Inquirer.com – Zurich DR

Author: Lauren Jones

  • Inside the Flyers’ 2026 NHL draft party: Fans come together in Atlantic City to share passion — and critique the team’s first-round move

    Inside the Flyers’ 2026 NHL draft party: Fans come together in Atlantic City to share passion — and critique the team’s first-round move

    ATLANTIC CITY — Noel Cronon and Sarah Colon, both native Philadelphians and devoted Flyers fans, had never met in person before the Flyers’ draft party in Atlantic City on Friday night.

    The two first connected through Flyers Nation, a Facebook group with more than 67,000 members where fans discuss the team and post updates. Cronon saw Colon in the group and reached out, and asking if she wanted to go to the draft party together.

    “There aren’t a lot of female Flyers fans, so it’s nice that we found each other,” Cronon said. “There are a lot of women here tonight, though, which is good to see.”

    Several hundred Flyers fans came together as a fan base at the Sound Waves Theatre at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City to watch the 2026 NHL draft. Orange balloons, streamers, and Flyers memorabilia decorated the venue while fans came decked out in their best Flyers merchandise.

    Flyers fans watch the 2026 NHL draft during a party at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City on Friday.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    To kick off the night, past and present broadcasters Jim Jackson, Tim Saunders, and Steve Coates took the stage to share their thoughts on what general manager Danny Brière might do with the team’s first-round pick and energize the crowd.

    “We are back,” Coates said when he addressed the crowd. “Remember, this is a team that is going places.”

    The Austin City Nights band started the party, while the beginning of the draft played from monitors above the stage. Forward Porter Martone joined the band onstage and Gritty, the beloved Flyers mascot, posed for selfies and photos while Jackson went around the audience speaking with fans and taking photos.

    Father and son Grant and Trent Kitchenman have been season ticket holders since 1992 and said that they never miss events like this.

    “It’s really cool that they allow fans in on the draft night experience,” Grant said. “It makes it more personable and you get to see some of the players which is cool.”

    Garett Babik couldn’t have imagined watching the draft anywhere else.

    His dad took him to a playoff game against the Boston Bruins in 2010, and he’s been hooked ever since. During this year’s playoff run, Babik attended games dressed as Darth Vader to show his support for goalie Dan Vladař.

    “I’ve been a fan my entire life,” Babik said. “This is my life. I love this team from the bottom of my heart, and I can’t express that enough.”

    Fans (from left to right): Zack McErlain, Tug McErlain, Thomas McErlain and Stephen Dellaquilla react after the Flyers picked defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii with the 27th overall pick during the Flyers’ 2026 NHL draft party at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City on Friday.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    When it came time for the Flyers to make their first-round selection, the band stopped playing, and the theatre became quiet. Fans turned their attention to the monitors and anxiously waited for the announcement.

    When the trade alert came up on the screen and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced the trade, the crowd booed.

    Babik was not thrilled with the move either, he said.

    “I’m going to be totally blunt. I didn’t like it,” he said. “[Dallas Stars winger] Jason Robertson has been on the market, and I was hoping they would’ve got him. Don’t get me wrong, I understand we only have four picks in this draft, and they wanted to get more.”

    After they traded the 21st pick to the San Jose Sharks, moving down to No. 27, some fans immediately left, leaving the true diehards to wait until their pick.

    Among them were Eddie Bertino and Scott Parker, childhood friends from South Jersey who grew up playing hockey together and played in under-30 and under-40 leagues.

    Flyers Porter Martone signs his autograph for fans during the Flyers’ 2026 NHL draft party at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City on Friday.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Bertino started playing hockey when he was 5 years old, with Parker’s dad as his coach. Both became lifelong Flyers fans thanks to their fathers, who had season tickets and attended the Flyers’ Stanley Cup victory in 1975.

    When Bertino secured the tickets for the draft party, he knew Parker was the right person to accompany him.

