VOORHEES, N.J. \u2013 While Team Czechia\u2019s quest for an Olympic medal ended with a semifinal loss to Canada, the Winter Games were still an unforgettable experience for goaltender Dan Vladar.<\/p>\n
The Flyers\u2019 netminder did see some action over in Italy when he started against France and played well in a 6-3 win.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Philadelphia\u2019s hope Vladar can now pick up where he left off before the break. In 33 games, he sports a 2.47 goals-against average and .905 save percentage.<\/p>\n
But first, what are his memories of the entire Olympics?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was awesome,\u201d he said. \u201cYou never know as a hockey player if you\u2019re going to have a chance to go back to the Olympics again. So I was trying to enjoy every moment of it. Just that one overtime goal (by Canada) and it might have been a different story, a happy ending for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the gold medal game, Vladar was quite impressed with the play of American winning goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who was sensational in a 2-1 overtime victory over Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cCongrats to them, he\u2019s a really good goalie,\u201d Vladar said. \u201cHe\u2019s been good his whole career, so congrats to him. He\u2019s big, he\u2019s really patient, so I like that about his game. And he doesn\u2019t chase the game, he just let\u2019s the pucks come to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ersson looks ready<\/p>\n
No. 2 goalie Samuel Ersson is once again battling through another injury-plagued season.<\/p>\n
The Olympic break came at a fortunate time. It gave him a few weeks to heal and that\u2019s good news for the Flyers, who have some back-to-back game situations ahead, starting Wednesday in Washington.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s in a good spot now,\u201d said assistant coach Todd Reirden, who filled in for head coach Rick Tocchet during the Olympics. \u201cWe purposely designed these five-on-five games like this to get guys more accustomed to it (game action).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel like we\u2019ve checked off every box we could in these five days of practice. Major credit to the leadership group and the staff \u2013 they went all in preparing to give ourselves the best chance. Then we know it\u2019s 26 games in 50 days.<\/p>\n
A lot of hockey and our guys are excited about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
One more American<\/p>\n
Minnesota native Bobby Brink, who won an NCAA scoring title with Denver University a while back, was one more American-born Flyer who was proud of what took place on Sunday in Italy.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously American hockey is in a pretty good spot right now,\u201d Brink said. \u201cA lot of players have come up through the U.S. (development) programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve always been one of those top teams. I just think it was kind of a big goal that always eluded us. A couple teams could have won it, it was a good tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n
Practical practices<\/p>\n
Defenseman Nick Seeler likes the way the Flyers responded to a week of practices during the break. It gave the team a chance to work on some stuff.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think these practices have been super solid for our group,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we were able to work on structure, five-on-five, D-zone, you name it, we worked on it this week. I thought we had a good attitude going into every practice. That\u2019s good for us leading into next week.\u201d<\/p>\n
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