Scoop Cooper: Philadelphia and Pittsburgh's Eight Decade Hockey Connections and Rivalry
The hockey connections and rivalry between Pennsylvania's two largest cities -- Philadelphia and Pittsburgh -- goes back long before 1967.

Nice history lesson, Scoop! Thanks!!👍

Great piece

the football rivarly just isn't there at all. hockey is where its at and where it will continue to be.

scoobie

Great job Scoop!

Loved the read...thank you.

Elliot over Hart tonight

Thanks Scoop.

the football rivarly just isn't there at all. hockey is where its at and where it will continue to be.

Yeah, the fact that the teams are in different conferences prevents any type of rivalry from forming and I personally feel neutral about the Eagles. I found myself actually cheering for the Eagles last year in the Super Bowl (but that does not say much, as I would cheer for anyone against NE). As for baseball, there used to be more of a rivalry back when they were in the same division but I guess there still is some. However, the fact that the Pirates are a de facto minor league team doesn't help. The rivalry is definitely in hockey . Also the fact that the state government tends to favor the eastern part of the state, especially the city of Philadelphia, over the western part of the state, helps to heat up the rivalry from my standpoint.

I still remember the Primeau goal in 2000. I had just graduated from college and didn't have a job yet so I was able to stay up until 2 in the morning or whenever it ended. The ending was painful, especially since the Pens had won the first two games in Philly .

Although my earliest hockey memory goes back to January of 1985 (Lemieux's rookie season), when I was in first grade, I first really became a fan of the game in 1989 (when I was in fifth grade), when the Pens and Flyers faced each other in the second playoff round and the Flyers won in 7 games. It was then that I learned that the Flyers are "the enemy".

One of my favorite memories of the rivalry was the 2006-7 season, when the Pens beat the Flyers 8 times over the course of the season, with at least one Crosby hat trick in Philly .

I was actually at the game in 1989 at the Spectrum when the Penguins finally won a game in Philly. I suppose it was bound to happen with Lemieux on the team, but it was surreal, and of course disappointing for this Flyers fan, when the game ended.

I was also at game 2 of the first round in 1997. A fairly non-descript playoff game, if you can say such a thing, which the Flyers won with a fluky goal scored with 3-4 minutes left in the 3rd period.

Then in 2000, that incredible game 4. I was in grad school then, sharing an apartment with 2 guys from NY and one from Milwaukee. That night, I didn’t even see most of regulation because my Milwaukee aparment-mate was watching his Bucks play the deciding game 5 of their playoff series. Even though the Bucks lost, he stayed around with me to watch OT of the Flyers-Pens game, staying up all the way with me to 2:35 am and congratulating me when Keith Primeau finally ended the marathon game.