Philadelphia Flyers fans did not waste much time making their point after another rough night.
On Friday, a Twitter/X user who goes by “Tony Escargot” asked whether people would be willing to donate to a GoFundMe meant to “raise money to fly a plane over XFinity Mobile [Arena] with a sign that said ‘FIRE TOCCHET'”
The response came fast. Less than two hours after that first post, the same user shared a screenshot showing the fundraiser had already hit its target in under an hour.
The GoFundMe page listed a total of $2,247 at the time of this writing, topping the original $2,000 goal. The breakdown on the page showed four people donating $100, four more giving $50, and 117 others contributing the rest.
The push came after the Flyers dropped their 14th game of the season on Thursday night, a 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers. Philadelphia is now 4-10-4, sitting last in the Eastern Conference and 30th in the NHL standings.
The fundraiser’s creator did not mince words about why the campaign exists, writing:
“Daniel Briere, Keith Jones, and Comcast have decimated the Philadelphia Flyers by hiring Rick Tocchet as head coach.
The front office thinks the “Fire Tocchet” crowd is purely online but Tony would like to prove otherwise.
This fundraiser is to raise funds for flying 2 planes over Xfinity Mobile Arena during a Flyers afternoon game with signs that read “FIRE TOCCHET” & maybe a photo of Tocchet wearing a clown nose.”
The planned flyover is tied to the Flyers’ November 27th matchup with the Vancouver Canucks, Tocchet’s former team. The opponent may look pointed, but the organizer said that part is mostly coincidence; the real requirement is that the game be in the afternoon so the flyover can work. That game is scheduled for 3 PM ET.
Tocchet has already been under pressure since October, and the Flyers made a major commitment when they hired him. Philadelphia gave him a five-year contract that made him one of the NHL’s highest-paid coaches. That deal came after Tocchet left the Canucks’ organization, where Vancouver had also offered him a similar big-ticket contract after two and a half seasons behind the bench.
If Tocchet is gone before the November 27th game, the organizer said the money would either be refunded or put “toward something else.”
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