Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team from Philadelphia, competing in the NHL's Metropolitan Division within the Eastern Conference. They are the second NHL franchise to call the city home; the first, the Philadelphia Quakers, lasted just one season in 1930–31. The Flyers play their home games at Xfinity Mobile Arena, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, which they share with the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and the NLL's Philadelphia Wings.

As one of the teams added in the NHL's 1967 expansion, the Flyers became the first expansion club from the post-Original Six era to win the Stanley Cup, doing so in 1973–74 and again in 1974–75. Since those two championships, they have reached the Stanley Cup Final five more times, most recently in 2010. The team has called Broad Street home since its inception, first at the Spectrum from 1967 to 1996, and then at Xfinity Mobile Arena from 1996 onward.

This connection to Broad Street, combined with the players' frequent on-ice fights, earned the Flyers the nickname "Broad Street Bullies" during the 1970s. Before the Flyers, Philadelphia's first NHL team, the Quakers, played only the 1930–31 season after the Pittsburgh Pirates relocated there. That season set an NHL record for futility: a 4–36–4 record, the fewest wins ever by an NHL club in a single season. The Quakers suspended operations afterward, leaving the Can-Am League's Philadelphia Arrows as the city's lone hockey team.

The NHL formally canceled the dormant Quakers franchise in 1936. The Arrows themselves suspended operations in 1942 after the United States entered World War II. In 1946, a group led by Montreal and Philadelphia sportsman Len Peto proposed bringing another NHL team to Philadelphia, planning a $2.5 million, 20,000-seat rink at Broad and Huntingdon Streets (where the Phillies' old ballpark stood) and acquiring the franchise of the defunct Montreal Maroons from the Canadian Arena Company, which also owned the Montreal Canadiens.

However, Peto's group could not secure funding for the arena by the league's deadline, and the NHL canceled the Maroons franchise. On November 29, 1964, while attending a basketball game at Boston Garden, Ed Snider—then vice-president of the Philadelphia Eagles—saw crowds of Boston Bruins fans lining up for tickets to see a last-place team. Hearing that the NHL planned to expand due to fears of a competing league on the West Coast and a desire for a new U.S. television contract, Snider began planning a new arena.

He formed a group with Bill Putnam, Jerome Schiff, and Eagles owner Jerry Wolman to present to the league. On April 4, 1966, Putnam announced a name-the-team contest, with details released on July 12. Snider's sister, Phyllis, suggested "Flyers" as a name that fit Philadelphia well. Ed Snider skipped the contest and adopted her suggestion.

The team name was announced on August 3. In the 1967 NHL expansion draft, the Flyers selected 20 players, including goaltender Bernie Parent, Ed Van Impe, and Gary Dornhoefer. Their debut on October 11, 1967, ended in a 5–1 loss to the California Seals. Despite a sub-.500 record, the Flyers won their division, even after a storm blew part of the Spectrum's roof off, forcing them to play their last seven home games on the road.

They lost to the St. Louis Blues in the first round in seven games. Van Impe was named team captain in the offseason. In the 1969 playoffs, the Flyers again lost to St. Louis, this time in a four-game sweep. Unwilling to see his team physically outmatched again, majority owner Ed Snider told general manager Bud Poile to acquire bigger, tougher players.

Head coach Keith Allen soon replaced Poile as general manager, and this mandate eventually produced one of the NHL's most feared teams. In the 1969 draft, the Flyers selected Bobby Clarke 17th overall and also drafted enforcer Dave Schultz. Clarke's 15 goals and 31 assists in his rookie season earned him an NHL All-Star Game appearance. But the team struggled in 1969–70, winning only 17 games—the fewest in franchise history—and setting an NHL record for most ties in a season (24).

They lost a tiebreaker for the final playoff spot to the Oakland Seals, missing the postseason for the first time. On December 11, 1969, the Flyers began a tradition of playing Kate Smith's recording of "God Bless America" instead of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at certain games. The idea came from Flyers Promotion Director Lou Scheinfeld, who noticed that fans often left their seats during the national anthem but showed more respect and sang along to "God Bless America."

The move was also intended to defuse national tensions during the Vietnam War. Because the team seemed to perform better on those occasions, the tradition grew. In 1970–71, the Flyers rebounded and returned to the playoffs, but were swept by the Chicago Black Hawks in the first round. Despite an improved record in his second season, head coach Vic Stasiuk was replaced by Fred Shero in the offseason.