Quick Hits: Feb. 13, 2021
1) On Friday, the National Hockey League added Flyers forwards Oskar Lindblom and Scott Laughton to its COVID-19 protocol list; the 6th and 7th Philadelphia players currently on the list. There can be several different reasons why a player is placed in the protocol. It does not necessarily have to be for a positive initial test.
Lindblom is less than a year removed from undergoing and completing chemotherapy and his immune system may not be back to where it was before his Ewing Sarcoma ordeal. As such, a positive COVID test would be of greater concern than for the typical athlete his age. Given that the sheer number of Flyers' players now in the protocol, hopefully this is simply a precautionary quarantine due to him being a potential higher-risk case.
The full list: Travis Sanheim (placed on the list on Feb. 7), Claude Giroux (Feb. 9), Justin Braun (Feb. 9), Jakub Voracek (Feb. 11), Morgan Frost (Feb. 11), Scott Laughton (Feb. 12), Oskar Lindblom (Feb. 12). Shayne Gostisbehere was in protocol due to a positive test during training camp, and returned to play on Jan. 16.
2) ICYMI: On the Flyers official site, I wrote an early season
Phantoms update, discussing the Flyers farm team's first two games of the season, running down the (unfortunately extensive) injury list, Taxi Squad assignments, the compacted schedule and more. Over on the
Prospect Pipeline podcast on the Flyers' Broadcast Network, Brian Smith and I talked a little more in-depth on these topics.
3) Flyers College prospect updates:
* Flyers 2018 first-round pick Jay O'Brien set up defenseman Alex Vlasic on a give-and-go play at 3:34 of the third period, breaking a scoreless deadlock in the Boston University vs. Vermont game on Friday night. The tally proved to be the only one of the game as BU held on for the 1-0 win. O'Brien has seven points (3g, 4a) in nine games to date despite going pointless in two games last weekend. BU and Vermont will rematch this evening at 6 p.m. ET.
* The No. 1-ranked team across NCAA hockey, North Dakota, blanked the University of Denver, 3-0 on Friday night. Bobby Brink was minus-one with two shots on goal for Denver, while Gavin Hain had three shots on goal for North Dakota. The teams play again this evening at 5 p.m. ET.
* Western Michigan shut out Minnesota Duluth, 4-0, on Friday. Defenseman Ronnie Attard did not record a point but had a pair of shots on goal and was plus-two on the night. Noah Cates had two shots on goal and was minus-one for the losing side. The teams rematch at 4 p.m. ET this afternoon.
* Jack St. Ivany chipped in a power play assist on an Alex Newhook goal and was plus-one with three shots on goal in Boston College's 7-1 blowout of UMass Lowell on Friday. The teams will play a 6 p.m. ET rematch this evening.
* Cam York and his Michigan team will play Wisconsin today at 2 p.m. ET. Due to postponements and cancelations, the Wolverines have been idle since since their back-to-back road wins over Notre Dame on Jan. 21 and 22.
4) Last night, I spoke on the phone for nearly a half hour with Flyers Hall of Fame Joe Watson. At age 77, Joe is retiring after 54 years working for the Flyers organization as a player, scout, training camp instructor and, since 1985, on the business side in the Sales department.
As a matter of fact, with the exception of the three months he spent playing for the Colorado Rockies in 1977-78 before suffering a career-ending leg injury, Joe has been part of the Flyers organization for its entire history. He was selected from the Boston Bruins in the 1967 Expansion Draft, won two Stanley Cups as a Flyer, and was selected to play in two NHL All-Star games. Both he and younger brother Jim (a five-time NHL All-Star, two-time Cup winner and fellow Flyers Hall of Fame inductee) made their permanent homes in Philadelphia.
In 1984, Joe Watson was a driving force in the foundation of the Philadelphia Flyers Alumni Association and served thereafter as the Flyers Alumni Team game and tour organizer, locker room leader and de facto captain. Even in his mid-70s, he was still suiting up and playing (wearing ancient pads and old-school union suit longjohns under his uniform). Joe informed me last night that he still plans on being active with the Flyers Alumni events.
There are many great stories about Joe, who is a very colorful and gregarious storyteller. I'll tell a few of my own here, apart from one I've told before involving Joe, myself, Wells Fargo security, Cory Mickey (the son of the late Larry Mickey, one of Joe's old Flyers teammates) and Joe Biden.
I had the honor and privilege of being invited to come along with the Flyers Alumni in Feb 2017 during their tour of Russia. There are dozens of great stories from that trip. One of my personal favorite parts was talking with Joe Watson each morning after breakfast time about the current Flyers' games the night before. To say that he still passionately roots for the team and has opinions on who is and isn't properly honoring the crest's identity is to put it mildly.
When we were in Kazan to play Team Tatarstan, which featured Rustam Minnikhanov (the president of the Republic of Tatarstan) playing for the team, it was Joe who represented the Flyers side during the center ice pregame ceremony. Ever the competitor, Joe was ticked off when the Tatarstan team scored two third period goals to tie the game against our guest goaltender, former ECHL goalie Oleg Romashko.
