The news of the week
Just when we thought things were starting to slow down around here on the prospect front, things are picking back up elsewhere! It was announced this week, as a bit of a surprise, that both Cutter Gauthier and Ronnie Attard have been selected to represent the US at the upcoming World Championship in Finland and Latvia. They’ll be kicking things off on May 12.
Introducing the 2023 U.S. Men's National Team roster! #MensWorlds 🇺🇸
Details → https://t.co/dyTMGJUlVV pic.twitter.com/Z1xT1RMGNC
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) May 4, 2023
Now, do we feel very confident saying that this team will be good and competitive? No. This is a weird tournament and this is a very young team, so the results might not be stellar for them. But we do still love a mostly kid chaos team, so this is great. We’ll be tuning in (and not just because we have to).
We also have something of a partial update on Ivan Fedotov. It’s rumored that he will be returning from his military service to play for CSKA Moscow next season. And the implication there, of course, is that he will be returning to play for CSKA Moscow and only CSKA Moscow, and not coming over to play in North America. But, of course, it goes without saying that this is still a welcome update in some way, to know that he’s at least accounted for after hearing nothing of him for months.
And, in case you missed it: in future prospect news, the Flyers landed themselves the seventh overall pick in last night’s draft lottery. That means draft season is officially upon us, and we’re going to be kicking off our coverage this week. The Community Draft Board is back!
Madeline Campbell
The prospect world tour
We’ve got a pretty quick world tour to undertake this week, folks! Can we even call it a world tour if we’re just staying in North America this time around? (We’re still calling it a world tour).
Anyway, after a nice little run to knock out Maine in the first round of the Kelly Cup playoffs, the Royals had a tough start to their series against Newfoundland. Their first two games came this past weekend, and they both ended in losses for the Royals (the first 3-0 and the second 5-4 in overtime). Over those two games, Mason Millman picked up a goal, and Zayde Wisdom was held without a point.
Up North, Gatineau’s playoff run has come to an end, as they were swept by Quebec and knocked out of the QMJHL playoffs. It’s bad news for them, but not all bad news for us Flyers prospect watchers – in their last two games, Alexis Gendron picked up two goals, closing out his season on a high note, more or less.
Over in the OHL, though, Peterborough’s run has gone on a bit longer, still, no elimination for them this weekend. They had four games in the last week, during which time J.R. Avon picked up two goals, and Brian Zanetti chipped in an assist. Not a massive offensive outpouring, but it’s still nice to see them showing up in these big games.