    “He is one of my few diehard Flyers fan friends,” Bertino said. “ I didn’t want to be here with some poseur, I wanted to be here with another diehard.”

    By 10:20 p.m., with the Flyers still waiting to pick and it being a Friday night in Atlantic City, Bertino was surprised so many fans decided to leave, but he wasn’t surprised by Brière’s trade.

    “The past two years he’s made some sort of trade, it’s kind of his thing,” Bertino said.

    Many fans didn’t stay around long enough to see the Flyers pick 6-foot-7 defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii with the 27th overall pick.

    However, a similar sentiment was shared with fans throughout the night — the future of Flyers hockey is bright, and they are proud to be a part of the fan base.

  • Westtown’s Jordyn Palmer, Bonner-Prendie’s Korey Francis named state’s Miss and Mr. basketball

    Westtown’s Jordyn Palmer, Bonner-Prendie’s Korey Francis named state’s Miss and Mr. basketball

    Bonner-Prendergast’s Korey Francis and Westtown’s Jordyn Palmer were named Mr. and Miss Basketball for the 2025-2026 season.

    The award honors the best male and female high school players in Pennsylvania. Fans, coaches, and the media vote on the awards.

    Francis, a junior guard, averaged 21.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.7 steals, while shooting 52.1% from the field, including 35.3% from the three-point line. Bonner-Prendie went 24-6 and won its first-ever state championship in basketball.

    Westtown’s Jordyn Palmer — a basketball phenom and highly sought-after recruit — has untapped potential

    Palmer, a junior forward who’s considered one of best players in the nation, averaged 23.2 points, 13.2 rebounds, and 6.4 assists. She led Westtown to a 28-2 record last season.

    Other local finalist included junior guard Silas Graham (Haverford School), sophomore forward Colton Hiller (Coatesville), and senior Sammy Jackson (Roman Catholic).

    Palmer’s teammate Atlee Vanesko, a senior forward, and junior guard Ryan Carter (Friends’ Central) were also finalists.

  • What to know about the Invitational Clash, a pro-am basketball tourney promoting community wellness

    What to know about the Invitational Clash, a pro-am basketball tourney promoting community wellness

    Serving the community is an important mission for Philadelphia native Novar Gadson. After 14 years of playing professional basketball overseas, he is back home to bring his mission to life through the Invitational Clash Movement.

    The invitational is a five-day initiative at Drexel from Thursday to Monday in which pro-am men’s and women’s basketball teams from as far away as London will compete in a bracket-style tournament.

    The event will also feature other activities, including a youth basketball clinic and mental health workshops.

    “The basketball is obviously at the centerpiece of it, but the vision behind it is community wellness, mental health, and youth development,” said Gadson, 36.

    Eight men’s teams and four women’s teams will battle it out to decide the best pro-am leagues.

    The men’s teams represent Philly’s Brotherly Love League; Drew League from Los Angeles, Rucker Park Streetball from New York; Ball Don’t Stop from Toronto; the Smith League from Cincinnati; Queen City from Charlotte, N.C.; Denard Brothers from Chicago; and Great Britain Select from London.

    The four women’s teams represent Brotherly Love, Rucker Park, Queen City, and Swin City League from Dallas.

    The face behind the mission

    For Gadson, growing up in the city was not easy. His brother, Omari, was a victim of gun violence. He was 18 when he died in 2001.

    “My family has still not recovered from my brother’s murder,” he said.

    To stay out of trouble, Gadson said, he started playing basketball.

    He attended John Bartram High School, where he broke Kobe Bryant’s father Joe’s scoring record. He played at Rider University before playing professionally in Europe, Asia, and South America.

    “Basketball is what saved me from homelessness and sexual assault to everything that I was dealing with as a child,” he said. “I feel like it’s in my heart from Christ to serve people.”

    Mental health is still Brotherly Love League’s focus, but new things are coming this summer

    In 2021, he began developing the vision for a Philadelphia-based event that would engage the community with sports and mental health advocacy.

