February 5

The Philadelphia Flyers Alumni Association has been playing fundraiser exhibition games since the 1980s, back in December the Royals organization in conjunction with Flyers Alumni announced an intersquad game at the Arena for February 5th. Demand for tickets was immediate, the game was virtually sold out within days of its announcement. It's safe to say that with the exception of the franchise's start in 2001 and the 2013 Kelly Cup championship we will all remember this night as one of the biggest in Royals history. Long-time Flyers public address announcer Lou Nolan was in the house, he and I shared the PA duties and for our part it could not have gone any better. The organization had asked me if I was OK with the arrangement, as a lifelong Flyers fan I had no issue with it at all. I had never met Lou (he insisted we not say "Mr. Nolan") but I certainly knew who he was and it was my pleasure to work with him. The game itself featured the alumni playing as Orange versus White, leading the way were Hall-Of-Famers Bernie Parent (in a coaching capacity), Bob Clarke, Bill Barber and Mark Howe. Also in uniform were recently-retired Flyers Danny Briere and Kimmo Timonen, they were joined by Ric Nattress, Bob Kelly, Ed Hospodar, Ray Allison, Jim Watson, Orest Kindrachuk, Terry Carkner, Todd Fedorek, Frank Bialowas, Mark Freer, Doug Crossman, Paul Holmgren, Larry Goodenough, Frank Bathe, Brad Marsh, Joe Watson, Dave Poulin, Jim Dowd, Andre Faust, Mitch Lamoureux and Jason Zent plus goaltenders Frederic Cassivi and Robert Esche. Serving as non-playing coaches were Brian Propp, Bill Clement, Rick MacLeish and Dave Schultz. The Flyers joined the NHL in 1967, each decade of the club's existence was represented in this game. For the record the Orange team won 9-4, after the game Alumni president Brad Marsh presented Royals president Drew Bell with a generous donation for the benefit of Royals Charities. By all accounts everybody went home happy on a night that will be remembered in downtown Reading for years to come. Take care, thanks for reading.