livinthedream
08-18-2008, 09:53 PM
This may be old news, but it was news to me, and I thought it was pretty cool, some of you Philly/Flyers fans might enjoy.
As most are aware, the Spectrum is being demolished at the end of this AHL season. But there's one last NHL game being played there, a preseason game on September 27th. So why is this in the Canes forum?
http://hurricanes.nhl.com/team/app?service=page&page=NHLPage&bcid=rad8ED80
A Little History
<ST1:DJuly 31, 2008
The Philadelphia Flyers announced today that their pre-season game on Sept. 27 against the Carolina Hurricanes would not be played at the <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 /><ST1:PLACE><ST1:PLACENAME>Wachovia</ST1:PLACENAME> <ST1:PLACETYPE>Center</ST1:PLACETYPE></ST1:PLACE>. Instead, it will be played at the old Wachovia Spectrum, and will mark the final time that NHL teams skate at the historic arena, which will be demolished at the conclusion of the upcoming AHL season.
We heard about this a few weeks ago (it was why we quietly changed the times of our pre-season home-and-home with the Flyers to <ST1:TIME minute="0" hour="13">1 p.m.</ST1:TIME> in Philly on Sept. 27 and <ST1:TIME minute="0" hour="15">3 p.m.</ST1:TIME> in Raleigh on Sept. 28), and we were all pretty excited. I came into this job a little too late when it came to seeing most of the grand old buildings of hockey. While baseball has managed to keep a few of its historic stadiums open, like Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, most of the hockey’s historic rinks gave way to bigger and “better” before I started traveling with the team in 2000. Chicago Stadium closed its doors in 1994. The <ST1:PLACE><ST1:PLACENAME>Boston</ST1:PLACENAME> <ST1:PLACETYPE>Garden</ST1:PLACETYPE></ST1:PLACE> followed the next year, and both the Spectrum and Montreal Forum ceased to be the home of their primary occupants in 1996. <ST1:PLACE><ST1:PLACENAME>Maple</ST1:PLACENAME> <ST1:PLACENAME>Leaf</ST1:PLACENAME> <ST1:PLACETYPE>Gardens</ST1:PLACETYPE></ST1:PLACE> closed its doors in 1999, while I was still an intern here. So the Islanders’ Nassau Coliseum (1972), Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena-Igloo-Mellon Arena (hosted the Penguins since 1967) and the latest incarnation of Madison Square Garden (1968) were as close as I have been able to get to the hockey buildings of old.
But the pre-season game at the Spectrum will give those of us who began our NHL careers after the start of the third millennium a chance to experience one more old-time hockey building. The Spectrum opened on September 30, 1967 with the Quaker City Jazz Festival and was home to the Flyers from 1967 until 1996. Ten NBA and NHL championship series and four NHL and NBA All-Star Games were held there. It was where Christian Laettner hit his buzzer-beater to beat <ST1:STATE><ST1:PLACE>Kentucky</ST1:PLACE></ST1:STATE> in the 1992 NCAA Regional. It was home to concerts from Billy Joel and Led Zeppelin to Guns ‘N Roses and the Cure. On January 11, 1976, the Flyers defeated the Soviet Red Army team there, becoming the first NHL team to defeat the vaunted Soviets, at the height of the Cold War. The Spectrum was where the “Broad Street Bullies” truly became the “Broad Street Bullies.”
Just another little something on ice to look forward to on a scorching day in July in <ST1:STATE><ST1:PLACE>North Carolina</ST1:PLACE></ST1:STATE>.
As most are aware, the Spectrum is being demolished at the end of this AHL season. But there's one last NHL game being played there, a preseason game on September 27th. So why is this in the Canes forum?
http://hurricanes.nhl.com/team/app?service=page&page=NHLPage&bcid=rad8ED80
A Little History
<ST1:DJuly 31, 2008
The Philadelphia Flyers announced today that their pre-season game on Sept. 27 against the Carolina Hurricanes would not be played at the <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 /><ST1:PLACE><ST1:PLACENAME>Wachovia</ST1:PLACENAME> <ST1:PLACETYPE>Center</ST1:PLACETYPE></ST1:PLACE>. Instead, it will be played at the old Wachovia Spectrum, and will mark the final time that NHL teams skate at the historic arena, which will be demolished at the conclusion of the upcoming AHL season.
We heard about this a few weeks ago (it was why we quietly changed the times of our pre-season home-and-home with the Flyers to <ST1:TIME minute="0" hour="13">1 p.m.</ST1:TIME> in Philly on Sept. 27 and <ST1:TIME minute="0" hour="15">3 p.m.</ST1:TIME> in Raleigh on Sept. 28), and we were all pretty excited. I came into this job a little too late when it came to seeing most of the grand old buildings of hockey. While baseball has managed to keep a few of its historic stadiums open, like Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, most of the hockey’s historic rinks gave way to bigger and “better” before I started traveling with the team in 2000. Chicago Stadium closed its doors in 1994. The <ST1:PLACE><ST1:PLACENAME>Boston</ST1:PLACENAME> <ST1:PLACETYPE>Garden</ST1:PLACETYPE></ST1:PLACE> followed the next year, and both the Spectrum and Montreal Forum ceased to be the home of their primary occupants in 1996. <ST1:PLACE><ST1:PLACENAME>Maple</ST1:PLACENAME> <ST1:PLACENAME>Leaf</ST1:PLACENAME> <ST1:PLACETYPE>Gardens</ST1:PLACETYPE></ST1:PLACE> closed its doors in 1999, while I was still an intern here. So the Islanders’ Nassau Coliseum (1972), Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena-Igloo-Mellon Arena (hosted the Penguins since 1967) and the latest incarnation of Madison Square Garden (1968) were as close as I have been able to get to the hockey buildings of old.
But the pre-season game at the Spectrum will give those of us who began our NHL careers after the start of the third millennium a chance to experience one more old-time hockey building. The Spectrum opened on September 30, 1967 with the Quaker City Jazz Festival and was home to the Flyers from 1967 until 1996. Ten NBA and NHL championship series and four NHL and NBA All-Star Games were held there. It was where Christian Laettner hit his buzzer-beater to beat <ST1:STATE><ST1:PLACE>Kentucky</ST1:PLACE></ST1:STATE> in the 1992 NCAA Regional. It was home to concerts from Billy Joel and Led Zeppelin to Guns ‘N Roses and the Cure. On January 11, 1976, the Flyers defeated the Soviet Red Army team there, becoming the first NHL team to defeat the vaunted Soviets, at the height of the Cold War. The Spectrum was where the “Broad Street Bullies” truly became the “Broad Street Bullies.”
Just another little something on ice to look forward to on a scorching day in July in <ST1:STATE><ST1:PLACE>North Carolina</ST1:PLACE></ST1:STATE>.