Fans of the Philadelphia Flyers jumped the gun on a hat trick celebration in honor of Wayne Simmonds scoring a third goal in a win against the Colorado Avalanche this week, but Jake Voracek is hoping to make up for it.
Simmonds appeared to have notched a third goal in the first period against Colorado off a shot initiated by Voracek. The goal ended up actually being Voracek’s, and Simmonds was stuck on two goals for the rest of the game. But the heat of the moment led Flyers fans to throw a total of 396 hats onto the ice of the Wells Fargo Center thinking Simmonds had recorded a hat trick. So this was one hat trick collection that was all for nothing, although Voracek is going to try and turn this into a worthy cause.
Voracek said he will purchase 396 brand new Flyers caps and donate them to local hospitals for children battling cancer. That’s a solid play right there. The 700 Level estimates that will cost Voracek roughly $8,000. Voracek may have actually been booed for scoring the goal, with a sense of humor, but he will come out a winner in the PR department for this power play.
"Think that's the first time and hopefully last time that I get booed when I score a goal"
-Jake Voracek is the best https://t.co/4G7WL9A33J pic.twitter.com/XZMxW6uJ5S— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) March 1, 2017
"I hope fans don't throw rocks at my car when I'm leaving"
-Jake Voracek, man who never meant to steal a hat trick from anybody.
— Cameron (@CjBurnsSOP) March 1, 2017
So, what happens to the 396 hats that were thrown on the ice? In Philadelphia, the Flyers have a display of hats collected from hat-trick achievements on home ice. Players are supposedly given a chance to take a hat from the collection for their own too.
No word on whether Simmonds got to take a pick from the litter of hats thrown on the ice anyway.