It’s playoff time in Allentown, and the Phantoms have been reinforced and reinvigorated by some of the Flyers’ top prospects. Those top guys – Jett Luchanko, Alex Bump, and Nikita Grebenkin – have brought a spark to a Phantoms team that was in need of one heading into the Calder Cup Playoffs.
In the form of a dominant 5-2 Game 1 victory over Wilkes-Barre, those young guys really began to make an impact, with Bump registering two goals, Luchanko adding two assists, and Grebenkin tallying an assist of his own.
Well, with Bump in particular, the spark has come from both his on-ice play and his demeanor off of it. After the game on Wednesday night as he spoke with the media, Bump had some notable words to say about the opposing team’s defense.
“They don’t like to defend, soft defenders I think, in my opinion, so just working them down low, they don’t like to do that at all, so keep them below the hashmarks and I think they’ll open up from there,” the 21-year-old winger said.
This is the kinda mentality and outward attitude that the Flyers haven’t had in a while, and something that it’s hard not to get excited about. While cockiness can come back to haunt you, in the sense that this can give some bulletin-board material to the opposition, it’s also really fun. It instills some tension and bad blood into playoff hockey, and it’s even cooler when a player can back up the talk. Bump, with two goals last night and having made an immediate impact in the pro game, has walked the walk thus far.
It’s also not the first time that Alex Bump’s sky-high confidence has been on display. It’s been documented that Bump has operated the last few years with a “chip on his shoulder” following his slip in the draft to the fifth round, as he believed he was worthy of a much higher selection. Flyers Assistant General Manager noted this “pissy” attitude in his first ever Flyers development camp, speaking towards how Bump uses that attitude to fuel his work ethic.
That mindset seems to have worked out nicely for Bump, who’s standout college season saw him reach new heights with Western Michigan en route to the program’s first national title. Registering 47 points in 42 games, Bump was the focal point of a Broncos offense that wore out teams by doing exactly what Bump was alluding to in his postgame quote: getting pucks behind the opposition and below the goal line, and getting to work.
If Bump continues to focus on that style of play, there might be a darn good player in there for the Orange and Black. It’s one thing to talk in the way that Bump does, but it’s another to back it up. It’ll be really fun, and certainly endearing to Philadelphia, if Bump continues to back the talk up in the NHL.
