Quick Hits: September 11, 2023
1) Flyers Rookie Camp gets underway this week, with Rookie Games on Friday and Saturday against the New York Rangers' prospects at the PPL Center in Allentown. Last night, Jason Myrtetus and I recorded a pre-Camp edition of Flyers Daily. We did an "Ask Billy" segment, tackling mostly Rookie and NHL Camp related listener questions. To listen to the 26-minute program,
click here.
2) Congratulations go out to Flyers Alumni Association president Brad Marsh. On Oct. 26, 2023, "Marshy" will be presented the Rainey Award at the Help Hope Live 40th Anniversary celebration at the Drexelbrook for his tireless work on the "Every Child Deserves a Bike" program. The program funds, builds and donates fully customized adaptive bicycles for special needs children in the Delaware Valley.
Although such bicycles can greatly improve the quality of life, independent mobility and self-confidence of children with physical challenges, insurance companies rarely cover the devices. An adaptive bike can cost $5,000 to $7,500 to build and customize, making the out-of-pocket costs prohibitive for many families. "Every Child Deserves a Bike", which is funded by donations from Flyers fans and sponsors, provides the devices free of charge to families. The Alumni work with Help Hope Live to select and assist recipients.
To show your support for the Alumni and the ECDAB program, Live It Up event tickets and donations are
available here.
3) Twenty-one years ago, back when I was an associate editor at Outpatient Surgery Magazine, there was gorgeous weather -- blue skies, comfortable late summer temperatures, and a light breeze -- on the morning of September 11, 2001. I left my apartment in West Chester to drive to the magazine's office in Exton. It was my 31st birthday, and I was in a good mood.
Flyers training camp was underway (hockey writing was a sideline passion of mine, not yet what I did for a living), and I was looking forward to reading camp updates from Les Bowen and Tim Panaccio in the newspaper. After work, I was to meet up with my family and we'd have a birthday celebration dinner at Harry's Savoy in Wilmington.
As I drove into work, I turned on the radio. That was when I heard that a commercial airliner had been flown into one of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. The news, of course, only got worse and worse as the morning and day progressed. At the office, we all gathered around a radio. No work got done, naturally. For whatever reason, our publisher didn't tell us we could go home or leave to be with our respective families if we wished.
Every year on September 11, there's a 9-11 commemoration at the Garden of Reflection in Newtown/Yardley. It's a truly special place, beautiful and serene but also solemn. There are remnants of one of the Twin Towers as you approach the walkway. I've been to some of the commemoration evenings but I prefer to go by myself in the morning. Thank God, I did not personally lose any relatives or friends in terrorist attack but no one was unscathed. I always locate the names of NHL scouts Garnett ("Ace") Bailey and Mark Bavis when I go.
My friend and HockeyBuzz colleague, U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame player and referee Paul Stewart, was nearly directly struck by the unspeakable tragedy. His wife, Lori, was a flight attendant at the time. Her usual route was the very Boston-to-Los Angeles daily flight that was hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center. I believe it was the first of the two planes that hit each of the towers. By sheer luck, Lori Stewart called out from work that day. She and Paul were expecting their second child (son Max) and Lori had an especially severe case of morning sickness. Otherwise, she and the family's unborn baby would have perished.
Paul, who was still an active NHL referee at time, was in Fort Erie for the NHL officials' preseason camp. He knew both Bailey and Bavis, both through hockey and via personal connections. The 31-year-old Bavis, in fact, was a high school friend and classmate of Stewy's nephew. If you have a little time today, Paul's recollections of 9-11, written in 2015, are
are worth the read. It really hits home small the world and how fragile life really are.
4) Sept. 11 Flyers Alumni birthdays: Mike Comrie (1980), Glen Seabrooke (1967), Mike Byers (1946-2010).
5) Today in Flyers History: September 11, 1995.
Coming off a breakthrough 1994-95 season that saw the Flyers reach the Eastern Conference Final and the player himself blossom into stardom immediately after being acquired in a trade with Montreal, Legion of Doom left winger John LeClair was a restricted free agent in the summer of 1995. Although he did not yet have a new contract done with the Flyers, the player elected to report to training camp without a deal (something that seems almost quaint by today's standards).
On Sept. 11, 1995, the Flyers signed LeClair to a four-year contract. A few weeks later, early in the 1995-96 regular season, the Flyers signed LeClair's linemate, Mikael Renberg, to a similar deal. Renberg still had a year to go on his entry-level contract but the Flyers agreed to tear up the existing contract and replace it with a new deal (which was allowed under the CBA of the team).
LeClair's contract quickly proved to be far below his market value, as he posted back-to-back 50-goal seasons in 1995-96 and 1996-97. The player's agent, Lewis Gross, demanded a renegotiation, in light of the player's outstanding productivity and the show of faith LeClair had made two years earlier in reporting to camp without a contract. That led to a brief holdout during camp in 1997. Ultimately, LeClair signed a new four-year deal, replacing the one signed in 1995.
The player rewarded the Flyers with a 51-goal season in 1997-98 (his third straight 50-plus goal campaign), 43 goals and 90 points in 1998-99 and 40 goals and 77 points in 1999-2000. Thereafter, LeClair suffered a major back injury, a dislocated right shoulder and then a foot fracture that kept him out of the lineup for varying lengths of time after the player signed a five-year extension. By the early 2000s, the once-indestructible player was no longer an automatic candidate to bag 40 to 50-plus goals. Nonetheless, LeClair did produce two additional seasons of 23 to 25 goals before his Flyers career ended following the implementation of the salary cap following the 2004-05 lockout.
I've always found it a little odd that some Flyers fans were outraged that LeClair held out briefly in 1997 but seemingly few remember that he was the last Flyers -- and one of the last NHL players from any club -- to take the risk of reporting for a camp without a contract. I've always viewed it at a two-way street. LeClair did right by the team in 1995 and, two years later, it was the Flyers turn to do right by him. In the end, it all worked out well.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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