This offseason, there’s been some discussion about where sophomore goalie Matej Tomek fits in the grand scheme of things? After the season he had, that’s a very good question. Some on the message boards seem to think that he will enter the season as the third-string goalie.
I disagree.
Tomek comes to UND highly regarded and if he’s healthy, he “should” vie for some playing time with junior All-American goalie Cam Johnson. That being said, Tomek will have nothing given to him. Tomek will have to earn his starts and bide his time.
Currently, Tomek is attending the Flyers development camp. Here’s what the Flyers had to say about Tomek.
Tomek went through a frustrating 2015-16 season as a freshman for the Frozen Four champion University of North Dakota. It started with a preseason injury that prevented the highly touted recruit from being available during the first month-plus of the season. In the meantime, sophomore goaltender Cameron Johnson played stellar hockey to nail down the starting job – a pace he maintained all the way to the national championship. Diminutive *freshman goaltender Matt Hrynkiw also played well in 14 appearances.
The result: even when he was cleared to return to the ice, there was nowhere for Tomek to play. Johnson kept winning and winning (24-4-2 overall) and showed no signs of slowing down. Tomek ended up not playing in a single game all season. (Bill Meltzer – philadelphiaflyers.com)
Entering the 2016-17 season, UND has a nice conundrum in regards to their goaltending situation. Not many teams have a stable of goalies like this.
*Hrynkiw is going to be a senior this season.
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