Title
Honoring and recognizing the Philadelphia Flyers on their 50th Anniversary and acknowledging the 2016-2017 hockey season as the 50th Anniversary season of Philadelphia Flyers hockey.
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WHEREAS, February 9, 2016 marked the 50 year Anniversary of the NHL announcement that Philadelphia would be among six expansion teams for the 1967-68 season; and
WHEREAS, The early group called The Philadelphia Hockey Club, Inc., included Ed Snider, then treasurer of the Philadelphia Eagles, coach Keith Allen and general manager Norman "Bud" Poile, and was given little over a year to present a $2 million expansion fee to guarantee its entry; and
WHEREAS, On February 8, 1966, in order to close the deal in obtaining the franchise, Ed Snider traveled to New York to present their plan to the convened NHL owners, which promised the building of a modern, 15,000-seat arena in Philadelphia, later named the Spectrum by Lou Scheinfeld, the Flyers' first vice president of business operations; and
WHEREAS, The following day, Philadelphia was officially awarded a conditional NHL franchise, the condition was to deliver on the promise of a state-of-the-art arena and pay the franchise fee; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Flyers not only made good on their promise, but were also the first expansion team in the post-Original Six era to win the Stanley Cup, victorious in 1973-74 and again in 1974-75; and
WHEREAS, Since their first season in 1967-68, the Flyers' have an all-time points percentage of 57.7 percent, as of the 2015-16 NHL season, the second-best in the NHL, behind only the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins at 60.1 percent; and
WHEREAS, The Flyers also have the most appearances in the conference finals of all 24 expansion teams with 16 appearances and 8 wins, and they are second behind the St. Louis Blues for the most playoff appearances out of all expansion teams with 38 out of 48 seasons; and
WHEREAS, Although the Flyers have not won a Stanley Cu...
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