Flyers prospect report: Training camp opens

Welcome to BSH’s weekly prospect update, where we will be serving up stats and insight on what our homegrown players have been up to. This will include prospects in Canadian Juniors (BCHL, OHL, QMJHL & WHL), Europe (SHL, KHL), and NCAA college hockey. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments.

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Prospects at Philadelphia Flyers’ training camp

With the Flyers’ training camp starting today several of the organization’s prospects will be in attendance. The players in the Orange and Black’s pipeline who will be in attendance and have either not played at all or very little this season include Morgan Frost, Connor Bunnaman, Carsen Twarynski, Tyson Foerster, Samuel Morin, Zayde Wisdom, Linus Sandin, Tanner Laczynski, Egor Zamula, Wyatte Wylie, Felix Sandstrom, and Roddy Ross.

Another prospect who would be participating is Isaac Ratcliffe, but thanks to a fractured rib he will be on the shelf for at least four weeks. Ratcliffe as well as most of the other players listed above will start the season in the AHL, which announced this week they are now targeting February 5th to start.

Prospects playing in World Junior Championship

Team U.S.A.
After dropping their first game of the tournament to Russia, Team U.S.A. rattled off three straight wins to close out the opening round including a 4-0 decision over Sweden and a 5-2 win over Team Slovakia. Cam York had three assists against the Czech Republic and played over 22 minutes in two contests, Bobby while Brink had two goals against the Czechs and a pair of helpers against Slovakia as part of a five-point week. Team U.S.A.’s next game is in the semifinals against Team Finland later today.

Team Sweden
Emil Andrae and the Swedes have already exited the tournament, as they lost to Finland 3-2 in the quarterfinals. The rearguard recorded an assist and two penalty minutes while logging one 20-minute night for Sweden in their final four tilts of the World Junior Championship.

Prospects playing in Europe

Adam Ginning (LHD), Farjestad BK (SHL)
2018 2nd Round Pick, 50th overall

• 12/28 - 19:48 of ice time
• 12/30 - 1 shot on goal, 2 hits
• 1/2 - 2 hits

Ginning provided some physicality for Farjestad BK this week, as he increased his hit total on the season to 12 in 26 appearances while his point total still stands at seven.

Olle Lycksell (F), Farjestad BK (SHL)
2017 6th Round Pick, 168th overall

• 12/28 - Did not play
• 12/30 - Did not play
• 1/2 - Did not play

Lycksell missed all three of Farjestad BK’s games this week and the reason for his absence is uncertain. He has one goal in Farjestad BK’s last 18 contests.

Samuel Ersson (G), Brynas IF (SHL)
2018 5th Round Pick, 143rd overall

• 12/28 - Did not play
• 12/30 - 34 saves on 36 shots against, win
• 1/2 - Did not play

Ersson showed no signs of rust despite the fact he went 27 days between starts, as he denied 34 of Farjestad BK’s 36 attempts helping Brynas IF reach victory in overtime this week. The puck stopper has a record of 5-9-1 in 2020-21 with a .903 save percentage and 3.21 goals against average.

German Rubtsov (C), HK Sochi (KHL)
2016 1st Round Pick, 22nd overall

• 12/28 - 1 hit, 2/11 on faceoffs
• 12/30 - 1 assist, 4/9 on faceoffs
• 1/3 - 1/4 on faceoffs

A primary assist in HK Sochi’s 6-2 decision over Severstal Cherepovets helped Rubtsov in an otherwise quiet week, as the forward didn’t produce a shot and was ragdolled at the dot. He’s up to 11 points in 36 outings this season.

Maxim Sushko (RW), Dinamo Minsk (KHL)
2017 4th Round Pick, 107th overall

• 12/30 - 1 goal, 1 assist, 5 shots on goal, 1 hit, 2 penalty minutes
• 1/3 - Did not play

Sushko nearly doubled his point total on the season with his first multi-point game in the KHL this week. His five shots on net is the most he’s recorded in a single game this season, as he has 23 shots on goal and five points in 29 tilts this year.

Ivan Fedotov (G), Traktor Chelyabinsk (KHL)
2015 7th Round Pick, 188th overall

• 12/28 - 28 saves on 33 shots against, loss

Fedotov had a night to forget in Traktor Chelyabinsk’s lone game this week, as he allowed five or more goals against in a single outing for the first time all season. The performance marked the first time the netminder saw the puck beat him on five occasions or more since he allowed five on December 27th, 2019 and was the third time in his last four starts he allowed four goals or more.

