John Leclair

John LeClair is browsing through South Philly's new sports palace after a mid-January Flyers game, pointing out to Mark McGinn, his close friend and fellow Vermonter, some of the amenities $200 million can buy. McGinn interrupts. Did LeClair notice during the game that his photo kept appearing on the CoreStates Center's large screen above center ice, announcing that LeClair had won a local humanitarian award? "Must be a slow year in Philly sports or something," LeClair said, quickly changing the subject.

Summer officially began for the shocked Flyers yesterday, at least a month sooner than planned, following Sunday's 1-0 loss to Toronto in the Stanley Cup playoffs. "It's hard right now," said forward Mikael Renberg, who had a pile of his sweaters to autograph before departing. Even on Monday, "it was hard to believe we were out," Renberg said. "But that is life. This is sports. Sometimes you win, next time you lose. " The consensus yesterday was that the Flyers' first-round exit was not comparable to last season's Buffalo disaster.

If he keeps this up, John LeClair will have more headgear than the Mad Hatter. The Flyers left winger added a couple of hundred caps to his already sizable collection yesterday when he notched his second hat trick in four home games to lead the Flyers to an impressive 4-1 romp over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Spectrum. This game was a test for the Flyers. After winning seven of their last eight games against teams with losing records, the Flyers finally faced Stanley Cup contenders, and they thrashed them soundly.

The Flyers had played with the Mighty Ducks as if they were toys for all of two periods, until it finally dawned on them that this wasn't a game that could be stolen with feigned effort, which is what they had done Monday night at San Jose. So Eric Lindros and John LeClair, the two leading scorers in the National Hockey League heading into play last night, decided it was time to dunk the Ducks - with a huge assist from their pal, Paul Coffey. Scoring two goals less than six minutes apart, Lindros and LeClair rallied the Flyers to a momentary lead, only to see Anaheim force a 2-2 overtime tie last night at Arrowhead Pond.

This used to be a railroad town, a no-nonsense, open-your-heart-and-shut-your-mouth workingman's town. That legacy survives even though yuppie-favorite Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream has replaced the Central Vermont Railroad as the big industry along Lake Champlain's picturesque eastern shore. The artificial gingerbread cuteness infecting so many New England communities is missing. St. Albans, "The Rail City," looks lived in. The big clapboard houses along Main Street are neat but unadorned.

Flyers coach Craig Ramsay needed to see two things from Mark Recchi to know he was ready to play again. He needed to see some "jump" or "quickness" from Recchi on the ice. And he needed to see him make good decisions on it, too. But because it's hard for Ramsay to judge a player's decision-making abilities in practice, he had to rely more on his first criterion. "He certainly showed that," Ramsay said after yesterday's practice at the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees. So Recchi, who has been recovering from the symptoms of a concussion, will probably play tonight against Toronto.

The Flyers' 3-1 victory over the Boston Bruins in the regular-season finale yesterday at the First Union Center accomplished several things. The Flyers wanted to finish strong: They were 3-1-1 in their last five games. They wanted to emphasize tighter checking: They held Boston to a season-low 11 shots. They wanted to feel good about themselves: They clinched the fifth playoff seed - the highest they could go - and will open the playoffs with games Thursday and Saturday night in Toronto.

The guns of the old warships anchored outside on Lake Erie were trained on the HSBC Arena late yesterday afternoon. One more bad call against the Sabres, they seemed to threaten, and we can't be responsible for the consequences. The Buffalo Sabres never summoned the Navy in Game 3, but they did call on all the emotional firepower they could muster. That's why coach Lindy Ruff whined about Mark Recchi's penalty-drawing dives yesterday afternoon. That's why the pregame atmosphere, with lasers and fireworks, resembled Fort McHenry at its rockets-red-glaringest.

John LeClair made them bring out the wheelbarrow last night. The San Jose Sharks could have used a stretcher instead. LeClair scored his third NHL hat trick, and the Flyers scored seven goals on their first 17 shots, en route to an 8-2 shellacking of the toothless Sharks at the Spectrum. "I got some breaks," said LeClair, who had been held to two goals in the previous seven games. "Eric Desjardins made an incredible pass on that first one, and the next two went off some sticks.

He walks quietly through the Flyers' dressing room wearing a polite smile and trying not to be noticed, which is hard when you're 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds. For the first two days of Flyers training camp, Chris Gratton is technically John LeClair's replacement on the first line. And in an unfortunate way, Gratton is also part of the reason LeClair isn't in camp. "It's a little awkward for me," Gratton said yesterday. It's awkward because general manager Bob Clarke's contract problems began in earnest when he raised the ante by making a five-year, $16.5 million offer to Gratton that included a $9 million signing bonus.

