Turn off the alarm clock, turn on the coffee machine and run a thumbnail over the skateblades.
It’s time for the Flyers to wake up and get ready for another pre-game morning skate.
Or is it?
When the Flyers hired John Tortorella to be their new head coach, there was a feeling the days of rolling out of bed to continue the aforementioned ritual were about to end.
And, in the truest sense of the intention, they have.
But even though Tortorella has made the 20-minute session optional on all but one or two occasions, at least a half-dozen players show up all the time, possibly because they are so used to the “routine.’’
The history of the A.M. activity traces all the way back to the 1970s when Flyers assistant coach Mike Nykoluk convinced head coach Fred Shero that allowing players to skate in the morning might be a good idea.
Because the Flyers won their only two Stanley Cup championships in that timeframe, who was to argue?
Fast forward 40 years and Tortorella, making a coaching stop in Columbus, created headlines when he became the first bench boss to basically do away with the morning skate.
He’s tried to do the same in Philadelphia but there are a handful of stubborn players who insist on carrying on the tradition.
“I’ve actually done it once, to make it a mandatory skate,’’ Tortorella said on Wednesday morning at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees, N.J. “They go out on their own.
“I encourage them not to go out. You can’t tell them what to do when it comes to this. I’ve had one or two because we didn’t practice the prior day. So the amount of guys you see out there are kind of on their own.’’
Even a tight schedule doesn’t seem to have an effect on the hardcore faithful. The Flyers are in the midst of a period of more than a month when they play a game at least every other day.
“After every 10 o’clock meeting I ask for hands,’’ Tortorella said, “to see who’s going on the ice and I try to talk them out of it. Like (Noah) Cates. He goes out every morning. Why? Because he wants to. So I can’t argue that. He says he just feels more comfortable.’’
The Flyers do have a number of afternoon games on their schedule so there are days when a morning skate just isn’t feasible. But there might have been a few guys who were tempted on Black Friday when the Flyers hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins at 5:30 p.m.
“I have not changed my mind or had any more scheduled (mandatory) skates,’’ Tortorella said. “They just go out. I’ve expressed to them that the young guys don’t think when it’s an option – back in the old days when it was an option and you were a young player, you felt you had to go.
“I’ve defined what option means to them. But they still go. I think it’s a waste of time. I don’t think it helps you win a game in a morning skate. I think it hurts you during the game.’’
The other concern might be the length of the six-month, 82-game schedule. As the season hits the “dog days’’ of mid-winter, fatigue can become a factor.
“It’s not so much the physical energy of it,’’ the coach explained. “It’s just putting that uniform on. I don’t understand why you have to put the uniform on twice a day to play a hockey game.
“When you get into January and February, that’s when you start feeling it, putting the uniform twice on game day. It’s just monotonous, it’s just draining. To me it’s more mental. I have to tell them to get out of the rink. I want them out of the building.’’
Some coaches might think that’s a pleasant problem to have. Not Tortorella.
“It’s such a long season,’’ he said. “When you get to those dog days after Christmas, that’s when you start feeling it.’’
As for that old rink rat mentality, the coach isn’t buying it.
“That’s a bunch of bull,’’ he said. “I think they feel it’s a routine that they have to do it. I think players lock themselves into a routine. I am very simple in my thinking. Play the game as hard as you can.
“You put so much thought into all this stuff. The morning skate, the stretching, the taping of the stick, the time you do it. It controls you. I don’t agree with it but I lost that battle years ago. I can’t tell them what to do in that situation.’’
>Van Riemsdyk returns
Tortorella confirmed James van Riemsdyk will return for Wednesday night’s game against the Capitals. He missed 20 games due a fractured left index finger.
>Zamula’s situation
With Justin Braun playing well, it’s been difficult to keep rookie defenseman Egor Zamula in the lineup. While Tortorella could go to a seven-D setup, “Z” probably would only get seven or eight minutes of playing time, which isn’t productive. For the upcoming four-game road trip, it might be better to have him play full time with the Phantoms.
“I want to develop Z,’’ Tortorella said. “I think we need to develop him. You might see him stay back here (for the road trip), get a ton of minutes when we go on the trip. I think we’re going to bring another guy up so we have an extra D.’’
