Pascal Laberge (concussion) victim of dirty hit – NBC Sports Philadelphia
Two of the mainstays of this feature from last season are now skating with the Flyers, so we won’t be highlighting Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov in this space anymore.
But that doesn’t mean the Future Flyers Report has lost its allure — it hasn’t. The Flyers are still packed with talent in the farm system, so let’s trudge on.
This week, we’ll highlight two of the Flyers’ second-round picks from June, a freshman off to a torrid start to his collegiate career and a junior who was a victim of a cheap hit.
Let’s dig in.
Pascal Laberge, RW, 6-0/174, Victoriaville (QMJHL)
On the stat sheet, Laberge had a quiet week in two games with the Tigres. The Châteauguay, Quebec, native registered five shots, three hits and lost three faceoffs last Monday against Blainville-Boisbriand. But on Saturday night, Laberge was the victim of an extremely dangerous hit by Moncton defenseman Zachary Malatesta.
About six minutes into Saturday’s game against the Wildcats, Laberge, as he gathered a loose puck at his own blue line, caught a high hit to the head by Malatesta, who appeared to have targeted Laberge. Malatesta received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for checking to the head, and was suspended indefinitely by the QMJHL.
Laberge suffered a concussion on the dirty hit, which would have been clean had Malatesta not made contact with the head. Malatesta had a similar hit last season, but didn’t receive a suspension for it. There is no word on how long Laberge will be out. On the season, Laberge, whom the Flyers drafted 36th overall last June, has two goals and four points in seven games this season with 20 shots on goal and a minus-2 rating.
Wade Allison, RW, 6-2/205, Western Michigan (NCAA)
It’s safe to say Allison avoided enduring another slow start to his season, like he went through in 2015-16 in the USHL with the Tri-City Storm. The freshman Bronco pounced on Bowling Green for four points in both games of a home-and-home set Friday and Saturday.
Allison, who turned 19 this past Friday, netted two power-play goals in Western Michigan’s 4-4 tie with the Falcons, which went to an exhibition 3-on-3 overtime in which he again found the back of the net. In fact, Allison dusted Mark Friedman, another Flyers prospect, on a breakaway for the unofficial hat trick. The next night, the Myrtle, Manitoba, native, again made his presence felt on the man advantage, pitching in with two power-play apples on Chris Dienes’ first-period marker and Matheson Iacopelli’s third-period tally. Through his first four games at the NCAA level, Allison has five points, all of which have come on the power play.
Encouraging stuff from an interesting prospect that could fill a need for the Flyers in a few years once he graduates from WMU or feels he’s ready for the professional rank. Have to be happy with how Allison’s college career has begun.
Danick Martel, C/LW, 5-8/161, Lehigh Valley (AHL)
The Phantoms’ leading goalscorer from a season ago opened the 2016-17 campaign with a two-goal effort in Lehigh Valley’s 4-2 win over the Springfield Thunderbirds. Martel, an undrafted find by general manager Ron Hextall, told Highland Park Hockey’s Tony Androckitis after the game that in his role this season — a third liner — his job is to “piss off the other team.” Where does Martel fit into the Flyers’ plans? The 21-year-old played his junior hockey for Blainville-Boisbriand Armada of the QMJHL, and signed with the Flyers as an undrafted free agent on March 10, 2015. With more depth at Lehigh Valley, Martel finds himself in a different role from last season, one which he’s accepting. Martel doesn’t have NHL player written on him, but if he continues to work hard, he could find his way into a fourth-line role with the Flyers if he can adopt a checking game. Small, but he’s shown he can score at the AHL level.
Anthony Stolarz, G, 6-6/210, Lehigh Valley (AHL)
While Lehigh Valley could make its first postseason appearance since the Phantoms moved to Allentown, the most interesting storyline in the AHL for the Flyers is the goalie battle between Stolarz and Alex Lyon, the latter of whom is starting the season as the backup.
Stolarz got the nod in net for the Phantoms’ season opener Saturday, and the 22-year-old came through with a valiant effort against the Thunderbirds. The Edison, New Jersey, native allowed two goals on 33 shots and held down the fort as Springfield came on strong in the final stanza.
Going forward, it’ll be interesting to see how Lehigh Valley head coach Scott Gordon divides up the starts between Stolarz and Lyon. The Flyers are high on Lyon. Goaltending is an organizational strength for the Orange and Black, something we haven’t been able to write many times throughout their 50 years of existence.
Quick hits
• Friedman picked up his first goal of the season in the final minute of the Falcons’ 8-2 loss to Western Michigan on Saturday. In the back-to-back set, BGSU surrendered 12 goals in six periods and nine PP goals. Friedman does play on the penalty kill.
• David Kase, a 5-foot-11 gritty winger, added another point for Piráti Chomutov, an assist in its 3-2 loss to Mountfield HK on Sunday. He now has seven points in his last eight games, which coincidentally is when he was promoted into a top-six forward role.
• In the Phantoms’ opener, Sam Morin and Travis Sanheim each recorded an assist. Morin was among the Flyers’ final cuts, and Sanheim, too, impressed in camp. They’re not far away, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see Morin up by the end of the year.
• German Rubtsov, the Flyers’ 2016 first-round pick, stayed in the MHL last week. Rubtsov recorded five points — two goals, three assists — in four games. He’s now at eight points in nine games with a 47.1 percent rate in the faceoff circle in the MHL.
• Salavat Yulaev’s Mikhail Vorobyov had a two-assist game in a 5-1 win Thursday. He played three games last week, with those two assists and a 23.3 percent faceoff rate. In 18 games this season, Vorobyov has three goals and four assists and is a plus-3.
• Oskar Lindblom picked up an assist in two games last week for Brynäs IF. He’s a point-per-game player, with eight points (four goals, four assists) in eight games.
• Brynäs IF continued its goalie rotation with Felix Sandstrom and David Rautio. Sandstrom turned away 28 of 30 shots in the only game he played, a 3-1 loss Thursday. On the season, he has a 2.26 goals-against average and .904 save percentage.
• UConn defenseman David Drake had a goal and assist Friday night against Colgate, and was held pointless Saturday against Rochester Institute of Technology.
• Kitchener’s Connor Bunnaman had three goals in three games last week for the Rangers, two against Guelph on Monday and one against Saginaw. He has six goals and eight points in seven games this season.
• Sarnia’s Anthony Salinitri had a four-point week, with a goal and three assists in three games. Salinitri has six assists and eight points in eight games.
• Carter Hart had a big week for Everett, winning all three of his starts, recording his first shutout of the season and stopping 61 of 66 shots against.
