My son, Connor, has been fortunate enough the last two hockey seasons to have been selected as a participant in the Philadelphia Flyers Intermission Shootout Competition. The Flyers choose various youth hockey programs from throughout the local area to compete. This bracket-style tournament provides the players the opportunity to show their skills in front of a large crowd at a Flyers game.
The only problem that my son and I really encounter during this event is that we are not Flyers fans. In fact, we are supporters of maybe the Flyers’ most hated rival: the New York Rangers. My son, who happens to play goalie, even sports a Rangers mask down to the NYR logo, Statue of Liberty, and Empire State Building.
I am not really sure what my thought process was, but I decided to wear my Mike Richter Rangers jersey to the game my son was going to be competing in. There was a part of me that thought a Richter jersey would be benign. Richter grew up right outside of Philadelphia (Flourtown, Pa.), played on a few United States Olympic teams, and also starred on the 1996 United States team, leading the team to a victory in the World Cup of Hockey. I believed the local kid, since retired, that wore the uniform of his country would outweigh the negative of playing for the hated Rangers.
I was wrong.
This is not a story bashing Philadelphia fans for their abuse of opposing fans. That story has been overdone. Oh, believe me, I heard more than a few verbal jabs as my son and I headed to the locker room for him to get dressed for his second period intermission performance. A person has to expect those kinds of things when they wear the opponent’s jersey. No need to get physical, but a little good-natured ribbing is what makes people sports fanatics.
As my son and his teammate along with their two opponents for the evening started to dress, former Flyers player Bob “The Hound” Kelly entered the room. Even though I am not a Flyers fan, I have always followed hockey so I recognized Kelly right away. As Kelly walked toward the boys, the first thought that entered my mind was, “My God why did I wear this Rangers jersey?” Kelly was a hard-nosed player on those Stanley Cup-winning Broad Street Bullies teams, as evident by Kelly’s 1,400-plus career penalty minutes.
Kelly stopped before reaching the first boy, turned and looked at me, saying loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, “Who let this guy in here?”
Thankfully, I’m usually pretty quick with a comeback, so stammering a bit I said, “Mr. Kelly, if I knew you were going to meet the boys, I definitely would not have worn this shirt.”
Kelly chuckled, extended his hand, and said, “I’m just glad you are a hockey fan”.
Kelly went on to talk briefly about the battles his Flyers teams would have against the mid-1970 Rangers. I was only about 10 years old at the time, but I do remember enough to know those teams actually did despise one another. That type of physical game is probably what most drew me to the sport.
After posing for a few pictures, Kelly left the boys with autographed pucks. But what I took most from that night was Kelly’s genuine appreciation for the hockey fan. Most current and former hockey players just seem to get it when it comes to dealing with the fans.
he appreciation that the player has is one of the biggest reasons that the hockey fan remains the most loyal of all fan bases.