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Quick Hits: May 25, 2019
1) With the exception of the five Flyers players at the IIHF World Championships in Slovakia. left wing prospect Isaac Ratcliffe was the final Flyers-affiliated player still involved in meaningful games this season. On Friday night, that came to an end.
Ratcliffe's Ontario Hockey League champion Guelph Storm's magical postseason run was halted by the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in the Memorial Cup semifinals by a 6-4 score. For the second straight year, the Memorial Cup champion will come from the QMJHL. On Sunday, Rouyn-Noranda will take on the tournament host Halifax Mooseheads in the championship match.
In the final game of his junior hockey career, Ratcliffe scored two goals in the semifinals. The first came as he joined a 2-on-1 counterattack, took a feed from linemate Mackenzie Entwhistle and wired the puck home from the left circle near the hash marks. The latter came during a desperate 6-on-5 push with Guelph trailing 5-3 late in the third period. Entwhistle fed the team captain for a slam dunk near the right post with 1:13 remaining. Guelph continued to push but the Huskies eventually claimed a turnover and scored an empty netter to seal the win.
Ratcliffe's final point totals for the 2018-19 season - counting the OHL regular season (65 GP, 50 G, 32 A, 82 PTS), CHL vs Russia series (1 GP, 1 G), OHL playoffs (24 GP, 15 G, 15 A, 30 PTS), and the Memorial Cup (4 GP, 3 G, 3 A, 6 PTS) -- were 69 goals and 47 assists for 116 points in 94 games played. The Storm's acquisition of top Montreal Canadiens prospect Nick Suzuki was a huge boon to Ratcliffe's projection, and they developed almost instant chemistry. The line of Suzuki centering Ratcliffe and Entwhistle became one of the most potent trios in the Ontario League.
Come next season, the now 20-year-old Ratcliffe will most likely be with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The Flyers organization would like to see the 2017 second-round pick continue to develop his game before he's considered a viable NHL candidate. The hulking winger (6-foot-6, 205 pounds) is not slow at top speed but needs more explosiveness in the first stride or two to get there; something that is workable. He can continue to get better in how he uses his frame and feet to protect the puck. All of these areas have improved from year-to-year, as has his two-way game. He was a regular penalty killer in Guelph the last two seasons but will have to work up to all-situation usage as a pro.
In general, Ratcliffe has room for a little greater consistency. When he scores, he scores in bunches but even this season, he was prone to some extended droughts. There is whole lot to like about this prospect. You can't teach size or hands, and he has both. He's also become a more confident and assertive player than he was even a season ago when he had a 41-goal campaign. His skating isn't pretty but is getting better and should not be a significant issue in the long term.
Only time will tell if Philly made the right move in 2017 to trade three picks in order to move up in the second round and grab Ratcliffe at 35th overall. However, it was an understandable at the time given the quality of raw materials and the upside of him developing into a potential new age power forward.
Phantoms head coach Scott Gordon is not entirely unfamiliar with Ratcliffe. The prospect spent two games with the Phantoms at the tail end of the 2017-18 regular season, scoring his first professional league goal in his debut game on a deflection tally.
Next season, Ratcliffe could be on a line with his off-ice friend and now-former OHL rival Morgan Frost. The combination of Frost's outstanding ice vision and surgical passing ability and Ratcliffe's size and finish could make for a deadly duo if they can refine the elements of their respective junior games into polished professionals. Meanwhile, incoming rookie forward Joel Farabee may be the most well-rounded prospect of the three.
2) Here is the semifinal schedule for Saturday at the 2019 IIHF World Championships: At 9:15 a.m. EDT, undefeated Russia will play Finland. At 1:15 p.m. EDT, Alain Vigneault's Team Canada squad (featuring Sean Couturier, Philippe Myers and backup goaltender Carter Hart) will take on the Czech Republic (featuring Jakub Voracek and Radko Gudas). Voracek has had an outstanding tourney, with 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in eight games.
Both semifinal games will be shown on NHL Network. The respective semifinal winners will play for the gold medal on Sunday in Bratislava. The other will play for the bronze early on Sunday morning. Due to the fact that Canada and Czech Republic will be involved in the gold and bronze games, both of Sunday's games will have a Flyers connection.
If Canada plays for gold, Vigneault will most likely stay with Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray as the starter (barring injury or other unforeseen circumstances on Saturday). If Canada loses in the semifinal, there's a chance that Hart could get a start in the bronze medal game rather than playing Murray on back-to-back days. The two netminders alternated starts in the preliminary round.
This year's gold medal game will not feature a shootout. If the game is tied at the end of regulation, the two sides will play 3-on-3 sudden death overtime to a finish with 20-minute periods and standard intermissions until the tie is broken.
3) Today in Flyers History: On May 25, 1997, the Flyers closed out their Eastern Conference Final series with the New York Rangers as Philly earned a 4-2 win in Game 5 at the CoreStates Center (now Wells Fargo Center). Eric Lindros (power play), John LeClair (power play) and Rod Brind'Amour sent the Flyers to the first intermission with a 3-2 lead after Philly briefly trailed 2-1. The one-goal lead was extended to two early in the third period, courtesy of Brind'Amour's second goal of the game and 10th of the playoffs. Philly limited the Rangers to just 10 shots after the first period, and Ron Hexall (17 saves on 19 shots overall) earned the win to send the Flyers to the Stanley Cup Final for the seventh time in franchise history.
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