It Was Quite An Emotional Day Yesterday At Flyers Training Camp

Photo Credit: Katelynn Reiss

It was quite the emotional day yesterday on day 2 of Flyers training camp. Kevin Hayes spoke earlier in the morning, as he lead a tearful remembrance of his late brother Jimmy Hayes:

“Everyone knows what happened,” Hayes said. “It has been a tough month. Life is fragile. It’s never fun to lose someone who is your best friend, someone you looked up to, and paired with you for your whole life. You’ve seen in tributes with so much going on around the hockey world. My brother was a special person. He touched a lot of lives. He really enjoyed life and enjoyed helping others. It sucks that he’s gone. It happened way too fast. I’ll never forget him, obviously. I’ve been dreading this conversation with you guys, but there are some people I truly would like to thank. The hockey world is an impressive community. It’s been crazy with the amount of people that have reached out to myself and my family. The amount of people who showed up to the services was incredible. Some people that were very close with my brother, who I didn’t even know that are in the hockey world, reached out and sent flowers to my family. There’s definitely some people I would like to thank: Chuck and AV have been tremendous through all this. They sent a team bus up to the services and it was incredible to see the support from them. Brian Burke, who’s with the Penguins right now, basically reached out every day to check how I’m doing. He, unfortunately, lost his son, so he’s been helping me through a lot of stuff. Just seeing people like P.K. Subban, Patrick Maroon, Ryan McDonaugh, Shattenkirk. G was up there. Brauner, Joel, Keith Yandle, Chris Wagner. Just a lot of people. People I didn’t know reached out like Sidney Crosby and Landeskog. It’s been incredible, the support. It shows when we’re on the ice. It is truly a battle. We want to win every game, but the hockey community is a really special community. It goes much further than playing against each other on the ice. I was totally taken back with the support I received. There are some people, to this day, that check in.”

Hayes continued, “I kind of got away from your question. To answer your question: it’s going to be weird stepping on the ice for the first time knowing that my brother is not going to be there. He was my biggest reporter. If I had a bad game, it was A.V.’s fault, not mine. If I wasn’t playing a lot of minutes, he wanted to talk to A.V. and Chuck. It’s something that I’ll miss. It’s something that I think will really push me this year. When I’m having bad days or bad games or not playing up to how the fans want me to, I’ll probably just think of my brother. He’ll, hopefully, push me through. It’s going to be weird for sure. I don’t think my life will be the same, honestly. It is really nice to be in Philly with these guys, being around the team, and being here with you guys.”

Kevin didn’t have to speak at all. In fact, he could of waited until he was recovered from his injury to speak. However, Hayes wanted to get this off his back, and move on, which is understandable as one can only imagine how he’s feeling.

Hayes is the heartbeat of the locker room. He wants to remain around camp even though he’s injured, so he could be around the guys. Again one can only imagine what he’s going through, and we found out yesterday from Keith Yandle he does not like being alone.

Alain Vigneault

The second part of an emotional day was Oskar Lindblom. Lindblom apparently had a scan earlier in the day, and it turns out ‘He is cancer free‘. This is great news for such an inspiring young man.

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Vigneault spoke to the media yesterday and he ended the press conference saying with a thumbs up, “Oskar had a scan done today, he’s cancer free.”

The microphone dropped (Joking), but that was one heck of a moment of jubilation. I think Vigneault also gave a fist pump in there too. Whatever it was this is the best type of news everyone could of gotten yesterday, and it gave the room a much needed lift.

Honestly, I have never been part of anything like this, but to partake in these two events really puts things in perspective. Life is valuable and short. I’ve never been a part of two events quite like this. It really makes you cherish life that much more, quite the day I say.