Flyers win entertaining Alumni Game

The Flyers and Rangers Alumni Game wasn't the best hockey game ever played but it was certainly an awesome spectacle for Flyers fans.  With 45,000+ on hand at Citzens Bank Park in an electric atmosphere, the Flyers alumni defeated the Rangers alumni, 3-1.

The scoring started fittingly enough with an Eric Lindros pass to John LeClair for a goal.  Their line, along with Mark Recchi, looked like they were ready to take the ice for the Flyers in the real Winter Classic game and were a treat to watch, especially for a fan like me that grew up loving the Legion of Doom line.  Lindros especially looked like his old dominant self and was more than welcomed home by Flyers fans with a huge ovation before the game.

The other great moment of the game was seeing Bernie Parent in goal for the first few minutes.  While he wasn't pretty in the net, he did make a save and looked great in Flyers orange.  The ovation he got before the game was fittingly second only to the cheers for Lindros.

Now we wait two days for the real Winter Classic game, which has a lot to live up to after the Alumni Game.  While the hockey will certainly be better, the star power and sheer entertainment of the Alumni Game will be impossible to beat.
(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Shouldn't the Flyers retire John LeClair's number?

With the announcement that newest Flyer Kris Versteeg will be wearing number 10 when he suits up for the Flyers tonight, I can't help but think of John LeClair, who wore number 10 for the Flyers for a decade. Given that LeClair scored 50 goals three times in his Flyers tenure and he accumulated 333 goals in 649 career games in the orange and black, I assumed that his number would be retired by the Flyers. Considering the Flyers gave the number to a young player like Versteeg, who could be with the team for a long stretch, retiring LeClair's jersey apparently isn't in the cards, at least in the immediate future.

Should LeClair's jersey be retired by the Flyers? While he wasn't their best player during his stretch of time with the team, he certainly is the best American player to ever suit up for the Flyers. He was also one of the best power forwards in the game and a tremendous goal scorer, so LeClair definitely has the credentials. Sure, he didn't win a Cup, but no other Flyer in the recent era did either. Perhaps the Flyers feel LeClair's success was simply a by-product of Eric Lindros?

What say you, Flyers fans, should LeClair's number 10 jersey be retired? Leave a comment below or vote in the poll to the left.