Coaches with local ties took inadvertent roads to Flyers' peewee team

As Ben Souders and Tyler Hostetter were chasing their hockey dreams, coaching was never in the plans.

But here they were Thursday, up before sunrise and journeying to snowy Montreal and Quebec City in February.

And loving it.

Loving the game from the coach’s perspective and leading the Flyers’ 12-year-olds for another trip to the Quebec International Peewee Hockey Tournament.

There’s a genuine passion for it — long bus rides, frigid temperatures and all.

“Oh, God yeah,” Souders, the head coach, said. “It’s awesome. We both look forward to it every year.”

A Downingtown, Pennsylvania product, Souders attended Drexel and New England College. He found the itch to play again at Drexel and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. At New England College, the forward suited up for three seasons and earned his master’s in clinical psychology.

“The end game was to be an NHL team’s sports psychologist,” Souders said. “But the road to climb those ranks is just unbelievably exhausting. Now I work in real estate and I actually got into real estate through a guy that I coached in hockey.”

Coaching sure has worked out.

For Hostetter, too.

The assistant coach from Lititz, Pennsylvania played at Warwick High School after coming up through the junior Flyers, Valley Forge Minutemen and Central Penn Panthers.

As an undrafted defenseman, Hostetter signed an entry-level contract with the Flyers in 2009, putting him on a potential path for the NHL. But he had to retire at just 23 years old.

“I had three concussions in three years of pro, so I shut her down,” Hostetter said. “It brought me here and I love coaching.”

The 34-year-old runs the junior Flyers programs at Ice Line in West Chester, Pennsylvania. That’s where Souders got his start in coaching after playing a couple of seasons for the SPHL's Knoxville Ice Bears.

“It’s interesting, my last year of playing pro, when I decided to not go back, I was like, ‘What am I going to do with myself?’” he said. “I knew a couple of people at Ice Line. I called one of my buddy’s and he said, ‘Well, you could start coaching if you want?’ I was like, ‘Eh, maybe, I was looking forward to a break.’ So he put me as an assistant coach with a squirt minor team at the time and I really just kind of never looked back.”

The 37-year-old grew up watching the “Legion of Doom,” the Flyers’ iconic line of John LeClair, Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg.

“Those were my guys,” Souders said. “I had posters of them all over my room.”

He still sees LeClair play from time to time for a men’s league in Havertown, Pennsylvania.

“You can tell he used to play, for sure,” Souders said. “You can also tell he loves taking slap shots because he still does it.”

Hostetter liked the Mighty Ducks as a kid. His cousin took him to a game when Anaheim visited the Capitals.

“That was with Steve Rucchin, Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya,” Hostetter said. “That line, I fell in love with hockey, that was kind of my team. And then when the Flyers signed me, I obviously switched gears from there.”

With the classic hockey movie “Miracle” playing in the background on the bus, Souders and Hostetter expressed their gratitude for Rob Baer. Each year, the peewee trip is spearheaded by Baer, the Flyers’ senior director of community relations and hockey development.

“He sets everything up,” Hostetter said, “and lets us just coach.”

Which is what both were eventually meant to do.

“Rob’s a rockstar,” Souders said. “It doesn’t work without Rob. For me, if Rob wasn’t here doing what he does, I probably wouldn’t do it.”