Shortest Flyer Still Measures Up

Philadelphia Flyers right wing Pat Falloon always looks up to his teammates.

Listed generously at 5-foot-11, Falloon - a former player with the Spokane Chiefs - is the shortest member of a Flyers’ team with an average height of 6 feet, 2 inches. Philadelphia is 2 inches taller than the Detroit Red Wings, their Stanley Cup final opponents, and the tallest team in the NHL this season.

“We’ve got some good size on this team, that’s for sure,” Falloon said, while standing in the team’s locker room with 6-foot-6, 233-pound defenseman Kjell Samuelsson and 6-foot-4, 236-pound center Eric Lindros.

After 5-foot-10 center Rob DiMaio left Philadelphia in the September 1996 waiver draft, Falloon became the only Flyers’ player under 6 feet. That led to some jokes from teammates.

“(DiMaio) was a little shorter than I was, so he used to get all the ribbing,” the 24-year-old Falloon said. “But since he’s gone now, I’m on the receiving end a little more.”

While he’s short by Philadelphia standards, he’s not the smallest player in the finals: Red Wings goaltender Mike Vernon and center Igor Larionov stand 5-foot-9, while right wing Doug Brown, left wing Slava Kozlov and backup goalie Chris Osgood are 5-foot-10. The average height in the NHL this season is 6-foot-1.

Falloon, who has three goals and an assist in 11 playoff games heading into Saturday’s opener of the best-of-7 Stanley Cup final, said being around his taller teammates hasn’t given him a complex.

“Being the smallest guy is all right, I can’t do anything about that,” he said.

Mostly, Falloon is just glad to have a chance at getting his name on the Stanley Cup alongside other diminutive players like 5-foot-6 Theo Fleury of the Calgary Flames and 5-foot-7 Henri Richard formerly of the Montreal Canadiens.