1 4263

(Source: http://www.igglesblog.com)

Name: The Spectrum
Team: Philadelphia Flyers (1967–1996), Philadelphia Phantoms (1996–2009)
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Year Built: 1967
Year Demolished: 2011
Capacity: 17,500

In the midst of the NHL expansion, the Spectrum was built to house the Philadelphia Flyers. Ed Snyder remembers “In the mid-’60s we wanted to bring a hockey franchise to Philadelphia and had to build a new building to obtain one. We completed it in 11 months, only 16 months after we had the idea. That’s pretty amazing when you stop and think about it.” The Spectrum was built on the corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, a fact that would later have the Flyers come to be known as “the Broad Street Bullies.” After consecutively losing to St. Louis Blues in the first round of the playoffs, the Flyers decided they wouldn’t let themselves get beat up again. Over the next couple of years the Flyers would accumulate bigger, stronger and tougher players. Soon Ed Snyder found his team all over the papers and intimidating the other teams.

The Spectrum’s story begins when it was built by the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Construction was started on June 1st and finished in only 11 months. According to former president of the Spectrum Lou Scheinfeld “’Spectrum’ was selected to evoke the broad range of events to be held there. The ‘SP’ for ‘sports’ and ‘South Philadelphia,’ ‘E’ for ‘entertainment,’ ‘C’ for ‘circuses,’ ‘T’ for ‘theatricals,’ ‘R’ for ‘recreation,’ and ‘UM’ as ‘um, what a nice building!” The new building opened on September 30, 1967 with the Quaker city Jazz festival. The first Flyers home game would not be played until October 19, 1967. In front of 7,812 fans the Flyers shutout the Pittsburgh Penguins 1-0 with Bill Sutherland scoring the arena’s very first goal.

phi012
(Source: http://www.thesportsroadtrip.com)

Over the next few years, the Spectrum would see many memorable moments and events that would come to live forever in the hearts of the fans. Within its first season, the Spectrum was already beginning to see drama. On March 1, 1968 as the Ice Capades were being held in the building, strong winds actually ended up blowing part of the roof off. This presented a problem for the Flyers as their season was still in session. They ended up having to move their games into other various venues including: one game at Madison Square Garden and one at Maple Leaf Gardens before settling in at Le Colisee in Quebec City. Luckily they would end up winning the division and were able to return to the Spectrum on April 4, 1968 for the first round of playoffs against St. Louis Blues. Unfortunately they lost both that season and the next, but through these events, the “Broad Street Bullies” were born.

After losing to St. Louis Blues two playoff seasons in a row, Ed Snyder, not wanting his team to be physically outmatched again, instructed his GM Bud Poile and coach Keith Allen to acquire bigger, tougher players. This would lead to one of the most feared teams ever to take the ice in the NHL. The Broad Street Bullies were both heroes who unified their city and enemies who were seen as just a bunch of goons who some believe disgraced the face of hockey. The first man drafted to turn the Flyers’ game around was Dave “The Hammer” Schultz. Before coming to the Flyers he had never fought before, but once he got to Philly, he sparked the whole team into becoming some of the most feared fighters in the NHL. Pretty soon, the team started winning and became the first team to use fighting and intimidation as a tactic to win. By 1974, they would claim their first Stanley Cup.

504e0585ee597.image
(Source: http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/phillyburbs.com)

After seven years of trying, the Flyers finally came out on top as the Spectrum saw its first Stanley cup. With a mix of their fighting tactics and with their good luck charm Kate Smith singing “God Bless America” the Flyers made history by being the first expansion team to win the Stanley Cup. In an exciting game, the Flyers beat Boston 1-0 as fans waiting outside the stadium swarmed the ice to celebrate along with the team. Not only that, but they would go on to win the cup in the following season on the road as well. Still they would return to the Spectrum to celebrate with their fans.