Face it. Most of us only do things when faced with a deadline. For the NHL and the players union - which will resume talks, with federal mediators by their sides, on Wednesday - that deadline is almost upon them. From here, the sides have just two weeks, maximum, to get a deal done. Why two weeks? Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner, says teams need to play at least a 48-game season to protect the game's supposed integrity. (The game's integrity has disappeared because of the third work stoppage under Bettman, but that's another story.)

The Flyers on Friday welcomed back a former player and a former coach to serve in different roles next season. Recently retired Ian Laperriere, who recorded 20 points for the Flyers in the 2009-2010 season, will serve as the team's director of player development, and former head coach Terry Murray will return to the Flyers as the head coach of the AHL's Adirondack Phantoms. Laperriere, 38, played in 1,038 games over 16 NHL seasons, recording 336 points. Because of post-concussion dyndrome, he didn't appear in an NHL game after the Flyers lost in the playoffs in 2010, but didn't officially retire until two weeks ago. "It's a job that suits me well," Laperriere said in a statement.

NEWARK, N.J. — Dainius Zubrus is 15 years removed from his first trip to the Stanley Cup finals, though he still feels the pain and heartache from that sweep in Detroit. He can recite the Flyers' route to the finals that spring, knocking off Pittsburgh, Buffalo and the Rangers in succession on their way to the Red Wings. He still gushes about beating the Rangers in the Eastern Conference finals as a star-struck 18-year-old, just as his Devils did this year. "Mark Messier was there, Wayne Gretzky, Mike Richter, the list goes on and on," Zubrus said of that New York team the Flyers defeated in five games.

PITTSBURGH - To paraphrase a certain Russian goalie, the Flyers' regular season was a six-month journey through the humongous big schedule, and it produced more highlights than lowlights, more thrills than spills. Here is a look at some of the best and worst: Biggest surprise: Scott Hartnell went from a laughingstock for his falls to an all-star. From someone most fans wanted traded to one of the league's best power forwards. Hartnell began the season on the third line with rookies Sean Couturier and Matt Read.

PETE ROSE, Eric Lindros, John LeClair, Doug Collins, Andrew Toney and Eric Allen highlight this year's ballot for the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. The ballot for the ninth annual induction class is in the hands of the Hall's voting panel, which includes more than 220 participants. The Hall's ballot committee has nominated 37 people in 15 sports. The Class IX Induction Ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 8 at the Society Hill Sheraton. The ballot is divided into those whose careers primarily occurred more than 50 years ago (Heritage Nominees)

PAT YOURSELVES on the back, Philly. Tear your rotator if you have to. So it wasn't perfect, so your team didn't get the necessary two points in Game 37 of the 82-game regular season against the hated division rivals, so they blew a two-goal lead in front of 46,967, tainting this snow-globed day ever so slightly. That's not what we will remember tomorrow, a week from now, and certainly in the years to come. We will remember Bernie Parent stymieing Ron Duguay, and we will forever think of Duguay more fondly than we ever did when he was a player.

Bob Clarke could not contain his emotions. It had nothing to do with the Flyers' 3-1 win over the New York Rangers in Saturday's Winter Classic alumni game at Citizens Bank Park. It had everything to do with the loud, sellout crowd that chanted and celebrated seeing Flyers players from every decade of the franchise's existence. Clarke, the onetime star who is now the Flyers senior vice president, was dumbfounded by the crowd's response and became teary-eyed when he talked about it. "You couldn't imagine something like this for an alumni game," he said.

Visit our special Winter Classic section of Philly.com, with exclusive multimedia, video, photos and everything you need to enjoy the game: www.philly.com/winterclassic   Along with a chance to appreciate hockey nostalgia at its highest, one of the most remarkable aspects of the alumni game between the Flyers and New York Rangers was the renewed appreciation fans displayed for Eric Lindros. It could be argued that Lindros drew the loudest pregame ovation on the applause meter from the crowd of 45,808 as the Flyers alumni defeated the New York Rangers, 3-1, Saturday at an emotion-filled Citizens Bank Park.

Thirty-two years after his Hall-of-Fame career ended, white-haired Bernie Parent pitched another shutout on Saturday. In a 5 minute, 32-second stint in which he stopped all six shots he faced - including one on Ron Duguay's breakaway - the 66-year-old Parent was a showstopper at the Winter Classic alumni game against the New York Rangers at electric Citizens Bank Park, sparking the Flyers' 3-1 victory. As he skated off the ice after his crowd-hugging appearance, chants of "Bernie, Bernie, Bernie" echoed around the sold-out, orange-clad ballpark.