1) The 2016 Memorial Cup gets underway in Red Deer, Alberta on Friday. Two Flyers defense prospects -- 2015 first-round pick Ivan Provorov (Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL champions) and free agent signing Philippe Myers (Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, QMJHL champions) -- will compete for the CHL championship.
The other teams in the tournament are the host Red Deer Rebels (automatic bid) and the London Knights (OHL champions). The round-robin preliminary round schedule at the Enmax Centrium is as follows:
Fri May 20: London vs. Red Deer (8:00 p.m. EDT) Sat May 21: Brandon vs. Rouyn-Noranda (7:00 p.m. EDT) Sun May 22: Rouyn-Noranda vs. Red Deer (7:00 p.m. EDT) Mon May 23: Brandon vs. London (8:00 p.m. EDT) Tue May 24: Rouyn-Noranda vs. London (8:00 p.m. EDT) Wed May 25: Brandon vs. Red Deer (8:00 p.m. EDT)
The playoff round begins on successive evenings on May 26 and 27, followed by the championship game.
2) May 20 is the anniversary of two unforgettable events in Flyers history: The team's first Stanley Cup parade, attended by an estimated two million people, took place on this date in 1974. The following year, the Flyers and Sabres played the infamous "fog game" in Buffalo in Game Three of the 1975 Stanley Cup Final.
3) The late Dave Hoyda was born on this date in 1957. He passed away February 8, 2015 as a result of a house fire at his home in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. A memorial video, including some photos from his Flyers playing days in the late 1970s, is .
