QUICK HITS: SEPTEMBER 15, 2016
1) The Flyers officially announced today that training camp will start on Friday, Sept 23, at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ. A total of 64 players -- 37 forwards, 20 defensemen and seven goalies -- will be in camp. The total includes players who will miss a portion of camp due to the World Cup of Hockey).
During the first weekend of camp, players will be separated into two groups. The first group will skate on Friday and Saturday from 9:45 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and the second goes from 1:15 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.. On Sunday morning, both groups will skate from 10:20 a.m. to 10:50 a.m. before they scrimmage each other starting at 11:00 a.m. ET.
Per the Flyers, all fans in attendance at the camp Friday, Saturday and Sunday camp sessions (Sept. 23-25) will receive Flyers 50th anniversary giveaways before each practice session. Additionally, for those interested, the Also, Flyers 50th Anniversary jersey will be available for purchase in the Skate Zone shop.
The Flyers will NOT open camp with any professional tryout (PTO) players, which does not automatically preclude someone being added later. There are two undrafted amateur invitees vying for entry-level contracts -- defensemen Brennan Menell and Garret McFadden, who also attended Development Camp in July.
2) A handful of current Flyers players -- Steve Mason, Wayne Simmonds, Michael Del Zotto, Scott Laughton, Brandon Manning, Andrew MacDonald, Michael Raffl, Brayden Schenn, Nick Schultz and Jordan Weal -- will take batting practice with the Phillies today at Citizens Bank Park.
3) Shayne Gostisbehere scored a goal and assisted on an Auston Matthews tally in Team North America's 3-2 loss to Team Czech Republic in World Cup pre-tournament action on Wednesday. The Czechs led 2-0, as the third period neared its midway point before Gostisbehere played a key role in a comeback to tie the game. Ultimately, Tomas Plekanec put the Czechs back ahead to stay with 8:10 left to play.
Flyers goaltender Michal Neuvirth, who outplayed Petr Mrazek in the pre-tourney games, played the first 30:15 of the game, and was razor sharp in stopping all 25 shots fired on his net. Mrazek went the rest of the way, stopping 17 of 19 shots.
Gostisbehere earned second-star honors for the game, while Neuvirth was selected as the third star.
Jakub Voracek did not record a point in 13:49 of ice time, but had two shots and a pretty eventful game. He received a heavy hit from Aaron Ekblad but seemed OK. Voracek was also credited with two hits, including one on Ryan Murray that knocked the end glass out of its support and led to a delay. It wasn't a jarring hit, just a well-placed one.
Sean Couturier skated 11:52 in the game for Team North America.
4) Claude Giroux, who appeared to be laboring a little bit when turning to his right, skated just 10:20 (3:37 of which came on the power play) in Canada's 3-2 overtime win against Russia on Wednesday night. Giroux was robbed twice by Russia goalie Sergei Bobrovsky on a Canada power play among his four shots on goal.