Skip to content
Flyers
Link copied to clipboard

Flyers' prospects have ups, downs at World Juniors; Vorobyov stars for Russia

One Flyers prospect won gold, another felt the agony of having the winning goal go through his legs Thursday night.

Center Tanner Laczynski, an Ohio State freshman who was a Flyers sixth-round draft pick last June, played on the winning United States team that defeated Canada in a shootout, 5-4, to capture the title at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

Goalie Carter Hart, another Flyers prospect, made four shootout stops for Canada, but Troy Terry put a shot between his legs for what proved to be the game-winner.

In the tournament, Hart had a 2.38 goals-against average and .906 save percentage. He was a second-round choice (48th overall) last June _ and was the first goalie selected in the draft.

Flyers prospect Phil Myers was on Canada's top defensive pairing, but he only played in four tourney games because of a concussion. He contributed four assists.

Center German Rubtsov (Russia), selected in the first round by the Flyers last year, also suffered an apparent concussion in the tourney. He played in five games and had no points.

The Flyers' prospect who had the best WJC showing was Russian center Mikhail Vorobyov, who was drafted in the fourth round in 2015. The 6-foot-2, 207-pounder led all players with 10 tournament  assists and helped Russia win the bronze medal.

In addition to Hart, the Flyers had two other goalie prospects in the tourney: Sweden's Felix Sandstrom, who had a 2.17 GAA and a .914 save percentage in six games, and Slovakia's Matej Tomek. Recruited to the University of North Dakota by current Flyers coach Dave Hakstol, Tomek had a 3.50 GAA and .912 save percentage in the tournament.

Czech Republic forward David Kase (two goals in five games) had an impressive tourney. The 5-11, 170-pounder was drafted by the Flyers in the fifth round two years ago.

Sweden's David Bernhardt, a defenseman drafted by the Flyers in the seventh round last year, had three assists in seven WJC games.

Remembering Snider. On Friday, which would have been Ed Snider's 84th birthday, student-athletes from the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation will compete at the Wells Fargo Center. As part of the opportunity to remember the Flyers co-founder, participants will get a behind-the-scenes tour of the home  Snider built for his hockey team. There will also be a life skills session that will help the students reflect on Snider's values, a Flyers spokeman said.

The players will later compete in a 7 p.m. game.