The last 36 hours have hectic to say the least. Yesterday, I was on the bench during the Flyers vs. Team Tartarstan game in Kazan, Russia, in which both the president of Tartarstan and the Minister of the Interior suited up for the Tartarstan side along with former national team pros, Ak Bars alumni and others.

Among the players filling out the Flyers Alumni Team roster were some notable names such as former NHL star Bobby Carpenter, forwards Andrei Nikolishin and Alexander Semak, and a big name in Russian hockey -- former Red Army (CSKA) and national team fixture Sergey Gimayev (who, back in 1976 was a rookie on CSKA) -- who to this day remains prominent around Russian hockey as a national commentator.

During the game, I served three (hopefully useful) functions. I was introduced as a Flyers Alumni assistant coach, which really only meant that I was opening the bench door on line changes. Trainer Dave Culp had everything under control -- as usual -- in terms of the equipment and tending to in-game needs but I pitched in the few times he needed an extra hand. Meanwhile, I was also taking photos from the bench for the tour diary I am authoring on FlyersAlumni.org.

Due to the time difference between North America and Russia, the Flyers' 3-1 n Calgary was still ongoing when I woke up early in the morning. I caught bits and pieces of the game. In the morning today, we departed Kazan for St. Petersburg (via a connecting flight in Moscow). It was only a few hours ago that we arrived at our hotel. Daily and more in-depth Flyers coverage will return after the Alumni tour.

The projected lineups in Edmonton on Thursday per NHL.com:

Brayden Schenn -- Claude Giroux -- Wayne Simmonds
Jordan Weal -- Sean Couturier -- Jakub Voracek
Michael Raffl -- Nick Cousins -- Matt Read
Chris VandeVelde -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Dale Weise

Ivan Provorov -- Andrew MacDonald
Mark Streit -- Shayne Gostisbehere
Brandon Manning -- Radko Gudas

Michal Neuvirth / Steve Mason

Scratches: Roman Lyubimov, Nick Schultz, Travis Konecny (knee), Michael Del Zotto (lower body)


Oilers

Patrick Maroon -- Connor McDavid -- Jordan Eberle
Milan Lucic -- Leon Draisaitl -- Anton Slepyshev
Drake Caggiula -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Zack Kassian
Matt Hendricks -- Mark Letestu -- Iiro Pakarinen

Oscar Klefbom -- Adam Larsson
Andrej Sekera -- Matthew Benning
Brandon Davidson -- Jordan Oesterle

Cam Talbot / Laurent Brossoit

Scratches: Eric Gryba (healthy), Darnell Nurse (foot), Tyler Pitlick (knee), Jujhar Khaira (upper body), Kris Russell (lower body), Benoit Pouliot (upper body).

Join the Discussion: » 949 Comments » Post New Comment

» Phantoms Take Game 1 vs. WBS, Farabee to Worlds

» Flyers Re-Sign Fedotov to Two-Year Contract

» Musings and Quick Hits: Flyers Power Play, Phantoms vs WBS Preview

» Quick Hits: Flyers Daily, Phantoms, TIFH

» Quick Hits: Phantoms Playoff Series Set