(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Friday marked the official on-ice open of Flyers training camp, as 57 players started the journey to making the Flyers roster for the 2017-18 season.
The players were split into two groups taking the ice at different times. Here are a few notes from the day's happenings.
Day 1 of camp was very drill heavy and featured a lot of heavy skating to try to condition players. Captain Claude Giroux was part of Group 1, and noted that it was the most intense practice he's ever experienced in camp, but loved the challenge early.
"Today's practice, the intensity was one of the best I've had during camp," Giroux said. "It wasn't easy out there and that's the kind of camp you want."
Oskar Lindblom and Travis Sanheim were among the roster hopefuls taking the ice in Group, and it was noteworthy who the Flyers had them paired with. Lindblom skated on a line with Giroux and Travis Konecny. Sanheim's partner was Ivan Provorov. The line combinations on Day 1 mean nothing, but for Lindblom and Sanheim to get early experience with players who are locked into the roster already is significant and indicates that they may get time in games with the veterans as well.
Provorov was particularly spectacular, serving as a brick wall on any attacks coming his way. His strength and defensive skill was impressive early and that's very good sign for the sophomore.
Sam Morin was also part of Group 1 and had a good day. Coming off a strong performance in the Rookie Game on Wednesday where he showed very good defensive positioning and that was on display again at practice on Friday.
The lines for Group 1 at practice were as follows:
Oskar Lindblom-Claude Giroux-Travis Konecny
Cole Bardreau-Valtteri Filppula-Jori Lehtera
Pascal Laberge-German Rubtsov-Ivan Kosorenkov
Paul Carey-Corban Knight-Anthony Salinitri
Ivan Provorov-Travis Sanheim
Sam Morin-Andrew MacDonald
Maxim Lamarche-Mark Friedman
Brian Elliott, Alex Lyon and John Muse were the goalies on ice in Group 1.
Laberge was treated after practice for an undisclosed injury.
In Group 2, Nolan Patrick headlined the group of roster hopefuls with veterans like Jake Voracek, Wayne Simmonds and Sean Couturier taking the ice.
From the forwards, Simmonds was certainly a standout. Always an intense player, the aggressive nature of the practice suited him well as he performed drills with a high energy.
There weren't many other prospects in the group other than defensemen Robert Hagg and Philippe Myers. It was good for Myers to be back on the ice on Friday after leaving Wednesday's Rookie Game with a lower-body injury and not returning for precautionary reasons.
Myers also proved to be a standout among the group. His skating was tremendous, most notably during a bag skate toward the end of the session where Myers was steps ahead of the rest.
Patrick got some work on a line with Simmonds and Jordan Weal, certainly an interesting combination early. Simmonds didn't make much of the line combinations, but noted how Patrick carries himself and the overall skillset he possesses.
"Good with the puck, seems really patient, seems he's got a really high hockey IQ," Simmonds said of Patrick. "Haven't played a game with him yet, but playing with him on Day 1 was pretty good. I like that line, me and Wealsy and Patrick. We had pretty good chemistry today."
"That was obviously pretty exciting," Patrick said. "They're both amazing players and they both had good years last year. To be able to start up camp on a line with them is pretty cool."
The lines for Group 2 were as follows:
Dale Weise-Sean Couturier-Jake Voracek
Jordan Weal-Nolan Patrick-Wayne Simmonds
Michael Raffl-Scott Laughton-Matt Read
Connor Bunnaman-Phil Varone-Mike Vecchione
Carsen Twarynski/Tyrell Goulbourne-Radel Fazleev-Danick Martel
Robert Hagg-Shayne Gostisbehere
T.J. Brennan-Radko Gudas
Brandon Manning-Philippe Myers
Frank Hora/James de Haas-Reece Willcox
Michal Neuvirth, Carter Hart and Leland Irving were the goalies for Group 2.
Ron Hextall addressed the media following the sessions and noted that the roster of 57 will remain through the weekend, but cuts will come after the preseason opener on Sunday potentially as soon as Monday. The Flyers play the New York Islanders on Sunday at 1 p.m. and don't have another game until the split-squad meetings with the Islanders on Wednesday night.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel (illness) did not practice on Day 1 of camp, but Hextall noted he is fine.
Camp continues on Saturday with sessions at the same time as Friday. Group 1 will take the ice from 9:45 to 11:30 a.m. and Group 2 will take the ice from 1:15 to 3 p.m.
