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Leaving Las Vegas (but not empty-handed) |
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I am at McCarren International Airport with five hours to wait until my red-eye flight heads out on the way to Philadelphia overnight. Before I turn my focus back to the Flyers and the NHL, I wanted to pass along some thoughts about the Flyers Warriors winning the championship in their first-ever trip to the USA Hockey Warrior Classic in Las Vegas.
Several weeks ago, when the Flyers Warriors had their training camp at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, concurrently with the NHL team's main camp, there was a special ceremony held in which Bob Clarke presented the Warriors' Jim Young with his captain's jersey and the two men swapped hats. Afterwards, the Warriors players were interviewed one-on-one by attending members of the media. In most cases, this was the first time the players had ever been interviewed for publication. Although these were veterans of active combat, there were definitely some initial jitters about the act of standing in front of cameras and recorders.
After the ceremony, one of my fellow media members remarked to me that the Warriors team was not quite what he expected beforehand. When he heard it was a team of wounded and disabled veterans, he was expecting it be a wheelchair hockey or sled hockey team.
All of the Flyers Warriors -- as well as every participant in the USA Hockey-affiliated Warrior hockey program -- must have a minimum of a 10 percent disability. In some cases, the disability is in plain sight, such as a DC Beltway Warriors player who plays wearing a special prosthetic leg with a skate attached.
In most cases, though, the disability doesn't present itself to the public in open sight. Many have other types of physical issues, such as Flyers Warriors forward Jason DiPietro (who has a pacemaker) and others who have issues such as bad backs or knee problems. Still they come out to practice every weekend at the Skate Zone in Pennsauken, and they look very much like any other hockey player when they are on the ice.
In many other cases, the wounds are internal: PTSD, various issues with anxiety, mood and anger management. There have frequently been issues with the transition back to civilian life after active service comes to an end. These are very serious disabilities, too, and inhibit the quality of life for the vets and families. The issues can also be harder for outsiders to comprehend because the disability is invisible and rarely discussed.
Virtually to a man, the Flyers Warriors say that their access to hockey and the support system that is their teammates has already been life-changing in a positive way. For Jim Young, who played a year of hockey in college before the call of duty brought him to the USMC, the military experience has brought him back to the game after it took him away from it many years ago. It's come full circle. For others, who are still relatively novice players, the time with the team on and off the ice has quickly become the thing they look forward to the most each week.
There is a good reason why so many retired NHL players -- including a host of Flyers Alumni -- have taken so strongly to supporting the Warrior hockey program. Many had their own issues at the end of their playing days, whether it be permanent injuries, vocational problems adjusting to life after organized hockey, family issues, financial issues, alcohol, or a host of other challenges. They often maintain a bond with other alumni players and they also have a bit of an understanding of some of the things -- only magnified by the experience of being in genuine combat and not just a sporting event -- the military vets have gone through.
In getting to meet and spend time with the Flyers Warriors, I saw right away that it was an amazing group of guys and tightly knit as a team. They were hyper-focused on bringing home the championship -- just a little hungrier, a little deeper across the bench, a little quicker, and a little better trained (the camp definitely helped from a stamina standpoint) than the opposition. In terms of sheer, competitiveness , they came ready to play. It really didn't surprise me when they went 5-0-0 across three days and ultimately won every game by multi-goal margins.
I expected it to unfold that way, because the team to a man clearly expected it from themselves. They had a champion's mentality that is hard to describe in words but easy to recognize when you see it. Even in the hard-fought championship game with the North Carolina Warriors, the Flyers side was the one that dug just a little deeper and struck back from three separate one goal deficits before going ahead and pulling away for a 7-3 win.
The post-game celebration was a whole lot of fun; the second championship locker room that I have been in (the first was the 2005 Philadelphia Phantoms Calder Cup team, and I covered the on-ice portion of Chicago's 2010 Stanley Cup celebration, fighting to separate the impartial job I had to do in blogging about the victors for the former Versus.com from the emotions I felt as a born-and-raised Flyers fan). This time, however, was the first that I actually felt like an extended part of the team itself.
The Warriors players presented me with a personalized sweatshirt -- the same that the players and coaches wore off-ice at all team-related functions throughout the tournament -- cheered when Jim Young handed mine to me and told me that they consider me one of them. I was honored and humbled. It was one of the biggest compliments I have ever been paid. Actually, I am proudly wearing it right now at the airport.
Finally, I want to say something about the bond that the Flyers Alumni have, across every generation of team history. Whether someone spent many years playing for the Flyers or just a brief time, the vast majority are very proud of having been part of the organization. I've seen that firsthand many times, whether it's via the distance that some travel to be part of the not-for-profit Flyers Alumni Association's most important yearly fundraising events that support local charities and community organizations or the sheer number of Flyers Alumni and their family members (both immediate and extended) who are active members on the Alumni's Facebook page.
On Sunday at City National Arena, recently retired goalie Mike McKenna (now a Vegas Golden Knights broadcaster) made sure he stopped by the Flyers Warriors locker room to wish the team well in the championship game. Flyers Alum defenseman Ryan McGill, now a Golden Knights assistant coach, stopped over after the Golden Knights practice to take in as much of the title game as he could before he had to leave for a coaches' meeting on the other side.
That is the type of loyalty that the late Ed Snider forged in his organization: players were thrilled to come to Philly and hated to leave. It's what Chris Therien was talking about his first "Therien's Take" blog this season, about the importance of team identity and personal investment, and why the Flyers were never "just another team" among players themselves. Even if they hated the Flyers as rivals, the brand itself carried a lot of respect; even when it was given grudgingly.
The same thing is already starting to happen with the Flyers Warriors. There is some envy among other teams about the advantages the team has had -- substantial backing from the Flyers, a veteran of 1,000+ NHL games as its head coach, professional-looking uniforms, a corporate sponsor (Toyota) for their unies and training camp expenses, and the NHL-like camp itself. There are some who mistake the team's level of confidence and hint of swagger as arrogance rather than one of mutual commitment throughout the roster.
To my way of thinking, the Flyers Warriors should be considered the model for building a Warriors team. Let the other NHL teams who lend their names and logos to Warrior teams raise their own games to where the Flyers have in making a complete commitment. Let the other NHL organizations that have yet to adopt a local team of disabled vets take that first step and do so.
The Flyers Warriors have plenty to be proud of, and winning is nothing for which to apologize. In less than a year, the Flyers Warriors program has grown to the point where they actually could have iced a second team in the tournament, even with having five forward lines playing in Vegas. This past weekend, 15 other Flyers Warriors turned out in Pennsauken for their regular practice. Four new players, including a couple who have previous hockey experience and a lot of promise moving ahead, were just added within the past couple weeks.
In talking with Jim Young during the postgame celebration, he said that the team's next goal is to push to compete in the upper-level tournament, featuring more experienced teams, and to take aim at unseating the 2019 Tier 1 one champion Dallas Warriors. He said it with the sort of quiet confidence that he exudes.
A final story to share before I end this blog and shift gears back to the Flyers' NHL team. On the way back from the First National Arena, championship banner in hand, the Flyers Warriors bus stopped at the famous Las Vegas welcome sign to pose for a final team photo. There was a very long line of people waiting for their turn. However, when people heard the Warriors were a hockey team of disabled vets who had just won a national tournament, the players and coaches were told to go right to the front. No one objected, and there were congratulations and high-fives from some in the line.
It was a hero's welcome -- a champion's welcome -- and it couldn't have been given to a more deserving group of men and hockey players.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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