PHILADELPHIA FLYERS- PROFESSIONAL ICE HOCKEY TEAM:
Philadelphia Flyers, a professional ice hockey team was founded by Ed Snider, in 1967. Snider was a very successful and wealthy American businessman, who was the Comcast Spectacor’s chairman and also the owner and founder of Philadelphia Flyers. The head coach of the Flyers is Alain Vigneault, who’s behind all their brilliant performances. And the captaincy is in the hands of Claude Giroux
The Flyers are located and based in Philadelphia and have been playing for the National Hockey team since 1967. They have seen many achievements in the entirety of their career including the Stanley Cup twice in 1973-74 and 1974-75, back to back. Due to their outstanding performances, they have been listed as the third-best ice hockey team of all time.
Flyers are considered as very strong opponents among the ice hockey community as they are one of the teams to be able to appear in the finale most times and also succeeded in winning a few of them. Also, because of this reason, they have a big number of fans following and they try the most to not let their fans down by their flawless performances.
OSKAR LINDBLOM:
Oskar Lindblom, 24, is an international ice hockey player who plays for Philadelphia Flyers as an ice hockey forward. Lindblom is of Swedish descent and was born on August 15, 1996, in Gavle, Sweden. Lindblom is a very outstanding player from the very beginning, who played in the junior leagues of Brynas IF, and later on, due to his promising performance, he earned a spot in the professional team, Swedish Hockey League, of Brynas IF.
After giving years to this field and becoming a trained player, he was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers on May 30, 2017, signing up a three-year contract.
Lindblom Diagnosed With Bone Cancer- Ewing’s Sarcoma:
Sadly, this didn’t happen for long as Lindblom was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, bone cancer in December 2019, due to which he had to press pause on his ice hockey career to get his chemotherapy done.
He got his treatment done at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia and got done with it on 2nd July 2020 and was given a three-year extension. He returned to compete in the recent match, on September 3, 2020.
OSKAR LINDBLOM’S RETURN BOOSTED THE FLYERS TO SEAL THE DEAL ONE MORE TIME:
Lindblom’s return almost after a year proved to be a good sign for the Flyers. Having him back in the team boosted their morale ten times and they performed really well, along with Oskar who played the frontline after a long time.
As he is one of the strongest players of the team, his performance helped the Flyers to stay in the competition one more time in game 7. Even after being diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma and fighting it for months, he stayed positive and came back with the same power and energy. He has scored a total of 30 goals and overall 27 assists in the 134 games he has played with the Philadelphia Flyers.
LINDBLOM TALKS ABOUT HIM COMING BACK AND BEING ABLE TO PLAY WITH HIS TEAM AGAIN:
Oskar talks about his emotions of him being able to play after months of non-stop treatment and going through so much. In his recent statement, Lindblom said, ‘I’ve been through a lot in the past 6-7 months, and it is fair to say that this has been the toughest period of my life as I had to press pause on everything, my passion for ice hockey too. But I still managed to stay positive during this hard time, and probably this is the reason why I am back today’.
He further added ‘Though I had to say goodbye to ice hockey for some time I was positive that I was going to play again one day. What day and when? That I didn’t know myself but I was certain that it would happen one day. And sure enough, I got the opportunity to play with my team once again because today was the day I was waiting for’.
Lindblom played his part in game 7 on 17:30 and managed to get a 5-4 double-overtime win because of his brilliant performance, and helped the Flyers get victory over the Islanders, on Saturday.
FLYERS’ CAPTAIN, CLAUDE GIROUX SPEAKS ABOUT LINDBLOM’S PERFORMANCE IN GAME 7:
After Lindblom’s amazing performance in game 7, Flyers’ captain, Claude Giroux shows his gratitude for Oskar for being such a strong person and an amazing player as well. In an interview after the game, Giroux said ‘I have so much gratitude for this boy. He is the most strong person I’ve ever come across. I mean, after going through so much, he played like nothing even happened or changed’.
He further said ‘His performance in game 7 left me speechless. Even after a long break, he played so well and I feel immense respect for this brave boy’.
COACH OF PHILADELPHIA FLYERS, ALAIN VIGNEAULT EXPLAIN HOW HE GOT LINDBLOM TO PLAY AGAIN:
Alain talks about how he’s been in close contact with the medical staff and other assistant coaches to keep updating him about Lindblom’s health and whether he is physically fit to play or not, Vigneault said that he desperately wanted Lindblom back because the team’s performance was going down and down.
Moreover, he added ‘Due to our weak performance today, I was certain that two of my best players, Sean Couturier and Joel, were not going to play so my strategy at that point was to put another strong player, Lindblom, to the frontline. I told him how he has to play and how I will use him today’s game and he was very excited about it’.
He also said that, although Lindblom hasn’t played in months, like for 271 days, he still performed way better than he expected him to. Lindblom said ‘I wanted to step in again, but coming back directly in a playoff was a little challenging for me because the main goal is to win in these games’.
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS AWARD LINDBLOM WITH A THREE-YEAR, $9 MILLION EXTENSION:
Coach’s decision of putting Lindblom back in the team didn’t make the Flyers second guess his decision because they already had complete faith in their team play. As a token of respect, Philadelphia Flyers awarded Lindblom with a three-year, $9 million extension right after he was discharged from the hospital. They got to him a few weeks after he was done with his chemotherapy and was discharged.
FLYERS’ GOALIE, CARTER HART TALKS ABOUT OSKAR LINDBLOM:
Because of the strength, Lindblom showed in today’s game and also during the days of him fighting with cancer, the Flyers have a lot of respect for him. Team’s goalie, Carter Hart said ‘we are beyond proud of this man and we can’t put it into words how much respect we have for this strong boy. He is and always will be the strongest players of Flyers’.
He further added ‘We are not just proud of him or respect him because of his performance in tonight’s game, but we are super proud of the strength and positivity he showed during his battle with cancer and how he fought it with such a big and brave heart. Seeing him back again gave us a lot of energy and hope and because of him being there, boosting up our morale and because of his performance, we won again’.
He also said that one of the team member’s said to him that ‘it feels like he was with them all along and never left and today he came back stronger than before even after going through so much and we are proud of him and thankful to him for coming back’.
NHL NOMINATED LINDBLOM FOR THE MASTERTON TROPHY- ANNUAL AWARD:
Due to Lindblom’s courageous journey and his dedication to his profession, National Hockey League (NHL) nominated him for the Masterton Trophy, which is like an annual award that is given every year to the player who sets up the example of best sportsmanship, tenacity, and their loyalty towards the ice hockey. The winner will be announced by the NHL this summer.
Are you excited to see Oskar Lindblom in more games and for him to win the NHL Masterton Trophy? Stay put to watch him give his best performances in future games and to find out the winner of the Masterton Trophy.
