Flyers to honor Snider with patches on uniforms

When the Flyers face the heavily favored Washington Capitals in the NHL playoffs, they will wear patches on their jerseys to honor Ed Snider. They will also play with heavy hearts because of Snider's death Monday after a long battle with bladder cancer.

"I'm pretty glad we were able to make the playoffs for him," captain Claude Giroux said in a somber tone at the Flyers' Voorhees practice facility on Monday. "The whole year we were playing for him, and that's not going to change for the playoffs."

The Flyers start the first round Thursday in Washington. There are 16 teams in the playoffs, and none have worse odds to win the Stanley Cup than the Flyers, who are listed as 33-1 longshots.

"The best thing we can do is play as hard as you can," said Giroux, his soft words tinged with sadness and respect for the Flyers' co-founder. "We know it's not going to be easy against a good team, but we know he'll be watching us and cheering us on."

Right winger Wayne Simmonds, who led the Flyers with 32 goals this season, was asked if it would be difficult to play Thursday because of the emotions surrounding the team.

"I don't think it's difficult because Mr. Snider was all about hockey, and he loved the Flyers, and that is what he wanted," he said. "He stuck with us through everything this year. I'm extremely happy we got into the playoffs for him. We're going to go out there and strive to bring the Cup back to Philly."

The Flyers visited the ailing Snider at his California mansion while on a West Coast trip in late January. After returning from that trip with a 15-15-7 overall record, they went 26-12-7 the rest of the way and secured a playoff berth on the next-to-last day of the regular season.

Simmonds said the Flyers will be "doing everything we possibly can obviously to be successful in the playoffs because that's what Mr. Snider would want. I know there's nothing else he wanted to see more than for the Flyers to win another Stanley Cup. That's definitely our goal."

General manager Ron Hextall said the determination the team displayed since early January resembled Snider's persona.

"I think the passion, the will, the want that our team showed in the last couple months is kind of reflective of what he expected, what he wanted," he said. "But you don't get motivated by something like [Snider's passing]. I think what came to the forefront the last couple months is the fact that our players understood the passion and the care that he had for the franchise. I think that's why we did what we did the past couple months."

Rookie coach Dave Hakstol said Snider had a way of "empowering" and "motivating people" with his driven personality.

Moving forward, "Our players have a deep care for Mr. Snider," Hakstol said. "And certainly No. 1 right now is having his family in all our thoughts. That should be first and foremost. In terms of preparation [for Washington], if I know our group, it will do nothing but narrow and sharpen the focus."

Hextall said he visited an ailing Snider at his California home on Dec. 21, and they watched the Flyers-St. Louis game together that night in his basement. The Flyers trailed at one point, 3-0.

"We scored one goal, and he reaches over and high-fives me," Hextall said, adding that Snider was weak at the time. "Then we scored two, three, and he was in a lot of pain - and we scored the fourth goal, and he got right out of his seat, and I couldn't believe it! It was hard for him at that time. . . . He was struggling, and he got right out of his seat. I was like, 'I better do the same.' "

The Flyers won, 4-3.

"He got right out of his seat, and I couldn't believe it. . . . That's something I'll never forget," Hextall said.

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