Flyers' History: Top 10 Flyers Social Media Moments from the Pre-Social Media Era

[Here4ThaLids]

Top 10 Flyers Social Media Moments from the Pre-Social Media Era

Reminiscent of a BiggE summer list, we’re talking (a) short, sharp shocks that could trend nationally on Twitter with 25K tweets in the first hour, and (b) major story lines that spill across HF team and main boards and threaten to knock the site out of commission.

For my sanity let’s exclude the obvious: the Cups and celebrations, general wins and losses (Game 7, Overtime, etc.), most trades and ‘hockey’ injuries – things that are expected to happen every year. As always, the ranks don’t matter, but your contribution does!


1. The Lindros Trade. It’s not just a trade that causes enormous waves and lasting ripples, it’s a legal thriller with twists, turns, and double crosses, and the devil is in the details: imagine the meltdown when it’s revealed someone (an unknown, mysterious figure) had entered the closet of the hotel where the Flyers were staying/negotiating the deal and [the mystery man] removed from a telephone computer the record of a phone call to the Lindros cottage – a key piece of evidence in establishing the timeline of the deal. Ron Ryan had to go to Bell Canada for proof the call was made! Aubut! Rangers!!! Ziegler!!!

2. The 1980 Playoffs. Not just The Stickle Game, it should be pointed out, but speaking of that one, imagine today’s technology laid over that experience – new replay angles with better clarity, multiple video reviews – and the NHL still unconcerned with truth or justice.

3. The Death of Pelle.

4. 1976 Red Army Game.

5. The Entire Dang 99-00 Season
(Subsections: The Tertyshny Tragedy, The Roger Neilson Fiasco, Clarke vs the Parents, Brind’Amour for Primeau, Incredible 15-Point Comeback to Win the Division, The Five-Overtime Game, The Stevens Hit)

This one is cheating, and I certainly wasn’t on any Flyers boards at the time to see if the hive was properly stirred, but today’s digital reaction would be fierce and I think sustained with intensity for the entire year. A decade of drama condensed into a single season.

6. The Streak. Another extended reaction to an utterly huge (and largely forgotten, sadly) sports story that would be magnified tenfold by our modern lenses. The most recent examples we have to grab onto might be the Warriors drive for 73 wins, then the Patriots trying for perfection – but at that stage the Flyers were probably more hated in-sport than either of those teams and had to survive more close calls along the way.

7. Losing on the Last Day of the Season. Oh, you remember beating the Rags in the shootout on the last day of the 2009-10 season – but do you recall the last day of the 1971-72 season? The Flyers needed to take a point off the Sabres to make the playoffs, were tied late in the game, but allowed a goal from the blue line with four seconds left on the clock, to a former Flyer I might add, lost the game to the Sabres, lost the tiebreaker to the Penguins, missed the playoffs (the last time they’d miss for the next 18 years, incidentally). The heartbreak. The rage quitting.

Two years earlier, they’d lost a final day 1-0 game against Minnesota on a soft lob from the red line late in the third, and that had also cost them a spot in the playoffs. This one was much worse: “It was like getting shot,” Clement remembered. “I feel dead inside,” Clarke said, “I’ll bet if you look back since hockey’s started, there’s never been anything like that happen. I’ll bet you’ll never see it again in fifty years.” [ ] Shero said he felt the same way he did when his mother and father died. Keith Allen called it “the worst thing that has happened to me in hockey.”

8. The 1991-92 Playoff Format Travesty. Missing the playoffs despite having earned more points than two (not one, but two) teams who did make it in, including a Hartford team they outpaced by ten points. This may be a little more personal to me, but we do love to complain about format and how the NHL can’t get out of its own way. The looming sense of dread in the last weeks of the season would have poisoned the Flyers board with trolling (e.g., “why should they be entitled to a spot if they can only manage sixth in their own division?” and “should of won five more games in October and November, they deserve to be out”).

9. Hextall Scores. Insanity. The absolute madlad.

10. Intense, Specific Violence and Tribal Outrage. Honestly there could be hundreds of examples: Dave Schultz pulling Dale Rolfe’s hair; Claude Loiselle takes a two-hander to Clarke’s head; Chelios/Propp and Hextall/Chelios; Brown/Sandström. The dishonorable Leafs: Domi doubles teams Burt, hides from Richardson; Tucker pretends to die before popping right back up.


HM: Fan Falls into Penalty Box with Tie Domi. Meme away.

