SAN JOSE — Garnet Hathaway has seen the clip. It was his brother-in-law who forwarded the brief, seven-second video of him looking Louie Belpedio squarely in the eyes while sitting next to the defenseman on the bench, and then promptly throwing his left arm around and squeezing the 27-year-old who had scored his first NHL goal moments earlier against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday.
It was, in an adjective not often used to describe tough and burly fourth-liner Hathaway, adorable. And although Belpedio may have a tough time sticking on the roster when everyone else on the blue line gets healthy, it was just the latest example of this Flyers group acting as if, yeah, they all do seem to enjoy each other on and off the ice.
“I know the path he’s had to get to that point,” said Hathaway, referencing Belpedio’s career spent mostly in the AHL. “The whole room is excited for him.
“There’s a lot of great energy in this room. Supportive energy. Guys are cheering for the guys next to them and want that guy to be successful. That goes (for) off the ice, too. We enjoy spending time with each other.”
Not that they’ve had much choice. The Flyers held a team getaway after training camp, which included a round of golf at TPC Jasna Polana in Princeton, N.J., followed by dinner and a night out in New York City. Then they began the season with a two-game road trip to Columbus and Ottawa, and a week later they were off to Dallas and Vegas for six days.
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