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Quick Hits: Neuvirth, TIFH and More |
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Quick Hits: July 22, 2019
1) Accorrding to a report by Czech sports outlet iSport.cz, former Flyers goaltender Michal Neuvirth is training with Czech team Sparta Prague this summer but has opted to accept an NHL tryout invitation from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"It's a big challenge for me," Nuevirth told the publication. "When they called me from Toronto, I let go of all the other teams. The Toronto Maple Leafs - that's an honor. Like Sparta is here in the Czech Republic, it's like the Real Madrid of hockey."
Neuvirth spent the 20015-16 to 2018-19 seasons with the Flyers. When healthy and on the top of his game, he played at a very high level. The biggest highlights of his Flyers career came during his first season with the team. He opened his stint with back-to-back shutouts in his first two starts and, later, put forth spectacular performances in Games 5 and 6 of the Flyers first-round loss to the Washington Capitals.
Neuvirth has been injury-plagued throughout his career and prone to streaky play. Over the last three seasons, he has spent more time on injured reserve than available to play, and he struggled in 2015-16 and 2018-19 even when available. Among the 60 goaltenders who have played 50 or more combined games over the past three NHL seasons, Neuvirth's .896 save percentage in 57 appearances ranks 60th (Calvin Pickard, Chad Johnson and Antti Niemi are tied for 5th at .897). In 2018, Neuvirth was the winning goaltender in Game 5 of the Flyers' first round playoff series against Pittsburgh.
2) Today in Flyers history: On July 22, 1974, the Flyers rewarded Stanley Cup winning coach Fred Shero with a new three-year contract at a significant raise from the first contract he had signed when joining the organization. After the Flyers won the Cup, the sometimes eccentric Shero (as he was wont to do periodically) publicly toyed with the idea of quitting hockey to go to law school in Canada and then promptly went overseas to attend an international coaching clinic in the USSR.
He would end up coaching the Flyers to another Stanley Cup in 1974-75, a third straight trip to the Cup Final and a victory over the Red Army team in 1975-76, and to fifth and sixth consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup semifinals (1973-1978) in 1976-77 and 1977-78 before departing in controversial fashion to accept the head coach and general manager job with the New York Rangers. In his first season with the Rangers, Shero would lead the team to the 1979 Stanley Cup Final before going down to the fourth straight championship won by the mid-to-late 1970s Montreal Canadiens dynasty.
3) July 22 Flyers Alumni birthday: Gord Hynes (1966).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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