Philadelphia sports fans have a reputation of, well, less-than-stellar behavior. There was the time Eagles fans threw snowballs at Santa, the time Phillies fans threw D batteries at J.D. Drew, and now we can add to the list the time Flyers fans threw promotional wristbands commemorating late owner Ed Snider onto the ice.
Last night, before a playoff game between the Flyers and the Washington Capitals, the Flyers handed out light-up wristbands for a pre-game tribute to Snider, who passed away last week following a battle with bladder cancer. Once the game became fairly one-sided (and ugly) in Washington’s favor, the Philly fans became upset, and started throwing the wristbands onto the ice.
Just look at it! The opening light show from tonight's #Flyers home playoff game #WSHvsPHI pic.twitter.com/esTSaPmgzw
— Wells Fargo Center (@WellsFargoCtr) April 18, 2016
The wristbands started flying following Flyers right wing Pierre-Edouard Bellemare’s ejection-earning hit on Washington’s Dmitry Orlov. While Orlov was receiving medical attention on the bench, one of the wristbands hit him in the face.
https://twitter.com/CSNCapitals/status/722260360917622789
From there, it only got worse. Flyers assistant captain Wayne Simmonds pleaded with fans to stop, and in-house announcer Lou Nolan prompted fans to “show some class” and disappointedly announced that the Flyers would be penalized for a delay of game as a result of the incident. The fans cheered while crew members shoveled the wristbands from the ice.
When you reply to my tweets with your bad opinions pic.twitter.com/1fXmRmn4IH
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) April 19, 2016
Simmonds told ESPN that he was disappointed in the fans’ reaction to an already ugly game.
“I know they’re upset in that situation, but that can’t happen,” Simmonds said to ESPN.
The series returns to Philadelphia tomorrow. Let’s hope whatever promotional item fans receive on the way in stays off the ice.
