Rivalry Night--Washington Capitals vs. Philadelphia Flyers, AKA Old Charles vs. Young Charles

I have a confession to make.  I don't hate the Philadelphia Flyers.  Wait wait, before you click the "x" on the top of your browser, hear me out.

I was born and grew up a bit in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia, where I lived until we moved to the DC area when I was at the tender young age of 9. Up until that time, I was all about the Philadelphia sports teams; the Eagles, the Phillies, and yes, the Flyers. Especially the Flyers. In fact, my parents had season tickets and one of my fondest memories is having met several players at some promo function in the spring of 1986.

One of those players was Flyers winger Brian Propp, who had just played in a hard fought victory over, you guessed it, the Washington Capitals, a game in which Propp scored a hat trick.  Propp was awesome, he gave us all autographs and let us check out one of his sticks and some of his other equipment.  I was pretty much completely stoked.  It'd be a lie to say that those memories don't stick with me today, even as I root for the Capitals and hope they win against their Metro division rival.  I can't hate the Flyers, I don't think it's in my DNA to do so.

Brian Propp, picture c/o flyers.nhl.com

That being said, tonight's game is an NBCSN "Rivalry Night" game so that means a couple of things.  Generally speaking, it means it's not usually an actual rivalry, of which tonight is an obvious exception. It also means that you're going to be exhausted at work tomorrow because the NBC games start at 8(ish) and end at like 2am.  So if you're an old timer like me, get your pots of coffee on and enjoy the game.



Here's a quick look at some of the key moments in the history of this rivalry:

• Dale Hunter and the "biggest goal in Caps history". In case you didn't know, this is why Philly booed Hunter every time the Caps played them during his short tenure as coach.
• "They play the Rocky song and think they're all Rocky Balboa".
• Happy Ray Emery isn't starting tonight?  Me too.
• Caps' "Cinderella story" comes to an end in 2008. I literally couldn't even watch this video.

For a preview of tonight's match up, check out Mike Vogel's over at Monumental. (I'll try to mix up who I link for previews from time to time). 

And for my Flyers buddies, you all know who you are, there's this: