There are no Flyers-related games taking place today. However, the Super Series resumes tonight with a game in Val-d'Or, Quebec, between the Russian U20 team and Team QMJHL. The game will air in NHL Network at 7 p.m. eastern U.S. and Canada time. Last night, two Flyers junior prospects were in action.
In the WHL,
Taylor Leier recorded an assist in a 5-1 romp for the Portland Winterhawks over the Red Deer Rebels. The team now has points in 10 straight games (9-0-1) and Leier has 9 points (3 goals, 6 assists) in 11 games played this season.
In the OHL,
Derek Mathers did not record a point in a 5-3 loss by the Peterborough Petes at the hands of Barrie Colts. He took a minor penalty (tripping) in the third period. For the season, Mathers has 5 points (2 goals, 3 assists) and 34 penalty minutes in 18 games played.
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Talbot to Ilves?
According to a
report from Finland, Flyers forward
Max Talbot will join SM-liiga club Ilves Tampere if the NHL lockout is not immediately settled.
Along with best friend and new Flyers teammate
Bruno Gervais, Talbot was one of the organizers of the recently completed Players' Tour in Quebec. The two touring teams, which also included longtime Flyers forward Simon Gagne, raised $ 402,527, which will be donated to various charitable organizations and foundations.
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PROSPECT REPORT: GROWING PAINS FOR HOVINEN AND HEETER
When the Adirondack Phantoms opened training camp, the conventional wisdom was that rookie
Niko Hovinen had the inside track to split time with veteran
Scott Munroe. Fellow first-year pro
Cal Heeter was more likely to start the season with the ECHL's Trenton Titans.
It didn't work out that way. Hovinen struggled mightily in two preseason starts, while Heeter was solid. When the Phantoms announced their opening night roster, Heeter made the team and Hovinen was assigned to Trenton.
Thus far, both have had mixed results in limited regular season action.
Heeter, 24, has made four starts for the Phantoms. His numbers (1-3-0, 3.67 GAA, .853 save percentage) look ugly but only his debut game could truly be categorized as a subpar performance. In his first professional regular season game, Heeter allowed two soft goals and another questionable one, while struggling to control rebounds.
The team played horribly in front of Heeter in his second start. No goaltender alive would have won that game. Even so, the goalie alone kept the team semi-close for two periods.
Heeter was outstanding in his third start. Again victimized by several glaring defensive breakdowns, he nevertheless made several big saves and held the game close until the team waged a late-game comeback to make Heeter the winning goaltender.
In his most recent start, Heeter only saw 18 shots on goal, stopping 15. However, two of the goals were breakaway opportunities; one by reigning AHL MVP Cory Conacher and the other by second-year pro Tyler Johnson (who already has six goals on the young season). The other goal came off a turnover and good shot by Radko Gudas. While it's tough to blame Heeter for any of the goals, it is fair to say that the club could have used a couple of momentum saves from their goaltender in the game.
The 6-foot-4 Heeter is an aggressive goaltender who likes to challenge shooters. He has shown some vulnerability to rebounds and, in first start, struggled with some longer-distance shots.
Hovinen, 24, is coming off a stellar -- but ultimately injury-shortened -- season in Finland's SM-liiga. He had hip surgery late in the spring but was ready for the start of training camp. It often takes European goalies half a season to adjust to the smaller-rink game, where the angles and attacking patterns vary somewhat from the international ice.
After his demotion to the Titans, Hovinen had a strong regular season debut. He turned back 31 of 32 shots in his ECHL debut, earning a 3-1 win. Unfortunately, Hovinen got injured in his second shot, getting hit in neck with a shot and also sustaining a mild concussion. He missed two weeks, although he served as backup to New Jersey Devils starter Scott Wedgewood in two games one week after the injury.
Upon his return to the lineup, Hovinen had an uneven performance in a 4-2 loss to the Reading Royals. None of the four goals he allowed on 32 shots could be categorized as truly "soft". He got very little help from his D on this night and that will make any goalie have a mediocre stat line before too long. Even so, Hovinen encountered some of the same issues that affected him during the preseason.
The pros: The 6-foot-7 Hovinen was very good on chances in close, stoning Reading players from point-blank range on about four or five occasions. None of the goals he gave up were outright soft ones. Three were top-shelfers, two of which came from wide-open shooters who had a good look at the net. The other was a secondary rebound on a scramble around the net.
The cons: The rookie went down too early as he was beaten up high on three of the four goals he gave up (two to the stick side, one to the glove side), left numerous rebounds in the opposite slot (something that AHL and certainly NHL opponents would pounce on), struggled several times to stop pucks behind the net on routine dump-ins and looked slow on his recoveries and lateral movement.
Hovinen's ECHL stats to date: 3 GP, 1-1-0, 2.57 GAA, .921 save percentage.
The Finnish rookie still has quite a bit of work to do to ready himself for faster-paced and higher-skill competition on the smaller rink. The key thing to focus on is not his current level but, rather, his improvement over the course of the full season. He should start to settle in by the middle of the season and be clearly a better goaltender by the end of the season compared to his starting point.
The same thing goes for Heeter. He needs -- and deserves -- time to settle in and continue to work on his game throughout first pro season. The competition for a spot in Adirondack will continue throughout the season.
Right now, Munroe is the most reliable of the three options for the Phantoms. That's to be expected, given his level of experience and track record as a good AHL goalie. However, Munroe is not part of the Flyers' future. The younger goalies may be. Folks need to exercise a little patience. Enduring growing pains is part and parcel to developing goaltenders.
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COMING TOMORROW: A look at first-year Phantoms forwards
Andrew Johnston,
Matt Mangene and Titans rookie
Marcel Noebels.
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