Van Riemsdyk chats with family of Flyers fans to aid charity initiative

James van Riemsdyk has been asked a lot of questions during his 11 NHL seasons. What his favorite emoji is never had been one of them.

But that was one of the questions the Philadelphia Flyers forward was asked during a recent call with United States Navy pilot Tom Luft, and his sons, 11-year-old Everett and 9-year-old Avery.

"That's something you can't really lie about," van Riemsdyk said Wednesday. "Because when you pull up your keyboard (on your mobile device) to type, it shows the ones you've used the most. The laughing one was the top one and the one with the guy with the fingers on his chin (thinking face emoji) was the second one. I guess you learn something new about yourself every day."

The call between van Riemsdyk and the Luft family was set up by the United Heroes League as part of the organization's Talk With a Pro initiative. Luft, a longtime Flyers fan, lives with his family in the Philadelphia suburb of Media, Pennsylvania, and has served in the military for 18 years.

Van Riemsdyk has been an ambassador for United Heroes League since 2015. He was introduced to the program by Shane Hudella, who founded Defending The Blue Line, a non-profit organization that helps military families with the high costs of playing hockey. In 2016 the organization grew to become the United Heroes League to reach a broader base of sports and military families.

"[Hudella] mentioned to me some different things they were trying to do, experiences with families and stuff they were trying to put together during all this," van Riemsdyk said. "When he mentioned that, I jumped on the opportunity to do something like that. It was cool. We had some fun with it. The two kids there were funny, asked some good questions, some questions that I don't generally get all the time. I enjoyed it. And it was fun for all of us. Really good."

Everett and Avery also asked van Riemsdyk who his favorite teammate was, and Van Riemsdyk said Flyers captain Claude Giroux.

"Me and G, we go so far back, it's been fun with him," van Riemsdyk said. "We got drafted only a year apart from each other (Giroux No. 22 in 2006, van Riemsdyk No. 2 in 2007). His first full year and my first-year pro (2009-10) we lived in the same building. We were buddies back then when our lives were much different, now we're both married and have a kid, so a little bit different."

Van Riemsdyk and his wife, Lauren, had their first child, a daughter named Scarlet Everly, on May 3. Giroux and his wife, Ryanne, had a son, Gavin, on Aug. 26.

Having extended time with Scarlet has been one of the benefits of the NHL season being paused since March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.

"The silver lining out of all this stuff is the extra time I've been able to spend at home and be there for all the little moments and worry about being a dad first and foremost," van Riemsdyk said. "That's been unbelievable. As everyone who has kids knows it's a life-changing sort of moment."

Van Riemsdyk and his wife have been living with Lauren's parents in Minnesota since the pause while waiting for their home nearby to be finished. Van Riemsdyk said that's expected to happen in the next few weeks.

But having an extra set of hands around to help with the baby has been good. Van Riemsdyk's parents also drove from their home in New Jersey to spend time around their first grandchild. Van Riemsdyk said Scarlet is the fourth grandchild for his in-laws.

"They basically drove through the night, I think it took them 19 hours, just a straight shot through, just stops for gas," he said. "Put them up in an Air BnB for a bit to quarantine and have them be able to meet the baby. It's been awesome to have them here."

Van Riemsdyk also said his broken right index finger has healed and he would be able to play if the season resumes. He was injured blocking a shot against the Washington Capitals on March 4 and missed the final three games before the season was paused. He was expected to need 4-6 weeks to recover.

"I've been able to play probably for a couple weeks now," said van Riemsdyk, who has 40 points (19 goals, 21 assists) in 66 games. "Feeling pretty good. I wouldn't say it's back to feeling like it felt before, but it certainly feels good enough to play. Using this time wisely to try to continue to get that thing back to where it was beforehand."

Video and photo credit: United Heroes League