Laviolette's favorite rib joint puts (lousy) taste of Philly on menu

Posted: June 25, 2012

WEIRTON, W.Va. - If the owner of Dee Jay's rib joint in suburban Pittsburgh had a beef with Philadelphia and Flyers coach Peter Laviolette, he certainly has forgotten that feud during the week of the NHL draft.

If you remember, Dee Jay's - a famous barbecue shack located in West Virginia, just across the border, about 30 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh - decided to stop delivering ribs to the Flyers' plane after Laviolette's loose lips said they were the reason the team was 5-0-0 at Consol Energy Center.

Dee Jay's owner Dewey Guida was blasted by Penguins fans for supporting the Flyers.

"No more ribs for them," Guida told a local paper in April. "And I pray, I hope, that the Penguins beat their skates off."

Laviolette said he first connected with Guida and his famous ribs when he was a rookie coach in nearby Wheeling (W.Va.) in the ECHL in 1998. The Flyers, of course, went on to beat the Penguins in six games in this year's Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

The Flyers are 7-2-0 at Consol Energy Center since it opened in 2010. They were just 13-27-8-3 at Mellon Arena from 1991 until it closed in 2010.

This week, with the playoffs long over, Dee Jay's was busy advertising "Philly Cheese Steaks" on the menu. They're about as authentic as hockey in West Virginia. If you go, take it from a well-fed sports writer, and stick to the ribs. They're well worth the trip.

- Frank Seravalli

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