Sometimes, you forget what this stuff can mean to people. It is just sports, after all -- right? But then you hear the story of Matt Liczbinski getting up at the funeral of his father, the slain Philadelphia police officer, and leading a chant of "Let's go Flyers..." It was to honor a man, and to remember the place that a hockey team held in his life.
It goes without saying that the Flyers were touched by the story.
About 90 minutes before tonight's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Flyers coach John Stevens addressed his team, as usual. It was the start of the Eastern Conference finals, and there were hockey things to talk about. But Stevens wanted to make sure that the players knew what Matt Liczbinski had done at the funeral, about how they had touched a man and his family and maybe given them just a few seconds of comfort in their tragedy.
"As you would expect, it was a pretty emotional thing," said one person who was in the Flyers' dressing room.
The Flyers plan a public tribute to Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski at Game 3 of the series on Tuesday night at the Wachovia Center.
Rich Hofmann has been at the Daily News since 1980. He previously blogged the Eagles' postseason run in 2006. 
Ed Barkowitz was the first Philadelphia Newspaper journalist to write a blog, starting back in 2002.
Comments (2)
It's a shame other cities won't pick up this story. Go FLYERS and Philly's finest!!!!
Posted by BucksHockeyFan | May 9, 2008 7:26 PM
Why is it always an excuse lets see off sides,cherry picking and other whinning you can muster.At game speed you can't see it was offsides give me a break.PHILLY COACH even said he looked at it and thought skate was touching the line.CAN YOU SAY 26 YEARS.
Posted by Les | May 10, 2008 8:59 AM