"This building is home for a lot of players and will always feel like home," Barber said.
A tribute to the captains was followed by the Flyers' 4-2 preseason win over the Carolina Hurricanes in the final scheduled game between NHL teams at the Spectrum, though the Flyers and AHL Phantoms will play there Oct. 7.
The Spectrum will be torn down next year to make room for an entertainment-dining-shopping complex.
"The great thing about the building is the memories - and not necessarily the bricks and mortar," club chairman Ed Snider said. "And the memories will never go away."
Especially the 1-0 Stanley Cup-clinching win over the Boston Bruins in 1974.
"The most important thing in my career," Clarke called it yesterday.
There were many other memorable moments: the roof blowing off in 1968; Kate Smith, the team's good-luck charm, walking on the ice to sing "God Bless America" in the 1973 home opener; the epic win over the Russians in 1976; the almost incomprehensible 35-game unbeaten streak in 1979-80.
Angotti, captain of the first team, had another memory: the 1967 parade along Broad Street. The Flyers, sitting in convertibles, were trying to introduce the new franchise to fans.
"Nobody showed up," Angotti said with a smile.
The people walking down the street "were thinking, 'What is that?' " Snider recalled. "And seven years later, there were two million people at the [championship] parade."
Those who played at the Spectrum regard it as a cathedral of sorts. Poulin compared it to the Boston Garden and Chicago Stadium, two former arenas that were revered.
