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Quick Hits: Off-Day, Sandstrom, York, Flyers Warriors Win Warrior Classic |
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Quick Hits: October 7. 2019
1) The Flyers have a complete off-day on Monday to recover from the time change and jet lag from their return trip from Prague. On Tuesday, the team will have practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. The logistics of the team's early-season schedule are about to get weird again. After the brief return from Prague to host the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday in the Wells Fargo Center home opener, the team is hopping multiple time zones again for its western Canada road trip to British Columbia and Alberta (Saturday in Vancouver, Tue Oct. 15 in Calgary, Wed. Oct. 16 in Edmonton).
Home Game No. 2 at the Wells Fargo Center isn't until Sat. Oct. 19 when the Flyers host the Dallas Stars. After that, the Flyers host the Vegas Golden Knights (Mon. Oct 21) and then visit the Chicago Blackhawks (Thu. Oct. 24) for a quick completion of the two teams' season series. Overall, seven of the season's first eight games will have been interconference matches.
2) On Sunday, the Flyers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms sent first-year goaltender Felix Sandström to the ECHL's Reading Royals. With veteran Alex Lyon returning, this was not really a surprise. Phantoms head coach Scott Gordon said after the Rookies Game that he anticipated having two goaltenders rather than three and both he and Chuck Fletcher said that Sandström (and 20-year-old rookie Kirill Ustimenko) will need work.
Gordon said on Sept. 11 that, in terms of goaltender development, it can sometimes be more challenging for a young goalie at a lower level because the caliber of defensive play in these leagues and the overall structure of play is not on the same level, leading to facing higher volumes of scoring chances on many nights. It's not really the raw shooting ability that sets apart the average ECHL from the average AHLer. According to Gordon, shots are shots and scoring chances are scoring chances from a goalie's perspective.
For example, Jonathan Quick had better stats in the AHL in 19 games in 2007-08 (2.32 GAA, .922 SV%) than he did that same season in 38 ECHL games for Reading (2.79 GAA, .905 SV%). Carter Hart's rookie AHL numbers vs. his superior NHL numbers after his Flyers callup are another example. In Hart's case, though, he was hitting his stride in the AHL leading up to his NHL recall and his numbers were pulled down by some rough starts in October.
3) NCAA exhibition: The regular season has not yet started in the NCAA but Flyers 2019 first-round pick Cam York had a notable performance in a preseason exhibition for University of Michigan against Windsor this weekend. York scored a pair of goals, the latter of which was a highlight reel tally for the defenseman that looked somewhat like right winger Travis Konecny's second goal in the Flyers' opening night win in Prague.
4) USA Hockey Warrior Classic: The Philadelphia Flyers Warriors erased three separate one-goal deficits and went on to defeat the North Carolina Warriors, 7-3, in the finals of the 2019 USA Hockey Warrior Classic on Sunday at City National Arena in Las Vegas. Coverage of the tournament, which saw the Flyers-affiliated team go 5-0-0 to win the lower-bracket championship less than eight months from their official creation in conjunction with the Flyers and the National Hockey League.
Technically, the Flyers Warriors are recognized as the 2019 Tier 3 champions by USA due to a bizarre classification system. The two teams that lose in the semifinals of the Tier 1 tournament play a consolation game, with the winner declared the Tier 2 victor. Thus, the lower bracket winner is called Tier 3 champion. The Dallas Warriors won the Tier 1 championship, defeating the Buffalo Sabres Warriors.
In order to participate in Warrior Hockey, a player must be a veteran of a branch of the U.S. Armed Forces and must have a certified disability of at least 10 percent.
5) A pair of Flyers Alumni -- goaltender Mike McKenna and defenseman Ryan McGill -- stopped by the final game as gestures of respect to the team of military veterans sporting one of the crests they wore as NHL players. McKenna, now a Golden Knights broadcaster, visited the Flyers Warriors locker room pregame to give a little pep talk to the team. McGill, now a Golden Knights assistant coach, watched part of the first period of the final game from the stands after his team finished practice and before a coaches' meeting.
6) Two of the Flyers Warriors top players, forwards Jason DiPietro and Mike "DQ" Delquadro were iffy to be able to play in the final. DiPietro was having an issue with his pacemaker, while Delquadro had vision issues after his eye had been scratched. Both guys toughed it out and suited up to play.
Unfortunately, the Flyers Warriors soon lost DQ in the final game. During an early first period scramble around the net, an NC Warriors player took an extra chop at the whistle on goalie Bill Duffy. Delquadro knocked the player on his backside to protect his goalie. The NC player got a slashing minor but Delquadro received a charging major and game misconduct.
Even in a game where the Flyers side trailed three separate times, was down an important player and in which both the referee and linesman (who struggled with his positioning and had trouble judging onside/offside plays) had pretty rough afternoons, the Philly side pressed on. Offensively skilled and speedy defenseman Nick Pidge gave the team a huge lift with a hat trick in the final game, and the whole team clamped down defensively as the game progressed.
One of the cool things to watch unfold on Days 2 and 3 was the way some of the team's less experienced players applied advice that head coach Brad Marsh and assistant Rob Baer gave in a Saturday morning team meeting; details such as how the defensemen could be sure to maintain good gaps, where the wingers should be in the defensive zone depending on who has possession, and in which corner to dump the puck on a line change. You could see things starting to click for many of the players. While these are Hockey 101 to some degree, players whose only experience is rec hockey often need to be instructed on these sorts of details.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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