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| Philadelphia Flyers Rookie Camp squad entered training camp with the professionals Friday. Photo: Nina Weiss/Highland Park Hockey |
Written by: Tony Androckitis, Twitter/Facebook
The Philadelphia Flyers' training camp began this morning at the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, New Jersey and it was business as usual despite several of the team's top players absent due to the World Cup of Hockey.
In all, two groups of 16 forwards, nine defensemen and three goalies took to the ice in separate sessions on Day 1. Each group was a mixture of NHL, AHL and junior-level players unlike last year's camp which saw a main group (NHL) and second group (AHL/CHL).
The team plans to hold practice Saturday and have a scrimmage on Sunday before their NHL preseason schedule begins on Monday.
The general consensus among the players battling for larger AHL roles in the Lehigh Valley this fall is that the team is going to be much more skilled and even quicker than a year ago. The amount of talented elite-level AHL free agents GM Ron Hextall and staff added to the mix for this year has certainly brought an added buzz/excitement to the Phantoms' upcoming season.
All eyes are on Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny, but after the jump a look at the two groups of players who took to the ice Friday as well as where the players appear to stand as training camp practices get underway.
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Group 1
Forwards
Brayden Schenn - Jordan Weal - Wayne Simmonds
Chris VandeVelde - Boyd Gordon - Roman Lyubimov
Greg Carey - Mark Zengerle - Travis Konecny - Petr Straka
Danick Martel - Kevin Sundher - Chris Conner
Connor Bunnaman - Anthony Salinitiri - Pascal Laberge
Defensemen
T.J. Brennan, Radko Gudas, Andrew MacDonald, Sam Morin, Philippe Myers, Will O'Neill, Jesper Pettersson, Ivan Provorov and Reece Willcox
Goaltenders
Mark Dekanich, Carter Hart and Steve Mason
Group 2
Forwards
Michael Raffl - Andy Miele - Matt Read
Scott Laughton - Nick Cousins - Dale Weise
Taylor Leier - Corban Knight - Nicolas Aube Kubel
Carsen Twarynski - Radel Fazleev - Colin McDonald
Samuel Dove McFalls - Tyrell Goulbourne - Steven Swavely - Chris McCarthy
Defensemen
Mark Alt, Michael Del Zotto, Robert Hagg, Max Lamarche, Brandon Manning, Garrett McFadden, Brennan Mennell, Travis Sanheim and Nick Schultz
Goaltenders
Alex Lyon, Martin Ouellette and Anthony Stolarz
Sounds From The Locker Room
Forward Steven Swavely
On playing in the rookie game Wednesday night:
It was good. I got to put on the Flyers' vest on so that was pretty special. Overall, it was a good game. We came out a little slow - they kind of took it to us the first 10 minutes - but after that we pretty much controlled the play and came out with the win. That's always good to see the young guys doing well.
On being at Flyers NHL training camp:
In your career there are always steps you go through. Playing in [Lehigh Valley] last year was step one. Rookie camp - step two and now main camp is step three. You take it day by day but this where you want to be and I'm happy to be here and excited.On his mentality in this camp:
Just go out there and play hard. That's basically all you can do. Do everything you can to put a good impression with the organization, so that's what I'm going to do.
On the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this upcoming season:
Oh yeah. They did a great job this off season. There's a lot of good players in this organization, and with the roster they're putting together it's going to be a lot of fun to play there.Forward Mark Zengerle
On being at Flyers training camp on an AHL deal:
Yeah it's good to start here. Kind of just starting back at square one again and getting back up to speed. It was nice today doing breakouts and get your feet wet again and slowly incline and get back into it.On hoping to play in some upcoming preseason games:
It's always fun to play games. Ultimately, you want to get in those games. Practice is just getting better and learning some things. It happens pretty quickly, so just try to gear up for that as quickly as you can.On the potential Phantoms roster this fall:
It's always fun to be on a team with a lot of good players. Hopefully a winning team, it makes the season a lot more fun - it's a long year. Putting together those kinds of streaks makes it a lot more fun to come to the rink every day.Forward Tyrell Goulbourne
On playing Wednesday night in the Flyers' rookie game:
It was fun. My first time wearing that Flyers jersey in three years because of the injuries in [previous] camps. It's always special putting on that jersey. I think everyone wanted to make an impression - the whole scouting staff was there. I tried to play my game right off the bat and I got rewarded for it. I made some pretty good plays to pretty good players - so that helped me out.On looking forward to his potential 1st NHL preseason game next week:
It's definitely exciting. There's going to be some opportunities for guys because guys are at the World Cup. I just want to start off the right way and make the best of it.On still having to work to make the Phantoms' roster:
Obviously if you look at the guys we signed - they're pretty good players. I'm going to have to be on my game right when I get down there. I think the biggest thing for me is consistency. I can't have a good game and then have a bad one because that's not gonna fly down there this year.On complimenting all the small, speedy skilled players in Lehigh Valley:
I have played with small shifty guys my whole junior career and played with some pretty skilled guys last year, so I think I can keep up with them and help them out. At the end of the day, I have to play my game and keep it simple.Breaking Down Training Camp Roster
The NHL Roster Locks
Forwards: Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, Brayden Schenn, Sean Couturier, Wayne Simmonds, Matt Read, Dale Weise, Michael Raffl, Boyd Gordon and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
Defense: Shayne Gostisbehere, Mark Streit, Michael Del Zotto, Radko Gudas
Goaltenders: Steve Mason and Michael Neuvirth
On The Bubble
Forwards: Scott Laughton, Nick Cousins, Chris VandeVelde, Jordan Weal, Roman Lyubimov, Travis Konecny, Andy Miele, Taylor Leier and Colin McDonald
Defense: Ivan Provorov, Brandon Manning, Nick Schultz, Andrew MacDonald and T.J. Brennan
Goaltenders: None
Projected Phantoms
Forwards: Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Cole Bardreau (inj), Greg Carey, Chris Conner, Radel Fazleev, Tyrell Goulbourne, Corban Knight (AHL), Danick Martel, Derek Mathers (AHL), Petr Straka, Kevin Sundher, Steven Swavely (AHL) and Mark Zengerle (AHL)
Defense: Mark Alt, Robert Hagg, Max Lamarche (AHL), Sam Morin, Will O'Neill, Jesper Pettersson, Travis Sanheim and Reece Willcox
Goaltenders: Mark Dekanich (AHL), Alex Lyon, Martin Ouellette (AHL) and Anthony Stolarz
In Case You Missed It
Highland Park Hockey is now on YouTube! Be sure you're subscribed to the channel!
The Flyers announced their training camp roster Thursday. Slipped through the cracks was news of the Phantoms signing signing former Hartford WolfPack forward Chris McCarthy, a Collegeville, Pa native, to a two-way AHL/ECHL contract for the 2016-17 season to further bolster the Phantoms' depth up front.
Since joining the Highland Park Hockey staff, Flyers prospect guru Tim Riday has been a busy man. He put together a fantastic overview of Flyers Rookie Camp taking a look at the 21 participants. Riday also had this well-written explanation of why this year's camp isn't just another Flyers Rookie Camp.
The second edition of Tuesday's Talk took a look at the AHL's veteran rule in addition to answering your questions. To submit your questions for next week's edition of Tuesday's Talk, you can simply leave your question in the comments section of this or any article on the website. You can also ask your questions via FaceBook or Twitter (links are in the byline of this article).
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