    Gadson is the chief executive officer of the Brotherly Love League Pro-Am Foundation, a nonprofit committed to increasing access to mental health resources for underserved communities in the area.

    The invitational is an extension of the foundation, he said.

    How the tournament works

    The competition begins on Friday and follows a bracket-style format with the winning teams advancing to the next round.

    The four women’s teams will open play on Saturday.

    Tickets are $10 for adults and free for children.

    Attendees will have a wide variety of community-focused activities that are designed to engage and connect community members with mental health resources.

    The event will also feature food trucks, gaming trucks where children can play in Madden 2K tournaments, hair-cut stations for children, face painting, crowd giveaways, and youth basketball clinics. The boys’ clinic is on Saturday and the girls’ is on Sunday. Participants in the clinics will receive meals and have access to mental health workshops.

    More than 30 resource tables will be available throughout the event with panel discussions focused on mental health in partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness Philadelphia. Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with professionals and sign up for licensed therapy sessions after the tournament.

    “People need help,” Gadson said. “I dealt with a lot of PTSD and anxiety from my experiences growing up, so I want to extend help and opportunities for therapy outside the event.”

    He noted that increasing access to resources can create change in the city beyond the basketball court.

    “If we give a lot of resources and access to kids outside of the basketball event, it will help the city as a whole and the violence go down,” he said.

    , Gadson has struggled to revisit the trauma around Omari’s death. He said he has never celebrated his brother’s birthday. But on Monday, Omari’s birthday and the last day of the invitational, Gadson plans to honor his legacy. The foundation will recognize two families who have lost their loved ones to suicide or gun violence.

    “The idea for me is to continue to bring light to his name,” Gadson said.

  • Kahleah Copper is ‘just a kid from Norf Philly.’ Now, it’s immortalized on her shoes.

    Kahleah Copper is ‘just a kid from Norf Philly.’ Now, it’s immortalized on her shoes.

    No matter where Kahleah Copper’s basketball journey takes her, she continues to carry North Philadelphia with her — even on her shoes.

    The Phoenix Mercury guard and four-time All-Star debuted a custom “Norf Philly” Adidas Harden Vol. 10 player-exclusive sneaker during Wednesday night’s game against the reigning WNBA champions Las Vegas Aces.

    The black-and-white shoe features “Just a kid from” on the left heel and “Norf Philly” on the right heel. Copper has adopted the phrase “just a kid from Norf Philly” throughout her time in the WNBA. It’s a nod to the neighborhood that helped shape her.

    Her love for basketball started on the streets of North Philadelphia. She practiced shooting by attaching a crate to a one-way sign on 32nd & Berks Streets.

    “There wasn’t a lot of opportunities for young girls to play in different leagues, so I played in a league with a bunch of guys,” she said in an interview in 2025. “The things those guys instilled in me, whether it was that toughness or that grit or just always having that chip on my shoulder because I wasn’t as strong as them … shout out the guys.”

    Kahleah Copper shares North Philly with Unrivaled teammates

    In 2021, Copper was named WNBA Finals MVP after leading the Chicago Sky to their first championship. After winning the championship, she paid it back to her Philly roots.

    “North Philly is different,” she said in a 2021 article in the Players’ Tribune. “It’s a place I love, the place where I learned how to play tough.”

    The Aces won Wednesday’s game, 86-76, and Copper, who finished with 26 points, is averaging a team-best 19.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.9 assists for the Mercury (4-12), who are 13th in the WNBA standings.

    Copper has joined the tradition of Philadelphia basketball stars using sneakers to show where they’ve come from. The Nike Kobe 4 Philly dropped on Jan. 1, 2009, with a color scheme of red, white, and blue to pay homage to Kobe Bryant’s hometown and the 76ers. A “Philly” Nike Kobe 4 Protro was released in 2024.

    Rasheed Wallace, a 2004 NBA champion with the Detroit Pistons and Simon Gratz graduate, was known for wearing high-top Nike Air Force 1s.