HM: Lorentz Kills the Bat. Custom-made for a polarized Twitter. No Corona tie-ins but the lil flapper may have unleashed the fog.

HM: Gamble Has Heart Attack, Beats Canucks. A story that should be better known among the faithful, goaltender Bruce Gamble had to retire after his second heart attack occurred the morning after a practice. But his first confirmed heart attack happened earlier, during the first period of a game against Vancouver in 1972. He stayed in and finished the game, only losing a shutout with 1:58 remaining! Bobby Taylor was called up from the minors to replace Gamble and made his first start.

HM: The Roof Blows off the Sucker. We have precedent for this: the Metrodome’s roof collapse in 2010 was a big deal!

HM: A Player Sleeps with His Teammate’s Wife. Sorry, hypothetical mods.

HM: The Trap Ruins Hockey. An exaggeration, of course, but great message board fodder! The NZ Trap had been a page in every team’s playbook for decades. Everyone groaned when the Devils won in ‘95 and then missed the playoffs the next season – but the crystallizing moment came in the ‘96 playoffs when a no-talent Panthers team used the trap (and were allowed to clutch-and-grab to obscene levels) to take out two superior 100-point division winners and win the conference. Year of the Rat, indeed.

[Sneaky opinion: that ‘95-96 Flyers team may have been the best of the Lindros era, with the best or second-best chance to win it all. We just don’t have the late round heartbreak to remember it by.]

Click to read more...

 

[Redpath]

Lindros almost dying in Nashville

Bill Barber mutiny and getting fired months after his wife’s passing

Leclair+Desjardins for Recchi trade

 

[DancingPanther]

All of those things except 1 and 5 happened before I was born. I remember none of these however

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Some of the top of my head...

There are a multitude of incidents that could be magnified or fall into subtexts. There are still people who think "Clarke fired a guy with cancer" or that "Colorado won two Cups because of the Lindros trade" without factoring that Patrick Roy would never have been dealt by Montreal to Quebec and if the Nordiques remained in the province that history probably would have been vastly different.

The former is just tiresome and borders on the inane. Those in the know realize the facts of the fiasco and that Neilson refused a job given to him by the Flyers and Clarke permitted usage of his house near Tampa. And how Ed Snider royally treated Neilson including usage of the owner's private plane. In Neilson's words "treated (him) like a king." And it was Neilson who apologized the following day for making the comment about "being a cancer patient." And the doctors didn't think it was wide for Neilson to be the head coach during the playoffs and Clarke put Neilson's health first by adhering to those suggestions.

Others that could be listed:

I asked Phil Myre once about this a few years ago. He said he has mellowed in so many words. His furious rant against a goal judge in Chicago. Priceless. Myre thought the puck entered through the side of the net. Myre also smashed his stick against the goal judge's booth and was issued an unsportsmanlike minor and a 10-minute misconduct in a tirade that also included a tossed stick and glove and obscene gestures to the crowd. Myre went after the goal judge after the game had concluded, too. He was fined $500. Said Myre "It was the most crooked call I have ever seen in my life."

The Ontario provincial government going after the Flyers during consecutive playoffs. And the Flyers won both series!

Paul Holmgren, then an AHL player, almost died during eye surgery in Boston. He suffered a shock resulting from an allergic reaction to an anesthetic.

Fred Shero getting mugged outside the team hotel during the 1974 playoffs which necessitated him missing the Game 4 opening round clincher due to injuries suffered.

Fred Shero traveling multiple times to the Soviet Union, staying for weeks, to exchange hockey ideas. Something that worked to his detriment when some voters in the Hall of Fame committee held it against him in addition to other nonsense. Thankfully, Pat Quinn and his guidance helped sway enough voters to right the wrong.

Fred Shero had an assistant coach when many considered it unthinkable.

Ken Wregget replacing Ron Hextall for the last two games in 1989 against Pittsburgh including not knowing he would start until moments prior to Game 6.

Bobby Clarke trading Darryl Sittler the day before the 1984 opening night team dinner and being vilified. Until people saw Murray Craven develop into Murray Craven....and Joe Paterson was pretty exceptional in the 1985 playoffs, too.

Rick MacLeish's broken neck and resulting body cast after a car crash in 1977.

Rick MacLeish's throat being sliced open in 1978 which required 80 stitches after Marcel Dionne's skate cut him.

Multiple Blues enter the stands in Philadelphia.

