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Prospect Info: 2016-17 Flyers Prospects - Top 5 GOALIES, #6

Striiker

Striiker

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Or maybe, just maybe, the goalie that started the entire season when Tomek was hurt didn't do anything to lose his spot when Tomek was able to return and it had nothing to do with Tomek at all.

Seems like the most obvious answer.
 
Dumpster Flyers

Dumpster Flyers

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Jun 21, 2006
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Striiker said:
Or maybe, just maybe, the goalie that started the entire season when Tomek was hurt didn't do anything to lose his spot when Tomek was able to return and it had nothing to do with Tomek at all.

Seems like the most obvious answer.
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Tomek lost the BACKUP spot. Instead of giving him a start in a back-to-back series, the coach went with a 5'9", non-scholarship "#3."
 
Striiker

Striiker

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Tomek went through a frustrating 2015-16 season as a freshman for the Frozen Four champion University of North Dakota. It started with a preseason injury that prevented the highly touted recruit from being available during the first month-plus of the season. In the meantime, sophomore goaltender Cameron Johnson played stellar hockey to nail down the starting job – a pace he maintained all the way to the national championship. Diminutive freshman goaltender Matt Hrynkiw also played well in 14 appearances.

The result: even when he was cleared to return to the ice, there was nowhere for Tomek to play. Johnson kept winning and winning (24-4-2 overall) and showed no signs of slowing down. Tomek ended up not playing in a single game all season.
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http://flyers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=888631&navid=DL|PHI|home

There wasn't any room for him. It wasn't because of his poor play, it was the other two goalies strong play giving the coach no reason to fix what wasn't broken.
 
Maurice of Orange

Maurice of Orange

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Feb 5, 2016
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My top goaltenders in the Flyers organization.

#1 Anthony Stolarz AHL Phantoms
#2 Alex Lyon AHL Phantoms
#3 Carter Hart WHL Everett
#4 Felix Sandstrom SHL Brynäs IF
#5 Merrick Madsen NCAA-ECAC Harvard U
#6 Ivan Fedotov KHL Salavat Yulaev Ufa or VHL Toros Neftekamsk
#7 Matej Tomek NCAA-NCHC U of North Dakota
#8 Martin Ouellette ECHL Royals < under contract to AHL Phantoms

If Matej Tomek doesn't get a chance to play this season for U of North Dakota then his best bet would be to play overseas in the KHL, NLA or the Czech Extraliga. I believe the Fargo Forge of the USHL hold his USHL rights if Tomek chooses to play in the USHL this season although that would be a downgrade in competition. Or Tomej could turn pro and see if the Flyers would sign him to an ELC and assign him to the ECHL Royals as backup to Martin Ouellette.

Also if all the hype behind Alex Lyon is true he should have a chance to challenge Anthony Stolarz for the starting job, even though Stolarz was an AHL all-star last season.

Should be fun the watch Stolarz and Lyon battle it out for playing time this season in Lehigh Valley.
 
Tripod

Tripod

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Norm MacDonald said:
So he couldn't secure a backup job not because he was garbage, but because Hrynkiw was just so good? You must be a glass-is-half-full kind of guy.
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Context matters.....and yes, Hrynkiw was good.....really good.

Took over as UND’s starter when Cam Johnson went down with an injury in the third game of the year and started the next 11 straight games.

Was named NCHC Goaltender of the Week following the Vermont series after stopping 54 of 56 shots in the two games ... Also pitched a shutout the following week at Colorado College (Oct. 31) with a 29-save effort.

Relieved Johnson in the regular-season finale against Western Michigan (March 5) with UND trailing 3-1 and backstopped a comeback victory for his 10th win of the season.

Held opponents to two goals or fewer in seven of his 11 starts. His 2.13 goals against average ranked ninth in UND single-season history

Co-recipient (with sophomore forward Nick Schmaltz) of UND’s Coaches' Unsung Hero Award


Reality is, he saved their season when Johnson went down. They rewarded him with being the backup when Johnson came back. He never gave the coaches a reason to not dress him.

And what you are completely missing, is that on Feb 22, the coach said Tomek was finally getting healthy. The regular season ended March 5th....TWO WEEKS LATER.

So in essence, you are arguing why the coaches did not dress a goalie who missed all the regular season as a backup in the playoffs, over a guy who played all season and stepped in as a starter when he had to and played great. Simple answer, they didn't need to make a change "just because".

Context matter.
 
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FLYguy3911

FLYguy3911

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Oct 19, 2006
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Norm MacDonald said:
The coach plays the goalie who earns a spot in practices/scrimmage.
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Did it ever come across your mind that the coaching staff held him out of games at the end of the season, after he missed 4 months of the season, and when they had two capable goalies, that they were preserving his redshirt year so he could potentially play four whole seasons at UND? Or no, he just sucked?
 
