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QUICK HITS: MAY 16, 2017
1) Canada easily dispatched Norway in preliminary round action at the 2017 IIHF World Championships on Monday, skating to a 5-0 victory and a 48-10 shot disparity. Team Canada goaltender Chad Johnson saw only two shots after the first period, and none in the final stanza. Flyers forward Brayden Schenn (9:09 TOI, four shots on goal) opened the scoring with a late first period power play goal assisted by Philadelphia teammate Wayne Simmonds (12:47 TOI, one shot). Claude Giroux played 14:23 and had one shot on net, while Sean Couturier (15:15) and Travis Konecny (12:31 one shot) also did not get on the scoresheet in this game. On Tuesday, the Canadians take on Valtteri Filppula and the rest of Team Finland.
2) Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov skated 18:30 of ice time, had one shot on goal and was plus-one in Russia's 5-0 shut out win over Belarus on Monday. The 20-year-old blue liner was also tagged with a second period slashing minor. For the tournament to date, Provorov has three assists and is plus-three in six games. The Russians take on Team USA on Tuesday.
3) Playing the unaccustomed role of pregame favorite, Team France dispatched already relegated Slovenia by a 4-1 count on Monday. Dallas Stars forward Antoine Roussel compiled a hat trick and an assist to figure in all of the scoring for his team. His linemate, the Flyers' Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, had one assist in 18:43 of ice time. A fourth-liner on the Flyers, Bellemare has four points (two goals, two assists) in seven games to date while anchoring France's top line. The French team has won four games in the preliminary round.
4) Team Czech Republic, featuring team captain Jakub Voracek and defenseman Radko Gudas, returns to action on Tuesday as they take on Switzerland. Voracek has posted six points (one goal, five assists) in six preliminary round games, while Gudas has a pair of goals -- including a game winner -- and three points to his credit thus far.
5) Tuesday's game conclude the round-robin preliminary round at the World Championships. After a tournament-wide off day on Wednesday, the single-elimination medal round starts on Thursday.
6) On Thursday at 3 p.m. ET, there will be a ceremony at 11th St. and Pattison Avenue to celebrate the renaming of a section of 11th St. (the area from Pattison Ave. south to Terminal Ave.) as "Ed Snider Way," in honor of the legacy of the Flyers' beloved co-founder and longtime owner/chairman. The ceremony will be led by City Coucilman Kenyatta Johnson, who sponsored the effort in City Council. Members of the Snider family will also be on hand.
7) May 16 is the 32nd anniversary of the Flyers' series-clinching 3-0 win at the Spectrum over the Quebec Nordiques to advance to the 1985 Stanley Cup Final. Dave Poulin's breakaway goal on a 5-on-3 penalty kill early in the second period gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead and became an iconic moment in franchise history. Pelle Lindbergh recorded a shut out, while Rick Tocchet and Doug Crossman (power play) also tallied for the Flyers.
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