Foerster Cut from Team Canada Roster
On Thursday, Hockey Canada announced seven cuts from its World Junior Championships selection camp roster. Among the cuts were Flyers 2020 first-round pick Tyson Foerster, along with Washington Capitals 2020 first-rounder Hendrix Lapierre. The other Thursday cuts were Minnesota Wild 2019 third-round pick Adam Beckman, Florida Panthers 2019 third-round pick Cole Schwindt and 16 year-old Kingston Frontenacs prodigy Shane Wright (who isn't NHL Draft eligible until 2022).
Foerster was not expected to make the WJC final roster this year. Come next year, when he is 19, he should stand a better chance of earning a spot. He will now await the belated start of the 2020-21 Ontario Hockey League season with his Barrie Colts team.
Earlier this week, Hockey Canada sent home Flyers 2019 fourth-round pick Mason Millman for Covid-related reasons. The 19-year-old Saginaw Spirit (OHL) defenseman was himself considered a longshot for the final WJC roster from the outset.
Flyers Alumni 12 Days of Christmas Giving: Overview and Day 1
Last year, the Flyers Alumni Association launched a new program designed to become an annual tradition during the holiday season: the 12 days of Christmas giving. Each day for (at least) 12 days, the Alumni association donates money, vital supplies or volunteer time to charities, educational organizations or to individuals or families in need.
This year, there are several new facets to the 12 Days program.
First, there is wider involvement among the Flyers Alumni Association membership base in identifying worthy charities and people in need. Among the Alumni who brought donation candidates to the attention of Association president Brad Marsh and the board of directors were the likes of Kerry Huffman, Orest Kindrachuk, Shjon Podein, Garry Peters, Joe Watson (via wife Jamie) and Alumni board member Bob Kelly.
The number one priority, of course, is to identify the recipients to whom the Alumni Association can bring the most-needed assistance. Secondarily, this is a way to bring the generations of Flyers Alumni closer together with the Association to unite for good causes.
For example, Peters, who played for the inaugural Flyers team in 1967-68, lives in Saskatchewan, while Podein, who played for the Flyers in the mid-1990s, lives in Minnesota. Peters suggested the Flyers Alumni consider helping out the Saskatoon chapter of KidSport, for whom he's been a fundraiser for 30-plus years. Podein suggested the Alumni help out Community Food Response; the food bank in his native Rochester, Minn. Both charities were selected by Marsh and the Alumni Association board among this year's recipients.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused alarming levels of food assistance needs in communities across the United States. The Flyers Alumni Association put a little extra emphasis this year on prioritizing 12 Days recipients who meet this need in their communities. Apart from CFR in Rochester, the Flyers Alumni is once again assisting the Toyota Food Drive on behalf of Philabundance. Additionally, the Alumni selected at Huffman's suggestion, the Bucks County Housing Group, which provides food pantry assistance in addition to aiding people dealing with crises related to looming homelessness or social service needs.
The primary focus of the Flyers Alumni Association to benefit the Delaware Valley community. As such, the majority of 12 Days of Christmas Giving recipients are based in the greater Philadelphia area. Each day, both on the FlyersAlumni content platforms (FlyersAlumni.net website, Facebook and Twitter) and here on my Flyers blog space on HockeyBuzz, we will highlight one recipient from the 12 Days program.
The Flyers Alumni's 12 Days of Christmas Giving are underway! Day 1: We bought and donated $1,600 worth of toys from ExtraordinaryED in Collingswood, NJ (https://t.co/8NbLNggW0Q) in support of the @FlyersWarrior's holiday toy drive on behalf of the @SalvationArmyUS. pic.twitter.com/TMwkzotzBz
— Flyers Alumni (@FlyersAlumni) December 11, 2020
Yesterday, the Flyers Alumni officially kicked off the 2020 edition of the 12 Days of Christmas Giving. With unanimous approval from the Alumni board, Marsh purchased $1,600 worth of brand new toys and donated them to the Salvation Army in order to distribute to the children of families in need this holiday season. The donation was made in support of the Philadelphia Flyers Warriors holiday toy drive program in conjunction with the Salvation Army.
The toys were purchased from ExtraordinaryEd in Collingswood, NJ. Marsh chose ExtraordinaryEd because, with so many small businesses hurting during the pandemic, he wanted the Alumni to help support a small, independently owned local business in his own community. Especially because ExtraordinaryEd specializes in educationally focused toys, games and puzzles designed to help promote supplementary cognitive development in children, Marsh felt that a Salvation Army donation of products purchased through that store would be beneficial on many different fronts.
Several other 12 Days donations have already been made by the Flyers Alumni Association. In the days to come, we will spotlight each of the other 11 (and possibly one or two more!) recipients.
Remember: When you support the Flyers Alumni Association's signature events, the money goes to its donation programs such as the 12 Days of Christmas Giving. The Flyers Alumni Association is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. As such, all funds raised by the Alumni Association through event proceeds from the annual Golf Invitational, Fantasy Camp, Friday Night Fights and the virtual wine-tasting event (A Night Out at Home) started in 2020, go to benefit its programs. Fan support, along with a group of loyal sponsors, is the financial lifeblood of the Flyers Alumni's programs.
