In the mind's eye, the appropriate image to capture the core of the 1970s Flyers requires certain specific elements: There is a hockey player, helmetless. His hair is long and shaggy, and he might have a mustache that calls to mind the countenance of a bassist for, say, The Guess Who or Blue Oyster Cult. He lacks a full set of teeth; small stumps of white jut like askew fence posts from his gums. He wears the team's sweater, and the orange torso and the white sleeves and the black crest are blotched and streaked with blood.
This archetype defined a franchise that defined an era - from the Flyers' back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1974 and '75 to their flag-defending victory over the Soviet Red Army Team in 1976, from their rise in the decade's early years to their establishment as a perennial contender as the 1980s approached.