Quick Hits: Sept. 2, 2018
1) OHL Preseason Showcase: Flyers prospect Matthew Strome scored two goals and recorded an assist on Saturday but his defending Ontario Hockey League champion Hamilton Bulldogs fell in a shootout, 5-4, to the Saginaw Spirit. All of his points came at even strength. Strome scored a go-ahead goal (3-2) midway through regulation and, after the visiting Saginaw team scored the next two goals, tied the game at 4-4 early in the third period. Strome had three shots on goal, finding the net on two of them.
2) Trivia question 1: This season, the Flyers will have six prospects playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) and one in Allsvenskan (Sweden's top minor league). That is the highest number of prospects the Flyers have had simultaneously playing in Sweden since 1991-92.
Can you name the six Flyers-affiliated players who played that year in what was then known as Elitserien or the Swedish Elite League? The answer is at the end of today's blog.
Hint: Two are well-known players, two are moderately easy (both are guessable for people who followed the Flyers in the 1990s) and the other two never played in North America.
On the Flyers' official website this weekend, there is an article on the 2018-19 preseason outlook for the seven Flyers prospects playing in Sweden: Felix Sandström (HV71),Olle Lycksell (Linköping), Adam Ginning (Linköping), Linus Högberg (Và¤xjö), Marcus Westfà¤lt (Brynà¤s), David Bernhardt (Djurgà¥rden), and Samuel Ersson (Và¤sterà¥s, Allsvenskan). For more, click here.
3) Flyers Alumni forwards Brian Propp and Ray Allison, along with the rest of their morning hockey league team are currently on a tour of Ireland, including a friendly game against the Irish national team. Propper has been posting pictures of the tour on his social media and sharing them with the Alumni for the Alumni's Facebook and Twitter pages.
4) Sept 2 Flyers Alumni birthdays: Michel Belhumeur (1949), Paul Guay (1963), Petr Hubacek(1979).
5) Trivia question 2: The Flyers lost goaltender Belhumeur to the Washington Capitals in the 1974 NHL Expansion Draft. What dubious NHL record did Belhumeur set with the Capitals?
6) Trivia 1 answer: In 1991-92, the Flyers had six draftees playing in what was then called Elitserien and is now known as the Swedish Hockey League. The players were 1991 first-round pick Peter Forsberg (Modo), 1990 second-round pick Mikael Renberg (Luleà¥), 1990 11th-round pick Tommy Söderström (Djurgà¥rden), 1989 second-round pick Patrik Juhlin (Và¤sterà¥s), 1989 sixth-round pick Niklas Eriksson (Leksand) and 1990 eighth-round pick Patric Englund (AIK).
7) Trivia 2 answer: After his selection from the Flyers by the Capitals, Belhumeur played behind a woeful, mostly sub-NHL caliber team. He set an unwanted NHL record -- likely never to be broken given the parity of the league today -- for the most appearances by a goaltender with a team without ever winning a single game.
On June 12, 1974, the Flyers lost Belhumeur to the Washington Capitals in the 1974 NHL Expansion Draft. He went on to play 35 games for the woeful first-year expansion team in 1974-75, taking his lumps (0-24-3 record, 5.36 GAA, .861 save percentage) on a regular basis. Belhumeur played seven games for the Capitals in 1975-76, (0-5-1, 5.09 GAA, .859 SV%). His overall record in Washington of 0-29-4 over 42 total appearances (starts and relief) represents the most games ever played by a goalie for an NHL team without a single win to show for it.
As a Flyer in 1972-73, Belhumeur posted a 9-7-3 record, 3.22 goals against average and .903 save percentage. He also saw 10 minutes of relief duty for Doug Favell in Game 3 of the 1973 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals. The next year, after the Flyers reacquired the legendary Bernie Parent, Bobby Taylor beat out Belhumeur in training camp for the role of Parent's (very seldom used) backup. However, Belhumeur did dress in a few early season games as Parent's backup -- without getting into a game -- early in the 1973-74 season. The Flyers, of course, went on to win the Stanley Cup.
Taylor got a Cup ring and his name on the game's most storied trophy for the first of two times. The luckless Belhumeur got a one-way ticket to DC and the corresponding opportunity to be strafed on a regular basis. Even the NHL's lesser teams of the era salivated to play against the early-year Capitals because it was an almost-guaranteed win. Against the top teams such as the Flyers, Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens, defeats by margins of six-plus goals were the norm rather than the exception for Belhumeur and the Caps.