Broad Street Bully: Flyers fans gotta believe (in cheesecake)

BROAD STREET Bully bellied up to a burger-and-beer last night at South Philly Bar & Grill, Passyunk near 9th, and eyeballed Game 5 with fellow Prongered-up Flyers fanatics:

FLYER CHEESECAKE: Phil "Lipper" Giangiordano, 34, from 9th and Tasker, was not discouraged by the Flyers' dismal first period. He believes that eating a slice of South Philly Bar & Grill cheesecake during each game has brought the Flyers this far.

"When Game 3 went into overtime, I realized I'd forgotten to order my cheesecake," he said. "I went to the bar and said, 'I need a slice of cheesecake real bad.'

"I had just finished my slice when the Flyers scored the winning goal. I held up the empty plate and I said, 'Believe in the cheesecake!' "

Midway through the game, with the Flyers down 4-2, Giangiordano ate his cheesecake and kept the faith. Unfortanutely, the Flyers wound up losing, 7-4.

DIE-HARD HOAGIE HOUSE: A decade of Daily News stories about the Flyers covers a wall of Lee's Hoagie House in East Norriton, Montgomery County - except for a bare patch shaped like the Stanley Cup.

Die-hard owners Julian and Cindy Kluver, both 45, don't want to jinx the deal by saying what they hope to cover that patch with in the very near future.

Before the start of the Boston-Flyers playoff series, Julian and a naysaying neighbor bet a case of beer that the Flyers would go to the Stanley Cup Finals.

When the Flyers went down 3-0 to Boston, teetering on the brink of elimination, the naysayer mockingly presented Julian with a Flyered-up Dairy Queen ice-cream cake to rub it in.

The Flyers won four straight.

Ever since then, whenever the Flyers are down, hoagie-house staffer Gus Grisafi eats a piece of the lucky cake, then returns the rest to the fridge.

Cindy says there is just enough cake left to get the Flyers through Game 7 and cover that Cup-shaped space on the wall.

FLYERS LOVE: Lisa Slevenski told Bully that her nephew Frank Miller, 26, of Fishtown, married his fiancé, Aileen, 23, of Mayfair, during Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

"At the reception," Slevenski said, "as family and friends waited for them to appear for the first time as a married couple, they surprised and delighted us all, walking out in Flyers jerseys carrying a tin foil Stanley Cup. Everyone chanted, 'Let's Go Flyers!' "

As kids, Frank and Aileen became friends at the Palace Roller Skating Center. After losing touch for years, they met by chance and soon found true love while watching Flyers games together at a Northeast Philadelphia sports bar.

Is that a Flyered-up romance or what?