On Monday the Philadelphia Flyers made official what we reported here Saturday as the Flyers formally assigned Carter Hart to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for the AHL playoffs.
The @NHLFlyers have reassigned goaltender Carter Hart from the @WHLsilvertips to the @LVPhantoms.
📰 Read more ⤵️https://t.co/sDT2RHdSBm
— LehighValleyPhantoms (@LVPhantoms) April 17, 2017
It remains to be seen if Hart will actually see the ice barring injury to starter Alex Lyon, but we’ll continue to follow that story. The Phantoms finished second in the AHL’s Atlantic Division and will take on the Hershey Bears, the Washington Capitals’ top affiliate, in the best-of-five first-round playoff series beginning Friday in Allentown, Pa. The Phantoms were 7-4-1 against the Bears during the regular season.
I haven’t seen any word yet on if Noah Juulsen has joined the St. John’s IceCaps for their playoff series with the Syracuse Crunch. The IceCaps clinched a playoff berth in the final game of the regular season Saturday. The Crunch and the IceCaps split their eight regular-season contests.
During my Saturday interviews both Juulsen and Hart noted the closeness of the 2016-17 team and how it contributed to the team’s unexpected success.
“This was a tight-knit group,” Juulsen said. “A little bit of a younger age group and I think it kind of helped the guys stick together. They were a good group of guys. Everyone bought in. In the past the groups have always been close as well, but I think this one stuck out to me.”
The team managed to remain close despite picking up two overage players during the course of the season in Dominic Zwerger and Aaron Irving. I wrote about their contributions in addition to those of fellow 20-year-old Lucas Skrumeda in Monday’s Herald.
Congrats @airving96 on a great Jr. Career. Made your Family very proud. @EdmOilKings @WHLsilvertips 🏒👍 pic.twitter.com/3Twvl9dECr
— Don Irving (@hkyfrk) April 15, 2017
“Obviously it’s not easy for them to come and join a new team,” Hart said. “But when they come we welcome them with open arms and it’s like a new brother so all those guys are like brothers. When you got a new member of the family come in you treat them with respect and just like any other family member. Those guys fit in really well, they work really hard and they were great, great athletes and great people. I think we had a real good 20-year-old group this year.”
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter.
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