    “The strap was a Philly thing,” Wallace told the All the Smoke podcast in May 2025. “In Philly when we wear the high-top Air Force 1s, you keep the strap on the back.”

  • Winslow’s Jasmine Jackson emerges as one of the nation’s fastest hurdlers: ‘She is running with a purpose’

    Winslow’s Jasmine Jackson emerges as one of the nation’s fastest hurdlers: ‘She is running with a purpose’

    Jasmine Jackson sat on her couch at her home in Winslow Township, watching a broadcast of the nation’s fastest high school hurdlers competing at the 2025 Brooks PR Invitational. As she watched, she made it her goal to be on that track, competing in the race.

    After a year of training and dropping time, her invitation arrived in the mail, making her the first athlete in Winslow Township history to earn a spot in the prestigious event.

    “It was a big accomplishment when I got the invitation,” she said. “I was ecstatic. To know I was the first to do this showed it was a stepping stone to something even greater.”

    And something greater came at this year’s Brooks PR Invitational on June 7 in Renton, Wash.

    The Winslow Township High School sophomore claimed the 100-meter hurdles title with a time of 13.33 seconds. It came days after winning the New Jersey Meet of Champions and running a personal-best 13.28 seconds.

    Jasmine Jackson set a personal record in the 100-meter hurdles at the New Jersey Meet of Champions.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    Her personal record currently ranks No. 3 in state history, No. 3 all-time on the wind-legal list for sophomores, and No. 3 in the nation this season. Jackson continues to climb the ranks as one of the nation’s fastest hurdlers and wants to accomplish more.

    Her love for hurdling began at a young age. Jackson grew up going to the track with her dad, Tyree Jackson, who was a sprinter and relay runner at Camden High School and Rowan. He is now a track-and-field coach at Pennsauken.

    When she was 5, she saw a hurdle on the track and asked her dad if she could try to jump over it. Tyree initially said no, worried she might hurt herself, but she persistently asked, so he finally gave in.

    She cleared the hurdle with her right leg leading and left leg trailing, the form she still uses today.

    “It was perfect,” Tyree said.

    Starting out, however, he wasn’t convinced that hurdles would become her event.

    “There were a lot of times where I thought that maybe hurdles weren’t for her because she was too timid and scared to actually run through the hurdles,” he said.

    This South Jersey 14-year-old broke a track record that was older than she is

    Tyree scoured the internet for drills and training ideas to help his daughter develop as a hurdler. His former teammates offered advice on technique and form, and they soon progressed from wickets to smaller hurdles. She joined Winslow Elite Track and Field at age 8 to keep improving.

    By 14 years old, Jasmine broke the national record for the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.72 seconds at the 58th AAU Junior Olympic Games in Greensboro, N.C. That race gave her a newfound confidence.

    “That race pushed her over the edge as far as her demeanor and her confidence level because in order for her to win and break the record, she had to beat some really talented athletes she had never beaten before,” Tyree said.

    And as her confidence has grown, her times have dropped.

    Part of that growth has come from racing against the nation’s best, including one of her biggest competitors, Nia Armstrong from Tampa, Fla. The hurdlers have developed a friendly rivalry over the years since they typically compete in the same races and push each other to faster times.

    “Whenever those two compete against each other, it’s like I don’t care who else is on the track, the race is going to be between them,” Tyree said.

    Before the Meet of Champions earlier this month, Jasmine was nervous. The meet featured the toughest competition she faced all season. But as she set up on the line, she reminded herself that she belongs here and is built for the moment.

    “I just tell myself I’ve been here before. It’s just a track. I know how to run. I know how to hurdle. I know what I’m capable of,” she said. “I believe in myself, I’m ready for this moment, and not to let an opportunity pass by because you might not get it again.”

    Developing self-belief in a mentally challenging sport, Jasmine says, has been one of her biggest areas of growth.

    “She’s always been good. She just didn’t have the confidence to know that she’s good,” said Shawnnika Brown, Jasmine’s high school coach. “Now, she is running with a purpose.”

