Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Halloween is right around the corner and Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall is already seeing an unwanted Ghost. That would be 21-year-old defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, whose nickname is synonymous with the specters that decorate houses around this time of year. Ever since Hextall was elevated to Philadelphias GM role in May, he has preached not rushing his young prospects to the NHL level for the sake of keeping the Flyers borderline-competitive. However, he was left with no choice to turn to Gostisbehere and summon him from the minors following news on Friday that defensemen Braydon Coburn and Andrew MacDonald would miss about a month each with lower-body injuries. Suddenly, he was tasked with finding a replacement for players expected to log 20 minutes a game. So, with little cap room and no exclamation point-worthy external option, Hextall reluctantly turned to one of his more exciting prospects. In a perfect world, you let the kid stay there and play, but we dont live in a perfect world, Hextall told Philly.com. You know, you come up with a plan and vision and sometimes you have to adjust and be flexible. Assuming we dont make anything happen real quick here, well call up one guy and get through Saturday and go from there. Gostisbehere, a third-round pick by the Flyers in 2012, became a talked-about prize after he helped Union College to an NCAA title last season while being named the Frozen Fours most outstanding player. Thats big for any college player on its own, but the accomplishments carried an added bonus for Gostisbehere as the Frozen Four took place this year in his own adopted backyard of Philadelphia. Gostisbehere did, in fact, make his NHL debut on Saturday versus the Detroit Red Wings. Overall, he did nothing much to either impress Hextall or leave him regretting his decision in a 4-2 win. The blueliner logged 12 minutes and 27 seconds of ice time, the fewest of any Flyers defenseman in the game. He saw action for 2:47 on the power play and had a shot on goal with a minus-1 rating. The goal allowed on his watch may have been bad luck, but it also showed just how fast things can happen in the NHL. Gostisbehere lost his stick in the neutral zone and the Flyers ended up failing to clear the puck. Detroits Pavel Datsyuk then got behind both Gostisbehere and defenseman Mark Streit, scoring a goal less than a minute after Philadelphia had gone ahead. I would say its a lot faster, Gostisbehere said of the NHL level. I was going to think the preseason was definitely a little step down. The guys had an extra gear out there and the sticks are incredible, quick sticks and stick on pucks and everything. Said Flyers coach Craig Berube of his young defenseman, I thought he was fine. Took him a few shifts to get out there with the power play, but when he got out there and settled down he did some good things. I thought he moved the puck well, got up the ice, was aggressive when he had to be. I thought he was fine. He looked fine to me. Fine wont keep you in the NHL too long and Philadelphia is out of action until Tuesday when it welcomes the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings. That starts a modest span of three games in five days, so there stands a chance that Ghost may stick through Halloween unless Hextall can make a quick move before facing the Kings. Yeah, he told me its not a perfect world, things happen, injuries happen of course. He told me not to try to do too much out there just get some quality minutes and its a great learning experience, and take everything in, Gostisbehere said of his talks with Hextall. Kudos to Hextall for wanting to stick to his plan, but Philadelphia already came into the season with a glaring weakness on defense thanks to the loss of veteran Kimmo Timonen to potential career-ending blood clots. Coburn, arguably the Flyers top defenseman, has not played since opening night and now MacDonald is out as well. If there is a silver lining, it is that Hextall has been given no choice but to play his young guy. Philadelphia isnt built this season to win a championship, so why not let Gostisbehere get seasoned now? Should Philly continue to be mediocre down the road, Hextall may eventually submit to temptation and give fellow young prospects Mark Alt and Robert Hagg a look as well. Few would blame him and he shouldnt be spooked out of rolling the dice a bit with his youth. Calgary Flames Store . Marcus Olsson, 23, joins Blackburn on a free transfer from Swedens Halmstads. He made 139 appearances and scored 17 goals in his four years with the club. 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Koivu underwent surgery on Monday and is expected to miss at least four weeks. BRISBANE, Australia -- Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova are set to renew their long and not-so-friendly rivalry in the semifinals at the Brisbane International, a key warm-up tournament for the Australian Open. The pair played back-to-back quarterfinals on centre court Thursday, with the third-seeded Sharapova beating 2012 Brisbane champion Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. She dropped three service games in the first set and another to open the second before finding her range and staging her comeback against the No. 30-ranked Kanepi. The top-ranked Williams, the defending champion, was next on court and didnt lose a point on serve in the first set en route to a 6-3, 6-3 win over ninth-seeded Diminika Cibulkova of Slovakia. Williams has a 14-2 record and 13-match winning streak against Sharapova dating back to the 2005 Australian Open semifinals, beating the Russian most recently in last years French Open final. Any friendship the pair had at that stage soured when they traded personal barbs relating to their romantic relationships ahead of Wimbledon, where Sharapova made an early exit. Sharapova only played one match after that in 2013 and spent the latter months of the season recovering from a right shoulder problem. Williams, meanwhile, had a spectacular year, winning 78 of her 82 matches and capturing 11 titles, including two majors. As far as any grudges go, Williams said Thursday: "Its very difficult I think for anyone to be best buddies when youre so competitive." Sharapova didnt back away from the comments she made about Williams at Wimbledon in a New York Times profile last month, giving the impression that the relationship between the pair was still cold. On Thursday, she said shed used the newspaper interview to "clear the air." Asked how shed describe their rivalry now, Sharapova replied: "Well, I think I got to win a few times in order to call it rivalry." "I havent had a lot of success against her," she added. "Its the first tournament of the year. I came here wanting to play as many matches as I could and obviously wanting to play the best.&qquot; Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka had difficulty closing out her quarterfinal match before beating Stefanie Voegele 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-1.dddddddddddd The second-seeded Azarenka failed to convert eight match points in the second set -- three serving at 5-4 and another five in the tiebreaker -- before Voegele rallied to force a third. Azarenka raced to a 4-0 lead in the deciding set, dropped serve and then finally finished it off on her 10th match point. "Yeah, I made it ... about 20 times harder than it should have been," Azarenka said. "I definitely should have closed it out a little earlier." Azarenka will next face fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic, who beat fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-1. In mens second-round matches, Romanian qualifier Marius Copil beat third-seeded Gilles Simon 7-5, 6-3 and will next meet former No. 1-ranked Lleyton Hewitt, who ousted No. 6-seeded Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 6-3. No. 8-seeded Jeremy Chardy beat Nicolas Mahut 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-3 and fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson withdrew due to a stomach ailment before his scheduled second-round match against Australian wildcard entry Sam Groth. In other Australasian tournaments, Milos Raonic and Eugenie Bouchard combined to give Canada a 3-0 win over Italy at the Hopman Cup in Perth, and Venus Williams and Ana Ivanovic progressed to the semifinals at the WTA Tours ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. Canada (2-1) maintained a chance of qualifying for Saturdays Hopman Cup final from Group A when Raonic beat Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-4 and Bouchard clinched it when Flavia Pennetta retired with a right wrist injury while trailing 4-0 in the first set. Poland also won, beating Australia 2-1. In Auckland, Venus Williams beat Garbine Muguruza of Spain 6-3, 6-3 and the second-seeded Ivanovic beat Kurumi Nara of Japan 6-2, 6-3. Ivanovic will play her doubles partner, third-seeded Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, in Fridays semifinals while Williams will play Jamie Hampton. Flipkens beat Japanese qualifier Sachie Ishizu 6-4, 7-5 and the fifth-seeded Hampton beat Lauren Davis 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. ' ' '