Flyers players show up dressed as ‘Rocky’ for Saturday’s Stadium Series game
"Yo, Adrian!" More like "Yo, Atkinson!"
The underdog Flyers have punched above their weight all season, so there was only one choice when it came to a theme for the team’s Stadium Series arrival outfits.
Ahead of the team’s outdoor game against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night at MetLife Stadium, the Flyers channeled the biggest underdog of them all for inspiration, none other than Philadelphia’s favorite son, Rocky Balboa. Dressed in gray sweatsuits, black beanies, and Chuck Taylors, the Flyers rolled off the bus one by one, jogging with their hands wrapped like Sylvester Stallone did so many times during the training scenes of all the films of the Rocky movie franchise.
“We wanted something that people from Philly were going to like and get behind,” winger Joel Farabee said. “Obviously, it’s just pretty fun to just do something like this, and planning it out over the course of the season was pretty fun. So we were super excited to, you know, kind of run in here and, you know, just get things going.”
Center Scott Laughton added: “Our PR team did a great job too.”
The Flyers absolutely nailed the assignment here, as the theme not only has a special connection to Philadelphia but also fits the scrappy way they have played all season under John Tortorella. While it hasn’t been all smooth sailing this year for the Orange and Black, like Rocky in the movies, the Flyers have always bounced back and found a way. That’s the sign of a contender.
As Rocky said in Rocky Balboa: “It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!”
Wait, are we sure Tortorella didn’t say that? Now, we’ll see if Nic Deslauriers or someone else will go full Rocky with their fists on the ice.
As has become customary for these outdoor showcases, the Devils also went with theme outfits, playing on their New Jersey ties by dressing up in tracksuits like characters from HBO’s hit show The Sopranos.