Alumni game gets Flyers' Cup legends back on ice

VOORHEES, N.J. -- Reggie Leach said he knows just how things are going to go when he reunites with linemates Bob Clarke and Bill Barber on Dec. 31 for the Molson Canadian 2012 NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game.
 
"We're not going to change a thing, Billy and I," Leach told NHL.com. "We're just going to dump the puck in and let Clarkie get it and we'll wait in front."
 
Some things never change.
 
There were a lot of smiles on and off the ice as five members of the Flyers' last Stanley Cup championship team got on the Virtua Flyers Skate Zone ice together Thursday morning, skating easy laps, taking shots and loosening up skating muscles that long have been dormant.
 
"I haven't really skated in close to 10 years," Barber told NHL.com.
 
Clarke, Barber and Leach were joined by goalie Bernie Parent and center Orest Kindrachuk, all of whom were members of Philadelphia's Stanley Cup wins in 1974 and 1975. Leach joined the team for the '75 Cup run.
 
"Everybody has different lives," Leach said. "It's always nice to get together with the guys after a while. We went all our separate ways. … It's something that I think getting all the decades together and that, it's going to be wonderful."
 
"It doesn't happen very often," Clarke told NHL.com. "At our age, it may not happen again in our lifetime to be able to spend some time with the guys that won a Stanley Cup together."
 
The trio of Leach, Clarke and Barber were nicknamed the LCB Line, and led the Flyers to the '75 Cup title and back to the Final in 1976.

But Dec. 31 will mark the first time the trio is together in a competitive setting since 1987, when all three skated together as part of the Relive the Dream Series, a traveling reunion tournament of the Canada and Russia teams that played in the 1972 Canada-Russia Summit Series.
 
"It's exciting," Barber told NHL.com. "Probably as exciting as anyone could ever want. They're great guys, great teammates. We had some success together. … It's great to see and hang out with those guys."
 
While the moves now are a bit slower and the skating strides a bit shorter, there were flashes of the golden days. The 61-year-old Leach, who scored a Flyers-record 61 goals in 1975-76, showed why he was known as "Reggie The Rifle" during his playing days.
 
"He showed me a couple things," Parent told NHL.com. "I said, 'Reggie, go easy on me.' Now I know how (Ken) Dryden felt."
 
The 66-year-old Parent originally wasn't going to play in the alumni game, but said fan interest convinced him to strap on the pads one more time.
 
"It's cool," he said. "It's a lot of fun. At the same time, you have to be realistic. You go out there, of course you do your best, you have fun, you prepare for it and then just go out and enjoy the excitement with the crowd, the players, being outdoors, the whole bit. That's what it's all about."
 
Parent said his personal highlight came near the end of the 60-minute practice.
 
"I asked the boys, the four of them, the last four rounds, five shots each," Parent said. "To have Clarkie, Reggie, Billy and Orest to shoot five shots each? Doesn't get any better than that."
 
Contact Adam Kimelman at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @NHLAdamK