Vladar to be tested like never before in Flyers postseason push

Courtesy of YardBarker

by Bob Herpen 

Phanatic Magazine 

I don't think it's a stretch to say that Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar has been the most consistent performer on the team through the first two-thirds of the schedule.  

I also don't think it's a stretch to say that he's the front runner for the Bobby Clarke Trophy as team MVP as well as one of maybe two players who have distinguished themselves enough to be considered for the Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy as the club's most improved player. 

At 17-8-6 with a 2.47 goals-against average and .905 save percentage, the sixth-year pro out of Czechia is firmly on pace for career highs across the board. As of the Olympic break, the only stat he hasn't set a personal record on is save pct., with his 90.6% rate standing as the best from 4 years ago with the Calgary Flames. 

He's apparently raring to go for a bigger challenge, as he told in-house Flyers media personality Jason Myrtetus earlier in the season.

"I didn't want to go to any ... what usually reporters like to say a 'rebuild' team, I wanted to go to a team that's hungry and that's trying or willing (to do) everything to make it to the playoffs," he admitted. "When I spoke to our head coach, that's what he told me, too, our goal is to make the playoffs."

Man, meet moment.

Vladar, as multiple outlets have already reported and multiple personages have repeatedly mentioned, was shielded in Calgary the last couple seasons due to the emergence of Dustin Wolf as the starter. However, there are indications he could carry a significant load as the games become more important.

Four years ago, under Darryl Sutter in Calgary, Vladar stepped up and helped the Flames not only secure a playoff berth, but a Pacific Division title with a 50-win record. Between Feb. 24 and Apr. 29 that crazy high-scoring expansion season, he was called upon 10 times to start and made appearances in 12 contests. Vladar went 6-3-1 overall including 4-1-1 in the season's final month.

Three years ago, he suited up only 3 times in March and April. Two years back, it was 4 appearances and 3 starts from the middle of February onward. Last season among his 30 games and 29 starts, the workload increased late: 8 games and 7 starts from Feb. 25 through the season's final 7 weeks. The record, 5-1-1. Most importantly, he did not give up more than 3 goals any time he stepped into the crease.

Arguably, the best of the bunch was a 3-0 shutout loss to the two-time defending Cup champion Florida Panthers on March 1, where he stopped 39 of 42 shots. Strangely enough, other great nights when the pressure's on for Vladar also arrived in losses, such as a 40-save effort in a 3-1 loss at Winnipeg in the curtain-dropper to 2022.

Vladar in fact, was also broken in gently during his first season of NHL play, with the Boston Bruins, 5 years ago as the club shuffled the crease between Tuukka Rask, Jaroslav Halak, Jeremy Swayman and the then-23-year-old. Over 5 starts for the third-place club in the Northeast Division, Vladar went 2-2-1 with a 3.40 GAA and .886 SvPct. for a B's club which could outscore any defensive lapses.

For all the complaining about a defense which has as much trouble picking up an open man as a one-armed man has tying his shoes, the Flyers backline hasn't done Vladar dirty. He's only faced as many as 30 shots *nine times* and no more than 35 in any start -- a 6-3 win over the Devils at home on Nov. 22.

For comparison, let's look at the stretch runs of Mr. 500-Yard-Stare himself, former starting goaltender Steve Mason. 

During the Flyers' playoff push in 2014, Mason appeared in 17 games from Feb. 27 through the end of the regular season on Apr. 12 as the top choice over Ray Emery. 

He finished that stretch run with a 10-4-2 record and 1 no-decision, delivering points in 12 of his starts and a total of 22 out of a possible 32 points in Craig Berube's lone excursion to the postseason as head coach here. 

Down the stretch in 2016, Mason was even better. From March 5 to the end of the regular season on Apr. 9, Money Mase carried even more of the load in place of Michal Neuvirth, finishing with a 10-4-3 mark in 17 starts.

In the process, he played a large hand in helping the Flyers wrest 23 of a possible 34 points out of his late-year slate and providing Dave Hakstol his first taste of playoff hockey as an NHL bench boss.

The major difference between Mason and Vladar, is the former was used to shouldering the burden of a starter's role for multiple years, while the latter is setting personal highs for appearances every time he steps into the crease. His 33 games so far is 3 more than he worked all of last season. 

There are 26 games remaining once the NHL returns from Milano Cortina and the Flyers resume play between Feb. 25 through Apr. 14. If we're going to play the crease roulette version of "Dat's a Win, Dat's a Loss" for Vladar's work level as the season concludes, it's reasonable to think head coach Rick Tocchet would be smart enough to put Vladar in net for the following:

Feb. 25 at Washington 

Feb. 28  BOSTON

Mar. 2    TORONTO

Mar. 7    at Pittsburgh

Mar. 9    NY RANGERS

Mar. 11  WASHINGTON

Mar. 14  COLUMBUS

Either one of Mar. 18  at Anaheim/Mar. 19 at Los Angeles

Mar. 21  at San Jose

Mar. 24  COLUMBUS

Mar. 28  at Detroit

Mar. 31  at Washington

Apr. 3    at NY Islanders

Apr. 5    BOSTON

Apr. 7    at New Jersey

Apr. 9    at Detroit

Apr. 13  CAROLINA

That's 18 out of 26 games, restarting the schedule 8 points out of a playoff spot. Sam Ersson or whoever else is well enough to play and can be propped up will likely start the others including out-of-conference contests against Utah, Minnesota, Los Angeles, Chicago and Winnipeg; some of the remainder during which Vladar will rest are certainly going to be planned losses and some of those he may be called upon for mop-up duty. 

It could be a blessing or a curse for Vladar to take the reins; don't ask me to predict. It does bode well he rested for 2 weeks due to injury in January and then will play only sporadically for his country at the Olympics ahead of the intense downhill run to spring. Then again, after a 5-3 loss in Columbus on Jan. 28, Vladar indicated how tough a restart is. 

