Today the @WellsFargoCtr got a little demolition help from @KidElls1 for our new Mezzanine Open Air Lounges!



Tear down that wall!!! pic.twitter.com/ECwDDCKuLo — Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) August 2, 2018

1) Team USA overcame deficits of 2-0, 3-1 and 4-3 to earn a 5-4 overtime win against Sweden on Thursday at the 2018 World Junior Showcase in Kamloops, BC. The big stars of the game were the Hughes brothers, Quinn and Jack, but the five Flyers prospects (three for USA and two for Sweden) involved in the game all had some good moments. The biggest highlights:Joel Farabee should have earned an assist on a first-period goal by Jack Hughes but only one assist was awarded on the play. Farabee made a cross-ice pass from the left side to Quinn Hughes moments before Quinn passed to Jack and the likely first overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft snapped home the Americans' first goal. In an NHL or an IIHF-sanctioned game, a second assist would likely have been added after the period ended. In what is essentially a series of exhibition games, there was no change to the scoring.Olle Lycksell recorded a nice assist on Sweden's go-ahead goal that made it 4-3 in the third period. Off the rush, he made a very nice pass to set up New Jersey Devils prospect Fabian Zetterlund.Jay O'Brien was one of the most tenacious forwards on either team on both the forecheck and the backcheck. Starting the game on third line right wing, the natural center moved around the lineup during the game, including a couple shifts on the top line with Farabee and Jack Hughes and an OT shift with Jack Hughes. With the puck on his stick, he turned a seemingly "nothing happening" play moving up the boards into a scoring chance at that the net. He then swung around behind the net and tried to jam the puck home as it was covered by Swedish goalie Adam Åhman for a whistle. A pair of Swedish players went at O'Brien as he took one extra poke after the whistle.Noah Cates skated on the USA fourth line and was a regular on the penalty kill. He also received a shift during the 3-on-3 overtime. Cates did a lot of little things well in the trenches, came up with some clears in the defensive zone and forechecked effectively. He also won a faceoff cleanly after his center was dumped from the circle. Cates is accustomed to being a scorer at the high school and then the USHL levels but, if he is to make the WJC squad for the deep U.S. roster, it will have to be in this sort of capacity (which was how fellow Flyers prospect Tanner Laczynski, an above-average offensive player at the collegiate level, earned his way onto the gold-medal winning Team USA squad at the WJC two years ago).Adam Ginning, paired with offensively dynamic defenseman Adam Boqvist, played his usual stay-at-home oriented role and did battle in the defensive trenches with the likes of Brady Tkachuk and Jack Hughes. He was tagged for an interference penalty in one sequence.On Friday, Team USA will play Finland at 4 p.m. EDT, while Sweden plays Canada at 9 p.m. EDT. Both games will be televised live on NHL Network.2) In Thursday's other WJSS game, Team Canada coughed up a 3-1 lead in the third period, including a short-handed game-tying goal, but went on the defeat Finland in overtime, 4-3. Flyers prospect Isaac Ratcliffe, who scored a goal on Tuesday against USA White, did not figure in the scoring for this game. Morgan Frost did not play in this game. Frost (and tournament linemate Nick Suzuki, who also did not play on Thursday) will likely start for the Canadians against Sweden on Friday as Team Canada dresses something closer to its "A" lineup. Thursday's lineup had a few locks and near-locks for the WJC, such as Noah Dobson and Cody Glass, but there was a higher concentration of bubble players who are battling for spots.3) It should go without saying that Frost is among the lock/ near-lock players in camp for Team Canada but there were some Flyers fans on social media who needlessly got worried that Frost wasn't in the lineup for Canada yesterday. With no roster cuts made off the split squad Canada Red/ Canada White rosters, two teams worth of players have to be rotated into three games. The bubble guys will get a little extra time in the August tourney, as noted above. TSN had a nice feature on how Frost enters this season as a virtual shoo-in to play an important role for Team Canada at the next WJC. For more,4) Philadelphia-area natives and Flyers Alumni sons Caden Primeau (Keith's son) and Mattias Samuelsson (Kjell's son) were in the starting lineup for Team USA against Sweden on Thursday. Primeau started in goal and settled in nicely after giving up two quick goals. Samuelsson, a defenseman, had a nice assist on a breakout pass, and logged a lot of ice time overall.5) James van Riemsdyk is among NHL players set to play in Stars & Stripes Showdown in Plymouth, MI on Aug 26. The game is in honor of the late Jim Johannson. Proceeds benefit the Jim Johannson Legacy Fund of USA Hockey Foundation, and the Ellie Johannson College Fund.6) The Sporting News ranked the Flyers' farm system 2nd across the NHL, trailing only the Buffalo Sabres (whose top ranking was largely the product of three top top-eight picks in the last three drafts, including first overall pick Rasmus Dahlin in 2018 and Casey Mittelstadt in 2017). An article looking at the ranking and the Flyers' depth chart is forthcoming later today on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.7) Flyers goaltender Brian Elliott participated in a photo op event on Thursday to publicize the renovation of the Wells Fargo Center, adding a new mezzanine outdoor concourse areaa.8) August 3 Flyers Alumni birthday: Mark Lamb (1964).9) Today in Flyers history: On August 3, 1999, the Flyers signed undrafted USHL standout Ruslan Fedotenko (Sioux City Musketeers) to an entry-level contract. After one-plus minor league season, which included an ECHL stint with the Trenton Titans, Fedotenko worked his way up to the Flyers and went on to play 863 NHL regular season games and 108 games in the Stanley Cup playoffs, winning the Cup twice.10) On a somewhat related note, on Thursday, the Boston Bruins signed former Flyers prospect Marcel Noebels to a two-way way contract. During the 2012 NHL lockout, Noebels did not immediately earn an AHL spot with the Phantoms and was assigned to the ECHL with the now-defunct Titans. He was a friendly and personable kid -- and his on-ice talent level was higher than that of the typical ECHL player, as Noebels demonstrated in several Titans games I covered during the lockout -- but he was still a bit emotionally immature at the time.Noebels didn't exactly go all out in every game for Trenton, especially once the assignment dragged on for awhile, but he still managed 30 points in 31 games to eventually earn an AHL promotion to the Phantoms. He had a good half season in the AHL after his promotion. The next year, though, he fizzled out in Adirondack and left to return to his native Germany to play in the DEL.My view of Noebels at the time was that, if he had shown Fedotenko's genuine "I need to earn my keep" attitude as a young player rather than barely disguising a feeling that he was too good for the leagues he was playing in, he had a chance to eventually work his way up to a similar NHL role. (However, Fedotenko was also the better all-around hockey player right from the outset).Now 26, Noebels is getting a second chance at North American pro hockey after a strong showing at the Olympics and a solid DEL career. I suspect that Noebels nowadays has a lot more clarity about just how hard it is for a player to make it to the NHL. He has the perspective of many years of pro experience. I don't know if he'll play above the AHL level but it would be a nice story if he does. The potential was always there. He has good size and some decent two-way skills. He just didn't employ them consistently enough during his first go-round.