We tend to think of the weeks following Christmas/Boxing Day as being World Juniors time, when we all turn our eyes to the kiddos and see how they’re doing. And this is a ways away, you say, but we (and yeah, okay, the national teams) are already starting the prep work heading into the tournament. You guessed it, it’s summer showcase time!
We won’t be seeing as many Flyers prospects in this tournament as we did last year, when there were eight prospects spread between three national teams, but the Flyers will still find themselves well represented. This year, we’ll see a total of four Flyers prospects between the American and Swedish national teams.
Returning from last year’s showcase (and World Junior teams) are 2018 draft picks Adam Ginning for Sweden and Joel Farabee for the US. To recap, Ginning picked up one goal and zero assists in his five games played, and looked pretty sharp, flexing some strength in puck moving and offensive instincts that we hadn’t necessarily seen much of from him before. Farabee really flashed in his first showing with the US team, as he registered three goals and two assists in five games played, and honestly looked like he was stealing the show at times. He’ll be without linemate Jack Hughes this time around, so he’ll have the chance to bring even more of that flash, without the question of if he’s just benefitting from playing alongside Hughes (which, we would add, he didn’t seem to be). But all the same, he’ll have an opportunity to take another step forward, as a “veteran” in the tournament. (Also please note that Brad and I recapped their performances in last summer’s tournament, and you can follow the links on the players’ names above for a more detailed analysis).
The Flyers will also have a couple of newly-drafted prospects joining the American team, as Cam York and Bobby Brink have both been assigned to the USA Blue team, along with Farabee. And this is exciting, not just that that we’ll get to see these two in a game setting, as this was where they really shined at development camp, but that we’ll get to see them in a game setting playing against the best players in their age group. It’s upping the stakes over a scrimmage at development camp, and it will be interesting to see how they fare.
The games kick off on Friday, but it doesn’t look like the first few games played this weekend will be televised. I would like to note here that I am not a representative of the NHL Network and can’t promise that these aren’t subject to change BUT it does look like they’ll be broadcasting some of the later games happening next week, should you want to tune in. The schedule for those televised games is as follows (all times in Eastern Standard Time):
Wednesday July 31
1:00 PM: Canada vs. Finland
4:00 PM: United States vs. Sweden
Friday August 2
1:00 PM: Sweden vs. Canada
4:00 PM: Finland vs. United States
Saturday August 3
1:00 PM: Sweden vs. Finland
4:00 PM: United States vs. Canada
