Before the Philadelphia Flyers played in Winnipeg for the first time since 1996, goalie Ilya Bryzgalov had some amends to make.
Earlier this year, he infamously slammed the city as "cold" with "no parks" and "no entertainment for families." So he "sincerely apologized" to the people of Winnipeg on Friday ... but some Winnipeg Jets fans weren't so quick to accept it.
One of those fans was Donavan Collier, 8, the son of Winnipeg Goldeyes general manager Andrew Collier. He showed up at MTS Centre for the Jets' game against the Flyers on Saturday afternoon with a sign that read simply: "BOO BRYZGALOV."
Fans were given the opportunity to let Bryzgalov hear it, as the Flyers decided to give Sergei Bobrovsky, a more Winnipeg-apathetic goalie, the start instead. But Collier still had a chance to make this feeling known to Bryzgalov … who responded in a hilarious and humble way.
From Gary Lawless of the Winnipeg Free Press:
"I made the sign because he said we have no parks and we have terrible winters. I think it was very nice of him to give me his stick," Collier said.
Bryzgalov spied the sign and on his way off the ice stopped to hand the youngster his goal stick.
Here's video of the stick-gifting from Bryz:
OK, so Ilya Bryzgalov gave a goalie stick to an 8-year-old; pretty sure this calls for a truce under the terms of the Geneva Conventions.
Even if the Flyers were trying to protect Bryzgalov from the psychological warfare from Jets fans, they might have made the wrong call between the pipes: The Jets scored three goals in the first 10:15 of the game, rolling to a 6-4 victory.
It's a big win for Winnipeg. We're sure they're partying in the parks up there … if they had any.