Flyers at 50: Spectrum disaster in 1968 turned Flyers into road warriors

During the Flyers' inaugural NHL season, they were trying to win the West Division championship when a stunning development drastically altered their schedule.

Part of the Spectrum roof blew off.

As fans were getting ready to watch the Ice Capades, winds gusting at nearly 50 m.p.h. ripped off a portion of the roof on Feb. 17, 1968. That caused the Flyers to play seven "home" games in Quebec City, Toronto, and Madison Square Garden in New York.

"We were vagabonds," said Joe Watson, one of the team's original defensemen. "It wasn't that big of a hole, but I think it was a political thing [to get it fixed], more than anything else. So we played games all over the place."

Watson recalled that co-founder Ed Snider was "running out of money because we weren't having any home games - and at the home games we were having at other facilities, there was hardly any money being made."

During a late-season stretch, the Flyers played seven straight games - and 14 of their last 17 - away from the Spectrum.

"I think the guys rallied around the fact that they were going to be Road Warriors, so to speak, for a long time," said veteran public-address announcer Lou Nolan, who worked in the team's public-relations department, headed by Joe Kadlec, during the franchise's first season.

Right winger Gary Dornhoefer, whose team won the West title that season, said playing so many games on road made the players bond even more. "I enjoyed playing on the road, because if you put the pressure on the home team, the fans got on them and left you alone," he said. "I always thought it was easier to play on the road."