How to watch these 4 Flyers prospects in NCAA’s Elite Eight this weekend

UPDATE: Bobby Brink had an assist Saturday to help Denver defeat Minnesota-Duluth, 2-1, and advance to the Frozen Four.

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Four Philadelphia Flyers prospects playing in the NCAA tournament are on teams that have reached this weekend’s Elite Eight.

The four: Western Michigan defenseman Ronnie Attard, and wingers Bobby Brink (Denver),  Noah Cates (Minnesota Duluth) and Bryce Brodzinski (Minnesota).

On Saturday, Brink and Denver will face Cates’ Minnesota Duluth team at 4 p.m. on ESPNU.

Attard and Western Michigan will meet Brodzinksi’s Minnesota Gophers on Sunday at 4 p.m. on ESPN2. Another player to watch in that game: Minnesota center Ben Meyers, regarded as the nation’s top collegiate free agent and a player who is on the Flyers’ radar.

Attard helped Western Michigan register its first win in seven NCAA Tournament appearances  Friday, a 2-1 overtime triumph over Northeastern.

The 6-foot-4, 210-pound junior defenseman, a right-handed shooter, kept the puck down the Northeastern end by firing a game-high seven shots, and he was was plus-1 in the thrilling victory. He is second in the nation among defenseman with 36 points (13-23) this season.

The Flyers will try to sign him when his season ends. Attard was drafted in the third round (No. 72 overall) in 2019.

Brodzinski (6-0, 205) was a seventh-round pick in 2019; the junior has 25 points (12-13) in 37 games this season.

Brink (5-9, 166), a junior who was second-round selection (No. 34 overall) in 2019, leads the nation with 55 points and 41 assists. He is a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the nation’s top college player.

Cates (6-2, 190), selected in the fifth round of the 2017 draft, won a national title with Minnesota Duluth in his freshman season. (He is the brother of Flyers prospect Jackson Cates.) Look for the Flyers to sign Brink, Attard, and Cates after their season ends, and perhaps Brodzinski.

The Frozen Four will be held in Boston on April 7 and 9, and those games will be on ESPN2.

Remembering Gil Stein

Gil Stein, a former Flyers executive who served briefly as the NHL’s fifth and final president from 1992 to 1993, died Thursday. He was 94.

Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner, called Stein a “proud Philadelphian,” and noted he served as the city’s deputy district attorney before joining the Flyers and ultimately becoming the club’s executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Stein attended Temple and earned a law degree from Boston University,

In a statement, the Flyers said they were mourning Stein’s passing and saluted his work with the organization.

In 1993, Stein was awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to hockey in the United States. After leaving the NHL, he later served in Washington as a special counsel to the U.S. Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence, and he later taught sports law as an adjunct professor at Villanova.