This Date in Flyers History

This game, from the 1990-91 season was quite the experience:

Remember the Whalers?

First off, it was enough of a shocker that the Flyers lost to Hartford. At the Spectrum. Even worse, it was by shutout, pitched by a goaltender whose name I'm still hard-pressed to announce even now. I mean, eight shots through two periods against a team that would be buried in last place if it weren't for Quebec? Scandal. And this came in the midst of the second year of five the Flyers would not make the playoffs. It was a painful sight for an impressionable 13-year-old sitting in Section 67, Row 1, Seat 4. I think this was also their once-a-year 11:05 AM starts because they needed extra time to convert the ice surface for the Flyers Wives Carnival. Imagine that, a non-school day and I still had to be awake at 9 AM just to do something fun...

The loss wasn't the most memorable thing about that game, though. It was a week into Gulf War One, and America was whipped into a patriotic frenzy because Our Troops were going to bomb those Saddamite Camel Jockeys back to the Stone Age. Safety and security concerns were at an all-time high (even more so than the height of the Cold War I'm told) because the prevailing theory was that Iraqi spies and sympathizers could be lurking everywhere, to strike at any time. For the first and only time in my life at a major sporting event, I was the subject of the old pat-down security check, as were every single person, man, woman, or walking child who attended the game. I remember everyone talking and joking when gathered around the Rocky Statue outside the gates, but when the doors were opened and everyone lined up to get in, it got eerily quiet. You come to the Flyers, or any sporting event to forget your troubles, and here was a reminder of the times even before you got into the place.

At this time, tickets to a hockey game were still relatively cheap, and a good cross-section of humanity who didn't work behind a desk or in a board room could afford to go - so the sell-out crowd was in full (profane and vulgar) voice when the National Anthem was played before the opening face-off. I remember chants of U-S-A!, U-S-A! and a big American flag waved during the game. The Arena Vision board called attention to the mini American flag stickers on the backs of each player's helmet, and the crowd went nuts.

However, the patriotic frenzy of the day was not enough to keep the masses entertained - as the Flyers played one of the most passionless games I can remember. By the middle of the second period, cheerful and staccato war whoops were replaced by the somber bellowings of paid customers who realized they had been cheated. It was the first Flyers game where I practically begged my father to leave before the game's last two minutes, win lose or tie. People in our sections made none-too-subtle comments about how Iraq should aim several scud missiles at the Flyers bench and clean out the whole team. Something was in the wind, and it wasn't furtively lit Winston or a stale beer belch...