To all those who say the NHL is out to "get" the Flyers _ and there are thousands out there who have that feeling _ you will be surprised that the league Sunday decided not to suspend Flyers captain Mike Richards.

    Richards leveled Florida's David Booth Saturday, knocking him unconscious and sending him to the hospital with a jarring shoulder-to-jaw check in the middle of the ice.

   Replays showed Richards had one skate in the air as he made the hit; it was inconclusive as to whether the other skate was in the air at the time.

   If the NHL deemed both feet were in the air before he made the hit, Richards undoubtedly would have been suspended, but the league agreed with Flyers' general manager Paul Holmgren's assessment _ that Richards left his feet only after contact was made.

    Richards was in the lineup Sunday night in a 4-1 loss to visiting San Jose.

    Flyers exec Bob Clarke said he agreed with the NHL's decision not to suspend Richards _ and disagreed with the five-minute interference call and game misconduct Richards reeived for the hit. Clarke said Richards should not have been penalized; he called it a clean hit and said the only reason Richards was penalized was because the referee felt he had to make a call due to the injury.

    Booth spent the night at Pennsylvania Hospital before being released Sunday morning and returning to Florida; he had no neck damage, a Panthers official said, but suffered a concussion. The Panthers will monitor him closely.

   Blood was on the ice after the violent collision, and Booth was motionless for several minutes.

  The Flyers and Florida don't meet again until Dec. 21, at the Wachovia Center.

  * * * * * * * * * * 

    Think the Flyers will spend extra time at practice Monday working on faceoffs?

    Yep.

    The Flyers won just 23 of 64 faceoffs (36 percent) in Sunday's 4-1 loss to San Jose.Richards was a woeful 4 of 17 (24 percent).

   Flyers captain Mike Richards leveled Florida's David Booth with a shoulder-to-jaw hit late in the second period Saturday, sending the left winger to the hospital during Philadelphia's 5-1 win.

   Richards recieved a five-minute major penalty for interference and a game misconduct. The NHL will review the matter and could suspend Richards for a few games.

   Florida general manager Randy Sexton said there was no injury to Booth’s neck, and that the player would stay overnight for observation at Pennsylvania Hospital.
   Booth had feelings in his extremities, said Florida coach Peter DeBoer, adding that the player was unconscious on the ice.

     The NHL will review the hit and will concentrate on whether Richards left his feet to deliver the blow. If the league deems he did, he will undoubtedly be suspended.
    Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren called it a clean hit and said Richards should not be suspended. The GM claimed Richards only left his feet after the collision, not before it.
     Sexton disagreed, saying “there is no place” in hockey for the blow that was delivered.
     “The league wants to get rid of these shots to the head,” he told a Miami Herald reporter.
     “It’s unfortunate the kid got hurt there….but Mike Richards is not a dirty player. He doesn’t try to hurt people,” Flyers coach John Stevens said. “He was backchecking through the middle, and he has as much integrity as anybody playing the game.”
     “Everything happened so quickly, it’s kind of hard to explain,” Richards said. “Obviously I was not trying to hurt him. I was trying to separate him from the puck, but he moved.”

   After the game,  Holmgren said he had not been notified by Colin Campbell, the NHL's senior vice president of hockey operations. He said if a suspension was forthcoming, he would have expected Campbell to have called during the game.

   However, a source said Campbell was busy with other NHL matters and would review the case Sunday and make a decision before the Flyers play San Jose Sunday night. Ironically, Campbell's son, Greg Campbell, plays for Florida.

    As for the game, there were a lot of positives for the Flyers. Danny Briere scored two goals and added an assist, while Arron Asham, Simon Gagne and James van Riemsdyk tallied goals.

    For Gagne, it was his first of the year. Van Riemsdyk's goal was more special _ it was the first of his NHL career.

   Gagne called the effort "one of our best games all year."

 
    The AHL Adirondack Phantoms, who were based in Philadelphia for 13 years before moving to upstate New York this season, will return for a regular-season game against the Norfolk Admirals at the Wachovia Center on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m.