The drama would continue throughout the years. On January 11, 1976 the Flyers took on and angered the Soviet Red Army thought to be the best team in the world. By using their regular rough and tough playing style, the Flyers infuriated the Red Army coach Konstantin Loktev. “We have never played [against] such animal hockey.” Tension started early in the first period as the Red Army was already making complaints about the Flyers. In the first period the Flyers’ defenseman Ed Van Impe hit the Red Army’s top player Valeri Kharlamov. This caused the Russian coach to pull his team off the ice. Ed Snyder got into a shouting match with the President of the Soviet Hockey federation. Eventually Snyder threatened that if they didn’t finish the game, they wouldn’t get paid. The Red Army would begrudgingly go back out on the ice and finish the game. They would later lose the game to the Flyers 4-1. According to Flyershistory.com, Flyers Coach Fred Shero considered it the most important game he ever coached, “Yes we are world champions. If they had won, they would have been world champions. We beat the hell out of a machine.”

10877418_764738646937234_1092862871_n
(Source: http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com)

The Spectrum saw many other firsts during its years as well. On December 8, 1987 Flyers’ goalie Ron Hextall became the first goalie in NHL history to score a goal. As the Flyers took on the Boston Bruins and were leading 4-2, the Bruins pulled their goalie to leave a wide open net. With little time left, Hextall claimed possession of the puck and shot the puck through all the players, across the full length of the ice and into the net for a history-making goal. According to USA Today, 27 years later Hextall commented, “I never at one point in my career thought, ‘I’ve got to score a goal.’ It wasn’t a goal of mine or anything like that,” Hextall said. “When it happened, the way my teammates reacted to it made it pretty special for me.”

The Spectrum saw many great players throughout the years as well. By the time the Phantoms moved in, the Spectrum already had four retired number banners hanging from the rafters. This included, Barry Ashbee (#4), Bill Barber (#7), Bobby Clarke (#16), and Bernie Parent (#1). For a short period, the Spectrum housed both the Flyers and the Phantoms along with other sports teams including: The Philadelphia 76ers (Basketball), The Philadelphia Wings (Lacrosse), Philadelphia KiXX (Soccer), Philadelphia Soul (Football), Philadelphia Freedoms (Tennis), Philadelphia Bulldogs (Roller Hockey) and Philadelphia Fever (Soccer). Along with these the Spectrum saw many other entertaining events, electrifying concerts and thrilling spectacles.

As the years turned to 2009, the Spectrum’s story was beginning to end. On April 10, 2009 the Phantoms played the last ever hockey game at the Spectrum. They took on their local rivals the Hershey Bears and beat them 5-2 in front of 17,380 fans, some in standing-room-only sections. The stadium workers made sure to commemorate all of the hockey history of the Spectrum by raising a banner with “The Final Home Game” written on the top and the radio announcer Gene Hart’s popular sign-off phrase “Good night and good hockey” written across the bottom. The Spectrum officially closed on October 31, 2009, however its demolition did not begin until later. On November 8, 2010, internal work commenced as memorabilia such as seats, bricks and other pieces of the building were taken out and sold or auctioned. Then on November 23, 2010, the final “wrecking ball ceremony” was held with many of the athletes and entertainers who made the building famous. By May 2011, the demolition of the Spectrum was finally completed without the use of explosives. The Spectrum’s 44 years of memory making were finally put to an end, but its stories continue to be shared today, by those who were there.

1 3187

(Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski/USA TODAY Sports)

A 4-0 shutout against an Original Six opponent who beat them their last match up would normally be a boisterous show for the Blackhawks at the United Center, but Sunday night’s victory over the Maple Leafs was, instead, a somber one.

The Blackhawks learned Sunday that sometime between their Saturday night game in Columbus, and returning to home ice the following day that long-time assistant equipment manager Clint Reif had died.

A normally deafening United Center crowd joined in a moment of silence before puck-drop to honor Reif. And the victory closed with a team hug and raised sticks at center ice.

“We are deeply saddened by the untimely loss of one of our own family members this morning,” the Blackhawks said in a statement. “Like all trainers and support staff within our organization, Clint was instrumental in helping our players and coaches prepare and compete both on and off the ice. Our sincerest sympathies go out to the Reif family.’’

