UPDATE 4 PM EST
The Phantoms have trimmed their roster to 25 players. I will have commentary tomorrow. For now, here's the list of who made the cut so far and who did not.
Forwards:
Rob Bordson, Tyler Brown, Sean Couturier, Shane Harper, Ben Holmstrom, Andrew Johnston, Matt Ford, Matt Mangene, TyeMcGinn, Zac Rinaldo, Garrett Roe, Brayden Schenn, Mike Testwuide, Eric Wellwood, Harry Zolnierczyk.
Defensemen:
Marc-Andre Bourdon, Jeff Dimmen, Cullen Eddy, Zack Fitzgerald, Erik Gustafsson, Oliver Lauridsen, Brandon Manning, Danny Syvret.
Goalies:
Cal Heeter, Scott Munroe.
* The Phantoms have loaned the following six players to the ECHL's Trenton Titans to start the season:
Jason Akeson, Tyler Hostetter, Niko Hovinen, Blake Kessel, Marcel Noebels, and Luke Pither.
* The following Phantoms tryout players have been added to Trenton's training camp roster:
Mike Banwell, Connor Goggin and Mitch Versteeg. In addition, Phantoms' minor-league contract forward
Ian Slater will report to Trenton.
UPDATE 3 PM EST
*
Tom Sestito will play in the UK's Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) for the Sheffield Steelers during the lockout. Among his teammates are Scottish-born former Flyers draftee Colin Shields, former NHLer Drew Fata, and former Calgary/Anaheim prospect Cory Pecker. The EIHL has a lot of fighting in it. The big forward should also score quite a few goals in that league.
*
Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 22 of 26 shots in CSKA Moscow's 4-2 loss the SKA St. Petersburg today. CSKA led 2-0 at one point in the middle period after goals by Pavel Datsyuk and Mikko Mäenpää but SKA stormed back for four unanswered goals. Ilya Kovalchuk scored a hat trick for SKA, while Kevin Dallman scored once and Vladimir Tarasenko racked up three assists. Bryzgalov had little to no chance on three of the four goals. He played better than in his first start but was still not all that sharp.
UPDATE 11:30 AM EST
* Ilya Bryzgalov is starting in goal for CSKA today against SKA.
Click here for webcast.
* Per a news article on iDnes.cz, the initial evaluation of
Jakub Voracek's knee injury yesterday suggests that it is not as serious as the groin injury that caused HC Lev and Jiri Hudler to mutually agree to terminate the NHL player's contract. However, Voracek is slated to undergo further tests. HC Lev has the option of contract termination if he is out long-term. Click
here for a Google translation.
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The Phantoms have the day off today. Tomorrow, the club will resume its pre-season training camp with the venue shifting from Voorhees to Glens Falls. The regular season begins on Saturday.
Cal Heeter started in goal for the Trenton Titans on Saturday, one day after starting for the Phantoms against Albany. In his ECHL preseason game, Heeter turned back 30 of 32 shots in a 6-2 road victory over the Reading Royals. Trenton scored four unanswered goals in the third period to win the game.
Heeter has had a strong preseason. With
Niko Hovinen struggling in his first North American preseason, Adirondack head coach
Terry Murray has a tough decision on his hands as to which goalie will break camp with the Phantoms.
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The Flyers got some unwelcome news over the weekend with the revelation that
Jakub Voracek sustained a sprained knee in the third period of Saturday's Lev-SKA game. The severity of the injury remains to be seen -- as Tim Panaccio reported -- early estimates vary from a week (per Voracek's agent, Petr Svoboda) and one month (team estimate).
I saw some of Lev-SKA game via webcast but did not watch the third period. So I don't know exactly when or how the injury happened. I know he left the ice and received treatment and, consequently, skated several few minutes than his normal TOI per game.
Obviously, this isn't the sort of news anyone wanted to hear. But it is what it is.
As long as the injury he suffered does not require surgery, there is no need for major concern about it affecting Voracek's ability to join the Flyers and play effectively when and if the 2012-13 season starts. Right now, even if Voracek ends up missing six weeks of game action from the time of injury, it still may not overlap at all with the Flyers season (barring a resolution to the CBA negotiations). It's not a season-threatening injury, even under the more pessimistic current timetables for his return.