The day after Christmas, 1978. Bob Dailey (who missed the following two games) hit his head on the ice after being checked by Detroit's Perry Miller and went into convulsions; however, quick-thinking Behn Wilson, who took pre-med courses, immediately assisted Dailey on the ice and helped open a passage for proper breathing.

Joe Watson told this story: "I remember one time we were playing in St. Louis and Jimmy McKenzie, our trainer, said something to Steve Durbano. Durbano, he took his stick and put it right to Jimmy’s mouth and knocked four of his teeth out. ‘The Hound’ jumped off the bench and beat the living crap out of Durbano. He took him all the way across the ice, knocked him down, picked him up all the way across the ice and threw him in the penalty box. And it started at our bench and went all the way across. Oh my God, it was one of the worst beatings I’ve ever seen a guy take."

The Bernie Parent - WHA scenario. He left Toronto and the NHL as the first star player to leave the established NHL and sign with the expansion Miami team which weeks later moved to Philadelphia. Parent eventually desired to return to Philadelphia, the city, and the Leafs worked out a trade with the Flyers after the Philadephia Blazers -- financial woes -- relocated to Vancouver.

The Larry Zeidel-Eddie Shack stick duel.

Barry Ashbee's horrific eye injury.

Tim Kerr's wife lost her life due to complications resulting from the birth of their daughter 10 days prior.

5 OTs. 2:35 a.m. in Pittsburgh. Keith Primeau.

Fred Arthur quitting hockey to become a medical doctor.

Bobby Clarke naming a college guy as head coach in the NHL. The guy was Mike Keenan.

The NHL said they had commitments with the Stanley Cup prior to 1987 Game 7 in Edmonton which nullified the Flyers using it as pregame motivation. However, the Oilers did use it.

Todd Bergen's distaste of Mike Keenan, so he quit hockey to play golf.

Barry Tabobondung was so excited to be going to the Flyers, he jumped over seats at the draft until his foot got lodged to where he couldn't remove it without assistance. He died in 2000 while trying to save his son's life following an auto accident.

The Flyers' Wives Carnival in its infancy when something so extraordinary was almost inconceivable.

 

[Here4ThaLids]

Fred Shero had an assistant coach when many considered it unthinkable.

And also offered a coaching position to Pia Grengman. Cannot imagine the depth of depravity in animated gifs.

Rick MacLeish's broken neck and resulting body cast after a car crash in 1977.

Rick MacLeish's throat being sliced open in 1978 which required 80 stitches after Marcel Dionne's skate cut him.

Good grief! I have no memory of ever reading or hearing about these. Unreal. Back to the books for me.

Multiple Blues enter the stands in Philadelphia.

Yes, absolutely should be in the top 10. Would be interested to see a tally of bad fan interactions during games in the 70s and 80s, seems like they were more common. Not always Malice in the Palace level, sometimes a guy in the stands would just grab onto a stick and get a pop in the face for his cheek.

Nowadays we mostly get this :

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

And also offered a coaching position to Pia Grengman. Cannot imagine the depth of depravity in animated gifs.



Good grief! I have no memory of ever reading or hearing about these. Unreal. Back to the books for me.



Yes, absolutely should be in the top 10. Would be interested to see a tally of bad fan interactions during games in the 70s and 80s, seems like they were more common. Not always Malice in the Palace level, sometimes a guy in the stands would just grab onto a stick and get a pop in the face for his cheek.

Nowadays we mostly get this :

A good source for a detailed account of Flyers history is "Full Spectrum" and its 2016 continuation "Flyers at 50".

If you haven't read them, I highly recommend them. Even good for a refresher if it has been a while since reading "Full Spectrum".

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

One that should be added is Reggie Leach was hungover when he scored the NHL record five goals in a playoff game. Fred Shero contemplated scratching him but Bobby Clarke's unmatched captaincy took the reins and convinced Shero to play him. Clarke as has been told mentored Leach's professional career

 

[Here4ThaLids]

A good source for a detailed account of Flyers history is "Full Spectrum" and its 2016 continuation "Flyers at 50".

If you haven't read them, I highly recommend them. Even good for a refresher if it has been a while since reading "Full Spectrum".

Have them and have read them both, as well as other Flyers books. Those incidents seem to have just fallen down the memory hole!

On the plus side, my jaw got to drop again, as if falling for the first time. The history is so rich.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

^Reading the books is a good source of knowledge. Plenty of anecdotes are recalled. There is a list of publications in one of the stickies in our forum. Best experiences are first-hand however. Sometimes the books fill gaps or evoke memories. Many of the brawls are individually unique.