"Even if you skate with 3 or 4 guys, you're never going to see bodies in front of you, crashing (into) your view or tipping pucks, stuff like that," he noted. "I think right now our trained did an awesome job getting me back as soon as possible. So was Dilly (goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh), just trying to work on those little details that I still need to work on."

Another restart is coming soon with 3 games in 4 days right off the bat. If Vladar shows up like Mason, or even shows up like the Vladar who made two spectacular sprawling saves at the right post to thwart two Blue Jacket shooters 21 days ago, there is a good shot the Flyers can at least compete for a spot. 

At worst, he'll need to wring points out of at least 13 or maybe 14 of those 17 potential starts, the more two-pointers the better. but as many single points beyond regulation as possible beyond that. Writing this, it is nothing short of a tall order. If all indications from his teammates are accurate, they may rise to his level when it's needed most. 

"When he says something, it carries weight," Flyers winger Noah Cates told Wayne Fish on Feb. 4 at the club's practice facility. "He's pulling his weight so when he says something, you want to play hard for him because he's battling his ass off every night and giving us a chance to win."

Anything less, and Flyers twitter will want to burn it all down in the face of another failure. The franchise record for playoff futility is 5 consecutive seasons, from 1990 through 1994. Back then, there was a shifting roster year to year that brought the club progressively higher-end talent that sparked a revival. This would be the sixth in a row, without a solid plan in place to improve. Win or lose, Vladar absolutely deserves better for his professionalism.

Spectrum Memories: Claude Lemieux Still Sucks

Courtesy of Le Journal de Montreal

by Bob Herpen 

Phanatic Hockey Editor 

On this mid-winter evening at the Spectrum, Public Enemy No. 1 Claude Lemieux – like PootieTang – done did it again.

In a crucial Sunday night nationally-televised game between two teams expected to be championship contenders, the two-time Stanley Cup winner and Avalanche winger stole the show from a dynamic teammate and sunk the Philadelphia Flyers with the go-ahead goal in the final minute of regulation of a 5-3 road victory.

To recap: almost eight months earlier to the day, Lemieux took the starch out of a hostile crowd at the Spectrum on a steamy June afternoon and put the New Jersey Devils ahead in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals by a 3-2 score. The winning score, seen below as one of the most infamous whiffs in Ron Hextall's storied goaltending career, also staked his club to a 3-2 series advantage.

Once called "The Bill Laimbeer of Hockey" by the Hartford Courant, Lemieux was also called "clutch" long before Justin Williams stamped his indelible mark on multiple playoff Game 7s.

The timing of the goal deflated the host Flyers, who had fought through the frustrating neutral zone trap to erase a 2-0 deficit and tie the game with the sellout throng firmly in their corner. A win could have ensured a chance to close things out in a home-bound Game 7 even in the event of a Game 6 loss on the road.

"I was tied up with (Eric) Lindros and when Marty (Brodeur) made the save and it went into the corner, I just saw a lot of open ice on the right side," Lemieux said of his series-turning score.

"I wasn't sure if I should make a play or shoot. (Petr) Svoboda backed up a little and I fired it. It was lucky."

Instead, two nights later, despite scoring the first and last goals in that Game 6 at the Meadowlands, the Devils rifled home the middle four scores and ensured their first-ever trip to the championship round.

Lemieux, of course, had a hand in that crushing defeat, too.

Flash forward to the calendar year 19-naughty-six. Lemieux landed in Colorado thanks to a series of trades just prior to the start of the regular season that saw fellow contract refugees Steve Thomas (from New Jersey to NY Islanders) and Wendel Clark (from Colorado to NY Islanders) also change locations. deflated the Philly crowd once again.

The stakes weren’t nearly as high, and the goal wasn’t nearly as clean, but it did the job nonetheless. With two Stanley Cup rings plugging his ears, there was no way Lemieux heard the Philly faithful turn on him again.

It's what he does best. Remember all that...unpleasantness...in Montreal?

The dribbler -- another one Hextall should have snagged -- gave the visitors a 4-3 edge and took the starch out of a speed-for-speed, talent-for-talent matchup which featured second-year center and former Flyers first-round draftee Peter Forsberg record a hat trick – including the empty netter which accounted for the 5-3 final in the Avs’ favor.

The player for which he was packaged, Flyers captain Eric Lindros, chipped in with two goals and one assist including the tying score earlier in a frantic, six-goal third stanza.

Drafted No. 6 overall by then-Flyers GM Russ Farwell in 1991, Forsberg made his NHL debut in the Spectrum a little more than a year prior, on Jan. 21, 1995 when the Nordiques helped open the lockout-shortened season. Also there that Saturday afternoon but absent on Sunday night, Avs center Mike Ricci -- one of the other active Flyers also shipped to Quebec in the 1992 Lindros mega deal -- sidelined due to a bad back.

This time, Forsberg made his re-debut in a new uniform for the same franchise and posted the first of his eight career trifectas – accounting for exactly half of his career goal total vs. the Flyers in one evening. The often-injured super Swede went on to record 15 points (6G, 9A) over 15 appearances until signing here to a metric ton of anticipation before the 2005-06 campaign.

If you’re in contention for a division title and a top-two conference seed, it’s better to lose to a non-conference club that’s also competing for first overall and a shot at the President’s Trophy for home-ice throughout the playoffs. The Flyers split that part of the job: beating the eventual 62-win Red Wings but falling to the 47-win Avalanche. 

Colorado *really* needed this one. Coming off a homestand which ended in a tie with Tampa Bay and loss to Hartford, the Avs dropped to 12 points behind Detroit for first place in the West and first place overall.

It’s also best to shore up the home side down the stretch, and the Orange and Black passed muster there, as well. They lost only two more home games from Feb. 11 through the end of the regular season, to the Devils and Bruins, going 10-2-1 in the Spectrum ahead of the playoffs. This loss ended a bad stretch of 2-4-3 on home ice since a rousing win over the Penguins just before Christmas.

