On Wednesday, the Blackhawks play Philadelphia, best known in Chicago as “the team against whom Patrick Kane scored that awesome goal in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final.” The Flyers are also a club from which the Hawks have acquired key players recently.
The City of Brotherly Love has caught its share of flak stretching back decades. Philadelphia often is identified as “America’s rudest city,” while Philly fans regularly “win” the accolade of the nation’s foulest fans in most every sport.
Yet the team known in the late 1970s as the “Broad Street Bullies” haven’t bullied anyone lately. The Flyers’ postseason prospects look dreary in 2015.
Meanwhile, Philly’s on-ice struggles seem symbolic of the club’s downward direction, as it has systematically discarded popular players such as Kimmo Timonen. It’s been especially drab for Flyers fans since 2010 when compared with the fortunes of the Blackhawks, who have visited the Western finals twice more while bagging another Stanley Cup in 2013.
That said, Blackhawks fans and Flyers fans are basically cut from the same cloth. Both teams boast a loyal base and always did so even when the NHL was less popular. Likewise, both clubs’ supporters don’t disparage more recent fellow fans.
These two hockey-loving towns that tussled for the Cup five years ago together have a short history that resembles a sort of “Tale of Two Cities” of hockey. While the Chicago sits ready to fight for another Cup, with or without Kane, it’s slim pickings in Philadelphia.
BLACKHAWKS: TRENDING UP
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The breakaway Blackhawks
After team owner Bill Wirtz dies, son Rocky takes the reins in October 2007 with a new approach. The younger Wirtz works up new broadcast deals to avail home games to local viewers again. Hawks legends Tony Esposito, Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull become team ambassadors. And, signaling a new methodology, Chicago names 20-year old Jonathan Toews captain in 2008.
Coach Q: Cup quencher
After three years coaching Colorado, Joel Quenneville signs on as a scout with the Blackhawks, only to be named coach a month later after Dennis Savard is removed from that role. In 2009, after one playoff appearance in a decade, the Blackhawks log an impressive 24-9-8 home record and make it to the Western Conference finals.
In 2009-10 season, the Hawks reign supreme, winning their division before eliminating Nashville, Vancouver and San Jose for their first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1992. The Blackhawks beat Philadelphia in six games in the 2010 Final and do it again three years later against Boston.
FLYERS: TRENDING DOWN
It’s no UC
Opening in 1996 as the CoreStates Center, the Flyers’ arena becomes the First Union Center in 1998, aka “The FU Center” as referred to by locals. FU later softens its name to the Wells Fargo Center.
“Car Bomb” packs a punch
In March 2009, the Flyers pick up tough-guy winger Daniel Carcillo. He is instrumental as an enforcer and becomes a fan favorite for his fighting; Carcillo signs with Chicago in 2011.
Philly’s Cup run
On Dec. 4, 2009, the Flyers appoint Peter Laviolette as coach. The vocal, hard-nosed “Coach Lavy” leads seventh-seeded Philadelphia past New Jersey, Boston and Montreal en route to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, their first appearance in 13 years. Thanks to Patrick Kane and Co., the Cup remains out of reach.
That guy again?
The Flyers guillotine Laviolette in October 2013. Yet he turns up in Nashville in 2014, and the Predators have outpaced the Blackhawks atop the Central for most of 2014-15. Meanwhile, entering Tuesday the Flyers were nine points from qualifying for a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
SOMETHING IN THE WATER?
Maybe Lake Michigan isn’t any cleaner than Philly’s Schuylkill River, but it appears some former Flyers do better work in Chicago. Musicians, too.
Daniel Carcillo
After spending three years as a fan favorite in Philly, the Hawks brought on Carcillo in 2011; he played a small but important part in their 2013 Stanley Cup run. Suspended 12 times in nine seasons for conduct reasons, he re-signed with the Hawks in October. He’s behaving for the most part—just don’t expect him to become a pacifist anytime soon.
Ray Emery
Emery became known for stopping shots and wearing masks painted with pictures of famous boxers. He started his Flyers stint in 2009 with a Rocky Balboa-clad helmet. Joining Chicago for 2011-12, Emery was a near-perfect backup to Corey Crawford with 12 straight wins (and 17 total) as the Blackhawks took the Cup in 2013. He returned to Philly in July 2013, settling in by joining a massive brawl in a game against Washington.
Kris Versteeg
Joining Philly from Toronto in February 2011, Versteeg helped the Flyers with seven goals in the last 11 games of 2010-11. Perhaps unappreciated in Philadelphia, the winger’s most productive seasons have arguably been in Chicago, with double digits in goals and assists for four of his five seasons there.
The Fratellis
In 2006, a little-known Scottish band churned out “Costello Music,” an album that didn’t chart in the U.S. Since then, a catchy track called “Chelsea Dagger” famously became the Hawks’ de-facto fight song. Really, there hasn’t been a better song to celebrate a goal, has there?
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
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Blackhawks at Philadelphia
7 p.m. NBC Sports
Andy Frye is a RedEye special contributor. @mysportscomplex
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