VANCOUVER 1980: Certainly the one in Vancouver the night the USA beat the Soviets in the "Miracle on Ice." The game went into the early morning hours on the east coast. One of the best days of hockey ever. USA beats the Soviets and hours later 314 PIMs called in a Flyers win.

VANCOUVER 1972: There was this beauty in the early days in Vancouver: Don Saleski and Barry Wilcox tangled along the glass which escalated when a Canucks' fan, a dentist by profession, reached over and yanked Saleski's hair nearly lifting him off the ice. Seeing this, several Flyers' players got involved and Barry Ashbee whacked the dentist. The Flyers were issued citations requiring their appearance to Vancouver police on February 9, 1973, the team's next visit to Vancouver.

 

[PALE PWNR]

I feel like the story of Keith Jones finding Lindros in a bathtub with a collapsed lung and half his bodies total blood volume bleeding out into his chest cavity is a pretty huge one. Flyers trainers wanted to put him on a plane and if they did he would have died. Jones took him to the hospital instead of listening to trainers.

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

I feel like the story of Keith Jones finding Lindros in a bathtub with a collapsed lung and half his bodies total blood volume bleeding out into his chest cavity is a pretty huge one. Flyers trainers wanted to put him on a plane and if they did he would have died. Jones took him to the hospital instead of listening to trainers.

I think the story goes that Lindros was cleared at the arena by on site doctors (likely because the fluid was only starting to build at the time) and passed out in the hotel bathtub to be found by Jones (Eric's roommate) early in the morning. McCrossin took him to a local Nashville hospital where he stayed until he was safe to travel and McCrossin stayed with him the whole time. The amount of blood that built up between when he left the arena to when he arrived at the hospital was life threatening.

That would have been an interesting story in a 24hr media/social media era. I think the story would have been reported a lot differently because I always held McCrossin responsible until more details came out years afterwards. In a social media age, the facts would have been reported immediately, which doesn't seem to be the case for this story.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

I think the story goes that Lindros was cleared at the arena by on site doctors (likely because the fluid was only starting to build at the time) and passed out in the hotel bathtub to be found by Jones (Eric's roommate) early in the morning. McCrossin took him to a local Nashville hospital where he stayed until he was safe to travel and McCrossin stayed with him the whole time. The amount of blood that built up between when he left the arena to when he arrived at the hospital was life threatening.

That would have been an interesting story in a 24hr media/social media era. I think the story would have been reported a lot differently because I always held McCrossin responsible until more details came out years afterwards. In a social media age, the facts would have been reported immediately, which doesn't seem to be the case for this story.

This was probably as accurate an assessment as was published at the time (article below). John Worley was in a Nashville hospital with Mark Recchi while Lindros was struggling at the hotel. Worley turned off his cell phone per hospital requirements. I wonder if the vibrate option existed at the time. But it didn't matter because he was only contacted in his hotel room not on the cell and obviously can't be in two places at one time.

The bitter rift between the Flyers and Eric Lindros grew out of one ugly night

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

This was probably as accurate an assessment as was published at the time (article below). John Worley was in a Nashville hospital with Mark Recchi while Lindros was struggling at the hotel. Worley turned off his cell phone per hospital requirements. I wonder if the vibrate option existed at the time. But it didn't matter because he was only contacted in his hotel room not on the cell and obviously can't be in two places at one time.

The bitter rift between the Flyers and Eric Lindros grew out of one ugly night

Forgot about Worley. Thanks for this; still months after the event which makes me wonder how it would have been different in a social media era.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Forgot about Worley. Thanks for this; still months after the event which makes me wonder how it would have been different in a social media era.

In 2000, a cell phone was something not as common as today but there is an unanswered question in this paragraph: why didn't anyone call the cell? From the Inquirer.com article:

All of the Flyers' traveling party had been given a list that included Worley's cell-phone number. The Flyers noted that after failing to get Worley in his room, neither Lindros nor Jones subsequently tried to reach him or anyone else. But Worley said he had switched off his cell phone anyway to comply with emergency-room rules.

---------------------​

This article was a very unflattering portrait of Eric Lindros. I remember it at the time but Mark Recchi's comment was one that supported the common perception of some that the staff can only do so much. And not necessarily limited to this situation:

LINDROS SHOULD TAKE HIS CONCUSSION AND $8.5 MILLION A YEAR AND GO HOME

Lindros claims Worley ignored his pronounced symptoms of concussion nausea, vomiting, off-color vision and headaches and allowed the player to play, worsening his condition. Worley denies Lindros ever revealed the extent of his symptoms.

