{"id":493852,"date":"2026-03-08T23:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T23:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/493852\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T23:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T23:58:13","slug":"what-mammoth-fans-can-learn-from-the-flyers-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/493852\/","title":{"rendered":"What Mammoth fans can learn from the Flyers \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the ride from the airport to my hotel in Philadelphia, I mentioned to the driver that I was going to the Flyers game<\/a> the following night. His response included both excitement and a warning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crowds get really rowdy there,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was true. The \u201cbrotherly love\u201d for which the city is nicknamed does not exist inside the professional sports stadiums, apparently.<\/p>\n

As the PA announcer declared the names of each player in the Utah Mammoth\u2019s starting lineup, the fans chanted \u201csucks\u201d in unison; Each time the Flyers failed to score on the power play, they got booed; Even the mites hockey game between periods was gritty \u2014 there were several unjust hits and one pair of players exchanged headshots.<\/p>\n

That identity goes back generations. Intimidation is woven into the fabric of the Philadelphia Flyers organization.<\/p>\n

Shortly after joining the league as an expansion team in 1967, the Flyers brought in the likes of Dave Schultz, Bob Kelly and Andr\u00e9 Dupont. They\u2019re some of the players responsible for hockey\u2019s reputation as a violent sport.<\/p>\n

You won\u2019t find those guys on any top scorers lists, but they\u2019re all in record books for their quantity of penalty minutes.<\/p>\n

Before long, the Flyers were back-to-back Stanley Cup champions. Whereas most teams got by on skill with a bit of toughness, the \u201cBroad Street Bullies\u201d simply intimidated their opponents into submission. <\/p>\n

If you touched their top scorers, you\u2019d have to answer to a flurry of fists.<\/p>\n

The fans took to it. Compared to their inaugural season, the team\u2019s attendance nearly doubled by Year 7, and the players reflected the city in terms of hard work and an unapologetic tendency.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The game of hockey has changed since the 1970s. While you might see a fight once every few games, the medical staffs\u2019 suture kits don\u2019t get nearly as much use anymore.<\/p>\n

But the Flyers still embrace that blue collar, hard-nose mentality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when you have such a strong fan base, big hockey market like here and you hear the cheers after a big hit or a physical play and guys sacrificing themselves for the team and you get some cheers from the fans, it (encourages) you to play that way,\u201d Flyers captain Sean Couturier told the Deseret News.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis city\u2019s a big sports town \u2014 really supportive toward their sports. They expect success. They expect a winning culture, and I think it all starts with hard work and dedicating yourself to the team.”<\/p>\n

Nic Deslauriers is the only active NHLer with more than 750 penalty minutes and fewer than 740 games played. The Flyers traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday, but on Thursday, he told the Deseret News how different it is to fight in Philadelphia compared to his four previous NHL stops (Buffalo, Montreal, Anaheim and Minnesota).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously this year I haven\u2019t been on the ice that much, but the last home game when I fought, (it) was electric. The fans like it and I like it, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

What does it take for a franchise to build an identity?<\/p>\n

As the NHL\u2019s newest franchise, the Mammoth have the opportunity to build a long-lasting identity, just like the Flyers did nearly 60 years ago.<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t likely be the tyrannical bullying upon which the Flyers founded their franchise \u2014 Utah\u2019s fans get excited for fights, but the population isn\u2019t nearly as aggressive as that of the East Coast.<\/p>\n

Instead, their identity \u2014 at least for now \u2014 seems to be pace. They are no lower than sixth in any of the player speed categories<\/a> that the NHL tracks, and with Logan Cooley \u2014 who\u2019s in the literal 99th percentile<\/a> in maximum skating speed \u2014 signed until the end of 2034, that\u2019s a great place to begin.<\/p>\n

But the responsibility for cultivating an identity rests upon the fans just as much as it does on the players. My hotel shuttle driver, and hundreds of thousands of Philadelphians like him, love the local sports teams because they can see themselves reflected in the athletes.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what the Mammoth need to look for as they build their identity. It\u2019s an ongoing process. As GM Bill Armstrong said on Friday, \u201cOur best team\u2019s not here yet, but it will be shortly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the ride from the airport to my hotel in Philadelphia, I mentioned to the driver that I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,3157,4,1467,56,5205],"class_list":{"0":"post-493852","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-flyers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-news-feed-local","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","14":"tag-philadelphiaflyers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116196270429021197","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}