46 Fun Facts About Philadelphia Flyers

Which team joined the NHL alongside the Flyers in 1967?

Pittsburgh Penguins: all six newcomers were placed in a West Division of their own, so an expansion team reached the Stanley Cup Final in each of the first three seasons.

Which earlier NHL team, playing only the 1930-31 season, was Philadelphia's first?

The Quakers, the relocated Pittsburgh Pirates, went 4-36-4 in 1930-31 and suspended operations after that single season.

Who suggested the name "Flyers" to Ed Snider for his new Philadelphia team?

His sister Phyllis suggested it at a Howard Johnson's on the New Jersey Turnpike, where the family had stopped on the drive home from a Broadway show.

What was Ed Snider's job when he got the idea for a Philadelphia hockey team?

Vice-president of the Eagles, he was leaving a basketball game in Boston when he saw fans lining up for tickets to watch the last-place Bruins.

Why did the 1967-68 Flyers end their home schedule on the road?

A storm blew part of the Spectrum roof off, so the Flyers played seven 'home' games in New York, Toronto and Quebec City, and still won the West Division.

Who was the first captain in Flyers history?

Lou Angotti wore the C for one season only: he scored a career-best 49 points as the expansion Flyers won their division, and was traded that June.

Why did Bobby Clarke fall to the second round of the 1969 draft?

His diabetes kept teams away, though his junior coach had doctors put his all-clear in writing; a Flyers scout pushed until the club took him 17th overall.

In which Manitoba mining town was Bobby Clarke born?

Flin Flon was home: weeks before his tryout with the hometown Bombers, he spent a summer's gas-station pay, and four days hitchhiking to Brandon and back, on his first new skates.

Whose recording of "God Bless America" did the Flyers begin playing before select games in December 1969?

Kate Smith's recording was first played on December 11, 1969 at the suggestion of executive Lou Scheinfeld, and the Flyers' winning record with it became legendary.

Which newspaper's writers coined the nickname "Broad Street Bullies" in January 1973?

Philadelphia Bulletin writer Jack Chevalier wrote 'Bullies of Broad Street' after a brawling win in Atlanta, and copy editor Pete Cafone flipped the words to fit his headline.

Who was the first Flyer to score 50 goals in a season?

Rick MacLeish scored 50 in 1972-73, the team's first winning season, and later netted the Cup-clinching goal in game six of the 1974 Final.

In 1973 Bobby Clarke became the first player from a post-1967 expansion team to win which NHL award?

The Hart Memorial Trophy went to a player the Flyers themselves had passed over with their first pick of the draft only four years earlier.

Which Flyers enforcer set the NHL single-season record of 472 penalty minutes in 1974-75?

Dave Schultz sat out 472 minutes that season, nearly eight full games, yet he had scored 20 goals for the Flyers the year before.

Which goaltender broke Bernie Parent's record of 47 wins in a season by beating the Flyers?

Martin Brodeur won his 48th of 2006-07 in Philadelphia, 3-2 over the Flyers, with Parent in the building to watch his 1973-74 record fall.

Which team did the Flyers beat in the 1974 Stanley Cup Final?

The Flyers beat the Boston Bruins in six; before the 1-0 clincher at the Spectrum, the singer of their lucky anthem appeared to perform it in person.

Which team did the Flyers defeat in the 1975 Stanley Cup Final?

The Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres in six; in a sweltering game three in Buffalo, Sabres forward Jim Lorentz swatted a low-flying bat out of the air with his stick.

Who scored the winner in game six of the 1975 Final as Parent posted a shutout?

Bob Kelly, 'the Hound', was sent out to start the third period for a spark and scored on a backhand 11 seconds in; the Flyers won 2-0 on the road.

Which Soviet team left the ice mid-period at the Spectrum in January 1976 after an Ed Van Impe hit?

Central Red Army pulled its players off after Van Impe flattened Valeri Kharlamov, returned when told the team would forfeit its pay, and lost 4-1.

Which three players made up the LCB line that set an NHL record with 141 goals in 1975-76?

Leach, Clarke and Barber scored 141 goals in 1975-76, 61 of them by Reggie Leach, Clarke's old junior linemate, whom the Flyers had traded for days after their first Cup.

Which team swept the Flyers in the 1976 Final, though Reggie Leach was still named playoff MVP?

The Montreal Canadiens swept them, but Leach had scored 19 playoff goals, five of them in a game he was nearly benched for until his captain talked the coach round.

What was head coach Fred Shero's nickname?

The Fog is often put down to his dreamy, distant manner, but it dates to a late-1940s minor-league game in St. Paul so fogged in that only Shero claimed he could see the puck.

Which team did Fred Shero leave the Flyers to coach and manage in 1978?

The New York Rangers, the only NHL club he had played for, paid the Flyers a first-round pick that became Ken Linseman, and Shero's new team eliminated his old one the next spring.

Who coached the Flyers through an NHL-record 35-game unbeaten streak in 1979-80?

Pat Quinn, in his first full season behind the bench, steered the 25-0-10 run from mid-October to early January and took the Flyers on to the Stanley Cup Final.

Which trophy did Swedish goalie Pelle Lindbergh win after leading the NHL with 40 wins in 1984-85?

The Vezina went to a goalie who had idolized Bernie Parent as a boy in Sweden; by 1985 Parent, a two-time winner himself, was his goaltending coach and mentor.

