Semborski's drive from Voorhees to his home in Manayunk, Pennsylvania, to get his goaltending equipment and then back to Wells Fargo Center took him about an hour with traffic.
"Got here fast as I could, in my street clothes," he said. "No time to put on a tie."
Along the way he called his parents, who live in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. Joe Semborski, Eric's father, got a special present on his 58th birthday.
"I had to tell him three times," Eric said. His father didn't believe him.
Semborski got to the locker room about 12:30 p.m. Darling said he and his teammates made Semborski feel welcome the best way they could; they razzed him for being late to the game. But no fine.
"We let him slide," Darling said.
Semborski quickly put on his gear, including one of Crawford's No. 50 jerseys with Semborski's name sewed on, and went out for warmups.
"I was a bit rusty," he said. "But no matter how much I play, I'm not going to be ready for them. It was fast and I couldn't even catch my breath because I was just trying to take it all in. … Playing against the best guys in the world, I knew I wasn't going to stop most of them. I was lucky if it hit me."
He did make a save on Patrick Kane, last season's NHL scoring leader, on one of the final shots.
"That was pretty cool," he said. "I'll remember that one."
While Semborski was having his moment, his former Temple teammates were playing against Lehigh University.
"I think at first I had to read it a couple times to really kind of believe it," said Ryan Dumbach, the team president and a defenseman. "You know you've got the joke of going from club to the NHL, but today somebody actually got to do it. (It) was (a) pretty surreal experience to see one of your old teammates be dressed in an NHL lineup."
Semborski said he never thought he'd get into the game Saturday, but Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said he thought about putting him in during the second period.
"That probably would have been a big mistake," Semborski said with a laugh.
Quenneville pulled Darling with 1:31 remaining in the third period for an extra attacker, and after the game told Semborski that if the Flyers had scored he would have gone in to finish the game.
"That would have been so cool," he said. "(I) wouldn't change a thing though."
Semborski said he got a few autographed pucks, a Blackhawks hat, and a promise that they will send him a jersey. He won't get any money, but he said that didn't matter.
"I signed some stuff when I came in, but I don't know what it was," he said. "Really, I'm happy with a hat and the memories. This is so cool."
