Photo Credit: Derik Hamilton/AP
Noah Cates had one heck of a night last night in the loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Cates tallied his first NHL goal, a goal he will never forget, “I was with that line, and I thought we were pretty hard on the forecheck and caused a turnover and Nate I think drove that far post, brought a couple guys to him and Brownie made an awesome play to me in that slot, and just put it past him low on the far side,” Cates said. “Great play by those guys and obviously moving on I’ll never forget.”
He has skated well, is confident and poised since joining the Flyers a week ago. Cates creates turnovers in the neutral zone by suffocating his opponents, and sealing their gaps. This is a highly underrated area of his game. During his collegiate career he was very good at forcing turnovers in the neutral zone.
The young 23-year-old in Cates logged 14:16 of ice time, had four hits, forced three takeaways, and registered seven shots on that in his four games in the NHL. Not a bad start, and it took his brother, Jackson Cates, five games to pot his first NHL goal, “I just think that for me, kind of growing up and kind of trying to get to this level is always about speed,” Cates said. “But I think I can play at this level with the pace.”
Cates continued, “So definitely growing my confidence and making plays and playing at this pace through these first four games. You know, it’s definitely good to know and I just gotta keep that up.”
Ronnie Attard
Attard is not a flashy Right-Handed Defenseman, but he gets the job done. Attard finished the season with with the Western Michigan University Broncos with 12 goals, 20 assists, and was a +15. Attard appeared to be confident and poised this season as he drove the play up the ice, and netted a few hat tricks in the process.
He has made his mistakes with the orange and black, especially in regards to pinching, but it’s all part of the learning process at the next level, “Starting to feel more comfortable each game, but just it’s a great hockey game and I got to continue to learn every game, every shift,” Attard said last night. “It’s nice. We’ve got great guys in the locker room that are mentoring us and helping us every day. Just got to continue to improve.”
Attard has a great shot from the point, and is highly accurate. That was made evident last night is he just tried to throw a puck on net as James van Riemsdyk was camping out in front of the net in his office, “I’ve watched him (JvR) growing up and seeing his art in front of the net, and he’s very good so whenever he’s there I’m just trying to get pucks through and most of the time he’ll put his stick on it.”
The smiling Attard continued, “Stood up and saw him with his hands in the air and it was a good feeling.”
Of course, with the youth movement there will be trials and tribulations. However, it is important to get both of these young prospects a taste of their first NHL experience, especially with nothing to lose in a lost season. Both will continue to make their fair share of mistakes, but it’s all part of the learning process.
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