Reif was a “stick-boy” at 13 years old. He worked his way up to nine years and two Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks and forged friendships along the way.

 

Reif, 34, is survived by wife, Kelly; three daughters, Florence, Aislynn and Colette; and son, C.J. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the DuPage County Coroner’s office said Reif was found unresponsive in his home at 8:32 a.m. Sunday by Lombard police and fire departments. His death remains under investigation.

The team and staff wore “CR” decals in his memory, and Blackhawks players honored him on the ice with disciplined play.

“We were definitely playing with heavy hearts out there,” Captain Jonathan Toews said, choked up, in a postgame interview. “We’re still in disbelief. The fact we went out there and played the way we did, we dedicated that one to our good friend Clint.”

The Blackhawks played with determination and focus. Those heavy hearts may have shown on their faces, but it wasn’t visible in their skates.

They out-shot the Maple Leafs 34-31, won 31 face-offs to Toronto’s 27, and scored on one of two power plays, where Toronto was unable to capitalize on either of their two man-advantages.

“Normally when you’re going into a game, you can turn off any issues you have going on in your personal life, but tonight I don’t think anyone was able to do that,” Sharp said. “I think everyone played great considering the circumstances. We wanted to make sure we had a big effort for Clint.”

Goaltender Antti Raanta earned his second shutout of the season, earning a 1.76 goals against average and .945 save percentage in eight games played, with the victory.

The team reflected post-game about honoring Reif, who they considered a friend and teammate more so than a staff member.

“He was just a selfless person. He was never thinking about himself. He was always thinking about how he could help others, and, it’s just tough,” Toews said. “He was just a positive guy to be around. It’s unbelievable. He was just a part of our team, you know.

“He might as well have been wearing one of these sweaters.”

 

Former colleagues, teammates, and even opponents, shared in their condolences as well.

 

Before and After

The Blackhawks have improved to 23-10-2, with a three-point edge in the Central Division.

This Maple Leafs win follows a seven-round shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets Saturday night at Nationwide Arena–breaking a 13 consecutive game win streak for Chicago against Columbus.

The Blackhawks fell 5-1 to the Winnipeg Jets at 7:30 p.m. CT Tuesday and will head to Colorado to face the Avalanche at 8:00 p.m. Saturday.

0 1897

Tyler Johnson‘s Christmas present came two days early in the form of a hat trick against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins. On the Lightning’s Tuesday night game, the young forward scored three goals by the midway mark in the game.

After battling the stomach flu last week that ended his 115-game streak, Johnson returned to the home crowd better than ever – scoring his second career hat trick against the tired Marc-Andre Fleury. The Penguins saw a 3-2 shootout loss to the Florida Panthers the night before, and three players were sent home due to illness. The mumps have been going around the team and Brandon Sutter, Thomas Greiss, and Steve Downie are now being tested for the illness. With the team’s backup goalie being out, the Penguins called up Jeff Zatkoff from Wilkes-Barre. Zatkoff arrived in Florida during the team’s warm ups against the Panthers.

Zatkoff got his chance to play against the Lightning when Coach Mike Johnston pulled Fleury after Nikita Kucherov‘s goal in the second. Zatkoff only let one goal in for the remainder of the 4-3 game.

On Saturday’s game against the Islanders, Ryan Callahan played his 500th game in the 1-3 loss. It is a huge milestone for former Rangers captain, especially since it is the last game Callahan and the team will be playing in the Coliseum. Next season the Islanders move to Barclays Center.

With Ben Bishop being injured, the Lightning called up Andrei Vasilevskiy from the Syracuse Crunch. He got his first nod in the net at home, leading to his first NHL win.

The twenty-year-old has appeared in 14 games with the Crunch and has a 8-3-3 record, a 2.34 goals against average, and a .918 save percentage. The young Russian was named CCM/AHL Player of the Week on December 15 after posting back-to-back shutouts on December 6 vs. Rochester and December 10 at Springfield.

