Flyers help young patients design SkateSkins for Hockey Fights Cancer game

VOORHEES, N.J. -- Frankie Wilson showed up to Flyers Training Center in Voorhees, New Jersey, with a smile, a plan and a ton of energy.

The 11-year-old knew she would be working with Philadelphia Flyers forward Travis Konecny to design some special gear for the Flyers' Hockey Fights Cancer game against the St. Louis Blues at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; FDSNMW, NBCSP) and fully understood the assignment.

Frankie was one of seven youngsters being treated for or recovering from cancer treatments who were paired with a Flyers player on this late October day to design SkateSkins, customizable decals that wrap around the boot of a hockey skate. Two others worked with goalies Samuel Ersson and Dan Vladar to design goalie masks.

It's the first time an NHL team will wear SkateSkins decals. The gear will be worn during warmups, and the masks and select skates will be auctioned off through Flyers Charities.

"On the way here, I was like, let's make a list," said Dan Wilson, Frankie's father. "She's like, 'I've already got a list.' And I'm like, 'All right, why don't you share that list with me first?' Let's make sure everything is appropriate.

"There are certain things that are Frankie, that kind of tell her story, and I think it's kind of important to allow her to have that creativity herself. Sometimes we might steer her in the right direction if she's off base a little bit, but a lot about family, a lot about having fun, and a lot about her outlook of just positivity."

In addition to having their artwork showcased on the ice at Xfinity Mobile Arena, the kids had a pizza party with the players and received goodie bags packed with Flyers merchandise.

The design Frankie and Konecny created includes Frankie's initials as well as those of her siblings and Konecny's two children, plus cancer ribbons. One of the toes of the design was colored red but there wasn't much significance to that.

"I don't know, we just got kind of messed up," Frankie said with a laugh. "This was like the best day. Got to skip school. The pizza was so good. The players were so nice. Everyone was amazing. This whole thing was amazing. I was so happy for this opportunity. I had a great day."

Frankie took control of the afternoon with her boundless enthusiasm. Konecny was glad to give her full control.

"She's so funny, I just let her do her thing," he said. "She's a superstar. ... She had a few things that she really wanted on there and then we kind of just went from there."

Frankie's positive attitude has been a constant while being treated for Ewing's sarcoma, a form of bone cancer, the past year.

"She sees the positive in everything," Dan Wilson said. "Doesn't matter how her day's going. She's just out to have a great time. ... When we were at CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) and she was allowed to come out of her room if she didn't have an infection or something, she would go to each room and be like, 'How old is that kid in there? Do they come out at all? Will they play with me? Can we get them to the playroom?'

"And some of the nurses would be like, 'We need you to get this person out, because they're not having a great day, or they're really down.' So, they would use her to get kids, get kids out and playing and involved in activities and stuff."

Julia Dietl, a 19-year-old from Ohio, was the oldest of the patients taking part. She has been battling Grade 4 Glioblastoma Multiforme, a rare form of brain cancer, for more than seven years. Her care team is based at CHOP, which led her to becoming a Flyers fan.

She got to work with her favorite player, forward Trevor Zegras, on their SkateSkins design.

"I actually wrote one of my tattoos, which is, 'Here you are living despite it all,' with my cancer ribbon," she said. "It was one of my first tattoos, and I signed it, he signed it, and then I put strength, and then the Flyers logos and cancer ribbons."

Zegras, who at 24 is just a few years older than Dietl, was blown away by her fortitude.

"She was a little bit older than all the other the other kids, so I thought that was pretty cool, that she was able to put herself out there a little bit," he said. "It's pretty amazing. What a strong girl, all the stuff that she's been through, and going through kind of just takes you back to the human aspect of life and whatnot. I had a blast spending time with her and getting to know her and tried to make it as fun as possible."

The technical side of producing the SkateSkins, taking crayons and markers on a sheet of paper and converting them into high-resolution graphics, provided a challenge. SkateSkins founder and owner Matthew Keeler said because it was a Hockey Fights Cancer event, there was no roadblock that couldn't be cleared.

"Our partnership with Hockey Fights Cancer, which we value tremendously, and working in partnership with the NHL, has been huge," Keeler said. "They've given us all the support and resources that we need to succeed. And ultimately, the Flyers and the NHL really trusted our vision when it came to this and what we're building with SkateSkins.

"For the Flyers to be the first NHL team to wear our product and being able to include local kids on the design, I think really made this collaboration pretty special."

The goalie masks will be painted by artist Franny Drummond, whose studio, PaintZoo, is located in the Philadelphia suburb of Langhorne, Pennsylvania. He has created masks for several current and retired NHL goalies, among them Vladar, Jacob Markstrom, Brian Elliott, Steve Mason and Devan Dubnyk. He'll have a different challenge with the mask Ersson and his co-designer, Brayden, an 11-year-old two-time cancer survivor, designed.

"We've got the Liberty Bell, we've got a hockey stick, we put our names," Ersson said. "We got a cheesesteak. Brayden didn't want to paint that much, so he said, 'I'll just write (the word cheesesteak), and then they'll get a picture.'"

Sean Couturier, Noah Cates, Garnet Hathaway, Travis Sanheim and Jamie Drysdale also worked with youngsters on SkateSkins, but finding players to volunteer their time wasn't difficult.

"That's like the best part of the job," Zegras said. "Not only does it hopefully make their day, but it makes your day also. To spend time with the little guys, it's really cool. Good or bad day, that's something that you can always hang your hat on, and something you can always get behind."

Said Konecny, "It doesn't matter what we've got going on. This is a day that'll put a smile on your face, puts a smile on their face."