(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Labor Day weekend may be more than just the unofficial end of the summer. It also means hockey season is right around the corner.
When the preseason schedule was released, it showed that the first taste of Flyers hockey would come on Sept. 17 in a Sunday afternoon matinee against the Islanders. But Flyers fans are in for a treat with their real first exposure to the team this upcoming season.
The Flyers announced a rookie game against the Islanders to be held at Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday, Sept. 13, with tickets being free on a first-come, first-serve basis. The tickets released upon the “sale” date of Aug. 22 were gone within four hours.
More tickets will possibly be released as the event comes closer.
While understanding that the concept of free tickets and parking to an event would certainly influence a lot of people to purchase, the Flyers held a rookie game in 2011 at Wells Fargo Center that was attended by over 10,000 fans. So this kind of reaction is nothing new. But it is also a testament to Flyers fans and their excitement for the future.
The Flyers future has really been bright for several years now. While the product on the ice in the last few seasons hasn’t produced too much — the team has missed the playoffs in three of the last five seasons — the Flyers have also been praised for their drafts in the last four years, selecting players like Travis Sanheim, Ivan Provorov, Travis Konecny, German Rubtsov and more.
That went to a whole different level this offseason when the Flyers were awarded the second overall pick in the draft lottery and able to select Nolan Patrick. They made trades in the draft, back into the first round to select Morgan Frost and again in the second round to select Isaac Ratcliffe. They have a highly-regarded goalie prospect in Carter Hart.
With the exception of Provorov and Konecny, who already have their NHL rookie seasons under their belts, the idea of seeing all of these players on the ice at one time was a no-brainer for Flyers fans.
Crowds flock to SkateZone in Voorhees in the heat of July just to see recent draft picks. The idea of seeing all of these players in game action right as the preseason begins is only more tantalizing.
Flyers fans have long-suffered watching teams come close but falling short of claiming the Stanley Cup over the years and the idea of rebuilding isn’t one that goes over well with the Philadelphia fanbase. But this is an understanding fanbase at this point. They see how things are coming together and the pieces of the future that are in place to make this team a contender. And they want to see them up close.
So in September, before the preseason games begin and three weeks from the Flyers regular-season opener, fans will come in droves to watch a bunch of kids with a lot of potential that are supposed to be the bright future of the Flyers.
Yeah, Flyers fans are crazy about the future, and that’s hardly a surprise, given the work GM Ron Hextall has done to start the Flyers back on the path to contention.