Standing at 6-foot-3 and weighing in at 207-pounds, he has shined on the international stage, winning a gold medal for Russia at the 2014 IIHF World Championships. Vasilevskiy has played in the past three IIHF U-20 World Junior Championships, winning a silver medal in 2012 and bronze medals in 2014 and 2013.

0 1627

(Photo: @NYRangers)

Cam Talbot has three wins this season.

Not the most impressive stat, sure.  So let’s clarify: Cam Talbot has three shutouts this season.

That’s as many shutouts as Jonathan Quick and Pekka Rinne, and more than Carey Price, Antti Niemi, and Tuukka Rask, to name a few.  In fact, only Marc-Andre Fleury (6) and teammate Henrik Lundqvist (5) currently have more shutouts than Talbot does.

Not bad for a goaltender who’s only started seven games (3-3-1) so far this year.

As the backup goalie for Lundqvist, Talbot does not see as much playing time as he probably deserves. But despite the limited ice time, he has displayed a level of comfort and skill in the net that the rest of the New York Rangers can’t help but notice.

“[Talbot] has been great for us, last year and this year, and he’s been really solid for us,” said Dan Girardi, who played in his 600th career game on Sunday.  “Our goaltending tandem is pretty solid right now.”

Fortunately for the Rangers, this goaltending tandem will remain solid for at least another season.  Talbot, who currently has a .928 SV% and a 2.02 GAA, signed a one-year, $1.45 million extension with the Rangers on Friday.  He said that he is “extremely excited” to be staying in New York through the 2015-16 season and to continue working with goaltending coach Benoit Allaire, as well as with Lundqvist.

Though Talbot would have become an unrestricted free agent in the offseason, the Rangers organization reportedly had hoped to come to a multi-year agreement with him before then.  However, at 27 years old, Talbot wants to keep his options open for future seasons.  In his second season as Lundqvist’s backup, he has proven that he has the talent to be a number one, starting goaltender at this level; signing a multi-season contract at this stage could narrow this window of opportunity for him.

“He did want the one-year security,” said his agent, George Bazos.  “Part of the issue was, at times the Rangers wanted more years.  From our standpoint and from his standpoint, he does want to become a number one goalie, and that’s why we didn’t want to tie up more than one year.”

Screen Shot 2014-12-22 at 12.23.51 AM

Talbot earned his third shutout of the season on Sunday night, making 18 saves as the Rangers (17-10-4) defeated the Carolina Hurricanes (9-20-4), 1-0, in the second half of a home-and-home set.  Ryan McDonagh put in the only goal of the game four minutes into the first period, assisted by Derek Stepan and Mats Zuccarello. But as the Rangers continued to dominate in terms of shots and offensive possession, the rest of the game proved to be a stalemate.  They held onto their single-goal lead over three periods of play and limited the Hurricanes’ scoring chances with strong defensive play and hustle.  And when the Hurricanes did manage to get a shot off, Talbot was there to stop it.

“I knew that [Carolina was] one of the hardest working teams in the league and they fight to get to those dirty areas, so I knew that if I left any rebounds laying around that they were going to be there to poke them in,” said Talbot, who attributed the shutout to the entire team’s defensive effort. “I just tried to stay positionally sound and tried to control the rebounds whenever I could, and whenever I left one there, the guys were there to clear them out for me.”

“Every shot that came in, [Talbot] swallowed, and for a defenseman that’s huge.  He swallows those and there’s no rebounds laying around, and that makes our job a lot easier.  He did that all night,” said Marc Staal.

This win is the sixth in a row for the Rangers, their longest winning streak since November 2011.  With 38 points on the season, they now sit in third place–and in playoff position–within the Metropolitan Division. The Washington Capitals, who they will face on Tuesday, are right behind them in the division standings.  These will be a huge two points for whoever comes out on top.  

And as the Rangers look to extend their winning streak and retain their playoff spot, strong goaltending will undoubtedly remain a crucial part of their game.