Just about the only star-caliber player not involved with the contest was future Hall-of-Famer Patrick Roy. Roy, traded from the Canadiens to the Avalanche two months prior, had a horrendous overall record vs. the Flyers to this point in his career. That dismal mark included surrendering all 7 goals against Philly in both clubs’ season opener at the Forum back in October when he still toiled for the Montreal Canadiens.

Instead, Stephane "I deserve to be a starter in the NHL" Fiset got the nod in net for the visitors and nabbed the win with a 26-save effort. Although a potential Finals matchup between the Avalanche and Flyers never materialized for that season and during the remainder of the era, Lemieux continued his career-long torture game four years later. 

Traded once again due to impending unrestricted free-agent status late in the 1999-2000 season from the Avs back to the Devils, Lemieux was part of the sinister squad which rallied from a 3-1 series deficit in the Eastern finals to beat the Flyers in 7 games and eventually went onto win the second of three Cups in 9 seasons.

Old Time Hockey costs more now than it ever did

by Bob Herpen

Phanatic Hockey Editor

Mike Keenan was Rick Tocchet's first NHL coach, beginning with their respective NHL rookie season of 1984-85. 

Keenan oversaw the first 278 games of Tocchet's illustrious playing career but it took just 44 games for the new boss to become same as the old boss, the one every player on those memorable teams spat a curse at more than once. 

The Christmas Eve Bag Skate of 1984 is legendary and multiple players have mentioned it publicly over the years. After a rousing home win over the Capitals the night before allowed the Flyers to keep pace in the race to first place in the Patrick Division, a planned easy practice the next day ahead of holiday travel turned into a nightmare of epic proportions. Two days later, they laid an absolute stinker in a 6-0 road loss at Washington.

Following a 5-1 loss to Tampa at home on Monday, Tocchet and the Flyers proceeded with a normal routine the following day. On Wednesday, however, facing the first of a back-to-back road stint at Buffalo ahead of a 7:30 pm national TV start, he conceded to the ghost of Iron Mike and declared the team would have a practice at noon instead of a pre-planned day of rest ahead of travel. 

Interesting move for a team looking like and playing like the Walking Dead ever since their 5-2 home win on Jan. 6 against the Anaheim Ducks left them devoid of energy and emotion as a whole and down two additional players: Bobby Brink and Jamie Drysdale. 

Two nights later, it wasn't the power play that doomed an eventual 2-1 overtime setback to the Maple Leafs, but the general lack of power which saw them score the game's first goal but unable to do anything other than bear witness to that slender 1-goal edge melting away in the late stages of regulation and OT. 

Then, down Brink, Drysdale and Travis Konecny on Saturday night, the Orange and Black's burst of brio early on was savagely slapped down by the Lightning in a 7-2 slaughter. Although Konecny returned in the back end of the home-and-home on Monday, no life was detected until the hosts were already down 3-0 in the second period of an eventual 5-1 defeat. 

Worse still, facing 3-and-4-goal deficits, the Flyers expended whatever lifeforce remained in meaningless pissing matches during the entire third period, mostly started by the battling Bolts and joyfully joined in by the hostile hosts. It played out like an entire chapter of Old Time Hockey, where score settling and calling cards in a blowout were more important than, y'know, trying to score and reduce the margin of defeat. 

It added 15 to 20 real-time minutes to a game that should mercifully have ended much sooner than it did. Harp on the bad officiating? Argue with a wall. I get it. a big part of the Tocchet ethos is a callback to what made him a respected player. Win and go full bore to do it. Lose but don't take it sitting down and cause some chaos. 

What's starting to wear already is the lack of any insight into the learning process. When asked point-blank on Monday in the postgame what lessons the young team could learn from these back-to-back embarrassments, Tocchet offered the following word salad:

"I mean, it's a good hockey team over there. It's a measuring stick. You know, you can't get frustrated, you gotta keep working and just do the proper things," he said. "We gotta hold onto pucks. We need some guys ... let's face it, their best players are very good. There's a level we gotta find some of our guys to get to and that's what we're trying to get to, every day."

Courtesy of FoxSports.com

Anyway, the result was inevitable. A tired visiting team made more tired-er by a vigorous practice touched down in a city whose team was justifiably upset at losing their previous game to the 2-time defending Cup champion Panthers late in regulation. 

The Sabres, winners in 12 of their last 14, bolted from the block and could have been ahead 5-0 in the first period. Instead, they settled for a 2-0 margin which was extended to 4-1 after two and closed out at 5-2. 

Among the brain-dead highlights in that one: Trevor Zegras and Konecny sprung on a 2-on-0 break from their defensive blue line that resulted in zero shots on goal after Zegras opted to curl left, deke, then attempt a drop pass to a then-covered TK. Three Flyers including the comedy duo Seeler & Juulsen, standing within 6 feet of Sam Ersson, covering no one, as Vince Dunn scores from atop the crease. 

The vortex also managed to swallow up first-half team MVP and nominal starter Dan Vladar, who left the game with an apparent lower-body injury spotted on a routine save early in the contest. Later updates termed the injury "not serious" but a timetable is still unknown.

"I just think we maybe we've got to ... get our spark, our mojo back a little bit," Zegras said in the Sabres postmortem. "We just got to, I guess reboot our brains a little bit and know that it's a hard league and that you're going to go through these tough stretches."

"We're a pretty young team and I know we've played well up to this point, but we haven't really accomplished a whole lot," he added. "Got to keep the foot on the pedal and just keep going."

Oh Trev. So close I can taste it. Blink once if I'm on the right track.

Onto Pittsburgh. And the same thing happens. 

The hosts pumped home two goals in the first and added another score early in the second before any Flyers answered. It took several minutes but the adrenaline burst arrived and helped carry the club, which had the better of the play until the middle buzzer. 