  “This will be a terrific opportunity for Flyers fans to see the next generation of Flyers players currently in our system,” said Peter Luukko, president of Comcast-Spectacor, the Flyers' parent company. “We also know there are a lot of Phantoms fans in the Greater Philadelphia region who have asked us if we could get the Phantoms to return to play a game here."
   Tickets for children 12 and younger are $10. Individual tickets at $14, $18, and $19 are on sale through ComcastTIX on line at ComcastTIX.com, by phone (1-800-298-4200) or in person at the Wachovia Center box office. There are a limited number of front-row tickets available for $33.

    Comcast-Spectacor sold the Phantoms when the company decided to close the Spectrum, where the Phantoms had played since their inaugural season in 1996-97. The Spectrum will close on Saturday, October 31, and will soon make way for Philly Live, a new retail, restaurant, and entertainment district.

    The AHL granted the Flyers a franchise on Dec. 18, 1995. The Phantoms captured the Calder Cup twice – June 10, 1998 in front of 17,380 fans at the Spectrum, then the largest crowd ever to see a Calder Cup playoff game in AHL history. The team set a new attendance record on June 10, 2005, when they captured their second Calder Cup in front of 20,103.

    In the grand scheme of things, Mike Richards refusing to answer reporters' questions means little.

    But, as the team's captain, he is the face of the Flyers and a direct conduit to the fans.

    The Flyers won a shoot-out Thursday and defeated Boston, 4-3. That made the Flyers just 13-25 in shootout history. But maybe, just maybe, it will turn the tide because it appears coach John Stevens has found a new weapon.

     His name is Claude Giroux, and with a half year of NHL experience under his belt, Giroux seems ready to exploit goalies with his clever breakaway moves in shootouts. It was Giroux who scored what turned out to be the only goal in Thursday's shoot-out.

    Asked if he thought Giroux's goal was a momentum-builder and if the shoot-out problems were history, Richards said, "It's big."

    Asked about the many contributions of the fourth line Thursday, Richards smiled and said, "Also big."

    When Comcast's Tim Panaccio started to ask a long question, Richards interrupted: "Why bother?" he said.

    End of interview.

   Richards has vowed to freeze out the media. He is upset because of stories generated after former teammate Joffrey Lupul, now with Anaheim, was asked recently if he thought he was traded because the Flyers wanted to break up the players who live in Center City and enjoy the night life.

   Lupul was asked the question when Anaheim played in Philly on Oct. 10. It was Lupul's first time back since being part of the trade in which the Flyers acquired Chris Pronger.

    After the Flyers blew a late 2-0 lead in that game and dropped a 3-2 shoot-out loss, Richards asked reporters not to mention their night life in their stories.

    GM Paul Holmgren had brought the night-life issue into play during in an interview with the Bucks County Courier Times' Wayne Fish in the summer. Holmgren said "the issue has been raised by John (Stevens) and myself with all the players.....I think this all falls under the umbrella of discipline. It's on-ice discipline _ not overstaying-your-shift discipline _ it's off-ice discipline, it's night before a game taking better care of ourselves. That's a natural maturation process that a lot of our younger players are still going through. We've addressed that. So am I concerned about it? We'll see how it goes this year. All our players have been talked to about it. Is it an issue? The fact that we've talked about it, I guess it is an issue.'' 
   

   The Spectrum, whose farewell tour has lasted for more than a year, will close at the end of the month and is giving fans a chance for one last stroll through the venerable building _ Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

   The stroll is free and open to the public.

    With the Spectrum about to close, Haddonfield's Geoff Snelling recently e-mailed his heartfelt tribute to the building _ he actually wrote it last year _ and I thought I'd pass it along. He calls it "Ode to the Spectrum." Enjoy.

 Ode to the Spectrum

"How can they tear it down?" I thought, a tear dropping on my cheek as I walked four children into my beloved venue, the Spectrum.