“We’re no different than any team in the NHL.  You can’t win if you don’t get goaltending,” said head coach Alain Vigneault.  “Hank’s playing the way we know he can, and when we use Cam, he’s giving us some real good performances.”

0 1814

(photo: Dinur Blum)

The Pacific Division first-place Anaheim Ducks faced the second-place San Jose Sharks at the Pond Monday night for their third matchup of the season in what was expected to be a fierce, physical game. Two hot goaltenders would make this a close game: the Sharks’ Antti Niemi was on a 7-game winning streak and Frederik Andersen had won 8 of his last 10 games heading into this one.

In their last meeting back in November, each team had 8 penalties, so as anticipated, this game started off with a fight before a goal was even scored. Tye McGinn and Clayton Stoner each got fighting majors a little over halfway into the first period. And, just like the Sharks’ last game versus the St. Louis Blues, there was no scoring in the first frame. However, there was an abundance of shots on goal with 15 for the Sharks to the Ducks’ 7 shots. One of those Ducks’ shots came on a short-handed chance by Jakob Silfverberg when the Sharks ended the period on a shot-less power play.

The Sharks knew they would have to step up their game against this Anaheim team and they put on some pressure to start the second. But as it turned out, the Ducks scored first, a backhander by Rickard Rakell. Then a shot to the face by John Scott sent Tim Jackman down to the ice where he stayed for a few moments motionless, seemingly out cold. As of now, the hit is still being reviewed by the Department of Player Safety.

An interference call on Andrew Desjardins to Andersen put the Ducks on a man-advantage, allowing Ryan Kesler, who had 5 total shots on the night (3 of those on power plays), to shoot a bomb on Niemi, who saved it. The Sharks rounded out the second period with 2 looks by rookie sensation Barclay Goodrow, right after Desjardins exited the box.

A hooking call on Stoner a minute and a half into the third period put the Sharks on their third power play of the night. Excellent puck placement by Brent Burns to Joe Pavelski, who tipped it past Andersen, would tie the game. After reviewing that shot by Burns on the slow-motion replay, one could really see the power behind that shot had by the bend in the stick.

Then, another Shark gets his first NHL goal – Melker Karlsson netted a slapshot from Goodrow at 7:56. This was a huge go-ahead goal – plus it was interesting to note that those two guys were not on the roster at the beginning of the year, yet they are contributing and clearly showing they deserve to be here at the NHL level.

16084380661_ef8e062099_z

(photo: Dinur Blum)

On the other end of the ice, the Ducks kept putting on the pressure, but Niemi had been stellar. He saved a total of 10 shots in the second. By Karlsson’s goal, the Sharks only had 4 shots on goal that period, and two of those shots went in.

With about four minutes left in the game, the Ducks tied it and ended the game on the power play, putting even more pressure on. A stickless Tommy Wingels tried to clear the puck with his skate and then Kesler shot one at Niemi again, who caught it like a baseball catcher, moving all the way across the net.

The power play flowed over into overtime for one minute in a 4-on-3 situation. Right at the end of that minute, finally Kesler gets Niemi’s number, blasting one to win the game.

Overall, this game was not as aggressive as their games in the past, besides the fighting majors in the first and the questionable hit on Jackman. But it set the tone for how tough the Sharks’ opponents will be in the schedule ahead. While they manage to get out of this one with only one point, they face the Los Angeles Kings after the Christmas holiday – another division rival battle.

0 2801

(photo: Dinur Blum

The goalie discussion has been trending all year for the Arizona Coyotes. With Mike Smith having been so up-and-down all season long, Devan Dubnyk has been given the chance to emerge as their go-to starter.

Mike Smith hasn’t started in over a week, the last time being a 5-1 loss to the Nashville Predators that came on December 11th.

Dubnyk has got to g0-ahead in the past three games and he’s been a huge component in getting three points out of a possible six. Even amongst his inconsistent amount of games in goal, the three games in a row has been his longest stint of the season. Some huge games for him including an OT win courtesy of his outstanding goaltending and a clutch last second goal from OEL.

