cut; I don't recall seeing any video.

The Rangers game to me will forever be underscore for me by the Schultz/Dale Rolfe fight where Hammer pummeled Rolfe while the Rangers stood there and allowed their teammate to be destroyed... sealing up the victory and the future, as I see it.


IIRC there was a heavy snow blizzard in Philly and may fans with tickets didn't venture out in the hazardous highways for a game they could see on TV... I recall a vey depleted Spectrum and a national audience, and Gene (bless his tremendous) Hart telling the TV fans that they have opened the Spectrum doors and anyone who wants to fight the elements can come in and see the game live... I also remember him extolling Hill and what he was accomplishing in front of such a sparse audience... At least that is how I remember it.

 

[funghoul]

the greatest thing about the spectrum was those obstructed view seats. ed snider had some big brass ones selling those as legitimate seats to dum dums like me. i saw many a half a game. usually the good half. They were the funniest seats ever. right behind an enormous pillar.

 

[Sawdalite]

the greatest thing about the spectrum was those obstructed view seats. ed snider had some big brass ones selling those as legitimate seats to dum dums like me. i saw many a half a game. usually the good half. They were the funniest seats ever. right behind an enormous pillar.

You mean you didn't sit there for a while and case out the best empty seats... then when it looked like you were sure they would not be used, go down to them... complaining as you went to them, so the neighbors could hear, about the traffic, or something that detained you?

Seriously, in the Spectrum, if a person wanted they could buy the cheapest seats and only have to sit in them for one period... and have great seats for the rest of the game. That said, the Spectrum didn't have nearly the amount of no-shows as the (insert current bank name) Center does with it's corporate presence in the prime Lower Bowl seats.

... Now, I'm not confessing to anything, you understand.

 

[funghoul]

You mean you didn't sit there for a while and case out the best empty seats... then when it looked like you were sure they would not be used, go down to them... complaining as you went to them, so the neighbors could hear, about the traffic, or something that detained you?

Seriously, in the Spectrum, if a person wanted they could buy the cheapest seats and only have to sit in them for one period... and have great seats for the rest of the game. That said, the Spectrum didn't have nearly the amount of no-shows as the (insert current bank name) Center does with it's corporate presence in the prime Lower Bowl seats.

... Now, I'm not confessing to anything, you understand.

i did that there and i still do it at the new place. its harder if you get an usher trying to be a hero. and if i have my kid with me and a bunch of food in my hands they never question. I'm kiddin thats'so wrong. i would never do that. or would i?. the worst thing i ever did was fake having a broken foot to get better seats at the first game lindros was back with the rangers. Karma's a ***** tho because i didn't realize how packed with handicaps that day would be and i also didn't realize there was a shafter handicap section higher up then the actual tickets i paid for. i couldn't help but laugh but i might've cried a little too. my armpits were pretty chafed from the crutches. i did give up and throw the brace i had on in the trash and went down to my real seats. don't walk in my footsteps, learn from my mistakes.

 

[RJ8812*]

We can keep this thread open to all things history related -- Spectrum, Flyers, hockey in general, etc.

Roenick has released a book:

http://flyers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=647603

whats the book called?

"I never got to do that"

 

[Murphy7]

OK, I'll play, even though I've been off the NHL for a bit.
The Cherry Hill Arena didn't have full-length benches for the teams. According to my old Hockey Encyclopedia, capacity was 3,700.

Al Hill's debut should have been carried by Hughes, which is or was owned by MSG. I have no idea if the DirecTV web service, HughesNet, has anything to do with the Hughes Television Network. It was not cable. Games were shown on regular TV -- 29 in Philly, 38 in Boston, either 5 or 20 in DC, and I think all of 5, 9 and 11 in NYC. 29, 38 and 20 were the regular channels for those teams' broadcasts. I could swear there was hockey on WTTG-5 in DC. The Rangers and Islanders both broadcast on WOR-9 back then (Saturday night doubleheaders were awesome ... and only one W in WOR then). I think games that conflicted with the other NYC sports bounced around to available channels (5 or 11). Could be wrong ... I was just a traveling kid back then.

