Quick Hits: September 8, 2021
1) Earlier this week, Flyers development coach Nick Schultz was Jason Myrtetus's guest on Flyers Daily. A veteran of 1,069 NHL regular seasons, Schultz spent the final three seasons of his playing career with the Flyers before retiring in 2017. He was hired by the organization as a development coach in 2019, specializing in working with blueline prospects in the farm system.
During his 24-minute discussion with Myrtetus, Schultz discusses the prospects in the Flyers organization. He also talks about the similarities and differences between young players today and 20 years ago when Schultz was an NHL prospect (2nd round pick by the Minnesota Wild in 2000). The now 39-year-old Schultz also looks back at his 16-year NHL career and the keys to his longevity in the league as a defensive defenseman. As with many NHL players, Schultz had to adapt a bit of a different role in the pros than he played in the Western Hockey League.
To listen to the podcast,
click here.
2) I have enjoyed the fan comments and debate around the six finalists for 2021-22 induction into the Flyers Hall of Fame. Above all, it underscores (at least in my mind) that all six of the short-list nominees -- Simon Gagne, Paul Holmgren, Bob Kelly, Lou Nolan, Mark Recchi and Rick Tocchet -- each have a compelling case that can be made for their selection this year. On Wednesday's edition of Flyers Daily, Jason and I profiled each of six finalists. We also talked about the risk/reward of the Flyers recent contract extension to Joel Farabee.
To listen,
click here.
3) Yesterday marked the 10-year anniversary of the passing of Brad McCrimmon in the tragic Lokomotiv Yaroslavl airplane crash as well as the five-year anniversary of the cancer-related death of Bob Dailey. On the Flyers official website, we take a look back at the careers of two of the most important but often overlooked Flyers defensemen of the latter 1970s to latter 1980s:
click here.
4) If you saw the "Untold: Crimes and Penalties" documentary on the infamous Danbury Trashers, you know what a wild story there was behind the two-season existence of the United Hockey League team owned by mobster Jimmy Galante and run by Galante's then 17-year-old son A.J. Galante. On the next edition of the Nasty Knuckles podcast, which is set to be posted today, Derek Settlemyre and Riley Cote talk with former Philadelphia Phantoms Calder Cup winner and Spectrum fan favorite Dave MacIsaac about what it was like playing for Danbury. Frank "the Animal" Bialowas was also member of the Trashers along with fellow ex-Phantom tough guy Garrett "Rocky" Burnett.
5) Sept 8 Flyers Alumni birthday: The late Ralph MacSweyn (1942-1995) was born in Hawkesbury Ontario on this day in 1942.He lived most of his non-hockey life in Glengarry, Ontario. The Flyers acquired the 5-foot-11, 190-pound defensive defenseman's contract when they purchased the American Hockey League's Quebec Aces to be the new NHL expansion team's first farm club.
A periodic call-up to fill in the depth of the NHL team's blueline. MacSweyn dressed in 47 regular season games and eight playoff matches (1969 and 1971) for the Flyers over parts of four seasons during the early years of Flyers franchise history, recording five assists and 10 penalty minutes. Primarily, "Big Mac" suited up in the American Hockey League for the Aces and, later, the Richmond Robins.
Said Joe Watson, "Ralph was a good guy and an honest, hard-working player. He gave it all he had every time he got a chance to play, and that's all you can ask as a teammate."
After leaving the Flyers' organization in the summer of 1972, MacSweyn played two seasons in the World Hockey Association for the Los Angeles Sharks and Vancouver Blazers. The defenseman, who got his pro hockey start with the famed Johnstown Jets (then in the Eastern Hockey Hockey) in the early 1960s returned to Johnstown (by then in the North American Hockey League) as he finished up his career in 1976-77.
Following his retirement, MacSweyn lived the remainder of his life working on his family farm in Glengarry. He also stayed close to hockey, coaching his daughter's team. The former National Hockey League player was inducted into his hometown's Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.
Ralph MacSweyn passed away in Glengarry on May 21,1995. Survived by wife and daughter, he was 52 years old. His gravestone depicts him during one of the proudest times of his life, wearing a Philadelphia Flyers uniform.
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