The Philadelphia Flyers are currently on a season high four game winning streak and on Thursday they will try to continue the streak against the New York Islanders.
There may be no bigger fans of the Flyers than the hosts of the Preston and Steve Show on WMMR (93.3). Even though it is a morning show on a rock station the hosts regularly talk about the Flyers and have current and former players on the show.
‘We’re all big Flyers fans and they’re just more accessible. It seems like hockey players are more down-to-earth and as a result, easier to talk to,’ said Nick Mcllwain, one of the producers of the show. ‘We just find hockey players to be the friendliest athletes.’
The most recent Flyer on the show was goalie Rob Zepp who replaced the injured Steve Mason. During his stay with the Flyers, Zepp became a big Preston and Steve fan.
‘I was scanning through when we came to Philly and I found the rock station and I started listening to those guys in the morning,’ said Zepp. ‘I really enjoy their show and I like hearing about what they do in the community with the Camp Out For Hunger and what not’.
The Camp Out For Hunger campaign takes place each December and is promoted by Preston and Steve to collect food for Philabundance. This year over 420 tons of food was donated for this worthy cause. The week long event takes place in the parking lot of the Wells Fargo Center.
Preston and Steve also run promotions with the Flyers TV and radio announcers. Some times you might hear TV announcer Jim Jackson say something like ‘take a spin on the baby wheel’. It is part of a contest for listeners of the radio show.
‘Oh its lots of fun, they came to me with that idea four of five years ago,’ said Jackson. ‘There have been some interesting names, doohickey, jabroni, and all these other ones and you just have to figure out ways to get them in.’
‘The fans seem to have with it and if they have fun with it, I have fun with it,’ mentioned Jackson. ‘It’s an 82 game season you need to sometimes have a little fun and that’s part of it.’
Many people in the Delaware Valley are fans of both of the Flyers and the Preston and Steve show, including Jackson
‘They’re great! Watching them just in general with the way they deal with the public and they’re so popular,’ added Jackson. ‘Any time I go on there, if I’m on, my phone goes crazy or I get tons of emails and texts afterwards, so clearly they have a lot of popularity and it’s great! I love going on there. They have fun, they push the envelope and it’s a great show.’
Show producer Nick Mcllwain talked about what the Flyers need to do to have success in the second half of the season. ‘Clearly, they’ve missed Kimmo Timonen, especially on the penalty kill. It sounds simple, but if they want to have any actual success, they need to improve that part of their game.’
The Flyers have done exactly that during this four game winning streak. To start the streak they have killed off 12 of 13 penalties, including all 6 in a game against the Penguins to start the streak.
After hosting the Islanders on Thursday the Flyers travel to Washington on Sunday these are must win games if the Flyers hope to make the playoffs.
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