But it was only just before Rodrigo Abols cut the visitors' deficit to two, instead of right after Egor Chinakhov scored, when Tocchet decided to replace Ersson with call-up Alexei Kolosov. And despite the goal and uptick in energy and puck possession, they still faced a 3-goal hole entering the final 20 minutes. 

Despite promising signs like Denver Barkey adding two assists and his customary solid play with and without the puck along with Matvei Michkov notching a goal and a fight, it didn't matter and the night ended with a 6-3 defeat to a Penguins club on an 8-3-1 run since their 8-game skid prior to Christmas. 

Thanks to the Tribune Review

 There's a matinee tomorrow with the struggling Rangers who will surely have a collective case of the red ass after the Senators put an 8-4 whipping on them at home on Wednesday. Heading into the game, the Flyers have given up a robust 5 goals per over their 5-game skid. 

The only club worse recently, the Blueshirts themselves, at 6.75 GPG against in their last 4 contests. 

Tocchet laid it all bare after the loss last night. He blamed the terrible power play and the lackluster penalty kill. He called out the excessive passing and lack of shooting. He assailed players making bad choices that lead to penalties, bad choices which result from "playing too hard" and being soft in the corners. 

Yet, not a peep of accountability for himself or his coaching staff.

Might be the right time for a Rangers Eve bag skate. That'll teach 'em to keep losing and not learning any lessons.

"There's adversity (that) hit our team and in your career you're going to have adversity. I don't care who you are and (how you improve is) how you deal with it," he added, with no context as to how this patchwork roster can accomplish it.

Remember back in May, when I wrote that hiring Tocchet was a calculated gamble based on nostalgia? Despite the Flyers' above-expected performance in the season's first half, I can't point to anything objective that he's done to help the team win. Just showed two glaring examples of something he's done that put the team into, then failed to break them out of a slump -- right out of the old time playbook -- and might have amplified the main issue behind this current losing stretch. 

When all NHL players adhere to similar, year-round regimens, sweat equity can become a physical and psychological punishment, not an edge. In his time, Keenan was way ahead of the curve on health, exercise and the need to push athletes to their limits, thanks to Pat Croce riding shotgun. It was a key component of the Flyers' youth movement, which often won games in the third period due to that significant edge in fitness.

I don't think it's coddling to let a beaten batch of youngsters facing a stretch of 6 games in 9 days rest in the midst of a losing skid. Tocchet obviously didn't think so, so I hope he's learned a lesson about the proper time to push the pedal to the floor. He'll certainly be given a wide berth to figure it out.

As it stands now, the choice to run the kids down in the midst of a spate of depth-killing injuries, overall malaise and quality conference opponents might be enough of a negative inflection point that could grease the skids upon which another empty April are greased.

On Jan. 6, the Flyers rose to sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Ten days later, they've managed to backslide all the way to 11th place while seeing Washington, Toronto and Pittsburgh race past them. All losses hurt. But these losses coming in the midst of a veritable (bleep) storm hurt more. 

New York may be waiting to settle a score, or willing to engage. Either way, they're playing with house money after team GM Chris Drury admitted a retooling of the roster around younger talent would be underway soon.

Twenty-five days ago, Philly wasted leads of 3-1 and 4-2 at Madison Square Garden before dropping a 5-4 OT result, one which featured Nic Deslauriers illegally checking, then legally abusing, Rangers newbie Brennan Othmann. Thereafter, the Orange and Black embark on a brief road swing, part of going 5 of 6 away from home. 

The smart move would be for Tocchet to hammer home the importance of staying cool and focused on winning the game. The actual move remains to be seen.

Trenton makes another pitch to host minor-league hockey

by Bob Herpen

Phanatic Hockey Editor

Earlier this week, the prospective ECHL franchise intended to relocate from Salt Lake City to the Delaware Valley for the 2026-27 season finally gained a name.

On Tuesday, in a ceremony within the club's home located smack in the middle of all the action in Jersey's capital, the Trenton IronHawks were born.

"Today marks an important milestone as we officially announce our franchise name, the Trenton IronHawks, and prepare to bring a new era of professional ECHL hockey to Trenton," said new team president Bob Ohrablio to a gathered media throng which included city mayor Reed Gusciora and Mercer County Executive Dan Benson. "The hawk symbolizes strength and spirit, while the iron industry and its workers remain vital to Trenton's economy through their grit and determination."

The sale was officially announced in early September, after the ECHL Board of Governors signed off on the transaction. 

The ECHL team in Trenton will be called the Trenton IronHawks pic.twitter.com/h23vFKOAkV

— Kyle Franko (@kj_franko) January 13, 2026

There will be no swap of affiliations for the new Trenton franchise despite its proximity to Philadelphia. It is expected to be the second-level minor team attached to the Colorado Avalanche. The Reading Royals are expected to keep its agreement current with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Minor league hockey last graced the CURE Insurance Arena in 2013 -- the last season the NHL decided to try and implode and whose labor strife delayed the season until late January -- when the Trenton Devils played there during the last of their 6-season sojourn. Prior to that, the club was known as the Trenton Titans who were linked primarily to the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League and Flyers. Secondary affiliations once hooked the double-A level franchise to the Islanders and Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

The original iteration of the Titans played from 1999 to 2007 in Trenton, missing out on the postseason only once in eight years and winning the Kelly Cup in 2005 in a 6-game triumph over the Florida Everblades. Head coach of that champion was Middletown, NJ native Mike Haviland, who parlayed that and a previous league title in Atlantic City into a long string of coaching gigs from Division 1 NCAA to the NHL.

The initial franchise rebrand arrived for the 2007-08 season with an affiliation switch north to the New Jersey Devils, but then reverted back to the Titans moniker in 2011, This club made the postseason just once in four years, and not in the two years thereafter when the roster was a grab-bag of never-weres attached to the Flyers and Devils as well as untethered free agents.

