By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
For the past several days, the Flyers have teased an “intruder” to Wells Fargo Center renovations with a series of videos posted to the team’s social media accounts. It didn’t take long to figure out what it was.
When the Lehigh Valley Phantoms made the move to Allentown, a similar tease was made over the eventual announcement of their mascot, Melvin.
Only once before in the team’s 52-year history have the Flyers had a mascot. In 1976, they debuted a mascot named Slapshot, but it was short-lived. To this day, it has remained the only mascot in franchise history.
Until now.
The Flyers unveiled a new team mascot at Please Touch Museum on Monday, named Gritty.
Gritty will be appearing at all Flyers home games this season.
From the Flyers website:
“His father was a ‘bully,’ so naturally he has some of those tendencies — talented but feisty, a fierce competitor, known for his agility given his size. He's loyal but mischievous; the ultimate Flyers fan who loves the orange and black, but is unwelcoming to anyone who opposes his team. Legend has it he earned the name ‘Gritty’ for possessing an attitude so similar to the team he follows.
“He claims that he's been around for a lot longer than we know it, and recent construction at the Wells Fargo Center disturbed his secret hideout forcing him to show his face publicly for the first time. He has some oddities that are both humorous and strange. A number of times he's been caught eating snow straight from the Zamboni machine, and unbeknown to most, his love of hot dogs has been inflating the Flyers Dollar Dog Night consumption totals for years.
“That being said, there's no denying that he's one of our own.”
Join us in welcoming the newest member of the #Flyers Family, @GrittyNHL!!
Learn more about Gritty: https://t.co/eQRwTtD54w pic.twitter.com/njHQO1824b
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) September 24, 2018
Gritty makes his debut at Wells Fargo Center on Monday night as the Flyers host the Boston Bruins.