Dumpster Flyers

Dumpster Flyers

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Tripod said:
Reality is, he saved their season when Johnson went down. They rewarded him with being the backup when Johnson came back. He never gave the coaches a reason to not dress him.
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Hrynkiw got a lot of praise for doing a serviceable job when everyone expected him to get slaughtered. It's not like he's incredible. If Tomek was good enough, he'd give the coaches a reason to dress him.

Personally, I don't consider him a real prospect right now. Some people here are talking about playing him in minor leagues like ECHL, but what has he done to earn an entry-level contract? The Flyers are only allowed 50 contracts, and if they're going to spend one on another goalie, there are plenty of unaffiliated prospects who should be ahead of him.

Who knows, though? Maybe he'll rebound this year and show everyone why he was a 3rd round pick. I really hope he does. But it's not a good sign when the only positives you can take from your season is excuses.
FLYguy3911 said:
Did it ever come across your mind that the coaching staff held him out of games at the end of the season, after he missed 4 months of the season, and when they had two capable goalies, that they were preserving his redshirt year so he could potentially play four whole seasons at UND? Or no, he just sucked?
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Well, now Tomek will probably leave UND and they get 0 years of him. If that was their reasoning, it wasn't very smart.
 
FLYguy3911

FLYguy3911

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Norm MacDonald said:
Well, now Tomek will probably leave UND and they get 0 years of him. If that was their reasoning, it wasn't very smart.
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Wasn't very smart throwing a true freshman in net that hadn't played in 10 months during the biggest stretch of the season? They won the National Championship. :laugh: I think they made the right move.

As far as him leaving UND, I haven't seen anything credible that that is going to happen. Just speculation. If there is any college program the Flyers have a feel for it's UND and he wouldn't be there if they didn't think he could develop well there.
 
Tripod

Tripod

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Norm MacDonald said:
Hrynkiw got a lot of praise for doing a serviceable job when everyone expected him to get slaughtered. It's not like he's incredible. If Tomek was good enough, he'd give the coaches a reason to dress him.

Personally, I don't consider him a real prospect right now. Some people here are talking about playing him in minor leagues like ECHL, but what has he done to earn an entry-level contract? The Flyers are only allowed 50 contracts, and if they're going to spend one on another goalie, there are plenty of unaffiliated prospects who should be ahead of him.

Who knows, though? Maybe he'll rebound this year and show everyone why he was a 3rd round pick. I really hope he does. But it's not a good sign when the only positives you can take from your season is excuses.

Well, now Tomek will probably leave UND and they get 0 years of him. If that was their reasoning, it wasn't very smart.
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Again...you want to ignore that Tomek was hurt all year and only got healthy just before the season ended. The coaches had no reason to change what had been working for the entire season.

You are making it seem like he was healthy all year but was the #3. He wasn't. But the year was definitely a setback.
 
Larry44

Larry44

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FLYguy3911 said:
Wasn't very smart throwing a true freshman in net that hadn't played in 10 months during the biggest stretch of the season? They won the National Championship. :laugh: I think they made the right move.

As far as him leaving UND, I haven't seen anything credible that that is going to happen. Just speculation. If there is any college program the Flyers have a feel for it's UND and he wouldn't be there if they didn't think he could develop well there.
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If he's going to get a chance to earn the starter's job at UND, he should stay. He needs to play somewhere though.
 
FLYguy3911

FLYguy3911

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He's not going to start this year unless Johnson gets hurt or ***** the bed. Splitting games this year wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for a goalie coming off of an injury. Hopefully Johnson turns pro after the season and Tomek can be the starter for 2+ years.
 
Striiker

Striiker

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Norm MacDonald said:
So he couldn't secure a backup job not because he was garbage, but because Hrynkiw was just so good? You must be a glass-is-half-full kind of guy.
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Ever hear the saying "if it's not broke, don't fix it"?

The goalies didn't have to be shutting out the opponents every single night, so long as they aren't hurting the team there's no reason to make a change. Tomek will get his chance this year, last year basically didn't exist because of the injury. He didn't lose his spot, it was never his to begin with and the person who the spot belonged to didn't do anything to lose it. Just that simple.
 
Curufinwe

Curufinwe

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Feb 28, 2013
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Final results

1. Stolarz, Anthony (75%)
2. Sandstrom, Felix (43%)
3. Hart, Carter (74%)
4. Lyon, Alex (91%)
5. Madsen, Merrick (65%)
6. Tomek, Matej (59%)
7. Fedotov, Ivan
 
DrinkFightFlyers

DrinkFightFlyers

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What is the outlook on any of these guys starting at WJC? Stolie/Lyon/Madsen are obviously not involved, but does Hart/Tomek/Sandstrom/Fedotov have a shot (if eligible)? Maybe next year for Hart?
 
Tripod

Tripod

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DrinkFightFlyers said:
What is the outlook on any of these guys starting at WJC? Stolie/Lyon/Madsen are obviously not involved, but does Hart/Tomek/Sandstrom/Fedotov have a shot (if eligible)? Maybe next year for Hart?
Click to expand...

3 of the 4 could make it....maybe even be starters. Unsure on Fedotov.
 
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