Jakub Voracek was the talk of the hockey world Friday night and Saturday morning after calling out a reporter during a post-game news conference following the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2 win over Pittsburgh.
"Does it matter what I say, Mike?," Voracek replied to Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Mike Sielski after he asked a minor question. "You're gonna write f-----g s--t every time so it doesn't matter what you say. Yeah it feels different. I mean, we got four points out of these first two games. Uh, I wasn't even gonna answer your question because you are such a weasel it's not even funny. Next question.»
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The Philidelphia hockey blog Crossing Broad caught up with Sielski following the incident to get his side of the story. Here's what he had to say:
"On Halloween of 2019 I went to Voorhees, where they practiced that day. I go to write a column. They had gotten off to a slow start that year and Alain Vigneault is talking and says he needs more from his veteran group of players. Voracek and James van Riemsdyk were laughing as he was talking.I go home and I'm hosting a party at our house, and we've got 60 people coming over for trick and treating. I'm on deadline and trying to write this column about what happened at practice. Flyers public relations got in touch because they thought I was writing that Voracek and van Riemsdyk were laughing AT Alain Vigneault, so I apologized and said that I could understand why they saw it that way. I went online and we fixed the column at that point, to clarify that I didn't know specifically what they were talking about, and I said I'd be willing to smooth things over with Jake, that I would speak to him at practice or over the phone. Again, we went in and fixed the column and that was it."
Apparently Voracek is still not happy with that column written over a year ago. On Saturday night's Hockey Night in Canada, the panel discussed the incident, with Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman saying it's something that's bound to happen when you're a reporter and, regardless of how fair and factual you believe you were, there's going to be someone who didn't like what you wrote and will call you out on it. Friedman added his father told him when he got in the business that if you're willing to dish it out, you're going to have to take it as well.
By the way, Sielski's column from October 31st of 2019 is still up on the Philadelphia Inquirer's website.
