PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Philadelphia Flyers honored a special fan Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim wore a lavender No. 11 jersey during warmups in memory of AJ Grande, who died from a rare cancer, rhabdomyosarcoma, in October. He would have turned 20 this month.
"A privilege to wear it," said Sanheim, sporting the jersey in place of injured Flyers forward Travis Konecny, who wears No. 11 for the Flyers. Eleven was always Grande's number. "It was a pretty quick 'yes' for me to wear that jersey. It was nice to wear it. Nice to meet his family as well."
The tribute was during the Flyers' annual Hockey Fights Cancer Night, where the team pays tribute to warriors who have fought or are currently fighting the disease.
"I look at these kids that really, in real life situations, haven't really been given a fair chance and are fighting like hell," said Flyers head coach John Tortorella. "It puts [everything] in perspective."
Grande was a recipient of the Michael's Way Scholarship this year and had an opportunity to chat with Tortorella over Zoom.
"Those are hard times," Tortorella said. "I had an opportunity to talk to the young man before he passed, and you feel for the family. The past couple of nights, as far as the presentations [for Hockey Fights Cancer across the NHL], you see some of these kids that fight their ass off for the No. 1 thing of living — not a hockey game.
"Wish we won the game for them, but didn't happen that way."
Grande's brother read the starting lineup to players in their dressing room before the game. Sanheim signed the warmup jersey for the whole family.
Later, 17-year-old Ian McQuigg of Hamilton, New Jersey was given the honor of dropping the ceremonial first puck. He has been battling an optic nerve brain tumor.
In addition to ceremonial honors, Flyers Charities announced a $100,000 grant for Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center for the Flyers Against Prostate Cancer screening initiative, which will launch early next year. The grant will, in part, support five prostate cancer screening clinic events in the area.
