Road trips strengthen Flyers' family ties

PITTSBURGH - Brad Powe has accompanied his son, Flyers forward Darroll Powe, on more hockey road trips than he could possibly count.

But he wouldn't trade these last three father-son bonding trips for anything.

Brad Powe is one of only 13 family members accompanying the Flyers to Pittsburgh, as the Flyers will face off against the Penguins tonight at Consol Energy Center in the third matchup between the teams this month.

Fathers, brothers and even a brother-in-law were permitted to travel with the team for the 1-night stay in the Steel City, which includes a team dinner and concludes after tomorrow night's home game with the Islanders.

"I think they're all excited to see the day-to-day happenings here," Darroll Powe said. "They're the ones who did all the work getting us here, so it's a great trip for them. There aren't many jobs where you get to bring your dad to work. It's pretty cool."

Brad Powe, a director for a financial firm, flew in from Ottawa to join the team. In the previous 2 years, he joined the team on trips to Atlanta and Washington.

"It's a dream come true for a father, to see your son play in the NHL," Brad Powe said. "I think just being with the guys and watching what they do every day is pretty neat. What's really interesting is coming to practice, seeing how much they go through the drills, and then realizing that their success is not an accident.

"They take a thousand shots at one little corner of the net for the 10, 12 or 15 minutes they get in the game. You see how much work goes into it and how dedicated they are."

Not everyone's family members could join them on the trip. Matt Carle's brother, David Carle, who was a 2008 draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning before being forced to retire from hockey because of a serious heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, replaced his father, Bob, who was away on a business trip (read more about David Carle at http://ph.ly/4r).

Sergei Bobrovsky's father was busy working in Russia, but hopes to visit Philadelphia in January. Ville Leino's father, Hannu, was working in Finland, where he captains a boat cruising that country's famous lakes. Both fathers religiously keep up with the Flyers thanks to the Internet.

Brian Boucher - the youngest of four - was joined by his oldest brother, Pete, from Woonsocket, R.I., where he works in construction. Andreas Nodl's parents are divorced, so he was disappointed there are no trips for mothers.

He wasn't alone. While it was exciting to spend a few days with his father, Gino, who works at Bombardier Aerospace in Ontario, forward Dan Carcillo said he wishes there was a way to spend some time with his mother, Louanna, on the road.

"It's a little unorthodox, because my mom was the one always taking me to practice," Carcillo said. "We had three boys, and [my father] was working and supporting us. My mom was a little mad that there is no 'moms trip,' but it's good to get all of the boys together. He has really been looking forward to this.

"We're here 8 months of the year, and besides them visiting, we don't really get a chance to see them. It's great having him here and being able to spend a few days with him."

It's safe to say the Flyers' fathers are their sons' biggest fans. The family members will sit in a suite tonight wearing jerseys bearing their players' names.

"It's great to get the dads together like this," said Jody Shelley, whose father, Ned, came in from Edmonton, Alberta. "They're all the same. They all brought us to games and gave us the same postgame chats, and we all still get the same postgame phone calls. It's really one of the highlights of the year."

Coach Peter Laviolette said he has been harping on his team to stay disciplined, especially against the Penguins tonight. Two weeks ago against Pittsburgh, the Flyers were shorthanded eight times and the Penguins scored twice in those situations in a 5-1 loss.

"There's an ongoing talk about discipline on this team," Laviolette said. "[The penalties] have been down. The opportunities are down. They need to continue to come down, because some of the penalties we take are not good penalties. We're giving talented people an opportunity on the ice."

The Flyers have been shorthanded 15 times in the four games since.

Kimmo Timonen missed practice yesterday as a "maintenance" day . . . After possibly his best game as a Flyer on Tuesday, Nik Zherdev was bumped down to the fourth line, where he skated with Jody Shelley and Blair Betts. Andreas Nodl skated with James van Riemsdyk and Mike Richards. According to the Courier-Post, Zherdev complained about his lack of ice time to general manager Paul Holmgren, which could explain the demotion. Zherdev declined to comment yesterday. *

For more news and analysis, read

Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at

http://go.philly.com/frequentflyers. Follow him on Twitter at

http://twitter.com/DNFlyers.