The only name of consequence on the Titans' final roster was Scott Wedgewood, who made the leap to Albany in the AHL that season and eventually cracked an NHL roster with the Devils in 2015 before finally sticking to the big league in 2020 with New Jersey. Wedgewood is currently part of the Colorado Avalanche's blistering start to the 2025-26 campaign.

The cancelled 2004-05 NHL season as well as the four-month labor stalemate begun in September 2012 afforded an excellent opportunity to get a feel for the teams and the league itself. However, hockey fans and even those casuals and families to whom ECHL franchises cater, clearly felt different. 

It is clearly a hard sell for a low-level minor-league franchise to gain any kind of semi-permanent foothold in a region where there are major-league options within a 2-hour jaunt. Yet, Delaware-based owners Pro Hockey Partners, LLC are taking the risk.

According to HockeyDB, attendance in Trenton was strong early on but cratered thereafter, with average nightly attendance peaking in the first season of 1999-2000 at almost 7,100 per night and slipping to 3,515 per game eight years later. Same thing for the second stage, with a high of 3,315 per game coming in 2007-08 and bottoming at 2,390 four seasons later. Paradoxically, attendance rose from just over 3,000 per game in 2011-12 to 3,360 in that final turn on the ice. 

CURE Insurance Arena capacity, by the way, is still listed at just a hair over 7,600 seats for hockey. 

The franchise which is relocating, the Utah Grizzlies, are the spiritual brothers with a previous franchise located in SLC which bore the same name. The original Grizz were born as a rebrand from the highly-successful CHL Salt Lake Golden Eagles -- an affiliate of the Calgary Flames whose most famous alumnus might be Theo Fleury -- and played in the now-defunct International Hockey League from 1995 to 2001. 

When the IHL folded after that season, the club was one of a small handful given new life in the AHL. While only lasting four years as a top-flight minor-league team, they were dropped back to the ECHL in 2005 and stayed there ever since. The Norfolk Admirals did the same thing, sort of. After being successful enough and with a consistently large enough fan base in the ECHL to warrant a promotion, the club arose to the AHL in 2000 and stayed until 2015 before its dissolution. The second generation Norfolk team that roams the ECHL today was born from the ashes of the old Bakersfield Condors.

Over the last several seasons calling the Maverik Center in West Valley City home, the Grizzlies average attendance was around half of the 12,600-seat venue. But with the relocation of the nomadic Arizona Coyotes to Utah's largest city three years ago, there clearly wasn't enough room in town for both minor and major hockey. 

What remains to be seen is whether this separation would bring to an end an almost unbroken chain of top-level minor hockey in the city stretching back more than five decades, to the original Golden Eagles in the original Western Hockey League.

CURE Insurance Arena, by the way, is in a not-so-great part of the city, accessed through other not-so-great parts of the city. It is not really close to anything approximating other family-friendly entertainment in the historic locale. 

Funny how the revitalization always packaged with and promised by developers when a new venue is constructed in a depressed area never really arrives.

My first job in hockey was unpaid, as a member of the off-ice stats crew in Reading. We learned from the crack staff in Trenton and we, in turn, taught the newbies in Atlantic City.

The postgames became a tight-knit circle of stats crew, team staff, players and game officials where nothing was off limits and nothing was repeatable in public. Whether fan or worker, you can get a real sense of what life is like on the margins. If players last long enough, they bond with the fans and become part of the community. The lucky few end up putting down roots.

I recall having a seat in the press box at Trenton during the winter of 2013, when a team higher-up called the team's nominal beat writer into the hall between periods for a hush-hush conversation that served as silent confirmation that it would be the curtain dropper for the second version of the Titans. No fanfare for the open secret.

By then, the only selling point was afternoon games aplenty, particularly on non-school winter holidays. Fans -- many of them with children or young adults in tow -- showed up early but left as soon as they could, day or night. 

If Trenton couldn't really work in its original formation with bitter rivals Reading and Atlantic City nearby along with favorable scheduling that featured these clubs on the regular, how could it survive and thrive now? That may be a loaded question. 

The Boardwalk Bullies drew flies and the disembodied voice of Bert Parks despite winning clubs and a Kelly Cup title because historic old Boardwalk Hall was apparently less of a a selling point than Grant's Tomb. The Royals somehow keep hanging on despite Sovereign Center roughly one-third to two-thirds full at best 25 years on and affiliations that switched from the Kings to the Capitals to the Flyers. 

It seems to be part and parcel of the process at this level to shuffle the deck every couple years, try one location then cut-and-run when the going gets tough. It's better than a bust-out. The ECHL made its bones in the late 90s and early 2000s by getting ahead of the NHL's Sun Belt expansion by setting up shop in a more than a dozen southerly locations. Only a precious few remain. They also failed in mid-size cities that traditionally welcomed minor hockey while also trying and failing and trying again in other markets like Dayton, Toledo, Indianapolis, Atlanta and Wichita. 

"The arrival of the Trenton IronHawks is an exciting moment for our city," Gusciora said at the introductory conference. This team brings new energy to the CURE Insurance Arena and creates opportunities for residents, visitors and local businesses alike." 

It is unknown at this point when the Trenton club's schedule for next season will be announced but the club already has a website in place where all team-related news will land.

Best anyone can say at this point is, go while you have the time. Enjoy it while it lasts. 

Spectrum Memories: Flyers struck by 'Blizzard Brain' and an Errant Glove

Courtesy of Mike Nguyen Art

by Bob Herpen

Phanatic Hockey Editor

Since Christmas, the high-octane offense which propelled the Philadelphia Flyers to contention in the Atlantic Division froze solid, as cold as the Polar vortex which descended on the region in the wake of the Blizzard of 1996 that officially dropped 30 inches on the city in a 24-hour span.

Heading into a Jan. 11 evening contest at Broad and Pattison against the St. Louis Blues, Terry Murray’s team had scored just 21 goals in their previous 8 games. They hadn’t tallied as many as six scores in nearly a month, hadn’t won by scoring more than four times in the same span and compiled a puzzling 2-3-4 record since outlasting the Penguins, 6-5, on Dec. 17. 

