DEADLINE: Rob Zombie will write, direct and produce Broad Street Bullies, a film about the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team that evolved from a cellar-dwelling expansion team into a team that racked up victories and penalty minutes in equal measure during the 1970s. Zombie, known for his head-banging music before transitioning to genre films like House Of 1000 Corpses and Halloween, is making a departure with this film, sort of, because the Flyers’ brutal style of play is genre-worthy and has the makings for a hockey film on the order of the 1977 sports film classic Slap Shot. […] Zombie got the rights to the team’s story and has the full support of the Flyers organization. He likened the tone of the tale to Rocky meets Boogie Nights on ice. “Each character involved is more outrageous than the next,” Zombie said. “The backdrop of the turbulent year of 1974 is perfect for this ‘stranger than fiction’ sports tale.” Former Flyers great and team senior vice president Clarke is appropriately stoked. “The great Rob Zombie making a drama feature film about the Broad Street Bullies is exciting and thrilling for all of us! I look forward to seeing it.” MORE

NEW YORK TIMES: In HBO’s new documentary, “Broad Street Bullies,” there are 153 images of brawls, nearly all ignited by the 1970s Philadelphia Flyers; 15 clear depictions of blood; 23 shots of mouths lacking teeth; and 25 oral references to Flyers-style brutality — from “baddest animal in the hockey jungle” to “a fine line between talent and terror.”  “Broad Street Bullies” depicts hockey the way Hannibal Lecter might have coached it, but with beers instead of Chianti. MORE

USA TODAY: Nearly four decades after the Broad Street Bullies roamed the ice, the muscled-up moniker still has a loose affiliation with the Philadelphia Flyers. But there was only one true group of Bullies. “We made everyone fear us and then we went out and beat them,” enforcer Dave “The Hammer” Schultz said. He could be talking about on the scoreboard or when the Flyers dropped their gloves. The 1970s Broad Street Bullies did more than bust and bloody some chops. They slugged their way into the consciousness of the NHL and hoisted a pair of Stanley Cups in celebration at the end. “We were the best thing that happened to the National Hockey League,” Schultz said. “Some might disagree. But we created a lot of excitement in the franchises that were existing then.” The Bullies will be celebrated in the documentary “Broad Street Bullies.”  It’s the first NHL documentary ever aired by the premium cable network. MORE

INQUIRER: Wearing a No. 24 Ryan Callahan Rangers jersey, Neal Auricchio [NOT pictured, above, that’s Bobby Clark in the 70s] stands surrounded by Flyers fans. He appears as a small man with his hands out, as if trying to play peacemaker. A man who looks to have about a one-foot height advantage on him removes his dark coat with white fur trim, uncovering his No. 28 Claude Giroux Flyers jersey. He shoves Auricchio, who still has his hands out, and then throws a punch. Auricchio throws back, punching up, but is quickly overwhelmed when a man in a No. 68 Jaromir Jagr jersey begins punching him, too. The two hit Auricchio about a dozen times as he lies on the ground. When a Flyers fan tries to pull them off Auricchio, the man with No. 28 and two other men begin to beat another Rangers fan. When Auricchio stumbles to that man’s aid, No. 28 blindsides him with a punch, knocking him to the ground unconscious. Some people yell, “Enough! Enough!” and, “Easy!” Someone else yells, “Go to sleep!” No. 68 then kicks Auricchio. No. 28 steps over him and picks up his fur-trimmed coat. MORE

DAILY NEWS: Police confirmed that the main victim was an off-duty Woodbridge, N.J., cop who is an Iraqi war vet. Nodiff said that the officer had suffered a concussion and required numerous stitches. The whites of his eyes are filled with blood and his entire face is black-and-blue, Nodiff said. “He sustained a very brutal beating,” Nodiff said. Last night, the Newark Star-Ledger identified the off-duty cop on its website, nj.com, as Neal Auricchio Jr., 30, and reported that he was awarded the Purple Heart in 2007 after surviving a sniper’s attack in Iraq. Auricchio “won Woodbridge’s ‘Hero Award’ in the same year and was praised by colleagues for his work as a police officer and volunteer firefighter in Middlesex County,” the report said. MORE