For a look at the 14 recipients the Flyers Alumni assisted in the 2019 edition of the 12 Days program, click here to see the rundown on the Alumni's newly redesigned official website (FlyersAlumni.net.
Goalie Week: Bobby Taylor
Goalie Week on the Flyers official website and the Flyers Broadcast Network continues today with a 45-minute interview that Jason Myrtetus and I did for "Flyers Daily" with Bobby Taylor. The Chief discusses his playing and broacasting careers as well as the state of the game today, the evolution of the goalie position since his own playing days, and what the game means to him. Among the wide array of topics covered:
* Memories of the wild-and-crazy Eastern Hockey League and what it was like to play for the Jersey Devils at the long defunct barn in Cherry Hill, NJ.
* What it was like to be Bernie Parent's backup goaltender in an era when there were no goaltending coaches in the NHL: How did he stay mentally sharp and ready to play when his next start could be a month away? What were the keys to Parent's greatness? How did Taylor, given his very limited playing time, approach the need to keep his own spot on the depth chart when there was competition such as Michel Belhumeur pushing for the role?
* Memories of Pelle Lindbergh and the way Ron Hextall revolutionized the puckhandling aspect of goaltending. How did the next generation of goalies, such as Ben Bishop take it even further?
* What it was like working in the broadcast booth with the legendary Gene Hart.
* The legendary 1976 game between the Flyers and the Red Army. Originally, Fred Shero's plan was to split the goaltending duties between Wayne Stephenson and Taylor (Bernie Parent was injured at the time).
* Is there still a home-ice advantage in the NHL, even if it's different than the old days of the Spectrum, the Boston Garden, the Aud in Buffalo, the Montreal Forum, etc.?
I know that I can speak for Jason as well as myself in saying that talking hockey with Bobby Taylor is both an educational experience and a joyful one because his passion, knowledge and half-century of experience come through in everything he says and does.
To listen to the podcast with Taylor, click here.
We aren't done yet with Goalie Week. Coming today on the Flyers official website is an in-depth look at Carter Hart's franchise record-setting (highest save percentage). In the days to come, there will also be a Flyers Daily interview with Hart. To close out the series, we will have an article and related video montage on the evolution of Flyers goalie masks over the years. I think fans will enjoy it; I had a great time putting it together with an assist from the Flyers' Brian Smith.
In case you missed any of the Goalie Week features and interviews, below are direct links to all of the other content we've posted:
* Flyers Daily: Brian Boucher interview. * PhiladelphiaFlyers.com: A Special Bond: Plante, Parent, and Pelle. * Flyers Daily: Robert Esche interview. * PhiladelphiaFlyers.com: Top 5 Underrated Flyers Goalie Seasons. * Flyers Daily: Michael Leighton interview. * Flyers Daily: Martin Biron interview
Today in Flyers History: Bladon's 8-Point Game (Dec. 11, 1977)
Defenseman Tom Bladon was never a player who sought out the spotlight despite being an offensively talented member of the Broad Street Bullies era Flyers. As with most of his teammates from that era, Bladon went by multiple nicknames. Some called him "Bomber" for his explosive point shot. Others good-naturedly called him "Sparky" in joking reference to his relatively quiet demeanor on boisterous Flyers' teams.
On December 11, 1977, Bladon could not avoid being the center of attention. That night, he set a franchise record by notching eight points - four goals and four assists - in an 11-1 rout of the lowly Cleveland Barons at the Spectrum.
The game was scoreless until Reggie Leach got the Flyers on the board at 10:45 of the first period. Late in the first period, however, the explosion began. At 17:54, Bladon scored to make it 2-0. Nineteen seconds later, he assisted on Don Saleski's 18th goal of the season. Twenty-seven seconds after that, Bladon picked up his third period as he and Saleski assisted on a Mel Bridgman tally.
After Rick MacLeish opened a 5-0 lead in the second period, Bladon scored the next two Flyers goals to complete his first NHL hat trick and create a 7-0 lead. Paul Holmgren made the score 8-0 late in the middle stanza.
At 2:47 of the third period, Bladon notched his fourth goal and sixth point of the game. As the third period progressed, he had a secondary assist on MacLeish's second goal of the night and the primary helper on a Bill Barber tally. The score was now 11-0 and Bladon had a direct hand in eight of the Flyers' goals. A Dennis Maruk power play goal in the final 1:15 of the game broke up a Bernie Parent shutout bid. The Flyers outshot the Barons by a whopping 52-18 for the night.
Bladon's eight-point game is one of 14 such performance in NHL regular season history (it has also been done twice in the playoffs), and remains the lone occasion that a Flyers player has managed the feat. However, Bladon is one of just two defensemen in NHL history to do it. The other is Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Paul Coffey.