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Quick Hits: Hayes, Flyers Warriors, Payette, TIFH, Fantasy Tourney & More

April 2, 2020, 10:27 AM ET [31 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Quick Hits: April 2, 2020

1) Flyers center Kevin Hayes will speak via conference call with the media today. No doubt, the colorful player will have plenty to say about what he's been doing while in self-quarantine, his views on season resumption proposals, the team's surge in recent months before the schedule pause, and James van Riemsdyk's recent comment that Hayes is the "straw that stirs the drink" in the team's lively locker room chemistry.

2) The player profile series on the Flyers site continues today: James van Riemsdyk.

3) Thank you, as always, to the Flyers Warriors for inviting me to participate in their ongoing series of online meetings arranged by Brad Marsh. Last night, Bill Clement entertained with a variety of hockey stories, Kerry Huffman gave an inspirational talk about daily goal-setting during the current pandemic-related down time, and Dr. Andrew Newberg discussed concussion protocols and testing. Next up on the meeting calendar: a Friday Happy Hour social and weekend workout.

4) For days, I have been debating with myself whether to blog about an upsetting story from the UK involving former Philadelphia Phantoms player Andre Payette. Everyone deserves respect for their dignity, and I believe strongly in the philosophy of "there, but for the grace of God, go I." Thankfully, I have never walked in Andre's shoes.

Ultimately, I decided to go ahead and post the story here, because the 43-year-old is in a vulnerable, potentially even life or death, situation. It is not intended to be judgmental of Andre or sensationalist in tone.

Long-time hockey enforcer Payette, who is the current general manager of the Hull Pirates and the former head coach of Great Britain's Under-20 national team, has had off-and-struggles with addiction and mental health issues. Recently, his life took a significant turn for the worse.

Payette went missing for a couple of days. On March 25, 2020, Staffordshire police (@StaffsCCGs) put out a tweet asking the public for information about his whereabouts and well-being. The story was picked up, among other outlets, by the BritishIceHockey.co website.

Subsequently, Payette posted a series of disturbing message to his Facebook page. He said that he was homeless on the streets of Stoke-on-Trent, despondent and had not eaten for several days. The Cornwall, Ontario native wrote that he "has nothing", his "family is far away" and that he had "tried so hard" to conquer his demons. The longtime North American minor league and British leaguer received dozens of offers of help from friends and strangers alike.

On March 27, Payette was briefly hospitalized in Stoke. He posted a photo of himself in the hospital, asking for someone to come get him. He was then released, and disappeared again. There have been outreach efforts to find him again and bring him to a shelter or hostel and, ultimately, back to North America.

People who know Payette well and are in touch with his family in Canada reported that his cell phone -- of which he's apparently no longer in possession and was allegedly stolen -- was last tracked to a suspected drug house. Since that time, there has been no publicly reported contact with him from family and friends who are trying to reach him.

Under any circumstances, someone in Payette's position would be severe jeopardy. Being out on the streets during the coronavirus pandemic makes the situation all the more dire. If anyone reading this knows how to reach Andre, please try to do so. I will report any significant developments.

Ultimately, Andre has to be willing and ready to help himself by embracing help and doing the daily work to fight all over again for stability and direction. Otherwise, it won't work. However, when a person's safety is in potential immediate jeopardy, the subsequent steps may need to wait. What makes the story even sadder is that Payette has a young son, Oliver.

For those unfamiliar with Andre's backstory, he is the son of former World Hockey Association player Jean Payette. The Flyers drafted Andre, who played his junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League primarily with the Soo Greyhounds, in the 10th round (244th overall) of the 1994 NHL Draft. He was a rookie on the Calder Cup winning 1997-98 Philadelphia Phantoms, dressing in 56 regular season games (five goals, 10 points, 209 penalty minutes) and four playoff games.

Payette spent roughly a season-and-a-half with the Phantoms, dressing sparingly his second season, before he was loaned for the rest of the 1998-99 season to the UHL's Mohawk Valley Prowlers where he was coached by Dave "the Hammer" Schultz. Subsequently, he shuttled for many years between the American Hockey League and various minor league teams.

In 2003-04, Payette played a season of semi-pro hockey in Quebec, and then accepted an offer to relocate to Great Britain to play for the Coventry Blaze, for whom he racked up 490 penalty minutes (on top of 15 goals and 34 points) in 58 games. He then moved along for four seasons to the Newcastle Vipers for four seasons, averaging about 10 goals and 275 penalty minutes (with a high of 321 PIM in 2007-08).

Payette later prolonged his playing career in lower British leagues as late as 2016-17. In the meantime, he forged a new career coaching youth players, served as player-coach for the Sheffield Steelers for two seasons and, for the last two seasons has been Hull's general manager.

I have not had direct contact with Andre -- apart from being connected on Facebook -- since I covered him on the Phantoms in the late 1990s ago when I was a young, unpaid writer with Hockey's Future. He was a nice guy with a good sense of humor, as many hockey tough guys tend to be. The same sense of humor and sociable nature has been evident in his social media presence during better times in his life.

I am hoping that Andre's story has much happier chapters to come. For right now, I just hope that he's safe.

5) On a much more pleasant note, starting tomorrow, I will revisit an idea I blogged about eight years ago: creating all-province, all-nations Flyers fantasy teams and then doing a mini-tournament determined by reader vote. The lineups from the 2012 will, of course, be updated and a few more teams will be created. However, the format remains the same.

In order to make the fantasy tournament as interesting and competitive as possible, the criteria for inclusion in a certain roster are as follows: As long as the player was born in, raised in OR played his junior hockey career in a certain locale, he is eligible for the related roster.

For example, even though Claude Giroux was born and raised in Hearst, Ontario, he played junior hockey in the QMJHL for Gatineau. Therefore, Giroux is eligible either for Team Ontario or Team Quebec, at your choosing. Likewise, Rod Brind'Amour was born in Ontario but raised in British Columbia, so either team is fine.

6) Today in Flyers History: On April 2, 1988, Ron Hextall clinched his second straight 30-win season. He became the first Flyers goalie since Bernie Parent (back-to-back seasons of topping 40 wins) to accomplish the feat. For more, click here.
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