What can be said about this years Classic? One word UNBELIEVABLE, in every aspect; atmosphere, turnout & quality of play, honestly it was as much fun as I have ever had playing hockey. Just to be able to play on the same ice as so many great Flyers teams with my son, brother, cousins & some of my closest friends was something very special. Think about all the great players to play in this building, Clarke,Parent,Barber,& all the rest that have their names on two Stanley Cups. Or what about the guys like Lindberg,Kerr,Hextall,Howe(Mark & Gordie) Lindros,Leclair & the hundreds of other Flyers down through the years. Not to mention all the visiting players, Bobby Orr,the Espisito brothers, all those great Canadian teams, the French Connection, the Islanders of the early 80's followed by Gretzky & Messier leading the Oilers & Mario. The Russians had the balls to leave this surface but it was only to change their skirts, how many guys from Collingdale can say they played in the same crease as Parent, Tretiak & Brodeur.
The best part of about this game were the guys WE were playing with, no matter your age it was like we were kids again. Pat,Freddy & all the other 40 year olds played as many shifts as they could like Joey McCloskey & Tommy Phillips. Tommy Mac had a hattrick & he only plays once a year while his son Jimmy, one of the best young Legends, was held without a goal. We welcomed a few new Legends this year, Kevin Timlin,Mike Hennessy,Rob Mattai,Rob Toomey,Dan O'Laughin,Tommy Phillips,Joey Christopher& Phil Dauria. Their play showed they are worthy of their legendary status & guess what, they get it they all said they will be back to play every year. Zach Kilgore was back in goal & he stopped several good scoring chances & held the lead late in the game but Johnny K & Jimmy Maletesta decided to make it a game. Everyone on the bench turned it up a notch, Kirk Kuzmick,Joey Henderson,Bob Kilgore & Ed Regan did a lot of the dirty work while Jeff Craskey,Rich Howland,Sean Watson & Dan Murphy got most of the chances. There efforts would get cut the lead to one goal but that was as close as the Blue would get.
It was great to see Lud back at this years Classic who returned along with Rob McCarry, and Kevin Kuzmick played in his second game as a Legend & looked a bit less nervous this time around. Some of the older guys, myself included, seemed to be imitating their hockey heroes. Dan Straube took to the ice with the image of Orest Kinderchuck in his head & Jimmy Donohue could have been Rick MacLeish. Sean Mac was back & seemed to enjoy all the room on the larger ice surface rather than skating in that shoebox at Springfield. Sean Kane did his best Steven Speilberg impersonation as we checked in & then went on to play like a teenager once we hit the ice. Tommy Henderson was smiling ear to ear all night & was another guy that played like a little kid on Christmas morning just like he has every other year. As is the case with most Classics there was a reunion of a dynamic duo from years past, Louis McCloskey & Craig Eberhardt. These two used to terrorized the THL back in the early 80's & continue to show flashes of there old selves, just like rest of us. Guess that's why we are Legends.
After the game there was beer to drink & tales to tell, the club box was packed. At times it looked like we had all 35 players along with all 127 fans jammed in there. Watson's stories still crack everyone up so we were all happy to see Sammy & Peanut who swore they're all true. By the end of the night Craig had a pretty good spring league team lined up.
Dominic Petracelli did a nice job with the announcing & Pop Pop McCloskey & Mr.Kuz helped out in the boxes. The McCloskey's had three generations involved in this years Classic. Pat Doherty reached out to his brother-in-law to help us out with pictures, thanks John you did a wonderful job. Anyone interested in a copy of the disc just let me know. I will get in touch with you guys to see if you want to play again some time in the spring.
Finally, I need to thank Craig, all of this was possible because of his leg work. Thanks Craig I know how much you did to let me pretend to be Bernie Parent just like I did when I wrapped my legs in sofa cushions.
