10/24/2026

Philadelphia Flyers (National Hockey League) @ Xfinity Mobile Arena (Philadelphia, PA)

A return to Philly for an unusual rivalry

James Calingo

Tags:
Flyers, Hockey, Indoor Sports, Major Leagues, National Hockey League, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Repeat Visit

Now that the Philadelphia Wings are officially dead, I need a new "team" if I want to see the Wells Fargo Center Xfinity Mobile Arena before it gets demolished because [let's not go there right now]. Yes, I could go see the Sixers (and I almost did in 2025 when they had that surprising down year), but I'm not that big into basketball¹. However, there's always the arena's "main" tenant: the Flyers!

I know I've said that I'd rather not discuss my hockey loyalties on this blog, but I'm also not going to sit here and say that I actually "like" the Philadelphia Flyers. Outside of the fact that I'm in NORTH Jersey (which is more Rangers territory than Flyers), there are other teams in the NHL that I tend to gravitate towards a bit more, and MANY years ago, one of those teams infamously collapsed in the playoffs against said Flyers. Outside of that, I'd argue that the things you need to know about the Flyers are that they've historically been known for being a very physical team, and it's been over 50 years since they last won the Stanley Cup back in 1975 (they did make the Stanley Cup Final the year they the playoff series I mentioned happened, but lost in one of the weirdest ways possible).

In case you haven't noticed by now, all but one of the games I've gone to in Philly have been afternoon games; this is because I don't like the idea of a 90-minute drive at 10:00 at night (and also the parking "hack" I found for the area isn't available after a certain time). This year, the Flyers have several afternoon (i.e. 3 PM or earlier) games, but I was originally going to say "screw it" and go to a preseason game which started at 5 PM (against Washington²). However, between me seeing the Rangers earlier that same week, me already having been to the arena (and wanting to prioritize new places), and other logistical concerns including a coastal storm, I ended deciding to stick to my "original" plan of an afternoon game. I will admit that this particular game was not necessarily my "optimal" choice (largely because I had another game already planned immediately after this one), but other factors made me choose to go for it - one of which being the fact that this game featured one of the strangest rivalries in the NHL right now: Philadelphia Flyers vs. Anaheim Ducks³.

According to one fan survey, the Ducks and Flyers are each other's third most hated team; for the Flyers, this puts the Ducks behind the Penguins and Rangers yet somehow ahead of teams like the Devils and Capitals. Part of this can likely be attributed to an incident this past offseason between the two teams involving free agency⁴, but I think a lot of this current Flyers-Ducks "rivalry" stems from one man: Cutter Gauthier.

I briefly mentioned it back when I talked about Boston College, but Gauthier was drafted by the Flyers fifth overall in 2022, and then there was some weird situation between him and the front office where he indicated he didn't want to be a Flyer and essentially cut communications with the team (allegedly on the advice of a former Flyers player who went to BC). This eventually led to him being traded to Anaheim, hence why I mentioned Flyers fans making the trek to Conte Forum to heckle him at a game (because that ACTUALLY HAPPENED). I've heard that part of it may have been due to the Flyers head coach at the time (who is one of those super polarizing guys) and/or the front office wanting him to spend some time in the AHL before joining the NHL team, but in any case, he is now one of the most hated men in Philadelphia - just ahead of whichever Philadelphia Eagles doctors nearly got Jalen Hurts LITERALLY killed. Some time later, the two teams made another trade, with this one sending the Ducks' best player to Philly - adding more fuel to the fire.

With all of that in mind, I'd heard that some consider this "rivalry" to be more between the front offices - but apparently the players didn't know that. This was a SUPER scrappy game full of roughhousing, fisticuffs, and a TON of "brotherly love" for Cutter Gauthier: the game started with what I can only describe for the young kids who were next to me as a "THANK YOU CUTTER" chant (but also not), and he was booed MERCILESSLY every time he touched the puck. The physicality ended up leading to the game running rather "long", which meant that I had to leave early in the third period to make it to Trenton in time - with the Ducks having just taken the lead that would eventually lead to them winning the game.

One VERY IMPORTANT thing I learned in the days prior to this game:

The secondary market isn't always better.

I ended up getting my ticket for this game via TicketMaster (aka the arena's box office), and when I checked SeatGeek, the seats next to mine (which, I should note, were available on TicketMaster) were significantly MORE. Speaking of which, I should probably talk about that seat, as it's in a part of the arena I've yet to see AND it's something I don't talk about often: luxury areas!

My seat is part of something called "Revolutionary Row" - a row of seats located at the VERY TOP of the arena (i.e. eye level with the arena's banners). The seat itself is super nice , as it's a rather luxurious, cushioned leather seat - though since you're way above the ice and the seat is a bit "far back", you often have to lean forward to see anything.

Attached to this is an area known as the Assembly Room, which features leather couches and a bunch of fancier decor (see the photo after this paragraph). Standing room only tickets are available for access to this area (i.e. you watch the entire game from the Assembly Room), and I WAS considering going for one of these tickets, but I've heard that it's a bit of a "survival of the fittest" situation, and since I like to walk around before things start (and sometimes during the game itself), I felt it wouldn't be worth it (also, warmups).

I won't "bore" you with discussion on the rest of the arena (as I've done that already), but there are a few random odds and ends I don't think I don't think I've brought up before.

First, there's TV's all over the concourses as they don't offer views to the arena floor. This isn't, but what is interesting is that some will have the arena's feed and the television broadcast right next to each other, and due to broadcast delay, the two will be VERY out of sync:

Second, the scoreboard has FLAMETHROWERS. They're attached to these side panels which can be lowered (to allow the flamethrowers to be used and not torch the rafters). I don't remember how often they were used for the Wings games I went to, but the flamethrowers went off for every Wings goal at the final game.

Finally, every team in the NHL has a logo at center ice; usually, it's a big version of the team's primary logo, but some teams do have other designs. In the past, those logos were often broken by the red (center) line as it crossed through the middle of the ice, but some teams (such as the Flyers) got around this by putting two smaller versions of their logo at center ice. In the 2000s, this practice slowly went away in favor of a singular logo, and even the Flyers made the switch to one logo. A few years ago, however, the Flyers went back to having two logos at center ice, and they are currently the ONLY team in the NHL to do so - even as teams have started putting their logos over the red line.

Also, fun fact: I believe the Flyers got their current goal horn sometime in the 2000s, but the Wings were using the Flyers' old horn for the three games I went to. Also, I think I heard the Flyers' horn go off at some point prior to one of the Wings games (likely due to someone accidentally pressing the button for a split second).