Injury risk goes with the territory. Hockey always involves an inherent risk of injury, every and every game. The injury to Voracek just as easily could have happened in a random NHL preseason game for the Flyers-- or even during a practice session -- as it did in a KHL game. Should Flyers players not participate in those, either?
Hockey players play hockey. You can't roll 'em all up in bubble wrap to avoid the chance of injury. There are never any guarantees. For example,
Andrej Meszaros wasn't even on the ice (he was working out in the gym) when he suffered his torn achilles tendon some weeks ago.
Sans Voracek, HC Lev Prague will appear on ESPN3.com and ESPN2 tomorrow when they take on Dynamo Moscow. The game will air at 1 p.m.
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Claude Giroux and
Daniel Briere are scheduled to
arrive in Berlin tomorrow. There will be a press conference to introduce the two players. They are currently slated to make their DEL debuts for Eisbären on Friday when the defending champions take on league-leading Kölner Haie (Cologne Sharks).
Per the IIHF, Eisbären averaged 14,073 fans per game at O2 World Arena (capacity 14,200) last season; the third highest average attendance in European hockey last season. The stands should be packed for the Berlin-Cologne game on Friday.
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Wayne Simmonds assisted on two goals -- the game-winner and an insurance goal -- in Eispiraten Crimmitschau's 5-2 win over the Ravensburg Towerstars yesterday. In five Bundesliga games to date, Simmonds has seven points (1G, 6A) and 31 penalty minutes.
The Ice Pirates return to action on Friday with a road game against the SERC Wild Wings.
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Ruslan Fedotenko did not get on the scoresheet but he skated nearly 19 minutes in a 2-1 loss to Vityaz Chekov yesterday. He also won 11 of 17 faceoffs (64.7 percent). Fedotenko remains pointless in six KHL games -- not counting a game-winning shootout goal -- and has averaged 20:05 of ice time per game, while centering the top line for Donbass Donetsk.
Donbass returns to action tomorrow, hosting Severstal Cherepovets.
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CSKA Moscow returns to action today in a marquee matchup against SKA St. Petersburg (featuring Ilya Kovalchuk). It remains to be seen when
Ilya Bryzgalov will get his second start of the season. With Rastislav Stana on roll, Bryz has been unable to get back in the lineup thus far.
The game starts at 11:45 eastern U.S./Canada time. A
free webcast is available.
Regarding Bryzgalov's comments the other day, it seems like much ado about nothing. Bryzgalov never said HE was considering staying in the KHL after the end of the lockout. What he said was that he could see some other players doing it.
He's not about to leave that lucrative NHL contract of his in order to try to stay in the KHL. In addition, if you recall what was said while he was practicing with the locked-out Flyers in Voorhees, Bryzgalov was initially hesitant to go home to Russia to play during the lockout because his family has gotten settled in the Delaware Valley.
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Matt Read and the Södertälje SK club is idle today. Tomorrow the team hosts Tingsryd. Read had an assist in 3-2 shootout loss in his debut for SSK on Saturday. He won 11 of 18 faceoffs and registered 3 shots on goal. Read missed an attempt in the shootout.
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Scott Laughton and
Colin Suellentrop return to action today as the Oshawa Generals play host to the Belleville Bulls. Game time is 2:04 PM eastern.
A
free radio broadcast (Belleville announcers) is available or you can
purchase a live webcast for $6.99.
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TODAY IN FLYERS HISTORY (October 8)
* 1983: Pelle Lindbergh stopped 3 Montreal Canadiens breakaways and six different Flyers lit the lamp in a 6-3 road win at the Forum. Ron Sutter, Dave Poulin, Ray Allison, Glen Cochrane, Paul Holmgren and Bill Barber scored for the Flyers.
* 1989: Rick Tocchet scored a hat trick in a losing cause, as the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Flyers, 5-3.
* 2001: Trailing 2-0 midway through the third period, the Flyers rallied for late goals by Simon Gagne and Jan Hlavac to forge a 2-2 tie with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Brian Boucher turned back 28 of 30 shots for the Flyers.
* 2011: Two days after making his Flyers debut in a 2-1 win over Boston, Ilya Bryzgalov recorded a 20-save shutout in a 3-0 win over the New Jersey Devils. Claude Giroux game the Flyers the early lead, and Matt Read (1st NHL goal) and Wayne Simmonds (first Flyers goal) added insurance early in the third period.
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