Nostalgia blankets memories with a rose-colored tint, and underneath the emotional questioning, my love for and confidence in the entire Flyers organization gave rational clarity: there must be a good reason. A September afternoon in the storied venue, highlighted by an all-star lineup of Flyers captains and my eternally favorite team answered the question, and gave closure to a lifetime chapter of joy, happiness, and experience in a very, very special place.

  For a venue whose construction in 1967 was briefly halted by contractors mistaking slapshots for gunshots, the Spectrum is one of those places that gives an unmistakable, undescribable, but certain feeling of Positive. It's not haunted - some longtime Philly fans might disagree - but if it were, its resident would be a Good Ghost. You feel positive energy and intimacy when you walk in - that moment of passing through the turnstyle to me feels just as good and just as safe as walking through the door at home after a long day.

My sister watched Jimi Hendrix play there. My mother took me to see The Harlem Globetrotters when I was 8. Ten years later I saw Springsteen play there on the night Lennon was shot. My step-grand-father-in-law was an Episcopal priest, and his son will never forget watching Father Al walk into his Haddonfield home in the early morning of May 20, 1974, drenched through to his white collar in champagne and beer. The concession and usher staff tolerated 53 Grateful Dead shows, where one can be certain they saw just a little bit of everything.

But for me, the Spectrum is The Hall of The Broad Street Bullies. If I were to have a Day-Timer schedule of my early youth, there would be large carve outs of time where no matter what else was happening, I had blocked out 2 1/2 hours to watch my heroes. In between periods I would work on my sunburst Bernie Parent mask, or tighten the chicken wire stapled into the 2x4s of my perfectly measured hockey goal.

All those memories came flooding back when I walked into the Spectrum this past September, giving me the privilege of some tears and a moment where I just sat and thought - I am the luckiest guy on Earth. I am here today watching these legends, and not one of my last 38 years has been without an event in this circular hall.

What fascinated me was how other memories had faded away - until they were jarred back to the concious by the realities I saw that afternoon. The Spectrum simply can not serve fans at the level they now expect of a sports venue in 2008. I'd forgotten that the end of each period is followed by 20 minutes of sheer gridlock on the ring surrounding the venue. I am still convinced there is only one set of bathrooms in the whole place, even more convinced that it is much better to be a man than a woman if you need a bathroom at the Spectrum. I'd forgotten that the well-hidden MEN and WOMEN bathroom signs are above two separate staircases that lead down to the same place, and how each time you descend the steps you are greeted by an uncomfortable-looking line of women, strung out their bathroom door and ascending straight back up their steps.

The Spectrum probably produced the largest number of look-alike, petite, dyed-hair, sometimes polite, sometimes ornery aged ladies serving beer and hot dogs in event history. To this day, they still tally your purchases longhand, on that little notepad using a yellow No. 2 pencil.

I would bet that somewhere in that glorious venue, there's a notepad and No. 2 pencil from the opening day in 1967. The Good Ghost of the Spectrum will make sure of it, demolition or not.

Thank You Flyers!
(And thank you for sharing, Geoff)

  In a swap of minor-leaguers, the Flyers acquired right winger Stefan Legein from the Columbus Blue Jackets' farm  system Tuesday for defenseman Michael Ratchuk.

   The 5-foot-10, 185-pound Legein, who briefly walked away from the sport last year, will report to the Flyers’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Adirondack Phantoms.

  Legein, 20, was selected by Columbus in the second round (37th overall) of the 2007 draft. He had two goals and one assist in six games this season for the Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate, Syracuse.

     In 26 games for Syracuse in the 2008-09 season, Legein recorded a goal and four penalty minutes. He made his professional debut with Syracuse during the 2007-08 Calder Cup playoffs, when he went scoreless in two games.

      Before starting his professional career, Legein played three seasons for the Mississauga/Niagara IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League. In 153 games from 2005-06 to 2007-08, he recorded 74 goals and 54 assists for 128 points and 296 penalty minutes. He was an alternate captain for Team Canada’s gold-medal-winning squad at the 2008 World Junior Championships.