A loss on Saturday afternoon to the Los Angeles Kings might not look so great on his 6-3-2 record, but his 31 saves against the reigning Stanley Cup champs speaks for itself.

The 4-2 outcome can be looked at as a need for improvement in places like their penalty kill rather than goaltending, as two of the goals against were notched on the Kings PP. The PK has been erratic all season, and this past game was not an exception.

Now as for Mike Smith, he is still considered the #1 goaltender for the group, with his long term contract. He is signed for 6 years at $34 million. His record for the season, though, has brought up question about whether or not he is the person to fill that slot.

Just a few weeks ago, Coach Dave Tippett said that if someone wanted to “take the ball and run with it” and get the club the wins that they need, he was “good with that” and Dubnyk has been as close to that as they can get, lately.

Regarding Dubnyk’s past game in LA, Tippett said that he was “outstanding”, and the issues were in the offense rather than goaltending.

The rest of the Coyotes road trip will continue in Canada before coming home for Christmas.

Coming Up

Monday, December 22: Coyotes @ Vancouver

Tuesday, December 23: Coyotes @ Edmonton 

0 2269

(photo credit Dinur Blum)

It was definitely a rough weekend before Christmas for the Ontario Reign. Their 3-game weekend series against the Colorado Eagles gave them one win overall where they completely dominated but it was sandwiched between two frustrating losses, the first game a loss in overtime and the final game in the series a 5-2 loss.

Dec. 19 loss

Losing to the Eagles in overtime was the last way that the Reign wanted to start out their game series. Both teams went scoreless for the entire first period but quickly perked up for the rest of the game for a battle to the finish.

Colorado’s Brett Kulak was the first one to score but Reign’s Judd Blackwater went right after him with his opening goal for Ontario at 8:45 of the second. The game went back and forth and both teams weren’t going to make earning the win easy.

With the game ending in regulation 3-3 thanks to Rocco Carzo‘s goal during the third, it was time to get down to business. The Reign played a gritty night but the Eagles’ Mark Nemec came through and scored the game winner for the night at 2:21 in the overtime period.

Dec. 20 win

The Reign made a complete turnaround just a day later with a 6-1 win. They got an early start on the score board thanks to Matt White‘s backhanded shot at 1:03. Just half a minute later, Alex Roach got his chance to score and kept the lead going with assists from Dennis Brown and Gasper Kopitar.

At 7:41, Ontario newcomer Tyler Scofield took a turnover from the Eagles to his advantage and scored to keep the early-goals habit going. The second period was just as great as the first with two more goals and what seemed to be a coming shutout until Colorado’s Vitalijs Pavlovs scored at 15:40.

Scofield racked up more points for the night with the game winner during the second at 18:54. The Eagles tried changing goal tenders for the third period but the night was already long gone for them with only one goal for the entire time.

Dec. 21 loss

After winning by a mile just the day before, the Reign came in confident that they would seal the weekend deal with another W to their record. Colorado proved otherwise when they opened up the scoring board within five minutes of the game starting and it didn’t stop there.

Maxim Kitsyn was able to get a point for Ontario during the first period but the Eagles completely blocked Ontario out during the second and increasing their lead by two more goals by Derek Rodwell and Collin Bowman. With Colorado getting two power-play goals in one night, things were getting ugly for the Reign but they weren’t finished yet.

Kopitar fired a shot past Eagles goaltender Clarke Saunders at 11:22 of the third but that would be the last goal of the night for the Reign and a loss of 5-2. Ontario’s Jussi Olkinuora took the defeat with 25 saves.

 

A little Christmas break

After inconsistent nights like this past weekend, maybe it’ll be good that the Ontario Reign has the holiday week off the regain momentum for the next round of games. They should be back up and ready to take on the Idaho Steelheads for back-to-back weekend games starting Dec. 26.

 

Prev1...186187188...412Next Page 187 of 412

POPULAR NOW

© 2013 The Pink Puck