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The Philadelphia Flyers got back in the win column after toying with the Anaheim Ducks in a 5-2 victory at home Tuesday night, but the team’s success is being shadowed by controversy, as defenseman Ivan Provorov revealed after the contest that the reason he did not take part in the pregame warmup was that he did not want to wear Philly’s Pride Night warmup jersey (via Giana Han of The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Ivan Provorov said “I respect everyone. I respect everybody’s choices. My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion.” Said he won’t go into it any further and will only take hockey questions. He did clarify his religion is Russian Orthodox. Flyers shut down any other Qs.
Before Provorov spoke to the media, Flyers head coach John Tortorella voiced out his take on his player’s stance. More from Han:
“With Provy, he’s being true to himself and to his religion,” John Tortorella said about why Ivan Provorov did not skate in warmups with the team when they wore Pride jerseys on Pride Night. He was the only player who didn’t skate. The rest wore the jerseys.
Despite his resistance to taking part in the pregame skate and refusal to wear the said warmup jersey, Provorov still was allowed to play versus the Ducks. He was on the ice for nearly 23 minutes and finished with a plus/minus of +1.
Ivan Provorov, who is from Russia, is playing in his seventh season in the NHL, which he has spent all with the Flyers, who took him in the first round (seventh overall) of the 2015 NHL Draft.