Yet, they were still only five points behind the first-place Rangers and two back of second-place Florida. 

Coming off a six-game cross-country holiday road swing, the Flyers were about to settle into a season-best five-game homestand against opponents from three different divisions. A softee against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and a trap contest with Mike Keenan’s Blues loomed ahead of a matinee mash-up with the Broadway Blueshirts on Jan. 13. 

Mother Nature had other plans. 

After dumping a record amount of snow in a record amount of time across the Delaware Valley on Jan. 7-8, the world pretty much shut down for an entire week.

With major roads finally opened by Tuesday and both the Flyers and Ducks able to make way to the Spectrum, the Anaheim game was allowed to proceed. Unfortunately, the home squad was attacked by a case of the stupids.

The Ducks scored twice in the game’s first seven minutes, then were content to let goaltender Guy Hebert steal the show. Only power-play goals by Eric Desardins and John LeClair – the latter coming 2:27 before the end of regulation, saved the Orange and Black from a worse fate than a 2-2 tie.

Spectrum Memories: Kicking of the series by recalling the Flyers season-opening blitz at Montreal.

Enter the Battlin’ Blues. 

Keenan arrived in the Gateway City and promptly began tearing up the roster after a first-round loss to the Canucks the spring before, including a removal of the captaincy of star sniper Brett Hull. The Blues – mired in mediocrity and melodrama with malcontented veterans aplenty – sported one of the most anemic offenses in the NHL in stark contrast to their apoplectic bench boss. 

Although Mikael Renberg’s tally just 24 seconds after the opening puck drop seemed to awaken the dead spirits, another attack of the stupids hit and the Flyers spent most of the middle portion of the game sleepwalking. 

They fell behind 3-1 with under 8 minutes left in the second period on strikes from noted St. Louis snipers Craig Johnson, Shayne Corson and Stephane Matteau, then jolted awake with three straight scores – man-advantage markers by Desardins and Eric Lindros then the go-ahead marker from the very-much-living Yanick Dupre with 5:58 to play in regulation.

LeClair was booked for hooking with 1:54 on the clock, but no matter. In a 4-on-6 situation, Shjon Podein took an errant pass deep along the left-wing boards inside his defensive zone and slid the puck all the way into the vacant Blues net. 

Bingo! Flyers lead, 5-3, with 28.4 seconds to go.

Except not.

The video below, a VHS reproduction of an ESPN2 broadcast with Steve Levy and Barry Melrose on the call, runs down through the final seconds of regulation. 

Was it *really* an upturned glove laying inside the blue line? Did the puck accidentally strike a home player leaning over the bench to catch the action of the final minute? Watching the replay multiple times, it's hard to pick up. Those of us who watched ESPN back then know Barry Melrose is, was and always will be right any time he opened his mouth.

Spectrum Memories: Beating the Russian Five and the Red Wings on Black Friday.

After Matteau pushed the puck past Philly defenseman Kjell Samuelsson for his second strike of the game (at 5:03 of the video), both teams skated through a boring overtime before tempers flared at the buzzer. Four players, evenly divided, earned 10-minute misconducts. 

The deadlock was the fifth for the Flyers in their last eight outings. It also bumped Keenan’s record in Philadelphia in three stops (Chicago, New York, St. Louis) since being fired in the spring of 1988 to 3 wins, 4 losses and 2 ties. 

In the 42-day stretch between Dec. 17 and Jan. 28, the defending Eastern Conference champions labored through a 3-6-7 stretch where they won only once at home. That anticipated matchup with the Rangers less than 48 hours started out badly with a Mark Messier breakaway score less than a minute into the contest, then ended worse with a 4-0 shutout loss at the hands of (checks notes) backup Glenn Healy, who needed only 23 stops to pick up the road victory. 

That home-based funk was finally ended thanks to the psychic jolt of the blood shed by veteran defenseman Petr Svoboda on Feb. 1. 

Felled by an intentional, flying elbow of Canadiens forward Marc Bureau and prone at center ice as blood poured from his head and mouth, Svoboda was forced to leave the game and head to Methodist Hospital for evaluation. Bureau was subsequently forced to feel the wrath of Craig MacTavish, who earned five-and-a-game for jumping Bureau while the rest of the Habs felt the sting of coughing up a 2-0 lead and losing 3-2 in overtime on a Desjardins strike. 

St. Louis, on the other hand, couldn’t snap out of their middling. They tied the final three games of a five-game road swing, went 0-3-1 on a four-game respite, then enjoyed a 7-1-3 stretch immediately before and after Keenan shocked the world by acquiring Wayne Gretzky from the Kings. More drama ensued as the 99-captained club continually failed to find offense, then sputtered to a six-game first-round loss to the Maple Leafs.

One day later, somewhere outside St. Louis, young hopeful Preston E. Wilson packed up his life and drove from the Midwest straight to Philadelphia, heading straight into a frozen tundra to begin a long and storied radio career.

Philly gained some revenge on Feb. 3 in St. Louis to close out the two-game season series. Lindros rifled home three goals, shook off multiple chances to fight while his teammates chased future Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr from the nets early and answered the bell often in a 7-3 rout.

One unintended consequence of the Blues’ slide worked out for the Flyers: one of the veteran malcontents, future Hall-of-Famer Dale Hawerchuk, was acquired straight up for MacTavish in mid March amidst Keenan's purge. That story to be told in full at a later time. Up next, Public Enemy No. 32 haunts the Flyers again, this time in a potential Stanley Cup Finals preview.

Spectrum Memories: Flyers beat Penguins at their own game.

Flyers win game, Ducks winning race to rebuild

by Bob Herpen

Phanatic Hockey Editor

Remember when sports talk radio ruled the roost back in the late 1990s and early 2000s? 

