Pope Francis’ Philadelphia visit causes Flyers players to relocate

Pope Francis’ visit has caused 15 Flyers to leave their Philadelphia residences and stay at a Voorhees, N.J., hotel this weekend.

No one is complaining.

“It’s pretty special that he’s coming,” defenseman Luke Schenn, who attended Catholic school, said after Thursday’s practice in Voorhees. “I watched a little bit 1/8on TV3/8 yesterday and it’s pretty amazing. He’s the biggest figure in the world right now, and coming to Philadelphia is pretty special.”

The Flyers host the New York Islanders in a preseason game Friday that has been moved to 6 p.m. EDT because of the travel problems connected to the pope’s visit Saturday. They will hold their Friday morning skate (9:15 a.m.) at their Voorhees practice facility instead of the Wells Fargo Center.

“It would have been cool if somehow we had a chance to meet him, but obviously they want no part of us being downtown, which is good,” Schenn said. “I live downtown and it’s going to be crazy down there. I mean, they’re shutting down our parking garage for four days.”

Schenn said he had connections “to maybe get a dinner reservation or a Phillies game, but not quite for the pope.”

The Flyers are paying for the players’ hotel stays.

Schenn, a regular churchgoer who has visited the Vatican, said “this pope is obviously pretty respected, and he’s bringing out a lot of youth and every different race. He seems to be bringing everyone together.”

The veteran defenseman kidded that the Flyers should bring Pope Francis to the Skate Zone to bless the team.

“They should get him to Voorhees to avoid all that traffic,” he said, smiling.

Forward Brayden Schenn, Luke’s younger brother, and R.J. Umberger also attended Catholic school and they plan to watch some of the pope proceedings on TV.

“It’s pretty cool for the city and obviously it’s going to bring a lot of people here,” Brayden Schenn said.

“We still go to church and we raise our three kids Catholic,” said Umberger, who grew up in suburban Pittsburgh. “I do understand how important he is to the Catholic religion.”

New Flyers coach Dave Hakstol also is Catholic.

“I don’t want to get into too much of a religious discussion, but it’s impressive to see the reaction that he brings everywhere he goes,” Hakstol said.

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