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Fansided

Philadelphia Flyers: Were Fans Wrong To Throw Bracelets?

By George Kondoleon

Apr 18, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Members of the Philadelphia Flyers Ice Crew pick up wristband that were thrown onto the ice during the third period against the Washington Capitals in game three of the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Wells Fargo Center. The Capitals defeated the Flyers, 6-1. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 18, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Members of the Philadelphia Flyers Ice Crew pick up wristband that were thrown onto the ice during the third period against the Washington Capitals in game three of the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Wells Fargo Center. The Capitals defeated the Flyers, 6-1. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Philadelphia Flyers honored the late Ed Snider before Monday night’s Game 3 against the Washington Capitals, giving fans light-up bracelets that found their way to the ice.

Game 3 did not go as planned. The Philadelphia Flyers find themselves in 3-0 hole after being blown out by the Washington Capitals. Now the fanbase is under scrutiny for throwing Ed Snider commemorative bracelets onto the ice in frustration, stopping the game.

The night was full of ups and downs and the ruthless fans of Philadelphia let their Flyers team know their distain with how the game and the series were going. Let’s do a walk through of the night to fully appreciate its uniqueness.

Ed Snider Ceremony

The Philadelphia Flyers kicked off the night with a beautiful ceremony for the late owner and founder of the team, Ed Snider. A magnificent display involving lights and a video tribute got the fans riled up for the game and ready for a win. The crowd lit up with a mixture of light up-bracelets and overhead lighting, and it created something special.

The Game

The Philadelphia Flyers were motivated by the Ed Snider tribute, as Michael Raffl kicked off the game scoring in the first minute and putting the team up 1-0.

The Capitals responded 4 minutes later, and the team never looked back. After tying the game 1-1 on a tip-in by Marcus Johansson, Alex Ovechkin put his team ahead with a wrist shot and the Caps went into the 3rd period with a lead over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Here’s where things got ugly. The 3rd period was the Caps’ way of showing their dominance as the team scored 4 goals in the period, winning the game 6-1.

Throwing of Snider bracelets

After Ovechkin’s second goal of the night to put the Capitals in a 5-1 lead, the fans of the Philadelphia Flyers were no longer having it. They started to throw their bracelets onto the ice, causing a delay of game penalty and showing unsympathetic embarrassment. Ovechkin and Wayne Simmonds both pleaded with fans to stop with no avail.

“Typical, Philly” was the sentiment from social media, and they’re right. Listen, is it a surprise that Philadelphia Flyers fans did this? No. It’s Philly. We throw snowballs at santa, we throw batteries at J.D. Drew. This shouldn’t be a surprise, Philadelphia fans will show you love when you’re winning and try to bring down the world when you’re not.

More from Philadelphia Flyers

The fans were not right to throw bracelets, but it’s understandable why they did it. The Philadelphia Flyers were supposed to come out and give a tough performance for their late owner. Even if it wasn’t a win, at least make it competitive. The Flyers failed in that. As Simmonds said, it was “[expletive] embarassing” to see the fans throw bracelets, but it was also terrible to see a team perform that badly.

Fans wanted to show the team they had been embarrassing on Monday night, but in turn embarrassed themselves. This is just about throwing the bracelets. Not about the fans booing Brooks Orpik after suffering a hit to the head earlier, it’s not about flipping of the camera on national TV, it’s about throwing the bracelets that were meant to remember the late Ed Snider.

We ask how is this different from throwing hats when a player scores a hat trick? The tradition of throwing hats celebrating someone’s achievement is worlds different than throwing the bracelets commemorating a man who just passed out of frustration. This isn’t every fan, but a majority of Philadelphia Flyers showed insensitivity.

Next: Playing For More Than The Cup

Again, this shouldn’t be surprising to anyone, but it doesn’t mean it’s right. To the Philadelphia Flyers fans who don’t behave this way, you must continue to ward off comments from other fans that Philly fans are classless. But this time it’ll be harder to claim that there are more good fans than bad.

Don’t “stay classy, Philadelphia”. We aren’t classy, we are gritty. Let’s at least be respectful.

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