Hometown fans visiting Flyers’ Giroux

With the rigors of an 82-game schedule and a strict summer training regimen in Ottawa, Claude Giroux rarely makes it back to his hometown of Hearst, Ontario.

So some of Giroux' closest friends decided they would bring the party to him this weekend.

A decent chunk of Hearst's population boarded a bus on Thursday, including the small town's mayor, to make the looooong pilgrimage to watch their hockey hero face the Canadiens on Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

Call it a Boys Weekend. Fifty-nine men. Eighteen hours on-board. And plenty of cold refreshments along the way.

The group, composed of two men's recreational hockey teams, left Hearst at 5 a.m. Thursday. Hearst, located 600 miles north of Toronto, used to have a sign at the town's limits welcoming you to "The Moose Capital of the World."

Now, the billboard that welcomes you to town is adorned with Giroux' likeness. He is the third player from Hearst ever to skate in the NHL.

The trip worked out perfectly. Not only would 59 of Hearst's biggest fans get a chance to see and interact with Giroux, but they also would be able to catch the Flyers and Canadiens. Hearst's most famous native is Claude Larose, who won five Stanley Cups with Montreal during his career. The Claude Larose Center is the rink where Giroux learned to play hockey, and his grandmother still works as a snack-bar attendant.

Larose went on to play with Minnesota and St. Louis, but Hearst remained Canadiens territory. It was a natural fit. The Canadiens are French-speaking Canada's team. Though Hearst is far from the Quebec border, approximately 96 percent of its population speaks French, the language of only 4 percent of the people in Ontario.

Giroux has now turned Hearst into a Flyers town.

Still, don't be alarmed if you see a few Montreal jerseys sprinkled in among the 59 men wearing matching jackets - with "Claude Giroux No. 28" on the front - carrying on in three neighboring balcony suites at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday. Old habits die hard.

"Claude has really had an amazing impact on the community in Hearst," trip leader Claude Laflamme said. "He's raised interest in the Flyers tremendously. A lot of the people on this trip grew up lifelong Habs fans. Now everybody has gotten satellite TV to make sure they can follow all of the Flyers games and check on Claude. We're all very proud of him."

On the trip, Laflamme said the group built in plenty of time for fun, even though their stay in Philadelphia won't be long.

After leaving Hearst, they unloaded the bus 375 miles later in North Bay, Ontario, on Thursday afternoon for a pickup game with a local team. They then continued on to Ottawa, where Giroux spends his summers, to pick up Giroux' father, Raymond.

A few of Giroux' childhood friends joined up in Ottawa.

Many of Hearst's younger residents end up moving to Ottawa, a full 10-hour drive south, to pursue a degree at the French-speaking university across the river in Gatineau.

One of Giroux' friends, Claude Breton, said the 8-hour ride from Ottawa to Philadelphia on Friday afternoon was a quiet one as the crew may - or may not - have had a little too much fun on Thursday night in Canada's capital city.

They finally arrived in Philadelphia Friday night and joined Giroux for dinner at the Main Street Pub in Voorhees, N.J.

On Saturday, Hearst's army of hockey fans will check out the Flyers' morning skate, take a tour of the city, and play their own afternoon hockey game at the Wells Fargo Center before settling in their suites for the game.

"To us, it is a really special opportunity to spend time with him," said Roger Sigouin, the mayor of Hearst. "Claude and his family go way back in Hearst; he is a fourth-generation native. Everyone knows each other. My wife [Michelle] was Claude's third-grade teacher. It is going to be a special night. He never forgets where he came from. He is a down-to-earth guy who always sets the right example. We are proud to support him."

Sigouin said Giroux' charitable efforts have been a big boost for Hearst. Giroux is trying to raise $700,000 - via his "Unsung Hero" merchandise series at www.ClaudeGiroux28.com and a golf tournament each summer - to build a physiotherapy and rehabilitation center in town. Given the rural nature and rough winter conditions in Hearst, where minus-40 temperatures and blizzards are normal, anyone needing rehabilitation from an accident or injury would need to travel almost an hour to the nearest center.

Giroux, 24, is already in his fourth NHL season, but he is still just beginning to realize the powerful impact he can have not only back home but also in Philadelphia.

"A few of the guys text me and said that they are living the dream through me this weekend," Giroux said. "I never really thought about that before. The support is unbelievable."

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