On Monday night the Flyers and their fans intended to honor founder Ed Snider, who died last Tuesday due to bladder cancer. The organization gave away bracelets and painted Snider’s initials behind the goals. Lauren Hart, the team’s longtime anthem singer, sang “God Bless America” with Snider’s name and 67 on the back of her team jersey (the team’s first season was 1967-68).
But Flyers fans, some of whom had reportedly been tailgating since the early afternoon, showed boorish behavior that only got worse as the the President Trophy-winning Capitals humbled the home team in the third period.
It was undignified. It was an embarrassment. It was– as Al Koken best put it– a “clown show.”
Let’s recap.
Before warm-ups even began, one Flyers fan went down to the glass by the Caps bench and taunted Braden Holtby.
(Holtby saved 31 of 32 shots, bringing his series sv% to .978.)
Before puck drop, a moment of silence held for Ed Snider was interrupted by a fan yelling f-bombs at the Capitals.
During moment of silence for Snider, one fan yells out, "F— you Caps!" and someone else responds "F— you, Ovechkin!"
— Zac Boyer (@ZacBoyer) April 18, 2016
So this was the moment of silence @NHLFlyers that was ruined tonight. It was a bad night all around pic.twitter.com/XLO0Vq4ofV
— Cindy Webster (@CindyWeb94) April 19, 2016
As the second period began, one Flyers fan flipped off the Capitals bench for a photo.
Not long after, Brooks Orpik got injured after a heavy hit by Ryan White. As Orpik was helped to the locker room, Philadelphia fans booed him.
It only got worse from there.
When John Carlson put the Caps up 4-1, fans filed for the exits, giving up on their team.
With under eight minutes left to go, Flyers forward Pierre-Édouard Bellemare checked Dmitry Orlov headfirst into the boards. Fans responded by throwing their complimentary bracelets on the ice.
One bracelet hit Dmitry Orlov on the cheek while he was getting medical attention on the bench.
The Flyers PA Announcer Lou Nolan pleaded with fans to stop throwing their bracelets on the ice. “Have some class,” he told them.
They didn’t. Fans threw beers.
https://twitter.com/Chris_Gordon/status/722236707530256388
After they were warned, Flyers fans continued throwing trash on the ice, forcing officials to call a bench minor against the Flyers. “You’ve done it now,” said an exasperated Lou Nolan.
Now Lou Nolan is downright pissed. STOP THROWING BRACELETS!!!! pic.twitter.com/zkxrnNgdPM
— Cindy Webster (@CindyWeb94) April 19, 2016
Here’s Mike Richards knocking a bracelet away from center ice.
Even Flyers players got frustrated with the fans.
Wayne Simmonds called Flyers fans “fucking embarrassing” after they got a delay of game penalty pic.twitter.com/942z6oaQAD
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) April 19, 2016
After the game, “Embarrassing” was trending in Phildelphia.
'embarrassing' is now trending in #Philadelphia https://t.co/Wbb75kbGlk
— Trendsmap Philly (@TrendsPhilly) April 19, 2016
What a disgrace.
RMNB is not associated with the Washington Capitals; Monumental Sports, the NHL, or its properties. Not even a little bit.
All original content on russianmachineneverbreaks.com is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)– unless otherwise stated or superseded by another license. You are free to share, copy, and remix this content so long as it is attributed, done for noncommercial purposes, and done so under a license similar to this one.
Share On