Photo Credit: Katelynn Reiss
Right before last night’s Flyers game the Flyers received a bit of good news at the prospect level, and for the big club. First things first, Noah Cates and Pat Nagle were announced as members for Team USA at the upcoming Olympic games in Beijing. In addition, shortly thereafter Claude Giroux was announced as the lone representative for the Flyers at the upcoming All-Star game in Las Vegas.
Claude Giroux
Recently, Claude Giroux moved into sole possession of the second most points in Flyers history with 884. He registered an assist on James van Riemsdyk’s first goal of the night, which happened to be a power play goal. This wasn’t just any assist that assist just so happened to be his 600th career NHL assist. Giroux is aging like a fine wine, as he leads the Flyers in points this season with 29 (11g,18a).
It’s mind boggling that he still fights for respect in Philadelphia. Giroux is a great player, and should be more respected for his services as a Flyer, as he enters his last season under contract with the Flyers. This will be his seventh All-Star game appearance in his career, a great career at that. This honor is well deserved for the pending unrestricted free agent this Summer.
Noah Cates
The young Bulldogs product in Noah Cates has become quite the stud in his collegiate career with the Bulldogs. For the 2020-21 season, he amassed five goals, and 14 assists for a total of 19 points in 28 games played in a weird season of sorts due to Covid-19. It appeared he continued his success from the 2019-20 season, where he tallied nine goals and chipped in 14 assists for a total of 23 points in 40 games played, but he was inconsistent at times. Cates has hockey smarts and is a strong competitor. He is a thin but a very agile skater who needs to improve his jump, but Cates has gotten stronger as weighs 190 pounds at the moment. Cates is a highly skilled player that can shoot the puck well in tight areas.
Captain Cates of the Bulldogs could very well compete for the National Championship once again. Noah decided to return to the Bulldogs, as opposed to signing an Entry-Level-Contract with the Flyers in the offseason. The Flyers were inclined to ink him to a deal, but Noah wanted to win another title. He will ink a deal with Philly this Summer though.
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Pat Nagle
Nagle, is a well traveled netminder that saw time with the Reading Royals earlier in the season. He is the ECHL’s 5th all-time league leader in victories with 198.
The well versed Nagle, moves post to post rather well, has a 7-2-3 record with a 2.58 GAA, and .927 Save Percentage with the Royals on the season. In addition, he is 5-0-3 with a 2.74 GAA, and a .897 Save Percentage for the Phantoms this season.
What Nagle brings is experience, and that is something that Nagle has a ton of. He will be able to guide the youth, and show them the right way to win hockey games, especially in a short amount of time. Nagle is a good addition by Team USA General Manager John Vanbiesbrouck.
The Flyers can use all the positivity they can get, so this is a good way to get it. Congratulations to Giroux, Cates, and Nagle on their achievements.
Philly is a great hockey town but lets face it we do have a fanbase with some pretty peculiar sub-categories. We have season ticket holders who leave nail-biters with four minutes left just to be the first to sit in traffic. (I like when they get to hear the goal horn from out there) We have some fans that stop following altogether the second the playoffs are (all too often) out of reach (best time to stubhub). Sports radio stations with hosts that admittedly don’t start paying attention till the Spring. I am the opposite of all of these things. I will watch every second of every game no matter how bleak things may be. I love the sport, I love hockey season and I am not going to miss a second of it. Sitting through some really bleak times over the past decade it is the fan like myself who totally appreciates a player like Claude Giroux. A player who shows up and gives it what he has every single game. We have been real lucky to have him in this town and it is great to see him hitting so many milestones in what could be his last season as Philly’s most tenured current athlete. I would like to see him play the rest of his career here …but that is coming from someone who is going to watch every single Flyers’ game whether we give him away in a bust trade or not. He is a bright spot not just to Philly but to the NHL.