Quick Hits: December 27, 2023
1) The second day of the 2023-24 IIHF Under-20 World Championship will have two games on Wednesday that involve Flyers-affiliated prospects. At 6:00 a.m. eastern time. Slovakia (Alex Ciernik) will take on Switzerland. At 1:30 p.m., Canada (Oliver Bonk) will oppose Latvia.
On Tuesday, Team USA (Cutter Gauthier) defeated Norway, 4-1. Gauthier did not have one of his better games but recorded a third period assist on the final USA goal, scored on the power play by Isaac Howard. At 5-on-5, he primarily centered a line with Rutger McGroarty and Jimmy Snuggerud. An alternate captain for Team USA, Gauthier skated 17:30 over 17 shifts. He recorded one shot on goal (missing the net on several other attempts) and won 13 of 17 faceoffs. Team USA returns to action on Thursday against Switzerland.
Beautiful pass from Cutter Gauthier to find Isaac Howard in the slot. 4-1 USA. #Flyers pic.twitter.com/HLiTr7YgNR
— TLY (@TheLibertyYell) December 26, 2023
Tuesday's first game pitted Slovakia against rival Czechia. The Slovaks prevailed, 6-2. Ciernik did not record a point but had several impressive offensive shifts among the 22 he skated on Slovakia's second line. Overall, Ciernik skated 17:46 of ice time, had three shots on goal and his line was minus-two.
Crazy skating here from Alex ÄŒiernik. He’s an actual demon when it comes to transition. Wild to think that he’s doing THIS in GAME 1 after uncertainty if he could even play at all. #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/EH5ek8fxVT
— Flyers Clips (@Flyers_Clips) December 26, 2023
2) The Flyers will return to action on Thursday after their extended Christmas break of five idle nights on the schedule, overlapping the NHL's three-day break over Christmas Eve to Boxing Day. Philly will be a very busy club the rest of this week.
On Thursday evening, John Tortorella's club (18-11-4) will be in British Columbia to take on Rick Tocchet's Vancouver Canucks (23-9-3) at 10:00 p.m. ET. The next night, the Flyers are in Washington to play Dave Hakstol's Seattle Kraken (12-14-9) at 10:00 p.m. ET. The Flyers then travel back into Canada before playing Ryan Huska's Calgary Flames (14-15-5) on New Year's Eve in an 8:00 p.m. ET game at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Next week, the whirlwind four-game road trip will conclude on January 2 as the Flyers take on Kris Knoblauch's Edmonton Oilers (15-15-1) at Rogers Place. The Flyers return home on the 3rd before hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets (11-18-6) at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.
3) AHL: Ian Laperriere's Lehigh Valley Phantoms (12-11-5) return to action tonight as they host Kevin Dineen's Utica Comets (10-11-3) at the PPL Center in Allentown. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed on AHLTV (subscription required).
Phantoms rookie right winger Samu Tuomaala (8g, 17a) enters Wednesday's game tied with veteran Cooper Marody (7g, 18a) for the team scoring lead with 25 points. Top line center Tanner Laczynski (8g, 14a) has posted 22 points in 23 games, while Olle Lycksell (12g, 8a) still leads the team in goal scoring despite recently spending a week on NHL recall with the Flyers.
Rookie defenseman Emil Andrae (3g, 11a in 19 games) will bring a five-game point streak into Wednesday's game. Over the last five games that led into the Christmas break, Andrae posted eight points (2g, 6a). Fellow rookie J.R. Avon (7g, 3a) recently posted goals in back-to-back games. Power forward Wade Allison (6g, 4a) has worked through a rough start to the season and has three goals in his last six games. Second-year center Elliot Desnoyers, who has had a somewhat disappointing followup thus far to a strong rookie season in 2022-23, in pointless in his last five games and has 10 points (4g, 6a) overall after leading the Phantoms in goal-scoring last season.
Second-year defenseman Ronnie Attard, an AHL All-Star Game selection last year along with Tyson Foerster, leads Phantoms' blueliners with 14 points (5g, 9a) offensively but has been inconsistent defensively. Adam Ginning has had trouble following up his strong rookie season as the defenseman (2g, 5a) has also had bouts of inconsistency this season.
Rookie forward Alexis Gendron, who will celebrate his 20th birthday on Dec. 30, has dressed in 15 of the Phantoms' 28 games to date. Although he's looked overwhelmed at times, he's also chipped in four goals.
Defenseman Helge Grans (21 games, 1g, 4a) is expected to miss an extended period of time with a broken hand suffered in Providence on Dec. 3. The Phantoms have gotten Louie Belpedio (9 GP) back from the Flyers, which should be a boost to their defense corps.
4) Flyers Alumni: The Flyers Alumni Team has added Chris Therien and Brian Propp to the roster for the January 26 fundraising game at the Wells Fargo Center against the Boston Bruins Alumni. Proceeds from the Alumni Game and pregame VIP reception benefit Flyers Charities and the Flyers Alumni Association.
In other Flyers Alumni-related news, the Alumni have wrapped up the 2023 edition of the annual "12 Days of Christmas" program of donating money and time to selected charities, youth hockey programs and community-based organizations. Programs such as 12 Days and "Every Child Deserves a Bike" (which builds and donates fully customized adaptive bicycles for local special needs children) are made possible by events such as the Alumni Game at Wells Fargo Center, the annual Golf Invitational, Friday Night Fights and the yearly Fantasy Camp.