   While with Syracuse last year, Legein left the team for a few months.

   ''Really, I just lost my desire to play hockey,'' Legein told TSN. ''It started to happen after the (2008) World Junior Championship. I hurt my shoulder and I couldn't play for three months. It was during that time I just sort of lost my passion to play. I just got away from the game and I didn't feel great about coming back.''

    But in time, he returned.

    Ratchuk, 21, was selected by the Flyers in the second round (42nd overall) of the 2006 NHL draft. He has appeared in 85 regular season games for the Phantoms since turning pro at the end of the 2007-08 season, and has recorded six goals and 15 assists. He has recorded two assists and two penalty minutes in nine playoff games.

  * * * * * * * * 

   After Tuesday's practice in Voorhees, veteran forward Danny Briere said the Phillies remind him of the Flyers because of all the weapons they have.

   "There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re kind of built the same way,” he said. “They don’t just rely on one guy. It’s kind of the same thing here.”
* * * * * * * * * 

   After playing just one game in 11 days, Thursday begins a stretch when the Flyers play three games in four days _ and four games in six days. They play host to Boston Thursday on Dollar Dog Night.

   Unhappy with the team's recent production, coach John Stevens is shaking up three of the Flyers' four lines.

   The top line _ Jeff Carter centering Scott Hartnell and Danny Briere _ was the only unit to remain intact during Monday's practice in Voorhees.

   The other lines looked like this:

    Simon Gagne-Mike Richards-Arron Asham.

    James van Riemsdyk-Claude Giroux-Ian Laperriere.

    Dan Carcillo-Mika Pyorala-Darroll Powe.

    The major change has Giroux and Asham trading lines. Giroux goes from right wing on Richards' line to center on the third line. Stevens prefers Giroux at center, where he can handle the puck more and use his considerable skating and playmaking skills.

    Asham, who scored his first goal and was the Flyers' best player in Friday's 4-2 loss in Florida, will provide a physical presence on Richards' line and perhaps give the goal-less Gagne some room to operate.

   "I know what my role is with that line," Asham said. "I'm going to give them the puck, crash the net and work in the corners and kind of be a physical presence out there and make sure no one takes any liberties on Gags or Richie."

 * * * * * * * * * * 

       Ole-Kristian Tollefsen will replace the injured Ryan Parent and join Danny Syvret on the third defensive pairing against visiting Boston Thursday.

       Stevens said he wants to give his third defensive pairing more ice time. That's because Chris Pronger (28:13 per game), Matt Carle (25:03), Braydon Coburn (25:26) and Kimmo Timonen (23:59) are logging an inordinate amount of minutes. All are in the top five percent in the league _ and Pronger is No. 1 in the league.

      Tollefsen has averaged just 6:47 a game, which is about two minutes less than the little-used Syvret.

      With Parent injured, the Flyers could use a veteran like Randy Jones, but his cap hit ($2.75 million) will not let him be recalled from the AHL Phantoms because, even if he cleared waivers, the Flyers don't have enough cap space unless someone went on the long-term injury list.

     In another matter, Blair Betts (shoulder) was still unable to have any contact Monday and probably won't play until Saturday at the earliest.

     Ray Emery will play in goal Thursday against Boston; Brian Boucher, who looked sharp while playing for the Phantoms the other night, will make his first Flyers start this season either Saturday vs. Florida or Sunday vs. his former team, San Jose.

   Thursday is Dollar Dog Night, and fans will try to surpass last year's record of 20,000 hot dogs eaten. The Flyers will unveil their Broad Street Bully Dog, a jumbo hot dog featuring chili, cheese, diced onions and bacon.

    The Schmitter has some competition.

  SUNRISE, Fla. _ The Flyers Friday night will face a goalie who will be making his debut with the Florida Panthers.

   Scott Clemmensen, who had a career season with New Jersey last season and signed with Florida as a free agent in the off-season, will get the start for the 1-4 Panthers.