'A player decides for himself whether he can play,' said Mark Recchi, who played through concussions and pneumonia last season. 'The trainers here are first-class. They know their stuff. That was my fault,' he said of playing despite the injuries. 'It was my decision to play, and no one else's.'​

 

[FLYguy3911]

How about the Flyers having the 1st overall pick after winning two consecutive Cups? That was the peak.

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

How about the Flyers having the 1st overall pick after winning two consecutive Cups? That was the peak.

Flyers typical where there was no stud to be found.

 

[PALE PWNR]

In 2000, a cell phone was something not as common as today but there is an unanswered question in this paragraph: why didn't anyone call the cell? From the Inquirer.com article:

All of the Flyers' traveling party had been given a list that included Worley's cell-phone number. The Flyers noted that after failing to get Worley in his room, neither Lindros nor Jones subsequently tried to reach him or anyone else. But Worley said he had switched off his cell phone anyway to comply with emergency-room rules.

---------------------​

This article was a very unflattering portrait of Eric Lindros. I remember it at the time but Mark Recchi's comment was one that supported the common perception of some that the staff can only do so much. And not necessarily limited to this situation:

LINDROS SHOULD TAKE HIS CONCUSSION AND $8.5 MILLION A YEAR AND GO HOME

Lindros claims Worley ignored his pronounced symptoms of concussion nausea, vomiting, off-color vision and headaches and allowed the player to play, worsening his condition. Worley denies Lindros ever revealed the extent of his symptoms.

'A player decides for himself whether he can play,' said Mark Recchi, who played through concussions and pneumonia last season. 'The trainers here are first-class. They know their stuff. That was my fault,' he said of playing despite the injuries. 'It was my decision to play, and no one else's.'​

Thats such a disgusting article by today's standards.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

And also offered a coaching position to Pia Grengman. Cannot imagine the depth of depravity in animated gifs.

The Flyers also hired Julie Anthony as team psychologist in the early 1980s under Pat Quinn. She is a former tennis pro and sister-in-law to Bob Butera, the Flyers' president at the time. She was once quoted as saying "If the players feel they are being treated unfairly by referees - and are more apt to be called for aggression - maybe I can help them cope with that handicap, so they can turn it into a win and not use it as an excuse.''

@CanadianFlyer88: much like being a mod!

 

[Larry44]

Meme-worthy: The Moose Drinks Beer. One of the best post-game quotes in sports history.

The Moose drinks beer

“That was a lot of fun. We don’t go to jail, we beat up their chicken forwards, we score ten goals, and we win. And now the Moose drinks beer.”

 

[Kermit the Prog]

Don Maloney's (I believe) stick to Parent's eye, ending the goaltender's career. I was watching that game and it made me sick seeing Bernie skating to the bench and throwing off his mask, in obvious pain.

 

[lancer247]

Was the Lindros & Mrs. Brindy (later re-done as Carter & Mrs. Hartnell) alleged affair pre-social media?

Discussions about Carter and Richards alleged drinking/partying Would have paled in comparison to Reggie Leach’s stories.

 

[lancer247]

Don Maloney's (I believe) stick to Parent's eye, ending the goaltender's career. I was watching that game and it made me sick seeing Bernie skating to the bench and throwing off his mask, in obvious pain.

I remember not really understanding the gravity of the moment. That would be the last time I saw him play a game.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

I only really started to watch hockey in 2003, but holy f*** do I remember the Flyers-Sens brawl. Saw that live and f*** that has stuck with me ever since. Insanity.

 

[Here4ThaLids]

I only really started to watch hockey in 2003, but holy f*** do I remember the Flyers-Sens brawl. Saw that live and f*** that has stuck with me ever since. Insanity.

Yes! This one sticks out to me as something that might have crossed over to non-sports people. I happened to miss the game and remember exactly where I was when I found out what had happened. CSN re-broadcast the game a week later as appointment viewing Looking back, it seems we can draw a line from this game to Malkin-Zetterberg in 2009 (well, from this and Bertuzzi-Moore).


Just remembered the Thoreson Incident, unsure if the reaction would have been blunted because we didn't know the severity of injury at the time, but there's a small chance it would have trended given that play was allowed to carry on and eventually a goal was scored. Probably at least a gif of writhing and dogpile celebration set to Benny Hill music.