Last week I attended the Flyers alumni game against the Bruins alumni, which followed the equally cool Flyers and Bruins Warriors facing off on the big club’s ice. I never went to alumni game before so it was an incredible experience.
First thing’s first, thank God they brought back Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love as a goal song, maybe I’m an old soul, but that was absolutely electric, especially after watching a Mark Recchi goal assisted by John LeClair for the first time since my childhood. It was a little strange to see guys I grew up watching turning out the alumni team, especially Mike Richards, Patrick Sharp, and Scott Hartnell. One of the coolest things was watching an 80-year-old Joe Watson patrolling the blue line, something I didn’t think I’d have in common with my dad. The Bruise Brothers were back, and the team fell a Mikael Renberg appearance short of a Legion Of Doom reunion.
Besides the good vibes all around the Farg, the Flyers brought out the ’74 team, since this year is the 50th anniversary of our first Cup win. Watching some legends like Bob “The Hound” Kelly, Larry Goodenough, Moose Dupont and of course, Bernie Parent and thee Bobby Clarke around the cup again was awesome, in the truest sense of the word. Seeing the ’74 team lift (or attempt to) lift the Cup once more was truly incredible to see.
The Flyers ended up selling about 13,000 tickets, which thanks to a series of Coatesy bench interviews, was a true honor in the eyes of alums like Mark Howe and Kimmo Timonen. I think it truly speaks to how loyal Philadelphians and Flyers fan from all over the world are to our teams, name another city where people go nuts to see some old bottom six guys like Donald Brashear, Riley Cote, and Todd Fedoruk!
My major takeaway from the incredible experience is that we should have a few alumni games a year, it’s incredibly fun, there’s always cool auctions for charity, there’s no stupidity or in-fighting among fans, and it’s a great game to jersey watch at, if that’s something you’re into. If the Flyers do it again next year against the Sabres, I will absolutely be in attendance.
By: Ryan Novalski https://twitter.com/c0ld__soul
Photo courtesy: nhl.com
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