    Tomas Vokoun, who has an .885 save percentage since stopping 52 of 55 shots in an season-opening win, will be on the bench for Florida. The Panthers are trying to avoid their worst six-game start in history.

   Florida hasn't played since Monday; the Flyers (3-1-1) haven't played since a 3-2 shootout loss to Anahiem Saturday and, after a five-day bonding session, are eager to return to action.

* * * * * * * * * * * * 

    The Flyers aren't trying to jnix the Phillies. They're just trying to avoid a potential conflict with the World Series.

     Hence, the start time of the Flyers' game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Wachovia Center on Monday, Nov. 2 has changed from 7 p.m. to 5 p.m.

   "We chose not to wait for the outcome of the National League Championship Series before making this decision to allow our fans ample time to adjust their schedules,” said Peter Luukko, the Comcast-Spectacor president.

   Should the Phillies defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS, the Phillies would host a potential Game Five of the World Series on Nov. 2, with the first pitch likely in the evening.

  The time change is permanent and will not change back should there not be a World Series game to accommodate travel plans for the Lightning
 

This morning Dave Schultz was made available to the media from the penalty box in the Wachovia Spectrum to discuss being inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame during an on-ice ceremony prior to the team’s contest vs. the New Jersey Devils at the Wachovia Center on Nov. 16.

Here, courtesy of Flyers publicity staffer Joe Siville, is the transcript of his Q & A:

Q: Did you like being in the penalty box?

“What I liked about it was that it wasn’t as crowded as on the bench. I had a towel, coke, you know we used to drink soda, which wasn’t really that good for you but Clarkie [Bob Clarke] started that. So it was relaxing. Only one time do I remember, well I don’t remember why I was there or how I got there. I had a slight concussion, only one time. It was always a good vantage point over here [laughs].”

Q: What are some memories that you have not coming back in your mind, standing back in the penalty box in the Spectrum, knowing that this building will be closed in just a couple of weeks, what are some memories that come flying through your head?

“Obviously the first one would be the big games that you’re involved with. Certainly Game Six against Boston was huge. I hadn’t realized I got a couple penalties in that third period - I don’t know what the referee was thinking on those [laughs], but we killed them off obviously. But I’m like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I took that penalty in the third period up 1-0.’ So that game and some of the big games against the Rangers during the season. I remember we captured actually, I guess it was ’74, we captured the division championship, I think it was against Boston, right here [Spectrum]. So I actually remember probably more in a lot of the other buildings I had to play in, and some of the things that took place, but it’s going to be sad. It was a great place, as many many people experienced, and certainly our team.”

Q: How do you feel about being selected for the Flyers Hall of Fame?

“It’s unbelievable to me. I was absolutely shocked. All I think of is… forever. I mean, I’ll have my name on a banner forever in the Flyers Hall of Fame in the organization, so that’s very very special for me.”

Q: Who was your biggest nemesis or who did you enjoy fighting?

“None of them, I didn’t enjoy any of them, but they were small, really small [laughs]. Terry O’Reilly, I fought him eight times so he was my main nemesis. I knew that particularly if we were going into Boston there was probably a pretty good chance. I watched some video where I was going to fight Carol Vadnais or Gary Doak, or somebody and all you could see is O’Reilly going in and out of players and getting there before I could get involved with the other player, and he’d drop his gloves and we would fight.”

Q: What was the record over those eight [fights]?

“8-0 [laughs]. Actually there is a fight site and it shows every fight I’ve had as well as other players, and they were rated and I think there was one draw and I think he won four set, whatever that means [laughs]. The toughest part about fighting Terry O’Reilly was he was a lefty. That means the way I fought and the way he fought by grabbing the shoulder, we were wide open. There was nothing to protect, if you’re fighting a guy who’s swinging with his right you could duck. So a lot of times I’d have a lot of welts on my head, but with him it was straight on so it was the same for me. But he was a big guy, he was my main guy.”