The Philadelphia Flyers had an honorary captain on their bench, a 9-year-old hockey player battling cancer.
Owen Micciche, captain of the Genesis Hockey Club, joined Flyers coach John Tortorella and the rest of the team during their 4-1 loss to Carolina on Tuesday night. Owen had his own locker, dressed with a custom jersey, read the Flyers' starting lineup and took a rookie lap with Flyers forward Owen Tippett ahead of warmups.
“That just puts talking about losses, it doesn’t mean a thing,” said Tortorella, who watched part of the game side-by-side with Owen. “Great kid. He was yelling on the bench. I hope for a little bit, it helps him. I wanted him to enjoy it. I hope he had fun because there’s a lot he’s going through."
Owen was diagnosed with a pediatric brain tumor at 6 months old. In July, he received scans for potential clearance to move into a post-cancer program at a Philadelphia's children's hospital. Instead, doctors found two new tumors in his brain and spine.
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
He needs chemotherapy treatments for at least the next year.
“We added a new enforcer to our club,” the Flyers wrote on social media.
Sign up for our Breaking newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox.
