The Flyers fan who caught Cam York’s series-winning stick got it back to him

The Flyers returned to practice Friday morning at their training center in Voorhees, not even a full two days removed from York launching his stick into the Xfinity Mobile Arena crowd after scoring the playoff overtime winner that eliminated the rival Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.

And the rush from it was still going strong.

Fans showed up Friday morning to line the glass and watch as the Flyers ran through drills, before the team just as quickly had to leave to begin their second-round series in Carolina on Saturday night.

One of those fans, 64-year-old Jack Brod, had York’s stick with him.

Brod, who resides in Newtown, Pa., was in the stands to catch the defenseman’s stick on the way down amid Wednesday night’s celebration, and the Flyers, pretty quickly, were able to track him down.

York wanted to try and get the winning stick back as a keepsake to look back on, and with an invite over to Voorhees on Friday, he was ready to exchange another stick, a signed jersey, and tickets to the Flyers’ next playoff home game for it.

Brod happily obliged.

Nick Tricome/PhillyVoice

Jack Brod shows Cam York’s winning stick from Game 6 to a young Flyers fan during the team’s practice Friday morning in Voorhees.

He came out to watch practice, with York’s stick from Wednesday night in hand, and brought Jake Weiner, the son of a close friend and an 18-year-old high school hockey star from Council Rock South, along for the ride – originally, Brod said, he intended to give the stick to him.

The stick garnered a lot of attention and curiosity from the other fans near him, and Brod was glad to tell them the story, pointing to York’s name printed on the shaft of it.

Then, as the Flyers started leaving the ice, the two were brought down to the entrance of the locker room, where the Game 6 hero walked around the corner to finally meet them.

They shook hands and spoke for several minutes as they made the exchange and then posed for pictures, smiling the whole time.

“We’re over the top thrilled about this,” Brod said. “Not just because of the stick, but we’re in the middle of a playoff run. There’s just a lot of excitement around the Flyers, so being at the arena today, you can feel it. You could feel it when the players came out on the ice today, there’s a ton of energy that they’re practicing with.”

Clearly, the rush from Wednesday night was still going strong.

“I mean, I still haven’t slept much, to be honest with you,” York quipped from his locker later on.

But once it’s all said and done, he knows that he’ll have the stick that he scored the Game 6 winner with to look back on.

“Just when my career is done and over with, I want to have some things to look back on and remember and cherish,” York said. “This is obviously a special moment for me, and super nice guy, just met him. But for him to just give it back for kinda nothing, I really appreciate that. 

“That’s one of the best things about Philly fans, they love their players.”

Nick Tricome/PhillyVoice

Flyers fans Jake Weiner and Jack Brod meet defenseman Cam York following Friday’s practice in Voorhees to give him his stick from Game 6 back.

While maybe the cost was nothing for York to get the stick back, for Brod, it meant so much.

He was still stunned about how he even ended up with York’s stick to begin with.

Caught up in the roaring noise and the euphoria from realizing the puck had gone in, Brod suddenly saw York skating his way, then just as suddenly, saw the Flyer flip his stick over the glass and toward Brod’s section.

“So I just reached out my hand,” Brod recalled. “I saw the stick, grabbed it, and it was in my hands. It made a very special moment that much more special.”

He didn’t have to fight with anyone over it, “which is shocking,” Brod continued. “You would think that there would be four people pulling over a hockey stick.”

He didn’t have to worry about losing it either. Fans next to him in the moment asked if they could take pictures with it. He said he was a bit reluctant to, concerned that someone would just take off and run, but he passed the stick around anyway, and the surrounding fans made sure it got back to him.

“It was all love and joy, and everybody was celebrating,” Brod said. 

“I think everybody was sort of genuinely happy that someone ended up with the stick,” Brod added with a laugh. “Nobody got hurt.”

They were all just swept up in a rush that’s still going strong.

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