It's Ron Hextall Day

Tonight, the Flyers will induct goalie Ron Hextall into the team's Hall of Fame. It's bound to a memorable event at the Wachovia Center, with tears and hoarse voices in the crowd, and probably on the emotional goalie as well. To say Hexy was unique on the ice is an understatement. No one liked to mix it up more, a rare trait for a netminder and one that defined Hextall's career and legacy, but it's also important to remember that he was damn fine between the pipes as well. We're going to pay tribute to Hextall today with some of the highlights of his career in Philly. The Youtubes were made for players like Hexy... Our first post, however, deals with filling the skates of a legend, a helluva way to have to start a career in goal.

In the mid-80s, Philadelphia was in love with a goalie by the name of Pelle Lindbergh. In a few short years, Lindbergh established himself as one of the top goalies in the game, taking home the Vezina Trophy in the 1984-1985 season. The Flyers were set in goal, and planned to have Pelle as the backbone of the franchise for the next decade. When Lindbergh crashed his Porsche into a wall in November of 1985 and passed away at the age of 26, the town and team reeled.

On the ice, the team relied on goalie Bob Froese, who had backed up Lindbergh the year before, as well as Darren Jensen and Glenn Resch. Froese and Jensen played well, going on to share the Jennings Trophy, and the team managed to put up the best record in the conference despite losing its star goalie just eight starts into the season (Pelle was 6-2 in those games). For the 1986-1987 season, the team looked for a fresh start and turned to young goalie Ron Hextall.

How did Hexy respond to the tremendous pressure of succeeding Pelle Lindbergh? By going 37-21-6, winning the Vezina Trophy, and leading the Flyers to the Stanley Cup finals. As a rookie. Despite the Flyers losing to Edmonton, Hextall was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the playoff MVP. A Philadelphia sports legend was born.

We'll have a few more posts on great Hextall moments throughout the day. Feel free to leave your thoughts and memories about Hexy in any of the comment sections.

Comments

[theKrisheim]

so so so so many good memories of the man.

too many to list. he will get all the praise and admiration he deserves tonight.

i was lucky enough to be at the spectrum for his goal against the bruins with my friend mike and his uncle ben, we still talk about it to this day...

[TJ]

I loved how whenever there was a scrum between the two teams. Hexy would sometimes come out to the blue line to see if the opposing goalie wanted to go. Fans would always call for him to just skate all the way over.

[digi]

Sadly... most of my memories involve Hexy's not so stellar moments.

I distinctly recall the Claude Lemieux goal from the right circle in the conf. finals against New Jersey. I also recall the blue line goal by the Red Wings that crushed our Stanley Cup hopes. Oh, and I always see that move Darren McCarty put on Hexy to clinch the series.

I also remember him figting Potvin the cat when we played the Leafs... and him getting cut, badly.

Most of the really good things I have to go back and watch Youtube to see, ala his rumble with Chelios.

[gootman]

digi: What blue line goal? The '97 Finals never happened.

The memory that sticks in my head is the fight where Hexy took the blocker to the head of the Washington's Ron Pearson. They used that in commercials for the Flyers.

/Clinks Post

[Hockeylover]

The cut Hextall suffered in the fight with Potvin occured due to his mask getting ripped off his head. It had nothing to do with Potvin as I believe that Hextall won the fight.

[gootman]

I was just watching that fight, looked like a draw to me.