Which Flyers goaltender was the first in NHL history to shoot the puck into an empty net, in 1987?

Ron Hextall lifted a shot the length of the ice into an empty net; the only goalie credited with a goal before him had merely been the last Islander to touch a puck Colorado put in its own net.

Which future Hall of Famer was among the players the Flyers sent to Quebec for Eric Lindros in 1992?

Peter Forsberg went to Quebec with Mike Ricci, Steve Duchesne, Kerry Huffman, a starting goaltender, a first-round pick and $15 million, then won two Stanley Cups after the club moved to Colorado.

Which team beat the Flyers in the 1987 Stanley Cup Final in seven games?

The Edmonton Oilers won game seven 3-1 at home for their third Cup in four years, after the Flyers had climbed back from 3-1 down in the series to force it.

Which two wingers flanked Eric Lindros on the Legion of Doom line?

John LeClair and Mikael Renberg flanked Lindros from 1995; all three stood at least six foot two, and the line's size earned it the Legion of Doom name.

What was Eric Lindros's rookie-season Flyers line called, after its sweater numbers 8, 88 and 18?

The Crazy Eights put wingers wearing 8 and 18 beside the rookie in 88 across his first two seasons; in February 1995 the Flyers traded the No. 8 for three players.

Which junior team did Eric Lindros play for before Quebec drafted him first overall in 1991?

Lindros starred for the Oshawa Generals, winning the 1990 Memorial Cup with them, then refused to report to the Nordiques after the 1991 draft, forcing the trade to Philadelphia.

Whose fifth-overtime goal against Pittsburgh in 2000 turned that series for the Flyers?

Keith Primeau ended game four in the fifth overtime on May 4, 2000, evening a series the Flyers had trailed 2-0 and went on to win in six.

Which team fought the Flyers for an NHL-record 419 penalty minutes in 2004?

The Ottawa Senators and Flyers spent the final 1:45 fighting, goalies Patrick Lalime and Robert Esche included, and the record still stood 20 years later, in 2024.

Whose game-seven winner completed the 2010 Flyers' comeback from 3-0 down against Boston?

Simon Gagne scored on a power play that Boston handed over with a too-many-men penalty; the Flyers had trailed 3-0 in game seven as well, and only two NHL teams had won from 3-0 down before.

Which team beat the Flyers in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final?

The Chicago Blackhawks won in six games, clinching in Philadelphia on Patrick Kane's overtime goal that slid under Michael Leighton and took seconds to confirm.

Which Flyer, who died of leukemia in 1977, had his number 4 retired?

Barry Ashbee's career ended when a shot struck his eye in the 1974 playoffs; he stayed on as an assistant coach and died within weeks of his diagnosis.

Which bank's name was on the Flyers' new arena when it opened in 1996?

CoreStates lasted two years before First Union bought the bank, and further mergers put the Wachovia and Wells Fargo names on the same building by 2010.

Who was the Flyers' first head coach?

Keith Allen coached the Flyers for their first two seasons, then moved up to general manager and built the two Stanley Cup-winning teams of the mid-1970s.

Who consulted on the design of Gritty, the Flyers' mascot?

The first Phillie Phanatic, Dave Raymond, consulted on Gritty's character through his mascot company, while Brian Allen of Flyland Designs drew the seven-foot orange creature.

What was the name of the Flyers' first mascot, a big orange creature that lasted one season in the 1970s?

Slapshot's performer earned $25 a night and nobody seemed sure what the creature was meant to be; the Flyers then went 40 years without a mascot, until Gritty.

Why did the Flyers remove their statue of the "God Bless America" singer in 2019?

Criticism over racist 1931 recordings, and another from 1933, led the Yankees to drop her anthem; the Flyers stopped playing it and removed the statue days later.

Which grocery chain hosted the ballot boxes for the Flyers' 1966 name-the-team contest, with a colour TV as top prize?

Acme Markets had the boxes in its Philadelphia-area stores; nine-year-old Alec Stockard of Narberth won the colour TV, though his entry spelled the name 'Fliers'.

Bill Putnam's choice of orange for the Flyers was partly inspired by the colours of his alma mater, which school?

Putnam, a University of Texas alumnus, wanted 'hot' colours and paired orange with black for the new club.

What are the full-length hockey pants the Flyers pioneered in 1981-82, later banned by the NHL, commonly called?

Cooperalls, full-length pants worn over a girdle, were used by the Flyers for two seasons and Hartford for one; the NHL banned them for 1983-84 after players slid dangerously on the ice.

Who set the Flyers' single-season points record with 123 in 1992-93?

Mark Recchi had 53 goals and 70 assists on a line with rookie Eric Lindros, yet the Flyers finished fifth in their division and missed the playoffs.

Who set an NHL record with 34 power-play goals for the Flyers in 1985-86?

Tim Kerr scored 34 of his 58 goals that season on the power play, in the third of four straight 50-goal years; a shoulder injury then cost him nearly all of 1987-88.

Which Flyer became the first former player to be named the club's head coach, replacing Mike Keenan in 1988?

Paul Holmgren, 32, had been Keenan's assistant for three seasons; Keenan was fired after the Flyers blew a 3-1 series lead, and a 3-0 lead in game seven, against Washington.