Flyers star Jakub Voracek called a local reporter a “weasel” during a stunning tirade Friday night.
The 31-year-old forward lashed out at Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Mike Sielski, who has been critical of Voracek in the past, following a 5-2 win over the rival Penguins.
Appearing agitated as Sielski asked whether this season felt different, Voracek buried his head in his hands and responded, “Doesn’t matter what I say, Mike, you’re gonna write f–king s–t every time.”
Teammate Travis Konecky, who was sitting next to Voracek during the news conference, nearly spit out his drink.
Voracek then said the shortened 56-game season did feel “different” before proceeding to further scold Sielski.
“I wasn’t even gonna answer your question, you’re such a weasel it’s not even funny,” Voracek, a Czech native, said. “Next question.”
The two players briefly smiled at each other as another reporter began asking a question about the game, in which Voracek had two assists to help the team some predict will win the Stanley Cup become 2-0.
Sielski, in an interview with the Philadelphia-based website Crossing Broad, suggested Voracek’s anger may have stemmed from a column he wrote last season when the Flyers were 5-5-1 and coming off back-to-back lopsided losses.
Sielski wrote that Voracek and teammate James van Riemsdyk were laughing while head coach Alain Vigneault urged his “top players to lead the way for us.”
He said he apologized and updated the column after the Flyers’ public relations department reached out “because they thought I was writing that Voracek and van Riemsdyk were laughing at Alain Vigneault.”
If Voracek was indeed laughing at his coach, Sielski wrote in the updated column, “Well, Vigneault already has dropped Voracek to the fourth line once this season, and maybe it’s time for a Flyers head coach to point out the limitations of the two players the franchise has for years regarded and treated as indispensable,” the other player being captain Claude Giroux.
Sielski, who has been a sports columnist for the Inquirer for seven years, said he offered to “smooth things over” with Voracek.
That apparently never happened.
Voracek tweeted Saturday that Sielski never reached out to him following the column from last fall, “cause he knew I was gonna snap. Trust me I’d love to [meet] face to face. That was our first interaction since,” he said, referring to Friday’s video call.
The media’s access has dwindled since March, when last season was paused because of the coronavirus. In-person interviews have been off-limits ever since.
Sielski defended himself Saturday morning after his past tweets appearing to criticize Voracek resurfaced.
One tweet Sielski wrote in 2016 said, “The #Flyers are collapsing, and it’s Jake Voracek’s fault. My column:”
He said it was written in jest.
“There’s no column,” he said. It’s a “joke I make all the time.”