It has been 38 years since the Flyers won the Stanley Cup and "no one is more frustrated than" Flyers Chair Ed Snider, according to Sam Carchidi of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. He said that there were "extenuating circumstances surrounding the abbreviated, 48-game season." Snider: "I don't want this to sound like excuses because all teams had a shortened schedule and just a one-week training camp. Some teams did well (the previous season) and were happy with their system. We got knocked out by New Jersey in the second round, and New Jersey dominated, and I think the coach wanted to tweak the system." He added, "We ended up with the worst schedule in the league. At one point, we played 20 games, and Boston had played 15 (actually, 14). You already have a compressed schedule, and ours was compressed more than anyone else's. And when you have tweaking, no practices, and a bad start, we never recovered." Snider continued, "Our fans love the game and know we're trying hard every year to get better. Fans aren't stupid. They know when an organization is doing everything possible and when it's not. They probably wouldn't support us if we weren't working our butts off" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 5/5).
