Quick Hits: August 3, 2022
1) The rescheduled 2022 IIHF Under-20 World Championship gets underway tomorrow in Edmonton. The Flyers organization has four prospects participating in the tournament. Forwards Tyson Foerster and Elliot Desnoyers will play for Team Canada. Defenseman Emil Andrae will captain Sweden's Junior Crowns. Fellow blueliner Brian Zanetti will represent Switzerland.
Tuesday's games will feature Czechia (Czech Republic) vs Slovakia, Latvia vs. Finland and USA vs. Germany. The Flyers' prospects teams will see their first game action on Wednesday when Sweden plays Switzerland and Canada opposes Latvia.
A full Flyers-focused tournament preview -- player profiles, team schedules -- will run tomorrow on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
2) On this week's "Mondays with Meltzer" edition of Flyers Daily, Jason Myretetus and I did an entire "Ask Billy" episode of listener-submitted questions. This week's topics include Carter Hart, realistic team expectations, anticipated roster battles and potential rookies on the NHL roster, which players may or may not click with John Tortorella and much more. To listen to the podcast,
click here.
3) Today in Flyers History: It was two years ago today that the Flyers defeated the eventual Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-1, on their way to sweeping the round-robin portion of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs in the "Bubble" in Toronto.
A pair of first period goals by Nicolas Aube-Kubel got the Flyers off to a 2-0 lead. After Tyler Johnson cut the Flyers lead in half with a power play goal early in the second period, Joel Farabee restored a two-goal margin with 4:38 remaining in the second period. In the final stanza, after outshooting the Bolts by 26-13 through 40 minutes, the Flyers withstood a push by Tampa. Tyler Pitlick sealed the final three-goal margin of victory with an empty-net tally.
Carter Hart stopped 23 of 24 shots to earn the win including all 11 shots he faced in the third period. An early period penalty kill in the third with Ivan Provorov in the box and a 3-1 lead on the scoreboard proved very valuable in thwarting Tampa's comeback bid. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 26 of 29 Flyers shots in a losing cause.
4) August 8 Flyers Alum Birthday: Scott Sandelin (1964)
American-born defenseman Scott Sandelin was born Aug. 8, 1964 in Hibbing, Minnesota. He was originally drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the second round (40th overall) fo the 1982 NHL Draft and made his NHL debut for the Habs during the 1986-87 season. Primarily, he played at the American Hockey League with the Sherbrooke Canadiens.
The Flyers acquired the former Hobey Baker Award finalist, a University of North Dakota graduate, from Montreal in the November 7, 1988 deal that sent J.J. Daigneault to the Habs.
The six-foot, 200-pound Sandelin spent the majority of three seasons (1988-89 to 1990-91) in the AHL with Hershey. In 1990-91, he acquitted himself adequately during a nine-game NHL recall to the Flyers. With the exception of being minus-three in a 7-0 Flyers loss in Minnesota, Sandelin held his own until he broke a bone in his right forearm in a game against Washington. He missed the next six weeks. Upon his return, he was sent back to Hershey.
Sandelin earned two additional call-ups to the Flyers that season. Overall, he dressed in 15 games for the Flyers in 1990-91, posting three assists and a minus-15 rating. He moved on over the summer, signing with Bob Clarke's Minnesota North Stars. He primarily played in the minors but did dress in one game for Minnesota in 1991-92.
At the American Hockey League and International Hockey League levels, Sandelin was a fine puck-moving defenseman. After his retirement, he began a successful coaching career. He preceded future Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol as an assistant coach at UND before taking the head coaching job at the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2000-01.
In 2022-23, Sandelin will embark on his 23rd season of coaching the Bulldogs. He is the winningest coach in the 92-year history of the Minnesota Duluth hockey program and the team has won three national championships (2010-11, 2017-18 and 2018-19) under his direction. Current Flyers players Noah and Jackson Cates were part of the 2018-19 championship squad.
Sandelin's name has periodically come up as a candidate for NHL head coaching vacancies, especially after the back-to-back NCAA championships. However, the former NHL player has always opted to stay put where he holds rock solid job security and where he and his family have made their permanent residence.
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Internationally, Sandelin has served as the Team USA head coach at the 2004-05 (4th place) and 2019-20 (6th place) World Junior Championship. He was an assistant coach for the 2011-12 (7th place) and 218-19 ((silver medalist) squads.
Scott's son Ryan, a forward, is entering his senior season at Minnesota State Mankato. Like his father, he has future coaching ambitions, and is working with USA Hockey as a coach at the under-17 level.
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