The Flyers Alumni took a nine-player contingent to Russia: Joe Watson, Brad Marsh, Jeff Chychrun, Terry Carkner, Shjon Podein, Al Secord, Lindsay Carson, Chase Watson (Joe's nephew and Jim's son) and AHL Hall of Fame goaltender Freddy Cassivi. Both Cassivi (at the time) and Chase Watson were regulars in Flyers Alumni games around the Delaware Valley, although neither played professionally for the Flyers.
During the tour, the Flyers Alumni Team were supplemented by a variety of players arranged primarily through tour organizer Scotty MacPherson. These included many former NHL players such as Bobby Carpenter, Andrei Nikolishin and Flyers Alum forward Andrei Kovalenko. Alexei Yashin played for the Flyers Alumni team at the concluding event in Red Square in Russia. Ex-NHLer Alexander Semak played in the Kazan and St. Petersburg games, while Kovalenko was in St. Petersburg and Moscow. The Flyers team also had the late Sergey Gimayev, a longtime Red Army and Soviet national team player who became a nationally famous hockey commentator in Russia roughly on par with Don Cherry on Hockey Night in Canada.
Some of the guest players took the games more seriously than others. The ones who didn't, ran afoul of Joe. Watson had every intention of playing to win. When the opening game in Kazan went to a shootout, Joe benched one of the guest players (who had once been nearly a point-per-game player in the NHL) and had defensive defenseman Chychrun take the shootout attempt instead because he was representing the Flyers crest with some pride. The guest player wasn't happy to sit on the bench in a shootout in an Alumni game in his home country.
When we were in St. Petersburg, the SKA Alumni Team took it to our side pretty good for two periods. The Flyers Alumni were up against a much younger team with several players who were not long removed from the end of their active pro hockey careers. We had some guest players -- most notably, famous Russian saxophonist Igor Butman, a nice man, a brilliant musician and a fine hockey player in his youth -- who were either hockey hobbiests or too far removed from their playing days to keep up with ex-pros in their late 30s or early 40s. Kovalenko, who is a really nice guy in his own right and was once a fine NHL player, was easily 80 to 100 pounds overweight by that point of his life.
Ultimately, though, the Flyers Alumni team made a respectable game out of it. Joe told the guys he was proud of them, and he meant it sincerely.
After the game, the SKA St. Petersburg team brought the Flyers Alumni to a private suite as their guests and served a four-course meal (we were quite well-fed during the tour, and tour directors MacPherson and Chuck Borge took care of everything). The Alumni Game had been part of a double-header of sorts with the KHL game, and all tickets were sold out.
Following the group meal, Joe walked over to the balcony overlook. He motioned to me and said "Willie, c'mere."
Joe is the only Flyers Alum (or anyone else I know, for that matter) who calls me Willie. Many of the Alumni call me Billy, some call me Meltz or Meltzy. Brad Marsh and others use Bill. But only Joe opts for Willie.
"Willie," he said, "I only wish Mr. Snider could have been here to see this day. Us being here in Russia representing the Flyers. All these people coming out to see the Flyers. They don't know who any of us guys are for Chrisssakes, but they all know the Flyers."
I nodded. Joe was getting a little choked up.
When we were in Moscow for a shinny with no score being kept for either side, we were in a very small dressing room. Joe asked me to tie his skates for him, which I did with honor. It meant almost as much to me as the first time I tied my son Benjamin's skates at a 2014 birthday party for his cousin.
No one, not even Bob Clarke or Bill Barber or the late Ed Snider until the day of his passing, cares more deeply about not just the win-loss success but the identity of the Flyers than Joe Watson. He vehemently believes in things being done a certain way -- the Flyers way that he holds dear -- on and off the ice. Be on time, give it your 100 percent focus and devotion and you are fine in his book. Otherwise, stay the hell away from the team.
Here are one final Joe story I'd like to share. I think it illustrates his undying passion for the team and for the "once a Flyer, always a Flyer" identity that he so fiercely upholds.
Each season prior to the pandemic, the Flyers Alumni hosted their Alumni Golf Invitational sponsors in a game-night suite as a "thank you" event with a ceremonial check presentation at the end. I always attend in my capacity as Flyers Alumni content manager, taking photos to post on the Alumni social media pages on Facebook and Twitter (@FlyersAlumni).
As usual, the Alumni mixed and mingled with the guests. Light conversation and smiles abounded. Everyone was having a good time. Joe, however, kept peering down intently at the game unfolding on the ice.
The Flyers fell behind the Buffalo Sabres, 3-0, in the second period, Joe grew agitated, muttering in disgust at the home team's performance. Then he composed himself and rejoined the guests around him during the next stoppage. Eventually, the Flyers came back to win the game. Joe was ebullient at the end.
Lastly, among all the Flyers Alumni excluding Paul Holmgren or others who've been involved in Hockey Ops in the recent past, Joe Watson is the only one with whom I could converse every time I see him about how various prospects in the system are doing. Joe still stays plugged in to all things Flyers; past, present and future.
Beyond the hockey side of things and just below the surface of a sometimes gruff exterior, Joe has a heart of gold. He loves the fans, cares about the community and would do anything to help a fellow alum. He's got that booming voice that can be heard from the next room, that distinctive belly laugh and five stories for every occasion.
He's one of a kind, and I'm proud to know him.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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