Flyers’ road trip brings them to a familiar stomping ground in Canada

CALGARY, Alberta ― The Flyers wrapped up a 3-2 shootout win against the Vancouver Canucks and boarded a flight east.

It wasn’t a long trip for the contingent. The air time over the Canadian Rockies was just over an hour. They touched down in Calgary less than 24 hours ahead of a Saturday night showdown against the Flames.

For a few players, the plane didn’t just bring them to Alberta for a game, it brought them somewhere familiar.

Travis Konecny now summers in Calgary. Garnet Hathaway played 175 of his 540 NHL games in the Flaming C after he signed an AHL deal with the Flames’ affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat, at the end of his senior year at Brown University in 2014. Hathaway made his NHL debut with Calgary on Feb. 29, 2016, at the Wells Fargo Center.

“I think they saw something in me that made me want to become the player [I could be] even more and just give me a little confidence, inspiration,” Hathaway told The Inquirer last season. “I thought being drafted was the be-all, end-all, and for any kid who is thinking that right now, too, it’s not. There’s so many different paths to get to the NHL.”

Hathaway isn’t the only member of the Flyers to have plied his trade at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Defensemen Travis Sanheim and Egor Zamula each played for the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League.

“Anytime I can go back into that building, obviously had a lot of great memories there, so excited to do that,” Sanheim said following the team’s morning skate Friday in Vancouver.

Sanheim, 28, toiled on the Hitmen’s blue line for three seasons from 2013 to 2016 and sported an “A” on his jersey for the last two. Named the team’s co-rookie of the year in 2013-14, he was the Hitmen’s top defenseman the following year — when he led all defensemen in scoring in the WHL with 65 points — and shared the rookie award with Jake Bean in 2015-16. Bean, who hails from Calgary, is currently on the Flames.

Zamula, 24, didn’t get to Cowtown until he was picked up off waivers after playing 38 games for Regina in 2017-18. He finished the season with 31 games, plus 11 points, with the Hitmen before exploding with 56 points (10 goals, 46 assists) in 2018-19 — the season he was named the team’s best defenseman. He added another 28 points in 28 games the following season.

» READ MORE: Flyers-Canucks takeaways: The kids were all right and Sam Ersson was better in a season-opening win

The Chelyabinsk, Russia, native had a lot to adjust to when he headed to juniors. At the start of training camp, Zamula was asked about helping Matvei Michkov get acclimated to life in Philly — something he knew a lot about.

“It’s not hard for me to help him, because I know, when I came to Canada, my [first] three months, I was almost crying because I don’t have any Russian guys as well,” Zamula said. “I tried to do my best and never give up and started to understand my teammates. When I came here, I came with zero language. I never worked with a teacher; just the boys helped me a lot, and I tried to understand them, and I started growing. And so now it’s my turn because I understand how hard it is.”

Like Sanheim, Zamula will be spending time with his billet family.

“I always go for dinner,” he told The Inquirer recently. “I miss my billet family because these guys support me so hard my first two years in Calgary. I think that’s when I grew up. It was my best summer over there, especially with no English, it’s still the best summer in Calgary, and a lot of friends. ... It’s fun to play over there because I spent 2½ years in the Saddledome. So for me, it’s something special, like at home.”

Jett Luchanko will be a healthy scratch for Saturday night’s game. “Talked as a coaching staff, young kid, a lot of travel, and time changes, all the things that come with this first trip with us, we thought it was best just to give him one game,” said coach John Tortorella. Noah Cates will take his spot in the lineup at center. ... Emil Andrae met the team in Calgary. The defenseman was recalled from Lehigh Valley on Thursday in a corresponding move to Nick Seeler being placed on injured reserve. Tortorella said he is not sure if Andrae will get in a game while on recall. ... The Flyers did not hold a morning skate, but forwards Nick Deslauriers and Luchanko, defensemen Andrae and Seeler, and goalie Ivan Fedotov skated at the Saddledome.