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From growing up as a @NHLFlyers fan to wearing the Orange & Black, Porter Martone feels like he belongs in Philly: “In my bedroom back home in Peterborough, I’ve got these sticks up on my wall. They have little pegs attached to them. Every time I won a medal at a junior hockey tournament I’d hang them from there, and I’d fall asleep looking at them. Since I was four, all I’ve ever wanted was to keep filling up those pegs. When one of my teams would win something I’d think, Yeah, that’ll look just right on my wall. I get that same kind of energy from everybody in Philly. I felt it as soon as I got here. You guys are the kind of people who hang stuff up on your walls, right? The game room or the basement or wherever. Trophies everywhere. Newspapers framed everywhere. This is just a city of winners. I love it. People who hate to lose, who feel sick to their stomach when they lose. Those are my people. I felt all of that when I joined the team last spring before the playoffs started. It was crazy because like 12 hours after my season ended with Michigan State, everything happened. All of a sudden I’m talking to my agent. Then I’m signing my contract. Then I’m on a flight. Then I’m pulling on a Flyers jersey and I’m catching myself staring at Ovi during warmups. Then I’m flipping a puck over the glass, in like my third shift ever. Then I’m sitting in the penalty box. What just happened….? It felt like yesterday I was watching Hockey Night in Canada with my dad in our living room. My dad is my hero. He was drafted in ’96 by the Sabres but never quite made it to the NHL. He was a great player. But I mostly remember him as the architect of our beautiful rink out on the pond behind our house. That was the place. The place. Man, I think, if I have an ODR and a puck, I can be happy for a long, long time. Our pond was like a gathering spot for everyone in the neighbourhood. Boxing Day was a special time on our street. A bunch of families would come over to our place. Mom and her friends would cook meatballs and pastas and the Crock-Pots would be running all day. The smell…. Legendary. And we’d get a big, like, 20 vs 20 going out on the pond. We’d pop back in the house to watch World Juniors, then we’d be back out there. Remember how I said I feel at home in a Flyers jersey? That’s because I was a Flyers fan growing up!!!.... When I came down to see the Flyers play when I was eight, Giroux had the C. He was my guy, too. Him and Wayne Simmonds. They were so cool to me. Giroux always seemed so connected to the fans, to the city. People still talk about him here. I think that's the same thing with Coots.” playerstribu.ne/Martone