"I'm trying to run a practice and they come over to me and say, 'Dad,' " the coach said with a grin. "And I'm like, 'Where do you come off coming up to the coach? Get away from me. I'm trying to run a practice. Bug off.' "
Peter Laviolette, 12, and Jack, 11, moved to Voorhees a little over a month ago with their mother, Kristen, and sister, Elizabeth Rose, ending a 7 1/2-month separation that the coach admits, "Was hard on us. Especially on my wife."
Officially, the Flyers begin training camp on Sept. 17. Already, though, players have trickled in and out of their training facility. Already, Laviolette speaks proudly of a work ethic he believes is a carry-over from their near-miss and near-miracle run at a Stanley Cup.
The Flyers were among the league's bottom feeders when Laviolette took over last Dec. 4. Facing eight games in his first 13 days as coach, he took over a dressing room tortured by injuries and alleged internal strife. He worked the players hard, reorganized what they were doing on ice, and instituted a playoff mentality necessitated by their immediate need to win games.
Still, they were just 28-24-5 under his guidance, and when they survived the Rangers in a final-game shootout to claim a playoff spot, it seemed more an unlikely finish than an unlikely start.
Then came the upset of second-seeded New Jersey and the miracle comeback from three games down - and three goals down in Game 7 - against Boston. The unanticipated departures of Pittsburgh and Washington even gave them home ice for the conference championship, allowing them to win three games in their five-game elimination of Montreal on home ice.
