Philadelphia Flyers Buzz: Pre-season Progress
By Marc Naples
The Philadelphia Flyers inch toward the upcoming season with players spread across the World Cup and training
Giroux Dealing with Health
Claude Giroux was shaken up in Canada’s first World Cup prep came, absorbing a stinging hit from Joe Pavelski. Giroux briefly left the game, although he did return.
Giroux appears to be still dealing with the issue. He did not practice with Canada yesterday, receiving a “maintenance day.” Giroux is expected to be back on the ice very soon, so the Philadelphia Flyers shouldn’t be too worried about their captain yet.
Voracek, Neuvirth Bounce Back Against Russia
We saw Voracek get denied of a potential game-tying, last-second assist in the Czechs’ first game, but Voracek and the Czechs were able to bounce back and beat Russia via shootout in a follow up game.
Voracek played over 20 minutes in the re-match, and scored a goal in the shootout. See video here.
Goalie Michal Neuvirth also got his turn in net, allowing only 1 goal on 20 shots to take the win. The Czechs have one more warmup game scheduled against North America tomorrow night, which will likely settle if Neuvirth or Petr Mrazek will be the feature goalie for the official World Cup games.
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Bellemare Goal
So far the World Cup warmup games have generally been between regrional rivals; Sweden-Finland, Russia-Czech, and USA-Canada. No such rivalry exists for the newly spawned Team North America and Team Europe, so they’ve been playing each other.
The teams are a pretty stark contrast against one another. The North America under-23 squad is incredibly fast and skilled, while Europe’s biggest stars are aging players like Zdeno Chara, Mark Streit, and Marian Hossa. The results have been a convincing 4-0 victory in game 1 for North America, and another 7-4 victory in game 2 for youngsters.
North America looked like running away with game 2, jumping out to an early 3-0 lead. That’s when Philadelphia Flyers Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored Europe’s first ever goal. Here’s video of his ‘dirty’ goal.
Bellemare’s goal, however, did little to stem the tide in a game that was 5-1 after the first period.
Camp Approaching
The Philadelphia Flyers official training camp is still 10 days away (September 23), but “nearly every” player is already here. Confirmed attendees include Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds. Big defensive prospect Sam Morin is one of numerous rookies already at camp, as well.
Gudas Update
Despite withdrawing from the World Cup because of a wrist injury, Radko Gudas is also on the ice at the Flyers’ facilities. Gudas is holding a stick with his wrist taped, but is not yet able to shoot.
Next Up
Finland will play the USA tonight at 7pm EST in Washington DC and on ESPN, although no Philadelphia Flyers players will be involved. To see Flyers in action, look to Wednesday. Then, the Czech Republic will play North America at 3:30pm EST (ESPN3), Sweden takes on Europe at 7pm EST (ESPN3), and Russia will play Canada at 7:30pm EST (ESPN2)