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Flyers prospects give fans something to cheer about

Isaac Ratcliffe and Matthew Strome added some excited to Development Camp.

Flyers prospect Isaac Ratcliffe sparked some excitement at Development Camp.
Flyers prospect Isaac Ratcliffe sparked some excitement at Development Camp.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer

Isaac Ratcliffe, the Flyers second-round pick in June, was falling fast. The puck still on his stick, Matthew Strome driving the net, he managed to float a pass past defenseman Mark Friedman and onto Strome's stick blade, and the cannon-like one-timer that resulted beat goaltender Felix Sandstrom just inside the far post.

A Sunday afternoon crowd that filled the stands at Skate Zone erupted in cheers. The players high-fived each other, their teammates smiled and for a few seconds anyway, it felt like real hockey.

For July anyway.

For two days they had come and left with little, really to cheer about. Passing drills. Shooting drills. Skating in patterns, pivoting correctly, tutelages galore. Interesting, but not too much to cheer about. But 2-on-1s, followed by 1-on-1s, passing, playmaking, with both of their well-regarded goaltenders of the future making sprawling saves and surrendering blistering shots – this brought the crowd to life.

And the players too.

Ratcliffe, 6-6, was chosen in the second round of June's draft, 35th overall.  The youngest brother of two NHL-ers Strome, 6-3, was a fourth-round pick, 106th overall, who scored 34 goals and assisted on 28 others for the Hamilton Bulldogs last season.

He has been touted for his two-way game and his offensive skills, most notably that heavy shot that emphatically finished off that play. And he has been critiqued for a choppy, slow-skating stride.

"I've been working on it,'' Strome said. "My brothers have given me stuff even before I got here. And there's a bunch of little stuff they've given me that I'm going to take back home with me and work on all summer.''

Familiar faces

Flyers coach Dave Hakstol was in and out over the weekend, observing drills with a notepad in hand … Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere was on the ice as well, working on some things with a few Flyers assistants. He, Michael Vecchione and 20-year-old camp invitee, Darion Hanson, made little Union College well represented in orange and black. Hanson is headed  to Union College this fall … The Flyers will conduct off-site bonding activities today, with the final on-ice session scheduled for Tuesday. Development Camp concludes with the annual Trial At the Shore Wednesday, more picnic really than Trial, prospects and draft picks bonding through activities such as volleyball.