VOORHEES, N.J. \u2014 Alex Bump has been in the National Hockey League for only a day and is already getting the star treatment.<\/p>\n
It was a whirlwind first 24 hours. Shortly after Bobby Brink was traded to Minnesota Friday, Bump was called up from Lehigh Valley. He scored his first goal in Saturday\u2019s game in Pittsburgh, something that had been done by a Flyer only 25 times in the last 60 years.<\/p>\n
When Sunday\u2019s practice at the Flyers Training Center ended, media crowded around Bump\u2019s new locker. Bump sounded composed and in good spirits. And why not? This former fifth-round draft pick was suddenly enjoying the life of a Walter Mitty.<\/p>\n
Has it sunk in yet? This improbable story has even taken aback Bump a bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the draft kind of put a little bit of a chip on my shoulder,\u201d the left wing said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think it really changed anything. I\u2019ve always kind of had that competitive drive.\u201d<\/p>\n
If there\u2019s one thing Bump isn\u2019t in short supply of, it\u2019s confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always had that belief in myself that I was going to make it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Bump had to overcome a significant injury at the start of the season, which makes his rise even more significant. The 22-year-old didn\u2019t let the frustration get to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor sure it was frustrating,\u201d he said. \u201cIt happens. I always try to tell myself it is what it is. I really can\u2019t do anything about it anymore. It\u2019s not what you want but it happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fortunately the injury did not affect his mobility.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was able to skate,\u201d he said. \u201cBasically I just couldn\u2019t get hit. I skated everyday. That was the most frustrating part \u2013 I could skate, I just couldn\u2019t play hockey games.\u201d<\/p>\n
One thing he has been working on is his play along the boards. Pardon the pun but maybe he needs to bump people and clear some space.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think just reps,\u201d he said. \u201cJust doing it over and over again. Working on it before practice and after practice. See if it can translate to the game. Try to find a way to do it in a game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bump received plenty of congratulatory calls, texts and emails. A couple stood out.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler, he\u2019s a big part of what I am today,\u201d Bump said. \u201cHelped me play the game the right way. I owe a lot to him. One that sticks out is Ron Fogarty, my junior coach (Omaha Lancers, USHL). He taught me a lot of things about life. Not so much about hockey but he made me think deeper about life. He meant a lot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flyers captain Sean Couturier had a similar experience to Bump. In a 2012 playoff game at Pittsburgh, the 19-year-old recorded his first hat trick in an 8-5 Flyers win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he (Bump) is definitely part of the future,\u201d Couturier said. \u201cHe played great last night. I was happy he got his first goal. He\u2019s a young promising player. Exciting to watch in his first game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Both Travis Konecny and Nick Seeler took part in Sunday\u2019s practice with no restrictions. Konecny has missed the last three games with an upper-body injury, Seeler two with a lower-body injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re options,\u201d coach Rick Tocchet said of Monday\u2019s game against the New York Rangers. \u201cStill game-time decisions. I think they\u2019ll get on the ice tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
The Flyers produced just 16 shots in Thursday night\u2019s 3-0 loss to Utah, then did one worse with only 15 at Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
That makes 11 games with 20 or fewer shots this season. Is it because the league has changed the way it counts shots this season?<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are challenges when you have a young team,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cI want middle shots, I want people to take people to the net. We have a tough time getting a lot of traffic right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at Tip (Owen Tippett), he generates shots on his own. We have to get more guys like that to take guys to the net. It\u2019s a challenge. I\u2019m not a big believer in throwing the puck to the net when there is no one there. In all fairness, we have to get more people to the net.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VOORHEES, N.J. \u2014 Alex Bump has been in the National Hockey League for only a day and is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,4,1467,56,5205,43,5095],"class_list":{"0":"post-493757","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-flyers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","13":"tag-philadelphiaflyers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116195812003224006","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}