    Jaleel Dickerson-Dempsey was unfairly disqualified, his parents say, from NJSIAA group championship event

    That purpose is reflected in her daily routine. Jasmine trains with her team after school, goes to the gym to lift weights, and does additional hurdle sessions with her dad on the weekends.

    Having Tyree as her coach has also been an important part of her success.

    “I try not to let the coach interfere with the father,” Tyree said. “I’ve learned how to talk to her and get her motivated to the best of my ability without her being upset with the father.”

    After Jasmine won at Brooks, Tyree let his daughter enjoy the moment before turning their attention to the next race.

    “She knows I’m going to focus on the flaws first before I celebrate her and give her roses because I sometimes have to be the coach first and then dad second,” he said.

    That approach is shaping one of the nation’s fastest high school hurdlers, but Jasmine’s goals go beyond state titles and national championships.

    Jasmine Jackson will compete at the New Balance Nationals at Franklin Field this weekend.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    “The ultimate goal is to go to the Olympics,” Jasmine said. “Knowing I have that goal in mind, no matter how I feel, I know I have to work for it. It’s not going to be given to me. I have to earn it.”

    For now, the 15-year-old can check the Brooks PR Invitational off her list. Up next is the New Balance Nationals running until Sunday at Franklin Field. Jasmine will run the 100-meter hurdles and 4×400-meter relay championship. She is looking to earn her first national title at the event.

    “I’m tired of being second at this event,” she said, laughing. “I’m going up against pretty tough girls, so it’s going to take a lot to win. I believe I can do it if I put my mind to it.”

  • Interested in tickets to the MLB All-Star Game or Home Run Derby at Citizens Bank Park? Here’s what it’ll cost you.

    Interested in tickets to the MLB All-Star Game or Home Run Derby at Citizens Bank Park? Here’s what it’ll cost you.

    Many of baseball’s biggest stars are coming to Philadelphia next month, but fans hoping to see them in person may have to dig deep into their wallets.

    MLB All-Star week begins July 10 with a week of activities, culminating with the 96th All-Star Game on July 14 at Citizens Bank Park.

    Seats on StubHub for the All-Star Game range from $651 to more than $7,000 for two seats together, as of Friday evening. A single ticket starts at $645. Standing-room-only tickets start at $667 each.

    For the Home Run Derby on July 13, the cheapest price is $509 for one ticket and $503 each for two tickets together. Outfield tickets in the 100 Level, which offer the greatest chance of catching a home run ball, start at $1,201.

    Phillies fans cheer and look to catch a home run hit by Kyle Schwarber in March.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Last year in Atlanta, prices were lower. Ticketmaster listed seats starting at about $221, while StubHub and SeatGeek were just under $300.

    The soaring ticket prices hardly are surprising, given the city’s historic summer. The All-Star Game is returning to Philadelphia for the first time since 1996, and the city also is hosting FIFA World Cup matches and celebrations surrounding America’s 250th anniversary.

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    With the FIFA World Cup, the PGA Championship, and the MLB All-Star Game happening within weeks of one another, Philadelphia sports fans are soaking up one of the busiest stretches in sports history.

    Starting Sunday, Philadelphia is hosting five group-stage matches and a Round of 16 match at Lincoln Financial Field (temporarily known as Philadelphia Stadium). World Cup tickets have become one of the hottest commodities in sports this summer, and he cheapest single ticket for the July 4 Round of 16 Match is $1,333, and $1,286 each for two tickets together on StubHub.

    A $663 ticket to the All-Star Game doesn’t seem as outrageous now.

    Just over 20 miles outside the city, Aronimink Golf Club hosted the 2026 PGA Championship. It drew such strong interest that tickets for the championship rounds sold out on official sites months in advance.

    Fans turned to resale markets to secure tickets to golf’s second major championship of the year. Daily tickets were resold on SeatGeek starting at $423.