OK, back to the lockout. Probably see you guys again in 2013.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

whats the book called?

"I never got to do that"

"J.R.: My Life as the Most Outspoken, Fearless, and Hard-Hitting Man in Hockey"

by Jeremy Roenick and Kevin Allen (USA Today hockey writer).

 

[Beef Invictus]

You got it... Hate the Tidy Bowl.


... Could you just see the Anaheim Mighty Duck Vs The Dan Diego Big Macs? ...Please hand me a loaded gun and stand away from splash range.

The "Fight Hunger" Bowl is the best. You should hear my uncle rant about that one; I accuse him of being pro-hunger. His rants about Andy Reid go back for years, and his rants about McNabb were legendary. Basically, he's a consumate Philly fan...no matter how good the team was doing, they always should have done a little better.

Virginia Tech is currently playing in a bowl I can't name. The Chicken Bowl, or something. I just don't give a flying crap about it. There's too many bowl games, and none of them are played in actual bowls anyways.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

I'm gonna guess that record still stands

the +10 record in that game still stands. Theo Fluery had a +9 in 93.

EDIT: well damn, I thought I was the first to bring up the +10 in this thread. Foiled by MSE again

 

[Sawdalite]

The "Fight Hunger" Bowl is the best. You should hear my uncle rant about that one; I accuse him of being pro-hunger. His rants about Andy Reid go back for years, and his rants about McNabb were legendary. Basically, he's a consumate Philly fan...no matter how good the team was doing, they always should have done a little better.

Virginia Tech is currently playing in a bowl I can't name. The Chicken Bowl, or something. I just don't give a flying crap about it. There's too many bowl games, and none of them are played in actual bowls anyways.

On what you quoted me on... I couldn't believe I made such typos... I went back and noticed that it was edited by MSE on 12/24/12... hmmm. Anyway, it was supposed to be 'Anaheim Mighty Ducks Vs the San Diego Big Macs'.


... Back on topic: Many many moons back when I was a wee lad -- I'd say the late-fifties or Early-Sixties -- I remember my very first hearing of a sponsored bowl... IIRC it was the Astro Bluebonnet Bowl. Back then there were very few Bowl games and they were big events and I believe just about all on New Years day... I remember the Rose, Cotton and Rice Bowls... later there were some minor bowls that popped up and in Philly for a short time, at JFK IIRC, we had the Liberty Bowl which moved south after only a couple seasons. I cannot remember all the major bowls, but do remember that it was a big deal and some, such as the Rose Bowl, were designated to conference winners... I do not recall when all the pitty-pat bowls started arising... but I do recall the Bluebonnet Bowl, which was named after a margarine brand of the time. The major Conferences were smaller and less also, back in 'The Day'.

 

[FlyersFan61290]

you guys remember the good ole days when we used to turn on the TV at around 7:00pm on CSNphilly most days to watch some great Flyers hockey? Even though they sometimes made you want to rip your hair out because they weren't performing up to their potential it was still great. ahh...the good ole days.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

On what you quoted me on... I couldn't believe I made such typos... I went back and noticed that it was edited by MSE on 12/24/12... hmmm. Anyway, it was supposed to be 'Anaheim Mighty Ducks Vs the San Diego Big Macs'.

I edited something in my post in #26 and for purposes of consistency the same material which was quoted in #27. Your comments were untouched.

You own the typos from the prior post.

 

[Sawdalite]

I edited something in my post in #26 and for purposes of consistency the same material which was quoted in #27. Your comments were untouched.

You own the typos from the prior post.

Drat... I thought I could throw people off by insinuating there was a prank being done on me... I guess I'll have to own up to the Dan Diego name dropping.