A time when the Flyers found minimal coverage or conversation and a now disgraced long-time sports reporter came up with a clever term for how their fans unfailingly and unrelentingly failed to question anything the top brass did?

It was Howard Eskin over on 610 WIP, during a time when both names meant a damn, calling Orange and Black faithful "Stepford fans" when the club kept changing its lineup in pursuit of a Stanley Cup only to continually fall flat on their faces in the postseason.

The "Stepford" part refers to a thriller from the 1970s where a group of successful suburban Connecticut men decided to remove a major headache in their respective marriages and conduct bizarre experiments to turn their wives into nothing more than obedient zombies. 

For Eskin, it was a playful reminder for a local media player who witnessed the entire arc of the franchise ebb and flow so many times with the same general result; for anyone not a Stepford, it was a source of endless laughter when the unwitting dopes on the other end of the phone line had zero clue they were the latest 2-minute dupe in an endless conveyor belt of unwitting dupes across a 2-hour show.

Those memories still rear their ugly head now and then, particularly on hockey twitter when the rabid masses, frustrated with a constant cycle of rebuilding, end up comparing the pre (alive Ed Snider) and post (deceased Ed Snider) Dave Scott hockey operations era. 

Nowhere was this Stepford ugliness more apparent last Jan. 11, when Flyers fans -- fresh off the news of Boston College sophomore forward Cutter Gauthier's rebuff of several front office members and the trade to Anaheim which followed -- decided to turn their eloquence towards the 20-year-old forward. The fact the Flyers won easily, 6-0, fanned the flames of their desire for vengeance.

The constant, withering boos I'm cool with. That's what we do. But the whole "F*** YOU CUTTER" nonsense uttered by some ritual mouth breathing ticket holders that was loud enough to be picked up on the broadcast made the sellout crowd look like they made their living digging sewage lines. Like school in the summer, no class. 

New Year, Same You

Never one to forget a grudge or the past, 360 days later on Ed Snider Legacy Night, the organization surely made a calculated move and opened up its broadcast of the first Philly-based Ducks-Flyers tilt of this season with a 30-second recap of the Gauthier situation that, again, cast the nascent star as a villain.

Why did Gauthier refuse to meet with any member of the Flyers front office last holiday season?

Because he didn't. 

We don't know. 

We're never gonna know. 

He might have bristled at the (correct for once with this front office regarding college talent) belief that he needed another year on the Heights before coming to the pros. 

He never even set foot anywhere controlled by the franchise at any level. 

He plays for an out-of-conference team.

Shut up and move on. 

Couldn't tell that to the paying Stepfords, though, who soundly booed Public Enemy No. 61 beginning just 84 seconds after the opening faceoff and didn't let up on him until the final buzzer of an eventual 5-2 Philadelphia triumph. 

The noise had its peaks and valleys, first reaching a crescendo with 4:15 played as his blast from the bottom edge of the right circle on a power play put the desperate Ducks (0-6-1 in their last 7 games) on the board. 

It was the kind of goal you'd want the Flyers to start scoring with regularity to try and repair a consistently-broken man advantage, with a draftee taken at wing who's allowed to stay at wing, who has that shoot-first, killer mentality. It was his 20th of the season, which would far and away be the team best in Philly. 

From there, the sustained sonata drifted in and out every time he was spotted on the ice. Like his counterpart who was shipped the other way, Gauthier is owed time and space to play the game for his team without being subject to the stupidity of local yokels who seem to relish in misplaced catharsis. He was more concerned with his team's performance on ice than with the maelstrom above it.

"It was a really hectic atmosphere. I thought we had a great start with getting up and after that, the little things, the details in our game kinda crept in and we weren't executing at a high level," he said in team-sponsored locker-room comments. "To win in this league you have to be pretty damn perfect to make plays with really good players on the other team that are going to haunt your mistakes."

I have to give *some* credit to the cretins, who managed to spit out a F-YOU CUTTER loud enough to bleed through any control-room blocks on the broadcast on just two occasions. I hear tell there were more than two outbursts in the crowd. 

Long-Term Implications

Three things I strongly suspect will enter into the collective minds of the Flyers front office as a result of the Gauthier fiasco: 

A) It soured the front office on young, flashy goal-scoring types and; 

2)  Put a couple nails in the coffin of selecting any players from BC in the future (not that there was much demand in the past) such as James Hagens, who went seventh overall to the Boston Bruins last June and; 

D) Put a dent in any kind of consideration to take on more longer-term projects at the D1 level with either a first or second-round selection, hence the gamble on quicker-ready players like Porter Martone, Jack Nesbitt and Oliver Bonk.

Gauthier deserved his share of scorn from the ticket-buying public when he made his first NHL appearance here with the Ducks a year ago. But this year, come on, low rent garbage.

Playing amateur psychologist for a bit, it's screamingly obvious that explosive expression of emotion is telling on a vast amount of the fanbase that they're jealous of the Ducks rocket ride but their Stepford impulses can't bring them to lay the criticism at the feet of the Flyers brain trust. 

After all, how could Johnny Vermont or Jonesy or Handsome Pat or Danny Clutch NOT know what they're doing? They're our heroes, not from corporate. They cook, they don't get cooked.

In other words, classic transference. 

Only those who don't want to stretch their brains to understand sports and life beyond a middle-school level could have boiled down a matchup between two young, exciting clubs to how many goals Gauthier and former Duck Trevor Zegras scored. 

That includes at least one legacy print media member who kept a running tally of both guy's goals and contributed little else on socials while afforded the usual spot for intrepid reporters.

Although I couldn't talk to him because I was denied a credential to cover the game in person, Zegras, I'm pretty sure, isn't in competition with Gauthier and refused to mention him by name in the afterglow of victory. Didn't mean he wasn't pumped to beat his old club, but he's clearly not giving in to that narrative.

Read about Zegras' close call in October which preceded his awakening on offense.

