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World Junior Championships Open
On Thursday, Team USA officially named Flyers defense prospect Cam York as captain for the 2020-21 World Junior Championships in Edmonton. The team will be tested right off the bat. Preliminary round competition opens today for York and fellow Flyers prospect Bobby Brink's squad against Team Russia (9:30 p.m. ET, NHL Network).
Flyers 2020 second-round pick Emil Andrae and the rest of Team Sweden open their round-robin slate tomorrow against Team Czech Republic.
The WJC is a rite of passage for scores of future National Hockey League players. On the Flyers' current training camp roster alone, there are 18 players who appeared in one or more Under-20 World Championship tournaments: Chris Bigras (Canada), Sean Couturier (Canada), Joel Farabee (USA), Morgan Frost (Canada), Shayne Gostisbehere (USA), Claude Giroux (Canada), Robert Hägg (Sweden), Carter Hart (Canada), Travis Konecny (Canada), Scott Laughton (Canada), Tanner Laczynski (USA), Oskar Lindblom (Sweden), Samuel Morin (Canada), Phil Myers (Canada), Ivan Provorov (Russia), Travis Sanheim (Canada), James van Riemsdyk (USA), Jakub Voracek (Czech Republic) and incoming rookie defenseman Egor Zamula (Russia).
Michael Raffl (Austria) twice represented his junior national team in the Division 1 Under-20 World Championship.
This weekend on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com, we will have a feature article on the World Juniors experiences of all 20 NHL training camp roster players who played in the elite-level WJC.
Four contracted Flyers/Phantoms players who played in the WJC are not included above. These players likely will not be on the training camp roster and are currently playing in Europe while awaiting word on a 2020-21 American Hockey League season to join the Lehigh Phantoms. The list: David Kase (Czech Republic), German Rubtsov (Russia), Felix Sandström (Sweden), and Maksim Sushko (Belarus). Also not listed, because he's signed to play the next three seasons in the KHL, is restricted free agent center Mikhail Vorobyev (Russia).
The most notable current Flyers/Phantoms players who did not play in the U20 Worlds are Nolan Patrick (due to injury at age 18 and graduation to the NHL by age 19), goalies Brian Elliott and Alex Lyon, defensemen Justin Braun, Mark Friedman, Erik Gustafsson, Nate Prosser and Tyler Wotherspoon. Forwards apart from Patrick who did not play in the WJC include Kevin Hayes, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Connor Bunnaman, Pascal Laberge (Under-18 Worlds but not Under-20), Isaac Ratcliffe (a late cut from Team Canada for 2018-19 tourney), Matthew Strome, Carsen Twarynski and incoming rookie Wade Allison.
Current Flyers prospects Tyson Foerster and Mason Millman were cut from the Canada roster earlier this month). Foerster will get another shot next year. Millman, at 19, was in his last year of WJC eligibility this year.
Flyers Alumni Deliver Special Christmas Present
For the 12th and final day of the Flyers Alumni Association's 12 Days of Christmas Season Giving program for 2020, the Alumni saved the best for last. On Christmas Eve Day, they surprised 5-year-old Lucy, who has cerebral palsy, with a customized bicycle that she will be able to ride. The Watson brothers and Brad Marsh made the delivery of the $5,000 bike.
Help Hope Live, based in Radnor, PA, connected Marsh with Lucy's family; all of whom are big Flyers fans. The Flyers Alumni Association president then ordered the special bicycle and hoped that Santa's workshop would have it ready for delivery by Christmas. As it turned out, the timing worked out perfectly.
The 12 Days of Giving recipient list, as with last year, was designed to be a mix of organizations and specific individuals and families, Listed below is the donation recipient, the amount donated and the Alumni who suggested it. As you can see, it was a true team effort:
* Salvation Army (Donation of $1,500 worth of Toys, Brad Marsh)
* Busansky Elementary School Toy Drive in Pemberton, NJ ($1,500 check. Bob and Stacey Kelly)
* Maryville Treatment Center ($1,500, Brad Marsh)
* Yellow Ribbon Fund in Bethesda, MD ($2,000, Jamie Comiskey and husband Joe Watson)
* KidSport Saskatoon ($1,500, Garry Peters)
* Boys and Girls Club of Camden County ($2,000, Todd Fedoruk)
* Williams Family Fund ($3,000, Orest Kindrachuk)
* St. Francis Inn ($3,000, Bob Kelly and Brad Marsh)
* Toyota Food Drive for Philabundance ($1,000, Brad Marsh)
* Say It With Clay in Collingswood, NJ ($1,500, Bob Kelly and Brad Marsh)
* Bucks County Housing Group ($1,500, Kerry Huffman)
* Community Food Response in Rochester, Minn. ($1,500, Shjon Podein)
* Montgomery County Children's Advocacy Project($1,500, Brad Marsh)
* $5,000 customized bicycle for Lucy, arranged via Help Hope Live (Brad Marsh).
Nasty Knuckles Podcast
If you do not already do so, subscribe to the Nasty Knuckles Podcast on YouTube, co-hosted by longtime former Flyers equipment manager Derek Settlemyre and former Flyers enforcer and Lehigh Valley Phantoms assistant coach Riley Cote. On the first episode, they had Scott Hartnell on as their special guest. In Episode Two, they have Craig Berube on to tell some very entertaining stories, including the time that Chief told defensively challenged, offensive inconsistent defenseman Lars Jonsson he'd be better off quitting hockey. Episode Three will feature current Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov.
SCOTT HARTNELL EPISODE
CRAIG BERUBE EPISODE
Today in Flyers History: December 25
Until the early 1970s, it was not uncommon for National Hockey League teams to play on Christmas Day. The Philadelphia Flyers have never played a Christmas Eve game but played on Christmas Day in four of their first five seasons of the team's existence.
The team posted a 1-2-1 record in those games.
The lone victory was a 3-1 triumph over the Oakland Seals in 1969. A crowd of 10,071 came out to the Spectrum and saw the Flyers quickly jump on their opponent. Goals by Jim Johnson, Dick Cherry and Simon Nolet gave the Flyers a commanding lead before the game even nine minutes old.
Doug Favell went on to stop 31 of 32 shots, yielding only a second period power play marker by Gerry Ehman. Gary Smith stopped 42 of 45 Flyers' shots in a losing cause. Flyers defenseman Joe Watson earned first-star honors for the game. Favell was the second-star selection.
1967: The New York Rangers defeated the Flyers, 3-1, at the Spectrum. Ed Hoekstra broke up an Eddie Giacomin shutout bid (32 saves on 33 shots) with a late third period power play goal. Bernie Parent (33 saves on 36 shots) played well but got tagged with the loss.
1968: A seesaw game between the Flyers and Rangers at the Spectrum ended in a 2-2 tie. A late first period goal by Brit Selby and a mid-second period shorthanded marker by Dick Sarrazin turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead before the Rangers re-tied the game with the only goal of the third period. Doug Favell stopped 36 of 38 shots while Gilles Villemure denies 23 of 25 Philadelphia shots.
1971: In the lone Christmas road game in franchise history, the Flyers took a 1-0 lead against the Boston Bruins to the first intermission after young center Bobby Clarke scored his 13th goal of the season. Thereafter, Boston took over the game and went on to down the Flyers in a 5-1 blowout. Bobby Orr, Ken Hodge, Phil Esposito, Wayne Cashman and Derek Sanderson scored for the Bruins.
December 25 Flyers Birthday: Checking center Jim Dowd was born in Brick, New Jersey on December 25, 1968.
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