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Meltzer's Musings: Personal Faves and Earliest Memories |
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Best wishes to all for an enjoyable Labo(u)r Day weekend. I will not post a blog tomorrow and, in fact, will be taking my first total non-work day -- no writing, no research, no work-related phone calls of any kind -- in over a year. I'll pick up on Tuesday with a new Meltzer's Musings blog.
For this holiday weekend blog, I thought it would be fun to discuss personal favorites and earliest memories associated with the Flyers. I look forward to reading your own selections for favorite Flyers players of all-time, favorite non-star Flyers, favorite Flyers broadcaster and earliest Flyers/hockey memories. Feel free to add other categories.
For instance, my top 10 favorite Flyers players of all time were Mark Howe, Bobby Clarke, Pelle Lindbergh, Dave Poulin, Mikael Renberg, Bernie Parent, Eric Lindros, Rod Brind'Amour, Brad Marsh and Brian Propp. You could just as easily add a host of other players that I loved to watch from my childhood to my mid 20s (Bill Barber, Tim Kerr, John LeClair, Jimmy Watson, Ilkka Sinisalo, Pelle Eklund, Mark Recchi and Brad McCrimmon being near the head of the list).
If I had to pick my three favorite "non-star" Flyers through the years, it would be Marsh, Shjon Podein and Bob Kelly.
My all-time favorite Flyers team was the 1986-87 squad that took Edmonton to seven games in the Stanley Cup Final. That season's club was the culmination of three years of incredible highs and horrendous lows. The Flyers were the youngest team in the NHL in 1984-85 and went to the Final, were further bonded together by the death of Lindbergh the next season, united against a common enemy (tyrannical head coach Mike Keenan) and unafraid of any opponent in the NHL. They were tough, they were skilled and they were never, ever outworked.
With all due respect to both Doc Emrick and Jim Jackson, my favorite Flyers' broadcaster of all time was Gene Hart. He was the man who provided much the city of Philadelphia -- including myself -- with its earliest education about hockey. Hart truly loved the Flyers and had just as strong of a passion for the sport itself.
My earliest memory of meeting a Flyers player in person was of meeting Don Saleski when he was signing autographs at the Oxford Valley Mall in the spring or summer of 1976. Saleski was very nice to this awestruck five-year-old.
On that same day, I also got to participate in the Bernie Parent Sharpshooter event (a wooden shooter tutor with the likeness of the Flyers' goaltender) and scored one goal on five tries. Being of kindergarten age, I got to stand at the line closest to the goal. I believe it was my second attempt that went in. The coolest part was that they had a red goal light that went on when someone scored. Seeing the light go on for me was one of the thrills of my childhood.
I received a paper certificate with my name on it that I was a "certified" Bernie Parent Sharpshooter plus a coupon for free small french fries or a free small drink at McDonalds (which I'm sure everyone received just for participating). If I recall, there was a grand prize of a stick autographed by all of the 1975-76 Flyers but you had to score on all five of your shots to be entering in the drawing for it. I was happy to score one.
Last but not least, my earliest memory of seeing a live pro hockey game was of my mother taking me to a Philadelphia Firebirds game in March 1975. They played the Long Island Cougars and won something like 5-1 or 7-2. I just remember that it was a blowout victory. The following day, I took a green crayon to my white hockey helmet and tried to color it to match the Firebirds' green. (A few years later, when I wanted my street hockey goalie mask to resemble Wayne Stephenson's orange mask with the twin Flyers logos around the eyes, my mother got orange spray paint and then hand-painted the black Flyers emblems. She did a fine job, too, about 800,000 times better than my green crayon scrawl).
My first live NHL game was a Flyers-Whalers game on Nov. 27, 1979 (still have the ticket stub to this very day). I went with my best friend, David Kramer, and his family, who were season ticket holders at the Spectrum. It was not until many years later that I fully appreciated the fact that I got to see Gordie Howe play in person. That game was also my first in-person glimpse at my future Flyers favorite, Mark Howe.
All I really cared about at the time was that the Flyers won the game, 6-2. Mike Busniuk got the Flyers on the scoreboard less than a minute into the game, and I remember that Brian Propp scored a goal and Reggie Leach had two goals while Bobby Clarke had several assists. Ex-Flyer Andre Lacroix had one of the Hartford goals. Phil Myre was in goal for the Flyers, but I don't recall whether it was John Garrett or Al Smith in goal for Hartford.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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