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Then and Now: R.J. Umberger

R.J. Umberger may have been born in Pittsburgh, but some of his best memories so far in the NHL have come with the franchise located on the other side of the state. Although his first NHL game came with the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2005-06 season, Umberger was a member of two other NHL organizations before he made his way to Philly. The skater was picked 16th overall in the 2001 NHL Draft by the Vancouver Canucks, as he was the first American forward to be selected. Mike Komisarek was the first American picked by the Montreal Canadiens with the …

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2013 Year in Review: Jakub Voracek

There weren’t too many bright spots to pick out of the Philadelphia Flyers’ 2013 season, but the production and growth of Jakub Voracek could be one of the biggest positives to take away from the non-playoff campaign. With impressive numbers offensively and being considered one of the more consistent players for the Orange and Black throughout their 23-22-3 season, Voracek exceeded the expectations many had for him before the start of the shortened year. Out of his five seasons in the NHL to date, Voracek’s 46 points were tied for his second-lowest point total for a season. However, considering there …

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2013 IIHF World Championships: Giroux excels, Gustafsson logging near 30 minutes

5/10/2013 Slovakia-Austra 1-2 SO Radivojevic 0+1, 16:54 TOI, +1 Austria beat Slovakia after 17 years and made another big surprise at the World Championships. Slovenia-Czech Republic 2-4 Voracek 0+2, 17:29 TOI Slovenia played more than an equal role for the first 40 minutes of the game. The struggling Czechs couldn’t find a way to score against team Slovenia. Luckily team Czech Republic scored two quick power play goals in the third which helped them to gain another important three points in the standings. Russia-Finland 2-3 Vaananen 0+0, 15:43 TOI, 2 PIM Kukkonen 0+0, 11:36 TOI Bryzgalov – backup This was …

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2013 IIHF World Championship: Read with two assists, Schenn with a goal, Gus remains strong

5/7/2013 Austria-Germany 0-2 Slovenia-Switzerland 1-7 A red hot Swiss team won another game against Slovenia. That was the fourth straight win for them after beating Sweden, Canada, and struggling Czech Republic. Swiss forward Hollenstein was the best player of the game recording four points (two goals and two assists). USA-Finland 4-1 Carle 0+0, 17:48 TOI Vaananen 0+0, 12:52 TOI, -1 Kukkonen 0+0, 8:43 TOI Team USA strengthened their hopes for the quarterfinals after a victory over Finland. The US team is now in second place in Group B. Finland is third. 19-year-old rookie John Gibson showed strong performance allowing only …

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Flyers Year In Review: The Bad

The Flyers season may have been a downer, but there were still positives to take out of it. Such positives were the strong play of Jakub Voracek, Luke Schenn, and the young kids on defense. Now, we take a look at the Bad. Braydon Coburn: Mistakenly, I chose Coburn as my dark-horse for the Norris trophy this year. Coburn has all the tools to be a top-tier defenseman. He has size, speed, offensive skills and awareness, as well as strong defensive prowess. Coburn plays all three phases of the game. Yet, this was not a good year for him. In …