Matej Tomek (G), SaiPa (Liiga)
2015 3rd Round Pick, 90th overall

• 12/28 - 31 saves on 32 shots against, win
• 12/30 - 36 saves on 38 shots against, win

After not playing in a Liiga game in a little over a month, Tomek posted his two best stat lines all season. With a .968 save percentage and .947 save percentage in his contests this week Tomek passed his previous season-high for save percentage in a single game of .941 he set back on November 17th, which was also the last time he posted above .900 in a game before this week.

David Kase (LW/RW), HC Energie Karlovy Vary (Czech Tipsport Extraliga)
2015 5th Round Pick, 128th overall

• 12/28 - 1 assist, 2 shots on goal, 1 blocked shot, 2 penalty minutes, 3/19 on faceoffs
• 12/30 - 2 assists, 7 shots on goal, 5/12 on faceoffs
• 1/3 - 4 shots on goal, 1 blocked shot, 2/12 on faceoffs

Kase is still clicking over in the Czech Republic, as he accrued three assists and 13 shots on goal this past week. He has 22 points (five goals) in 23 times he’s dressed for HC Energie Karlovy Vary.

Marcus Westfalt (C), Vasterviks IK (HockeyAllsvenskan)
2018 7th Round Pick, 205th overall

• 12/29 - 1 shot on goal, 3/7 on faceoffs
• 12/30 - 2 shots on goal, 2 penalty minutes, 9/18 on faceoffs

Despite throwing three pucks on net this week Westfalt couldn’t increase his goal total of three on the season, as the former seventh-rounder has five points in 23 contests in 2020-21.

Linus Hogberg (LHD), HC Vita Hasten (HockeyAllsvenkan)
2016 5th Round Pick, 139th overall

• 12/30 - 1 shot on goal

With a shot on goal this week Hogberg is up to 44 on the season along with 12 points in 26 appearances.

Kirill Ustimenko (G), HK Gomel (Belarusian Extraleague A)
2017 3rd Round Pick, 80th overall

Ustimenko is out for the rest of the 2020-21 campaign, as he will miss the next 4-5 months to recover from hip surgery. He appeared in all of two games this season.

Prospects playing in NCAA

Ronnie Attard (RHD), Western Michigan University (NCHC)
2019 3rd Round Pick, 72nd overall

• 1/2 - 1 shot on goal
• 1/3 - 5 shots on goal

It was another rough week for the Broncos, but Attard continued his assault on opposing nets with six shots on goal and 12 shot attempts in two games. He’s fifth on Western Michigan with one goal and five helpers for six points and also has a team-leading 91 shot attempts in all situations through 10 contests.

Bryce Brodzinski (RW), University of Minnesota (Big Ten)
2019 7th Round Pick, 196th overall

• 1/3 - 3 shots on goal, 1 blocked shot, 2 penalty minutes

Despite providing his second game of the season with three shots on net or more, Brodzinski still has two tallies on 14 shots with one apple for three points through nine appearances this campaign.

Jay O’Brien (C), Boston University (Hockey East)
2018 1st Round Pick, 19th overall

O’Brien’s return to NCAA hockey is pushed back a little further, as the Boston University Terriers cancelled their home-and-home with the Northeastern Huskies this past weekend. The Flyers’ prospect is anticipated to open their 2020-21 campaign with a home-and-home on Friday and Saturday against O’Brien’s old school in the Providence College Friars.

Gavin Hain (C), University of North Dakota (NCHC)
2018 6th Round Pick, 174th overall

Thanks to COVID, Hain and the rest of the Fighting Hawks had their back-to-back with the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks scheduled for this week moved to the end of January.

Noah Cates (LW), University of Minnesota-Duluth (NCHC)
2017 5th Round Pick, 137th overall

• 1/1 - 1 goal, 1 shot on goal, 1 blocked shot, 2 penalty minutes, 7/16 on faceoffs
• 1/2 - 7/19 on faceoffs

Cates only tossed the disc once towards the opposing cage this week but it was enough to bump his 2020-21 goal total up to four while he sits with nine points in 10 games for the Bulldogs.