"I missed the game last year but I heard all about it and I was fired up to play in this one," Zegras admitted when egged on by ex-Flyer Scott Hartnell in the post-game bench interview after his 2-goal night. "The boos were great but the cheers were even better."

Little Z even channeled Chase Utley and let fly with two weapons grade live TV F-bombs of his own when pressed by Hartnell on how he felt about the arena's atmosphere. 

"I've been thinking about this game for a long time, he added during the locker-room pool interviews. "It's funny how these two teams have turned into such big games. Playing against your old team who kinda shoved you out the door. (Ducks starter Lukas) Dostal's usually got my number. It was good to get a couple on him."

Truth Hurts, We Need Something More Exciting

Right now, Anaheim is advancing past Philadelphia in terms of development, talent and progression in its reconstruction, season records notwithstanding. 

Why? First of all, because the often-overlooked SoCal franchise was able to perform a complete teardown. Seven straight years out of the playoffs, during which they never finished higher than sixth in their own division. Slow cook. No "almost-but-not-quite-making-the-playoffs-on-the-season's-last day" nonsense before a scheduled regression like last year's Flyers.

The Ducks raced out to an 11-3-1 record by mid-November and at that point, led the NHL in both total goals scored and goals per game. They were flash and dash. The Flyers on the other hand, were perpetually behind since the opening puck drop, still mired in dump and chase.  

The visitors crashed back to Earth as we hit the new year, going just 10-15-2 since then due to the drag of a 6-month regular-season journey, less attention to defense and an injury to certified bleep-stirrer Frank Vatrano. There's also the as-yet-to-be-revealed injury status of goaltender Petr Mrazek, who went down in a 7-4 loss at Washington on Monday and was replaced on an emergency basis by Ville Husso.

It doesn't hurt that Anaheim head coach Joel Quenneville, again allowed to ply his trade after falling on the sword in the wake of the Blackhawks prospect abuse scandal, is a 3-time Stanley Cup winner with a history of success at three other NHL stops (St. Louis, Colorado, Chicago). 

The Ducks front office under GMs Bob Murray and Pat Verbeek -- only stocked with ONE former player of note -- found, drafted, traded and signed talent like Leo Carlsson, Mason MacTavish, Gauthier, Beckett Sennecke, Troy Terry and rounded out the vanguard with valuable vets like Ryan Poehling, Alex Killorn, Radko Gudas and two-time NCAA champion Chris Kreider. 

From the opposite coast, I get a strong sense that Quenneville is playing with house money in an atmosphere way more conducive to acceptance of the lessons learned through trial and error. Remember, the Ducks, with new ownership, new branding and a garish non-Disney color scheme, won a Cup as recently as 2007 but have skated waaaaay under the radar since glazing and bronzing Teemu Selanne in 2014.

"I don't think we want to feel good about ourselves right now, but I think that tomorrow's a fresh day and we gotta find a way to break this little ... not little either ... stretch here," Quenneville said after the club's latest setback left the Ducks at a negative-18 (17-35) goal differential over their 7-game slide. 

Said Carlsson to The Athletic's Eric Stephens in November about the team's transition to a more open mindset, “Immediately, I feel we have a little bit more freedom to make plays,” Carlsson said. “If we make a mistake, it’s not really as hard, like to be on the bench and stuff. Like, that’s not my ultimate place. I feel like the young guys with skill, we just make plays. Sometimes it backfires, but most of the time this season it’s been good. Just more freedom, I would say.” 

Freedom. What a concept.

If only Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet weren't an ex-Flyer retread, so constrained by the pressures of an organization packed with a chairman/CEO who openly admitted there's a vested interest in dredging up the glories of the past, other ex-Flyers involved in hockey ops and generations of fans now doubly desperate for their younger players to blossom and their prospects to bloom. 

Or if Tocchet actually won anything of consequence in his three previous NHL stops (Tampa Bay, Arizona, Vancouver).

Courtesy of OnPattison

Every decision of Tocchet's is scrutinized for its impact in hindsight and its implications for the future, none more notable than the recent media-manufactured drama between the head coach and Matvei Michkov, which was stirred by normal bench interactions but is extended to beats' readings of greetings and facial expressions. 

Quenneville seems relatively unbothered with a much longer tether and the shine of experience.

The Flyers have ascended the standings by grinding it out, addressing the culture, taking accountability and other abstract nouns. They have allowed the game's first goal in more than half of their 41 games. Miraculously, they've won 15 of those, including Tuesday night's attempt at reviving Old Time Hockey. 

It's not sustainable. Not when a win against a non-conference opponent costs the team so much in energy and expenditure. Not when there's more valuable in-conference games with Toronto, Tampa Bay, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and the Rangers on the horizon. Worse, the ride's just not as fun as the one in SoCal.

The Ducks may not make the playoffs and the Flyers might make it. Or vice versa. Both could make it and both may not. Regardless, nobody could mistake this year's Orange and Black for being dynamic or free to live and learn. Win or lose, the Ducks seem to have a personality and an ethos. Win or lose, game to game, period to period, the Flyers don't seem to know who to be. They've been incredibly lucky and a little bit good so far.

Besides, what did all that misdirected hate accomplish? Created an on-ice circus where both Bobby Brink and Jamie Drysdale left the game and did not return with injuries. The Ducks lost, but remained intact. Lose the battle, win the war. You don't need to play a playoff-style "heavy game" in early January, even though Tocchet denied that type of intent.

"'Heavy' to me is different than back in the day," Tocchet told a media scrum on Wednesday. "All that little contact, bumping up against a player constantly night after night that's how you wear teams down ... being a pain in the butt to play against, that's 'heavy to me. You get into the odd fight, I get it, it's more just being that hard team to play against, we're still trying to find that every game."

For club and fandom, save the hate for who really counts. They're the guy behind the bench and the guys in the suits in the suites who may be trying their best, but keep feeding you the same old lines.