Big Day For A Former Golden Bear

Having had the privilege of watching Luke Philp play for the Golden Bears was something special. There's no denying that Philp was a good player during his Canada West days while playing for the University of Alberta, but his 42 goals and 61 assists in just 78 Canadian university games was why the Calgary Flames jumped at the opportunity to sign Philp to an AHL contract. Despite having decent numbers in three seasons with the Stockton Heat where he scored 48 goals and 44 assists in 148 games, he never seemed to get a shot at the NHL level in any role. This always confused me because it seemed like Philp could bring an offensive flair to whatever he was assigned to do, but the Flames chose to keep him in Stockton before a new opportunity came calling for former U SPORTS Player of the Year.

Back in July, it was announced that the Chicago Blackhawks had signed Luke Philp in a press release where they announced five other players who had signed as well. It wasn't monumental news, but for a club that was in the midst of a total rebuild Philp joining the Blackhawks made sense assuming he's be given a chance to show his stuff and possible skate in the NHL at some point. Call it "an opportunity for an opportunity", if you will, since Calgary made a number of deals to bring in veteran talent this summer.

Today, we got to see the 26 year-old Philp back in Winnipeg as he suited up with the Rockford IceHogs as they visited the Manitoba Moose to open the 2022-23 AHL season, and fans in Winnipeg could be forgiven if this looked a lot like the Golden Bears' Philp rather than the Stockton Heat's Philp!

With the Moose leading 3-0 early in the third period,the IceHogs went to work in chipping away at that lead. And who would make the first big chip? Hint: he's been mentioned a few times already.
Just as he had done with Alberta for three seasons, Philp found some room where no defenders lurked and was ready for the pass. I don't know if Nicolas Beaudin was trying to thread that pass or simply get the puck towards the net, but the end result was Philp scoring a shutout-ending goal from the backdoor with no Moose players around him, and it was 3-1 for the Moose.

With the Moose now leading 4-3 late in the game, the IceHogs needed a goal to tie this contest up and possibly send it to overtime. Cue the kid from Alberta once again as Rockford finds the equalizer!
Lukas Reichel spotted Luke Philp in front of the net, and Philp fought off Declan Chisholm to get his stick loose and redirect the shot-pass from Reichel past Arvid Holm to make it a 4-4 game with 2:04 to go in the third period! Philp's nose for the net was on display once more, and you can see why he was one of the most feared scorers in Canada West history as he was so good at finding pucks with his stick in all situations, including with a defender hanging off his back!

While he wouldn't make the final highlight in overtime as IceHogs forward Brett Seney went for a skate before sniping the 5-4 overtime winner, Philp recorded the secondary assist on the overtime goal to give him a three-point day in his IceHogs debut! He, David Gust, and Lukas Reichel all had three-point games, so it seems like Philp might be fitting in nicely with the Blackhawks' AHL squad as a scoring threat. Obviously, it's just one game in a long season, but Philp appears that he'll make a case for a call-up by the Blackhawks at some point if he can keep scoring!

HBIC is happy to celebrate the achievements of Canada West alumni at the professional level, and today was a great day for Luke Philp. While I was disappointed it came at the hands of the Manitoba Moose, there's a case being made by Chicago GM Kyle Davidson that building a good AHL team should push players at the NHL level. I'm not saying that Philp's getting a call-up next week or anything, but playing well like he is alongside Reichel, Gust, and Seney will give Davidson a lot to think about when he needs a player.

For Luke Philp, he's making his own opportunities by playing as well as he is, and I'm hoping to see him in the NHL next!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!