Philadelphia

[Shorty]

Off to Philadelphia at the end of month, and wondered if anyone who has been before, has any tips or insights.

We already have tickets for a game with Boston.

[Alf Garnett]

Jammy Git!!

[panthers4ever]

Nov 1, 2010 19:37:23 GMT Alf Garnett said:

Jammy Git!!

+1

[Shorty]

There could well be something that you flyers fans will turn green at. But I,m not saying anything more till we get back.

[Dan]

I don't often say this Shorty, but i hate you.

[Shorty]

Two weeks to go, and very much looking forward to it.

If I told you philly fans we are meeting an NHL legend, one of THE Broadstreet Bullies, would that make you any more jealous?

[Dan]

Nope. Don't care

[Jonzee]

My brother and I went over to Philly a few years ago for an NFL game. Only 3 days, but one of the best holidays I have had.

[Shorty]

Well here we are in philly. Tues night and about to go out for a meal. It really is a nice place with far more to do than we thought. In the morning we are headed to the stadium to meet bob kelly a flyers legend. Nearly a thousand nhl games and a game winning goal in a stanley cup final. A tour of the arena and then watching the flyers and bruins morning training sessions meeting some players and then the game on wed night. Can't wait.

[Dan]

How'd you manage to swing that?

[Shorty]

Just by sending a few emails before we came out here and then followed them up with a phone call.

[Shorty]

Well I think the last couple of days have been two of the most surreal I have had. This morning we were guests at the flyers training session and then got to meet the players in the locker room. Talking to mike richards about hockey in the uk, how jody shelley nearly played for us in the lockout season , briere, giroux and pronger. The shirt that I bought is stacked out in autographs. On .wed we had a tour of the arena by bob kelly who must be one of the nicest men in the world, and when you look at his career stats as modest and humble as you can imagine. Behind the scenes at the arena was phenomenal. We got to meet bernie parent and gary dornhofer. Plus a goodybag with hats, t shirts, signed pucks, some signed photos nd other stuff

[Dan]

What's the deal Shorty? Are you trying to get banned?

[Rob Scott]

He should be on at least 20% by now.

[Shorty]

Dec 2, 2010 23:54:56 GMT Dan said:

What's the deal Shorty? Are you trying to get banned?

thought its interesting for people

[Dan]

Dec 3, 2010 0:04:41 GMT Shorty said:

Dec 2, 2010 23:54:56 GMT Dan said:

What's the deal Shorty? Are you trying to get banned?

thought its interesting for people

It's not fair though!

[Shorty]

Dec 3, 2010 0:10:17 GMT Dan said:

Dec 3, 2010 0:04:41 GMT Shorty said:

thought its interesting for people

It's not fair though!

We hit lucky with a couple of speculative emails, but it shows what can be achieved.

[Dan]

I'm only messing about, it must have been amazing though?

[Shorty]

Truly. Got some pics and video to put on when we get back, and some more about or trip. Think we are also now going to the game with devils on sat lunch time..

[Shorty]

Well we got back on Sunday evening, and I'm still buzzing about how luck we were.

Bob Kelly met us on Tuesday morning with a selection of goodies, and took us through to the main arena where we watched the Flyers morning skate. Had a good chat with him about the differences in the game since he stopped playing, how the hockey in England compares to the US, and in general about some of the players. He then took us round the stadium, an access all areas sort of tour. They have their own tv studio! The amount of technology they use on match nights is frightening, and they have 25 people employed purely operating equipment - it makes our cd player a bit embarassing. They still have an organ and a chap to play it on game nights, and put together video footage for all of the players, and then have clips showing them beating/beating up their opponents. We sat the press room, executive boxes, lockers etc and despite it only being an 18,000 venue, the off ice part was huge.

At the game in the evening we got to meet Parent and Dornhoefer. The game itself was a bit poor with too many turnovers and Bruins ran out winners.

The next day two of us went over to Voorhees to the training session. This is a much smaller rink and standing against the plexiglass you could see how fast the players were, and the movement and vision was immense. Far better than our actual games, although some of the players told us afterwards its easier in a training session when you are not going to be nailed against the boards. I reckon they were just being modest.

Standing behind the net as the players were shooting on Bobrovsky was quite frightening. Watching a Pronger slapshot that close up gives more admiration for the netminders. A couple of days before he had put one through the plexi!

After the training session we were taken into the locker room along with the local press. I've never been as stunned before, and it took our host to break the ice a bit with Mike Richards, who we spoke to a bit about the game in England. Jody Shelley said that he nearly joined us in the lockout season, but ended up in Finland instead. I dont think there is much chance of him heading over here towards the end of his career. Some of the players were happy to chat with us, but one or two just signed the shirt and wandered off.

Whilst we were there, they were filming for the Flyers website and were asking about what their favourite things to eat were, what presents they want to give the fans (Stanley Cup was the popular answer) and traditions around the home.

We also got to speak with Peter Laviolette. He said he was sorry that they didnt play well against the Bruins, but if we made it to the Devils game that he would get the win for us. Which he did. We couldnt get any tickets off the Flyers website for the game, but went to a ticket agent's shop we had seen near our hotel. We got two tickets for $25 each, with a face value of $62 each - bargain.

I took a Flyers shirt with me to the game and the training session, and managed to get a good number of signatures on it. I'm hoping to get it framed now.



Pronger Signature


Briere Signature


Laviolette Signature


I also hope to upload some of the video clips that I took at the training session

[Pies]

Villedelphia is probably a shade of green with envy at this point - fantastic that you got to do that though!