UPDATE: The game has been postponed.
As of this writing at 11:30 a.m., the Flyers are still scheduled to take on the Carolina Hurricanes at Wells Fargo Center this evening. That should change.
Philadelphia is under a winter storm warning today. Hundreds of flights are being canceled out of PHL, Philly public schools are closing early, archdiocesan schools are off for the day, and a lot of people are either off of work or will be heading home early due to the storm. The city is projected to get up to a foot of snow, according to the National Weather Service.
It sounds like the perfect night to stay home, get cozy and watch some hockey. It is the perfect night for that, but that’s exactly why they should postpone the game.
19,000 people paid for tickets and parking passes for tonight’s game, and a good number of those people won’t have the chance to get there. The NHL doesn’t really care, of course: they’re already getting paid. But those people won’t get their money back. Sometimes in these situations, the NHL allows fans to present their ticket at another game, but what if you’re a season ticket holder and you’re going to every game anyway? That’s not a consolation.
Here’s a sampling of the feelings of some people who don’t wanna travel to the game tonight:
@NHLFlyers any chance tonight’s game might be cancelled? Its treacherous out there
— Denise (@lovesdabeach12) January 21, 2014
@NHLFlyers please postpone the game…it’s going to get worse as the day progresses.
— Mack Hamilton (@MacAttack715) January 21, 2014
@NHLCanes @NHLFlyers you two play nice now. I’m gonna go ahead and forfeit my tickets tonight for safety
— The Real Goose (@NotTheRealGoose) January 21, 2014
Extremely disappointed with @NHLFlyers organization for not canceling tonight’s game – fan safety should be a priority, not an afterthought
— Alanna (@knowyour_rights) January 21, 2014
@Official_OandBP @BroadStHockey I have tickets for tonight will they pick me up and take me home one can dream
— Lynda Sinclair (@Lynda_Sinclair1) January 21, 2014
The NHL doesn’t really postpone that many hockey games. A game in Boston was played last month amidst a foot of snow, and that’s just one off the top of my head. The Flyers played a game in a snowstorm against the Rangers a few years back, too, and a lot of people couldn’t make it.
They did postpone a game 14 days ago in Buffalo, but the Carolina Hurricanes were also the scheduled opponent that night. The league is actually going to cut the Olympic break short by a day to reschedule that one, so the worry is that they’re really not going to want to reschedule another Hurricanes game and will do all they can to play this game tonight against the Flyers.
That would be the wrong call, though. It’s a financial issue for fans who already paid for tickets, but with a foot of snow and subzero wind chills in the forecast, it’s a safety issue too. The game can wait.
