Although I have been a Rangers fan through and through, there has always been the part of me who liked the Montreal Canadians. Was it the fact that my father took work trips to Montreal and brought home merch? Or was it that my dad had a friend who was from Quebec? Maybe it was that it annoyed everyone when I wrapped my hockey stick in Canadian flag tape? None of that really matters. What matters is that Juraj Slafkovsky got a hattrick.

I have a soft spot for a few HABS, mainly last season’s rookies. Xhekaj, Guhle, Harris, and Slafkovsky. There’s something about the future of a once great, now struggling team with a bunch of new players—a bunch of rookies who are the future of the franchise and have a lot of promise to do great things.

To get some background on Juraj Slafkovsky, he was the number one pick in the 2022 NHL draft, one that kind of came off guard. I don’t mean that it was a Leo Carlsson suddenly going before Bedard situation, but I digress. Slafkovsky is the first Slovakian-born player to be the number-one pick.

This is Slafkovsky’s sophomore season in the NHL, and he’s scored 23 goals and 35 points in both. 19 and 29 of these are coming from this season. One could claim that as a number one pick, he should have gotten way more. That’s not exactly the case; when you’re the number one pick, you’re eighteen or nineteen going to the worst team in the league playing against men who can be over ten years their senior. On the worst team in the league.

Anyway, Slafkovsky picked up his first hat trick against the Philadelphia Flyers, building off of a tip-in shot from Mike Matheson in the first period. He contributed three goals to the 9-3 win and received the first star of the game. He adds this to eight other multi-point nights and lands fourth on the Canadians for scoring and third for goals.

I asked the one Flyers fan I know, journalism teacher and published author, Mr. Talucci. For thoughts: “Gives Flyers fans more time to read my book: The Sword and The Tree. Available now on Amazon.”